Dedimus Potestatem

Amanda Elizabeth Chen has been teaching students of all ages for over a decade. Elizabeth currently works with international NGOs, University groups, and grassroots organizations. Elizabeth teaches young advocates how to lobby their student government and local Representatives and has written curriculum for elementary, middle, and high school advocacy programs.

Elizabeth studied Homeland Security at George Washington University, International Politics at St. Antony’s at Oxford University and Leadership Development at Columbia University. Elizabeth has worked with local government leaders in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, with startups and UN-affiliated humanitarian groups. Before Dedimus Potestatem, she worked on Presidential and Congressional campaigns and volunteered with the ACLU and MoveOn.

Sebastian Arboleda is a multifaceted Colombian-American theatre-maker, performer, educator, and debate coach with a vibrant presence in NYC. With TV credits including "The 4400" on the CW and "Chicago PD" on CBS, Sebastian has also made significant contributions to the theatre scene in Chicago, working with renowned companies like The Goodman and Court Theatre. His theatre work, rooted in the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique discovered during his formative years at Cal State Long Beach, is complemented by a diverse educational background, including an MFA in Acting from the prestigious David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

Beyond performance, Sebastian's commitment to the arts extends into the realm of education and social justice, devising impactful work with Free Street Theatre in Chicago's Southside. His journey continued through Washington DC's Studio Theatre before embarking on a teaching career that has already left a mark, with students gaining acceptance to top acting programs worldwide.

Leveraging his rich background in acting and storytelling, Sebastian has seamlessly transitioned into coaching debate, with a unique approach that views debate through the lens of narrative. His methods are designed to help debaters weave compelling stories, ensuring that their ideas, voices, and intentions resonate powerfully. Drawing on his experience in the Forensics team at California State University, where he honed skills in Persuasive Speaking, Argumentation and Debate, Speech Writing, and Text Interpretation, Sebastian now brings an entertaining and insightful teaching style to students around the globe, specializing in working with international students.

His work empowers students to not only refine their acting techniques but also to excel in the intellectually rigorous field of debate, fostering a generation of storytellers who advocate with clarity, emotion, and persuasive power.

Claire is a New York-based theatre director from Chicago. She recently graduated cum laude from Yale University with degrees in Humanities and Theatre Studies as well as a Certificate of Advanced Language Studies in French. Claire’s interests lie at the intersection of performing arts and peacebuilding, specifically with a focus on youth empowerment. In addition to her work with international NGOs, Claire is a lifelong Girl Scout and led a troop for middle school students in New Haven while at Yale. In high school, she was president of the Walter Payton College Prep Model United Nations team, which was the only Chicago public school to host a MUN conference and compete out of state. Through Model UN, Claire became well-versed in parliamentary-style debate, and led high schoolers in learning debate skills at Yale's MUN conference. She has studied improvisation and performance at Yale and brings those skills to a debate setting. Claire is passionate about helping students find their voice and build their confidence in public speaking and debate.

Seth Spiegel, a former president of the SUNY RCC debate club, multi-streak winner of intercollegiate debate tournaments across the SUNY circuit, a mathematics teacher, and a programming instructor, has been teaching, tutoring, assisting, and instructing students across all age ranges, professionally and privately, for nearly a decade in debate, public speaking, programming, and mathematics.

A firm believer in foundational learning, Seth understands the increasing need to tailor educational environments to cater to each student’s individual strengths. He is committed to helping students build and develop the essential skills necessary to support themselves in their growth and success.

A member of Phi Theta Kappa, Phi Sigma Omicron, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and receiving Commencement Recognition for Outstanding Performance, Seth graduated from the Hunter College Computer Science and Mathematics track and worked for several years as a project manager for technology firms before returning to teaching and pursuing an education in psychotherapy and mental health counseling.

