Sara Sanchez Email & Phone Number

Worked with our team to establish a partnership with Newsweek to cover high school debate like sports on the Newsweek Mightier Hub. This partnership has resulted in dozens of stories and podcast episodes featuring the transformative power of debate, in addition to video testimonials highlighting the work across the urban debate network.Created and executed the I RESOLVE public debate series, which launched amid a pandemic in 2020 and quickly transitioned to a virtual event before realizing the vision of in-person debate showcases in the fall of 2022. More than 50 students have received scholarships while engaging with civic and community leaders, including congressional representatives, judges, media personalities, industry leaders and more on the most pressing issues in their communities. These students have also been featured on the Newsweek Mightier Hub and participated in other activities such as political debate commentary.Transformed the social media and content creation for NAUDL, more than doubling the size of followers while increasing engagement across all channels. Participated in two brand refresh exercises. Managed and created new collateral. Ensured brand guidelines were adhered to across the organization. Grew the content team from a split assignment to include a Digital Marketing and Communications Coordinator.Created and obtained Board support for the first ever bid process for the Urban Debate National Championship, allowing universities to apply to host the next generation of leaders on their campus. Transformed the timeline of the event to be able to plan two-years in advance allowing for better vendor contracts and a more impactful event for students.Re-established and managed league communications to ensure a space for 20 organizations to collaborate on problems of practice to improve outcomes for over 11,000 students across the network.Represented NAUDL nationally at multiple conferences annually advocating for speech and debate.

Chicago, Illinois

Managing our organization's flagship event, the Urban Debate National Championship. This annual event brings 80+ high school students and their coaches to a university campus for the only debate national championship designed for urban students. Managing the championship weekend includes: designing and managing the two and a half day program and schedule, managing relations with our host and facilitating contracts with 10+ vendors annually. Responsible for managing a direct report who coordinates travel, lodging and shipping logistics between our national office, host campus and 22 participating leagues.Developing a complete first-year debate curriculum for educators, including 180 minutes of lessons per week for 30 weeks of instruction, plus enrichment activities. Designing and facilitating teacher workshops on this curriculum. This pilot program aligns debate activities to state instructional standards and includes managing a teacher cohort to gather feedback to inform the expansion of the project in 2019.Managing our alumni outreach, both on social media and through the Alumni Ambassador program. Alumni Ambassadors serve as mentors and urban debate representatives during the Urban Debate National Championship and at the Annual Dinner. This program was expanded in 2017 to include a one day on-boarding workshop. Managing student awards programs, including coordinating with the Department of Education on our organization's Presidential Scholars Nomination process. Overseeing the Debater of the Year application and selection process. Developing our Coach of the Year award.Developing and executing our communications and social media strategy including brand awareness and digital content development across multiple platforms. Coordinating with our Executive Director to increase our social media presence through league recognition and monthly programming updates. Increased social media following by more than 20% across all channels.

Chicago, Illinois

Developed and facilitated curriculum for teams of teachers to contribute actively to district and state policy discussions affecting their classrooms and careers. Trained E4E teacher leaders to create and advocate for local and state organizational policy stances. Managed our Teacher Policy Team process which resulted in a policy brief for reforming teacher evaluation in Chicago, The Evolution of Evaluation: A Way Forward for Teachers, by Teachers, which is linked below.Successfully managed two events annually including our policy selection event and our paper launch, both of which nearly doubled in size from the previous year.Ensured our staff was informed on the critical policy issues facing educators and students in Chicago.Determined our local weekly newsletter content to communicate key issues to teachers which consistently resulted in an open rate greater than 20%.As a member of our Local Leadership Team, formulated, coordinated and helped execute multiple advocacy campaigns in Chicago Public Schools.Drafted and edited communications for our stakeholders, teachers and local media. Developed and facilitated teacher writing groups to increase their voice in education policy.

Evanston, Il

Led the Chicago Scholars program - a scholarship partnership between the Northwestern University Debate Society and the Chicago Debate Commission which brings rising sophomores to Northwestern's Debate Institute for 4 weeks of the summer.Developed and taught policy debate curriculum for seniors and sophomores.Presented topic material in large and small group settings.

Administrative: Managed a squad of 80 debaters, which includes teaching 3 blocks of debate, managing after school practices, managing tournament travel and opportunities, and communicating with parents, administrators and fellow staff members. Managed a $100,000+ budget. Oversaw 4 assistants. Teaching: Taught AP US Government & Politics and Urban Studies II: Problems & Solutions. The former is a college level government curriculum for seniors and the latter is a studies level course for sophomores focused on issues facing Chicago (specifically crime, poverty, education and sustainable development). Tournaments: Co-directed the largest high-school run tournament in the country. The Glenbrooks debate tournament is co-hosted by Glenbrook North & Glenbrook South. Over 2,500 students and their coaches compete over three days in November. Competitive: Coached a predominantly junior squad to qualify for nationals in policy debate. Accelerated the growth of a nascent LD program culminating in elimination round appearances at top national tournaments.

Ann Arbor, Mi

Developed and taught a policy debate curriculum for rising sophomores for a 4-7 week summer program. Coached students on speaking style, research and high level analytical skills.

Lexington, Ma

Administrative: Managed a squad that grew from 97 to 135 debaters, which includes teaching 5 blocks of debate, managing after school practices, managing tournament travel, and communicating with parents, administrators and staff. Fundraised and managed a budget that grew from $100,000-135,000 over the course of 5 years. Successfully lobbied the school district to add debate back to the school’s budget (they contributed $65,000 as of 2013-14 up from $0 in 2012-13). Oversaw 2-4 assistant coaches per year. Tournaments: Directed two tournaments a year, including our Winter Invitational, which hosts 1,000+ people at LHS over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. That tournament grew approximately 30% under my tenure and is currently at capacity/waitlist status.Competitive: Coached 14 National qualifiers in policy, 9 in LD and 3 in Public Forum, including the 2011 finalists in policy and the 2012 champion in LD. My teams have been in the late elimination rounds of every major national tournament. Served on the faculty survey committee designing, administering, and summarizing an annual survey of 150-180 faculty members at LHS.

Sandy, Ut

• Assistant Night Manager Feb. 2007 to June 2008• Head Trainer, Sept 2006 to June 2008• Data Analyst, Jan. 2004 to Sept. 2008Statistical analysis of data for major national political races of the 2004 and 2006 election cycles. Trained and oversaw numerous employees in a fast-paced data driven environment. Proficient in various computer applications including Excel, Word Perfect, Word, DOS and SPSS.Responsible for trend data and weighting during the 2006 election cycle. Pulled and guaranteed the accuracy of 10-20 trend data sets per shift. Ensured the accuracy of weighted deliverables for as many as 30+ projects a night.Experience with coding open-ended data for both political campaigns and marketing clients.

Salt Lake City, Ut

Authored numerous research reports primarily dealing with education, tax policy and demographic issues in the state of Utah. Sat on the Council of the Governor’s Economic Advisors. Provided data and analysis for the Employer’s Education Coalition. Samples of my research can be found here: Higher Education: http://www.utahfoundation.org/img/pdfs/rr645.pdf , http://www.utahfoundation.org/img/pdfs/rr654.pdf Private Schools: http://www.utahfoundation.org/img/pdfs/rr655.pdf Recession:http://www.utahfoundation.org/img/pdfs/rr656.pdf Electricity Usage: http://www.utahfoundation.org/img/pdfs/rr663.pdf