Ethan Wilkes

Ascend California - Congressional Debate Specialty Instructor

Ethan is a sophomore at UT Austin studying mathematics and data science. During his time on the circuit competing in Congressional Debate, Ethan was best known for championing Yale 2021 and Sunvite 2022. He also placed in the top 6 at NSDA Nationals, TOC, and Harvard, making the NSDA Nationals final round 3 times. Additionally, he received 2 Harvard Round Robin invites (2 more than Zach) and 24 TOC bids (1 more than Zach). He has penned several culturally significant AGDs still used by debaters to this day and fictitiously won the 2021 TOC, according to one Redditor. He also completed a career side quest in Lincoln-Douglas, even winning a 6A UIL State Championship in 2023. As a coach, Ethan has had students make multiple final round appearances at tournaments such as Harvard, TOC, and NSDA Nationals (House & Senate). Ethan believes in developing the debate intuition of each individual student to help them innovate and find their own personal style of congress. Outside of debate, Ethan enjoys evenings at jazz clubs, jet skiing in Tampa Bay, and studying for quant trading interviews. Ethan is hyped to be at Ascend this summer!