Nicole Gelfman, a City College of New York psychology and legal studies alumna, graduated summa cum laude with a distinction from the Skadden Arps Honors in Legal Studies Program. She was captain of Moot Court and Mock Trial in high school and completed various legal internships throughout her undergraduate studies, most notably in the Southern District of New York and the New York City Bar Association. With over six years of independent tutoring experience, she guided elementary, middle, and high school students in various subjects and exams.

She also brings experience as a Disability Accommodations Specialist at Hunter College, where she supported an underserved community within higher education. Nicole’s people-centric approach allows her students to succeed both academically and personally. Nicole leveraged her Russian-speaking heritage by helping students in her community, including ESL students with learning disabilities. She is passionate about education justice and believes in the worth of every student regardless of their background. She looks forward to empowering

Dedimus Potestatem’s mission of providing quality academic enrichment, a principle closely aligned with Nicole’s commitment to education. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree at Baruch College, where she will continue practicing her passions for law and debate.

Lucas Iverson is a recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama, holding an MFA in Acting. He began his forensics career in middle and high school at Loyola Blakefield, just north of his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. Home to a nationally ranked team, he competed at the state and national level in Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum, and Congress debates as well as many speech categories in all four years of high school, consistently breaking to quarter, semi, and final rounds of competition across the nation, including all NSDA ranked tournaments & the NFL and NCFL competitive circuits. He transitioned into coaching, judging, and working tab rooms for forensics tournaments in his spare time while earning his undergraduate degree at Adelphi University. He is a devout believer that the skills of communication, efficient listening, and public speaking are the keys to a bountiful life. He continues to utilize these foundational skills he developed back in his forensics days, and hopes to pass them on to future generations. 

Christen-Ariel Brown is a Jamaican citizen raised in The Bronx, who tries to bring her culture and upbringing into her work as an educator, coach, and mentor. She is an alumna of De La Salle Academy, Marymount School for Girls of New York, and Bernard Baruch College. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Industrial/Organizational Psychology with a minor in English. 

Christen-Ariel has been a Big Sister with Jewish Board for Family and Children Services and a Clubhouse Volunteer at the United States Department of Veteran Affairs, Harbor Health since 2016. 

In the beginning of her career, she worked as a case manager at an alternative to incarceration non-profit organization and later supervised an alternative to detention for that agency. Then she transitioned into education and taught third grade and seventh grade boys. She currently works as a tutor, financial literacy teacher, and fencing coach in New York City and White Plains.

Raz Chen is an accredited Level Expert 2 Krav Maga Instructor. Born and raised in Israel, Raz trained under Master Gabi Noah and, within four years, completed the Civilian Krav Maga instructor course at Wingate. During his military service as a Kfir Operations Combatant, Raz served in missions of counter-terrorism and urban warfare. He became a Senior military Krav Maga instructor and head of the Krav Maga program, where he taught over 10,000 soldiers, including Special Forces in IDF units, including Lotar Counter-Terrorism, the Oketz K-9 unit, and US Marines. Raz wrote and developed combatives curriculum for Kfir. During that time, he also placed first in the IDF Krav Maga championship in 2010.

After his service, Raz moved to civilian training, specializing in counter-terrorism, personal self-defense and assault prevention, active shooter, military and police combative, community protection, and Krav Maga instructor certification. Raz has been featured as a Krav Maga expert on CBS, Telemundo, the NYTimes, and Elite Daily.

Raz is currently a senior instructor for Guardian Self Defense, non-profit teaching self-defense in the Jewish community. He also works with Students Supporting Israel, in Jewish schools, and on campuses nationwide. In addition to teaching, Raz is a weekly columnist at Black Belt Magazine, where he has interviewed figures like Olympian Judoka Sagi Muki and Krav Maga Master Eyal Yanilov. He has also contributed to Martial Journal and the Times of Israel.

Gianna Guzzo is a professional dancer, policy researcher, and teacher in NYC. She graduated summa cum laude from Hofstra University with honors distinction. Gianna earned bachelor's degrees in economics and dance and was granted the Academic Excellence Award in both majors.  Gianna began her debate career at the Academy of Aerospace and Engineering where she competed in extemporaneous debate competitions, ranking top 3 in local and state competitions. Gianna served as captain of the debate team and led many students to qualify and earn honors at the state competition.

