Hello, my name is Kristen Fanning and I previously judged speech at The Three Rivers Tournament, CFL Qualifiers, and the PHSSL Tournament in 2022, and Congress for KESDA 2022. At the MOLSH Tournament of 2022, I judged Congress, Prose, and Impromptu on the same day. At the Invitational in Duquesne University 2022, I judged Congress and Prose. At Central Catholic High School in 2023, I judged Congress and Informative Speech. Before I go on, you can reach me at krisvf14@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Anyhow, I graduated from Upper St. Clair High School back in 2015 and went on to study Toxicology at Pennsylvania State University. I spent my first two years at Erie and transferred to University Park to finish and earn my degree in May 2019 with 6 other Toxicology students. It was a rather small program; however, I have acquired background knowledge in Biology, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Immunology, Oncology, Human Anatomy, and Mammalian Physiology. During my undergraduate career, I had laboratory experience in a biomedical engineering laboratory that studies nanomedicine as cancer treatments. Afterwards, I went on to work in a laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Medicine (Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine), studying acute lung injury, immunosuppression, and muscle fatigue from smoking, vaping, COPD, sepsis, and COVID-19. I currently have 4 coauthor publications (I’m waiting for my 5th one on muscle fatigue during sepsis, which is currently undergoing review), and I’m working on a first author scientific literature review.

Publications:
Li T, Long C, Fanning KV, Zou C. Studying Effects of Cigarette Smoke on Pseudomonas Infection in Lung Epithelial Cells. J Vis Exp. 2020 May 11;(159):10.3791/61163. doi: 10.3791/61163. PMID: 32449738; PMCID: PMC7946338.

Li T, Fanning KV, Nyunoya T, Chen Y, Zou C. Cigarette smoke extract induces airway epithelial cell death via repressing PRMT6/AKT signaling. Aging (Albany NY). 2020 Dec 1;12(23):24301-24317. doi: 10.18632/aging.202210. Epub 2020 Dec 1. PMID: 33260152; PMCID: PMC7762507.

T. Li, K. Fanning, Y. Chen, C. Zou. PRMT6 Deficiency Aggravates Cigarette Smoke Extract-Induced Airway Epithelial Cell Death Through Repressing PI3K/AKT Cascade. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2020; 201: A4068.

Li W, Kitsios GD, Bain W, Wang C, Li T, Fanning KV, Deshpande R, Qin X, Morris A, Lee JS, Zou C. Stability of SARS-CoV-2-Encoded Proteins and Their Antibody Levels Correlate with Interleukin 6 in COVID-19 Patients. mSystems. 2022 Jun 28;7(3):e0005822. doi: 10.1128/msystems.00058-22. Epub 2022 May 18. PMID: 35582921; PMCID: PMC9238396.

Outside of the laboratory, I love learning about history (Ancient-Modern Day) and I still learn about it through my love of writing historical fiction stories as a hobby. They aren’t published, but I hope to do that some day.

You may wonder, what does all of that have to do with speech and debate?

Considering my background in scientific research, my technical knowledge, and my leisure time of studying history for writing stories, I’m particular about facts… if your speech was informative and you were to claim something as a fact, you must have evidence and/or sources to back up the claim. In science, we are constantly learning as our facts evolve from new discoveries. If we see evidence to support these new claims (through reproducing data in experiments, peer reviewing manuscripts, and reaching a consensus), we simply change our minds and look further into these discoveries with questions (sometimes questions to challenge the discoveries) to get a better idea on what we’re learning, just like with astronomy, quantum physics, cancer, and COVID-19. Otherwise, supporting claims with emotions, beliefs, anecdotes, etc. will be dismissed and not taken seriously.

On the other hand, if your speech is about philosophy, art, symbolism, literature, or anything that has room for interpretation, I’m open to hearing all kinds of views considering that everyone has different backgrounds.

No matter the type of speech, I want to enjoy it and stay neutral.

For giving a speech in general: choose your topics wisely, speak at a moderate pace, enunciate, speak clearly (especially since I’m going deaf in both ears and I’m having difficulty hearing the pitch of women and children), be polite (especially with the competitors), and no foul language.

Lastly, I want you to relax, do the best you can, and have fun.

Hi, I'm Sophie! (she/her)

I'm currently a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh studying Finance and Business Analytics. I did LD at North Allegheny for 4 years in high school, mostly on the local circuit. With that said, my experience is in traditional debate and I think local tournaments should be accessible to all levels of debaters, so while I understand basic progressive arguments, run them/spread at your own risk.

I judge based on what's on my flow at the end of the round, evaluate the framework debate first and then consider the impacts under the winning FW - pretty standard stuff.

Keep in mind that since I've been out of debate I will not be as up to date with the topics.

Lastly, debate should be first and foremost a fun and educational space. Any disrespectful behavior towards your opponent will not be taken kindly and I won't hesitate to tank your speaks as a result.

Have fun and if you have any questions ask before the round!