Campus Life

Residence Halls

Students will be housed in Cougar Village 1 on the University of Houston Campus. Cougar Village is an ultra-modern, comfortable and safe dorm.

AMENITIES Include:

24-hour desk operation and security
Free laundry facilities
Computer Lab
Two kitchens on every floor, complete with community refrigerator, oven, stove, and microwave.
2 large study lounges per floor complete with dry erase boards and a community tv.
Two large social lounges per floor
Adjacent to the Moody Towers Dining Commons (dining hall)
Cougar Xpress market (convenience store)
Wired/Wireless Internet
Movable furniture in the rooms
Mini Fridge in the rooms
Bike Racks

Learn more about Cougar Village 1 at: https://uh.edu/housing/housing-options/cougar-village-1/

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Packing List

Clothes – cool, comfortable, casual attire (laundry rooms are available for students’ use). No formal attire required unless contacted directly by your Workshop Leader.
Comfortable shoes
Linens: extra-long twin size sheets, light blanket, pillow, towels & washcloth
Bathroom necessities
Notepads and multi-colored pens
Laptop and charger
Cash or re-loadable Visa card for souvenirs and miscellaneous spending
Compact umbrella for rainy days
Laundry bag
Sunscreen
Some type of alarm clock

Residence Staff

Ruby Pham-Stuart, Residential Director

Ruby Pham-Stuart (she/her/hers) serves as the Director of Speech & Debate and Dual Credit Instructor at Stephen F. Austin High School and Houston Community College in Houston, TX. This is Ruby’s 26^th year as a speech and debate coach, and her third year as head coach at Stephen F. Austin where she has transformed it into a comprehensive program, qualifying the school’s first policy and LD debaters in UIL, TFA, and NSDA nationals. Born and raised in Houston, TX, Ruby has a bachelor's in english from the University of Houston and a master's in english from the University of West Florida. Currently, she is a doctoral candidate at the University of Houston’s College of Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy studies.

During her high school years, Ruby competed and excelled in many events including cross-examination debate, original oratory, dramatic interpretation, and US extemporaneous speaking. As a coach, she has mentored this year’s third place Lincoln Douglas debater at UIL state and has qualified students to NSDA nationals, UIL CX, UIL LD, and a multitude of events in TFA over the years.

Currently, Ruby is a summer fellow with the UCEA Center for Educational Leadership and Social Justice (CELSJ), working to build and solidify partnerships with community-based spaces to continue the pursuit of equity for marginalized students and administrators in education. She is also completing her term as a UCEA Jackson Scholar and Fellow. She has been a working committee member for the Texas Education Association, creating and writing TEKS for the pilot Texas Asian American Studies course. Her research interests include the intersectionality of gender and race in educational leadership with a focus on Asian women principalship in community-based spaces and secondary schools to imagine an Asian futurism in education.

Dr. LaMonde Howard, Assistant Resident Director

LaMonde Howard, aka Ms. Monday, is a full-time speech professor at San Jacinto College. She was the former Speech and Debate Director for Westfield High School where she coached several University Interscholastic League (UIL) state, Texas Forensics Association (TFA) state, and National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Qualifiers for four years. She was among the first to host a virtual high school and middle school debate tournament during the Covid pandemic shutdowns encouraging students to stay engaged with forensics.

Ms. Monday was also a debate novice instructor for the HUDL Summer Camp in 2022. She enjoyed teaching beginner debaters about the fundamentals of speech and debate with her wacky, out-of-the-box activities. She was active with HUDL and the Harris County Department of Education (CASE) Debate program for 4 years where she was honored with a service volunteer award.

Ms. Monday has served as a national speech and debate tournament official in Big Questions for three out of the last 4 years. She enjoys encouraging students in their quest to use critical thinking, communication, and personal passion to achieve greatness.

As a high school speech and debate coach, Ms. Monday has been responsible for students during overnight and in out-of-state competitions. Like Ms. Omoruyi, she is excited to ensure attendees at this summer camp are safe and positioned to receive all they want to achieve from this program! She is super excited to be a part of this summer debate community!

Alexis Benestante

Alexis Benestante is a sophomore majoring in accounting at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is the captain of the Mock Trial team at UTD. She is super excited to meet everyone!