Gianna partook in the World Affairs Council's Model United Nations conference where her partner and she won the Best Delegation award. She worked as the Chair for the conference in the Opioids Crisis Committee during her senior year. In addition to debating in college, Gianna served on the executive board of the Residence Hall Association where she vouched for reforms and planned large-scale events for the entire student body. She was also hand-selected to receive a full scholarship to attend the prestigious University of Amsterdam's Business and Economics Exchange Programme.

Gianna believes conquering the art of debate is key to becoming an inquisitive citizen, listener, reader, and conversationalist given the complexities of our world. She brings her knowledge of performing to her instruction and aims to inspire each student to discover their voice. 

Samuel DeMuria is an Italian-American actor and singer based in NYC. He recently graduated with his MFA in acting from Yale School of Drama, and holds his BA in Theatre-Performance from the University of Missouri. Samuel first participated in speech and debate in high school, while holding the title of class president for 3 consecutive years. He also held leadership roles in several community-based academic programs including Beta Club, Alpha Psi Omega, and The Theatre of Others at The University of Missouri. During his time in college and graduate school, Samuel has worked with students on public speaking skills, the creation of theatre, and preparation skills to audition for graduate schools. 

Dr. Elaine graduated from the University of Florida with a dual BA in Linguistics and Spanish Language and Culture and a minor in Russian Language and Culture. In 2012-2013 she received a Fulbright English Teaching Award and a Critical Language Enhancement Scholarship. During her Fulbright tenure, she lived and worked in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, where she studied Russian language intensively and taught English language, technical translation, and beginner Spanish at Don State Technical University. Elaine returned to the United States and began working in New York City, where she built her professional resume in the editorial department of Simon & Schuster and the translation industry. She later returned to academia and received an MA in Russian Literary Translation from Columbia University in 2016. Since then, she has received awards for her translations of selected poems by David Samoylov and Joseph Brodsky. Elaine received a PhD from Columbia University specializing in Russian literature and Yiddish literature of the early twentieth century.

Michael Feldheim was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He recently graduated magna cum laude from The City College of New York's Childhood Studies program, with an academic focus on early childhood education and developmental psychology. Before discovering his passion for education, Michael studied mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and he continues to enjoy connecting students with STEM subjects.

He has been a private tutor, guest teacher, and academic consultant in New York for over 15 years. Michael's pedagogy leans toward student-driven education, and he is passionate about bending lessons to the needs of each individual learner. He is an expert in standardized testing and test strategy, preparing his students by equipping them with the knowledge, experience, and confidence needed to achieve their goals. He has worked with public schools, private schools, charter schools, catholic schools, and afterschool programs in every borough of New York City. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, sculpting, and throwing clay.

Kiri Fitzpatrick is currently a Junior at Williams College, where she studies political science, women's studies, and philosophy. She graduated from Hackley School in 2021 as the salutatorian of her class. Starting in fifth grade, Kiri debated in a variety of parliamentary formats, attending monthly tournaments and routinely earning top speaker and team awards, both locally and nationally. As a high school debater and team captain, Kiri and her partner won the HSPDP 2020 national championship, both earning top five speaker awards. Throughout her high school career she served as an assistant coach and judge for Hackley’s middle school debate team, and helped organize and run middle school championship tournaments. Kiri also competed in the National High School Ethics Bowl where she led her team to finish third place nationally in 2021. Kiri continues to offer debate coaching and judging assistance in college. At the end of her freshman year, she won the Van Vechten extemporaneous speech competition hosted by the Williams College Debating Union.

JC was raised in Roosevelt, Long Island, where he gained a reputation for constantly arguing with anyone who entertained his viewpoints. As a member of the debate club at his alma mater, St. John's University, he had the honor of competing at some of the most prolific universities in the U.S. He brought these experiences with him to teach the art of debate to young minds who were searching for outlets of their own. During his three year position as the Nest + M debate coach, JC grew their team from one of average tournament rank to one of the top teams in the English Speaking Union's Middle School Public Debate Program League. JC sees debate as an opportunity for people with different opinions to better understand one another while still showing respect and possibly even becoming or remaining friends.

