Chris Paredes received his B.A. in English and Philosophy from Amherst College in 2009 and his J.D. from Emory University School of Law in 2013. Following law school he served as the Google Public Policy Fellow at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights where he worked with numerous civil rights organizations to advocate for universal access to telecommunication services, including national broadband internet, and for the preservation of civil rights in the digital age. Following that, he served as the Broadband and Telecommunications Policy Fellow at the Aurora Institute (formerly the International Association for K-12 Online Learning). In that capacity he advocated for the modernization of the U.S. education system and closure of the digital divide through expanding support for broadband in schools and libraries as part of the FCC's E-Rate program and President Obama's ConnectED initiative.He returned to California and worked as a Civil Rights Fellow in the Legal Unit of the California Department of Civil Rights (formerly California Department of Fair Employment and Housing) and assisted the California Fair Employment and Housing Council in drafting fair housing and fair employment regulations as part of the Legislative & Regulatory Unit. Chris has been started serving as a debate instructor at Damien High School following the passing of his mentor Chuck Ballingall, the longtime Director of Debate at Damien. He eventually transitioned to education fully by launching the debate program at Damien's sister school, Saint Lucy's Priory, before taking over the Damien program in 2024.