Noah Macdonald (founder & COach)

Noah is a Masters student at the University of British Columbia studying Philosophy, with a focus on Ethics and Philosophy of Mind. He also holds a BA in Honours Philosophy from UBC, where he studied on a full-ride scholarship. Noah started debating in high school and went on to win Top Speaker at Canadian Nationals in addition to making elimination rounds at a number of international tournaments. He has also served as a Chief Adjudicator for 21 different tournaments, including three different National Championships.

Noah has been coaching debate for eight years. He was the Training Director of the UBC Debate Society in 2019/2020, and the coach of the Danish National Debate Team in 2021/2022. Eleven of Noah’s current and former students have made Team Canada. His students have also won or top spoke at major international tournaments including Junior CNDF Nationals, Senior CNDF Nationals, BP Nationals, US Nationals, Oxford Finals Day, and Stanford World Schools Invitational, among others. Noah’s specialty is teaching analysis and argumentation skills; his coaching philosophy is focused on making sure that students can quickly and precisely analyze problems and effectively articulate well-reasoned solutions.

Outside of his interests in philosophy and debate, Noah is an avid mountaineer/climber/skier. If you get him talking about mountains, he may never stop.

Abigail Conrad (Coach)

Abigail has completed her undergraduate degree in International Relations at UBC. She has been involved in the debate world for ten years and has been coaching for seven. In high school, she was a semi-finalist at the 2020 Canadian National Debate Championships and third place speaker at the 2018 Harvard World Schools Debating Championship. As a university debater, Abigail won Hugill 2020, and was a semi-finalist at and the top speaker of Canadian Parliamentary Nationals 2022. Abigail has worked as the head coach of Team Denmark and was the president of the UBC Debate Society in 2021-22. She was previously the VP Bilingual of the Alberta Debate and Speech Association, and is now its VP Debate. Her students often attend provincial, national, and international tournaments, where they frequently advance to elimination rounds and win speaker awards. Abigail is thrilled to be able to share her experience and passion for debate with FDT students and looks forward to helping them excel.

Griffin Wong (Coach)

Griffin is a second year university student at the University of Calgary. He is extremely passionate about debate, both as a debater and a coach. Out of more than 5 years of competitive debate, his most notable achievements include being selected for Team Canada 2021 and placing 2nd regional speaker and 1st regional team at British Parliamentary Nationals in 2019. In terms of coaching experience, Griffin is a part of Western Canada High School’s debate executive and is also the founder of the debate organization 'Uproar Debate'. He looks forward to inspiring the next generation of Alberta debaters to become better communicators and more globally aware.