Meet the Speakers
All speakers are subject to change.
Directors for Stoa Academy 2016
Angela Childress & her husband, Tim, live in Little Rock, Arkansas where all three of their children have participated in Christian homeschool speech & debate since 2007. She has coached home school students for over six years. Angela served on the Stoa I.E. Committee 2012-2014. Currently, Angela serves on the Stoa Board of Directors and is a coach for Soar in Team Policy Debate and Speech.
Angela’s background includes being a high school team policy debater, receiving her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management, and her Masters in Business Administration. She now focuses her time and attention on homeschooling and building up the next generation. She has a passion for seeing strong communication & critical thinking skills developed within young people that they may confidently speak & proclaim Christ.
Mary Winther, along with her husband Mike, is the coach of Modesto Debate. Mary was a high school and college debater. Mike and Mary have been coaching Modesto Debate since 1999 and were involved in initial founding of Stoa. Mary is the chair of the debate committee. Their club is located in Modesto CA.
Conference Speakers
MelRae Ambs
MelRae is a joyful wife to Robert Ambs and mother to eight wonderful children. Before children, MelRae worked for Chase Bank State Headquarters in finance and in computer support, then owned a computer training company. She is first and foremost a child of God, serving Him alongside her husband. (MelRae competed in the National Forensic League in high school, qualifying to the state level of competition, therefore she understands first-hand the benefits that speech & debate brings to life after high school.)
Serving on the board and as a coach of ACTION in New Braunfels, TX since 2009, MelRae has held numerous tournament roles, including tournament director for two local tournaments each year. Additionally, MelRae facilitates various technology aspects of Stoa and has served in numerous roles at NITOC tournaments.
“Rejoice in the Lord, Always!” Phil 4:4 This Bible verse reflects MelRae’s enthusiasm for the Lord, reliance on the Lord, and joy in the Lord, and she brings this outlook to her role in Stoa USA.
Robert Ambs
Robert is a bi-vocational pastor and engineering recruiter, Robert and his wife MelRae are partners in life and business. The Ambs firmly believe that Stoa Christian Homeschool Speech & Debate has been a strong vehicle in furthering their children’s convictions, understanding, and confidence to stand firmly. Robert is the Apologetics/Mars Hill coach for ACTION.
Sandra Bateman has been involved with competitive speech for over 10 years with her three boys. Along with her husband and oldest son, she coaches Sword Speech Club in Colorado Springs. She has served on the Stoa Speech Committee for the past two years.
Sue Danielson has been involved with speech and debate since 2006, as both a parent and speech coach. In addition, she is a club director in Washington as well serving on the state leadership team and leading tournaments. She currently also serves on the Stoa IE Speech Committee.
TJ Harding was a co-founder and debate coach for Invictus Fides, one of the largest Stoa clubs in the country. She has coached Team Policy, Extemp and Parliamentary debate for almost a decade. While she thinks trophies are really cool, she believes that the real rewards are more often seen in the intangibles, like deeper understanding of truth and faith and the courage of well-reasoned convictions.
Katie Herche
Katie Herche started speech & debate in high school. Katie competed in NCFCA for three years, taking 2nd place at the 2007 Nationals in Team Policy Debate. She competed another two years in college, winning 1st place in Impromptu and Communication Analysis at the 2009 National Phi Rho Pi tournament. Since then, Katie has coached speech & debate for homeschool groups, public schools, and private schools. Katie currently serves on the debate committee for the Stoa Speech & Debate League. She married her former debate opponent, Logan, and lives in Northern California with a future debater on the way!
Robert Kwong is a member of the Stoa Board of Directors and is the founder/coach, with his wife Susan, of the Imago Dei Speech & Debate Club in Thousand Oaks, CA. He has close to 30-years of experience practicing law primarily in the areas of environmental, natural resource and government law and has taught an environmental law course at California State University Northridge for the past 6 years. Robert’s appreciation for the discipline and clash of Lincoln Douglas Value debate is informed by a Biblical worldview and practice.
Leslie Martin has had the privilege of being a competitor, a community judge, and a coach. Competing in both NFL and UIL in high school, Leslie understands the embarrassment of unpreparedness, the frustration of nervousness, the wretchedness of defeat, and even on the rare occasion, the excitement of winning. Throughout the years, her love for the students and the competition has kept her active in Forensics for nearly 30 years. She is honored to be a Speech coach and serve on the Speech committee.
Mark Russell lives near the state capitol of Jefferson City, Missouri. He and Sherri have raised three children on a small 80 acre farm in the Ozark region of the state. He has an undergraduate degree in agricultural journalism and two graduate degrees in education administration. Their home school speech and debate experiences have covered more than a decade where the family has served in many roles at local, state, regional and national tournaments. Working with other clubs in starting speech and debate groups and competitions has been a highlight for their family. Mark joined the STOA Board of Directors in 2012, and is the incoming President of the Board starting in September.
Craig Smith, a native Californian, currently lives less than a mile from the home where he grew up. He met his wife, Julie, while they were both "Cast Members" at Disneyland, and are now the parents of six children. It was in 2000 that the Smiths first became aware of the life-changing world of homeschool speech and debate. After beginning as an inexperienced speech coach, Craig started their current club with two families meeting in the Smith family living room giving speeches on the hearth. Today the club is made up of 35 families, and is one of the five speech and debate clubs in Orange County. Craig and Julie have been the tournament directors for the Concordia Challenge in Irvine, California. In 2011, Craig became a member of the Stoa Speech Committee and contributed as the committee chairperson in 2014 and 2015. He is most recently serving on the Stoa Board of Directors and is a prolific writer of the Stoabytes. He loves to serve with his wife putting on tournaments, and was the tournament director for the 2014 NITOC. Craig is still employed at the Disneyland Resort as a manager of entertainment, currently in the Characters & Imaging department, which he views as his mission field.
Debbie Snyder
Speech Committee Chair
Debbie Snyder is the mother of seven grown children who have all participated in speech and debate in the past. In 2011, Debbie was instrumental in bringing Stoa to Virginia. She has served on the Stoa Speech Committee from 2012-2015. This past year she has served as the Speech Committee Chair. Presently, she is a Lincoln Douglas, Parli, and Speech coach in Winchester, VA. Historically, she has been involved in speech and debate as a parent, coach, administrator, and tournament director for the last nineteen years, eight years in California and eleven years in Virginia.
Larry Sparks is a commercial insurance agent in Colorado Springs, where he lives with his wife of twenty-eight years and their two sons. He is active in his church and as a Gideon. Back in the Reagan administration he competed in speech and debate in high school and college. He began Extemp and LD back in 1981. Throughout his professional career he has trained leaders on improving their communication skills. In 2005 he was introduced to the world of Homeschool Forensics when invited to be a community judge. In 2007 Colleen Enos and he launched RESOLVE Speech and Debate club. He has been coaching debate ever since. Although Resolve has enjoyed competitive success, the most rewarding experience is seeing young people learn to think critically, research thoroughly, and communicate passionately. Larry currently serves on Stoa's LD committee.
Mike Winther has participated in speech and debate activities as both coach and competitor. As a student, Mike has 6 years of competitive speech and debate experience in high school and college. He competed in team policy debate, Lincoln Douglass debate, extemporaneous speaking, impromptu, and radio broadcasting. As a coach, Mike and his wife Mary have coached a California homeschool club (Modesto Debate) for 14 years, competing in the HSLDA, NCFCA and Stoa leagues.
Speech Committee
Debate Panel