Sage Carter

Sage Carter has spent the last two years debating for Missouri Valley College and working as an assistant coach for Rock Bridge High School. As a competitor, she was instrumental in starting a Policy Debate program (NDT/CEDA) at Missouri Valley College. As a coach, she helped her policy debate team to two octofinal appearances at a national tournament (NCFL) and coached the runner up in Policy Debate in Missouri. Sage will be competing in Policy Debate for Western Kentucky University this year.

Regan Slish

I'm Regan Slish and I'm an upcoming sophomore at the University of Kentucky. This will be my sixth year in debate having multiple elimination round appearances at NDT-CEDA tournaments. I debated in high school at a small school in Ohio and have experience with most speech and debate events. Excited to meet you all!

Connor Huffman

Connor Huffman is an assistant coach of the Village School speech and debate team. He first fell in love with speech and debate while competing for the Village School where he was a consistent local finalist in DUO and DI as well as being a Harvard semi-finalist in DUO in 2022. As a judge and assistant coach he quickly learned to branch out from his interp niche and now coaches and judges every national circuit event of both speech and debate. He is also currently a biomedical engineering major at the University of Houston.

“Whenever you walk to the front of the room to give a speech, know that every second matters. It may take 10 minutes to give a speech but it only takes a moment to change a life forever.”

Code of Conduct

THE UH HONORS DEBATE WORKSHOP

STUDENT CONDUCT POLICY

The workshop should be a positive learning experience for all participants. Our aim is to provide an advanced academic program for mature high school students. All participants agree to respect the rights and feelings of other workshop students and staff. These rules do not pretend to be all-inclusive. It goes without saying that the workshop is not a “sanctuary” for conduct that violates state and/or federal law.

Attendance at all classes and organized functions is required. Absence from the campus for periods that include classes or functions must be approved by parents and workshop administration in advance.

Students agree to comply with all rules and regulations pertaining to living in UH dormitory housing. They must be in their assigned dormitory by 10 p.m., unless the hours have been specifically extended for a given night. The doors will be locked from 10 p.m. until the next morning. Absence from the residence hall during these times is not permitted without express written, parental consent approved by the Residence Director.

Students agree to refrain from overt public displays of affection for the entirety of the workshop. This includes sitting on laps, groping, cuddling, lengthy kissing or hugging, etc. At no time are students allowed to leave areas for “privacy.” Permitted affection includes holding hands, or a quick kiss and hug – less than 2 seconds.

Students are expected to dress in a manner appropriate for an educational setting in the academic building, as well as the dormitory common areas. Clothing will be deemed inappropriate if it is disturbing to other student/faculty or in any way interferes with the educational process. This includes, but is not limited to, bare midriffs, short shorts, exposed undergarments, low slung trousers or other clothing which is offensive and/or violates acceptable standards of dress. Students are prohibited from wearing clothing and accessories that: have slogans, comments or designs that are obscene, lewd or vulgar; advertise alcoholic beverages, tobacco products or illegal drugs; are directed against or intended to demean individuals based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, race, color, ancestry, national origin, ethnicity, religion, etc. Students wearing clothing deemed inappropriate will be asked to change.

Alcoholic beverages and narcotics or other controlled substances are not permitted except with valid prescriptions that have been noted on the accompanying prescription drug form. Students found to have bought, consumed, used, or possessed such items or who are found in possession thereof will be immediately dismissed from the program. Possession is defined as anyone who has actual physical contact of any kind with these substances OR if found to be knowledgeable of the possession of these substances by others does not immediately remove himself or herself from the situation and inform a staff member. The UH Honors Debate Workshop maintains a zero-tolerance policy in regards to illicit substances.

The possession or use of firearms, ammunition, BB guns, air rifles, firecrackers, explosives, sling-shots, knives (including pocket knives), or other weapons for any description, for any purpose is prohibited. Any violation of this rule will result in immediate dismissal from the workshop.

Students may not operate motor vehicles except to arrive at and depart from the workshop. Residents who drove themselves to the workshop with their own car, shall turn tbeir keys into the Resident Director to hang onto until departure. Under no circumstances may a student get into or on a moving vehicle, unless (a) the ride is part of an official, organized workshop group activity, or (b) the student has written parental permission approved by the residence hall administrator.

Students agree to remain on campus at all times. There are two exceptions to the geographical limits. (A) The student has written parental permission approved by the residence hall administrator to travel off campus. (B) On days when students are expressly allowed to venture off campus, they must comply with regulations regarding signing-out, checking-in with staff, and leaving contact information.