Rebekah acquired a love of talking when she was about four years old, much to her parents chagrin. Eight years later, her parents discovered a way to turn this habit into something profitable and educational by signing her up for a local debate class.
Millions of miles of travel, thousands of pages of research, hundreds of debate rounds, and a decade later, Rebekah is passing along a love of public speaking and debate to next generation of home school students.
Rebekah competed in the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association for four years, reaching the national level during three of those years. She was a national quarter-finalist and the 3rd place speaker during her first year of Lincoln-Douglas debate competition in 2003. In 2004, she and her partner were the National Team Policy Debate Champions.
Rebekah is a graduate of Patrick Henry College, where she was an active participant in all things forensics. During her time at PHC, Rebekah competed in Team Policy Debate, Crossfire Debate, Parliamentary Debate, Moot Court and Mock Trial. She received top speaking awards and placed among the top teams at several regional and national tournaments in all these events. Most notably, she and her partner were finalists at the 2008 National American Collegiate Moot Court Association tournament. These accomplishments earned Rebekah the 2009 Patrick Henry College Oratory Award, a recognition given to the top orator in each year’s graduating class.
Not content with just learning, Rebekah has also been teaching debate–and several other subjects–for the past six years. During high school, Rebekah taught leadership, civics and public speaking for TeenPact Leadership Schools and coached a NCFCA debate club in her hometown. In college, she assisted in coaching and mentoring members of the PHC policy and parliamentary debate teams. Aside from debate, Rebekah also tutored local high school students in writing and math.
Rebekah now resides in downtown D.C. with her husband Nathanael, who works at the Heritage Foundation some 4 blocks away. She also takes full credit for introducing Nathanael, also an Ethos instructor, to competitive debate.