Carmen Antreasian is a lifelong scholar with expertise in a variety of academic disciplines. She received her BA from Indiana University in Russian Language & Literature as well as International Studies with a special concentration in Human Rights and Social Movements. She studied abroad in Russia at Saint Petersburg State University, where she taught English Phonetics. Carmen holds two MAs - one in Human Geography from Indiana University and one in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has been an instructor for over eight years, most recently at Barnard College in the Political Science and Women’s & Gender Studies Departments. She has been part of the growing psychoanalytic geography community for almost a decade, has been awarded several grants to give conference presentations and has a recent book chapter published in a collection of essays using psychoanalytic theory. Carmen is also an avid performer and enjoys dancing ballet and doing readings of her own creative work.

Kevin Schreck is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and educator. His films Persistence of Vision (2012) and Tangent Realms: The Worlds of C.M. Kösemen (2018) have screened at over 70 international film festivals and other venues on five continents. His current film, Enongo, is a documentary-animation hybrid and a biography on the rapper/producer Sammus and her personal journey, and will be the first feature-length film with an animation team composed solely of Black women artists.

In addition to his filmmaking career, Kevin has been a teaching artist of non-fiction storytelling, film history, and experimental cinema techniques as well as a mentor to underserved youth in Brooklyn. He has also had the privilege of lecturing and teaching masterclasses on filmmaking at numerous institutions around the globe, including the School of Visual Arts, the Barry R. Feinstein Graduate School of Cinema, James Cook University in Cairns, Australia, Griffith University at the Queensland College of Art in Australia, the National Film School of Denmark, and Savannah College of Art & Design, among many others.

Kianna Franklin is a multidisciplinary artist born and raised in New York. She graduated with a BFA from the University of the District Columbia where she also played Division II Lacrosse. With experience coaching youth in her undergrad and teaching art post grad, she’s gained many skills in SEL. Kianna served as an intern at PJAC community center, and had the pleasure of co-hosting an Art Ambassadors Summer Camp at Studio Gallery in Washington D.C. As she continues to expand her craft, assisting the youth in finding their voice through imagery has been nothing short of inspirational.

Lawrence is a USCF Life Master from Chicago. He earned the FIDE Master title while working in Switzerland for 3 years before settling in New York. As a chess instructor, he specializes in opening line development and preparation, positional strategies, and endgames. He is the father of two active tournament players in high school, and has taught students as young as 5 years old, teens as well as adults. He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois - Urbana, where he studied machine learning.

Jenna Lanzaro is a writer and teacher based in Jersey City. As a Writers in the Public Schools Fellow at NYU, she's currently completing an MFA in Poetry and working on her debut poetry collection. Jenna taught writing at a public middle school for six years prior, where she founded the school's first Debate Club. Her writing can be found in Rattle, Versiones, and Small Orange Journal, with interviews forthcoming in Washington Square Review, where she serves as Interviews Editor.

I’m Antonio Athias, a rising second year student at King’s College London, majoring in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). I have lived in Istanbul, Turkey for five years and in San Salvador, El Salvador for three years. I’m fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish and have strong roots in Brazil and Sri Lanka, where my parents are from. I have competed in debate since 8th grade, and have attended prestigious competitions at both Harvard and Princeton. I was the Co-Chair of the UNIS-UN Conference in 2023, where I led a team of over 60 students to host a conference on education where over 300 international students attended from over 10 different countries. I have abundant experience teaching middle school debate at the Dedimus Potestatem after school programs at UNIS, and also taught an after school Model United Nations class with Dedimus Potestatem. I have also done private tutoring for English as a Second Language (ESL). In my spare time, I am a huge combat sports fan and Muay Thai practitioner, and I had my first two amateur fights in early 2024!