# List of National Speech and Debate Association members

The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) is the largest interscholastic speech and debate organization serving middle school and high school students in the United States. It was known as the National Forensic League from 1925 to 2014. Many NSDA alumni have risen to the pinnacle of their respective fields, including the following.

## Academia

| Name | Chapter | Notability |
| Tracy Packiam Alloway | Liberty University | Professor of psychology at the University of North Florida |
| Douglas Bernheim | Harvard School | Professor of economics at Stanford University |
| John Bessler | Loyola High School | Professor of law at the University of Baltimore School of Law |
| Russell L. Caldwell | Wooster High School | History professor and chair at the University of Southern California |
| Brittney Cooper | Ruston High School | Professor of women's and gender studies and Africana studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick |
| Mike Edmonds | Northwest High School | academic administrator and acting co-president of Colorado College |
| Kenneth Hersh | St. Mark's School of Texas | CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center |
| Leah Litman | Edina High School | Professor at the University of Michigan Law Schoo |
| W. Walter Menninger | Topeka High School | Dean of the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry and Mental Health Science and CEO of the Menninger Clinic |
| Melissa Murray | Lincoln Park Academy | Professor of law at New York University |
| Benjamin Olken | Milton Academy | Economist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Elinor Ostrom | Beverly Hills High School | Winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and professor of political science at Indiana University, |
| Farah Pandith | Milton Academy | Senior fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School |
| Sarah Parcak | Bangor High School | Egyptologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| James Poterba | Pennsbury High School | Professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and president and CEO of the National Bureau of Economic Research |
| Robert D. Putnam | Port Clinton High School | Political scientist and professor at the Harvard Kennedy School |
| Lewis Sargentich | Alhambra High School | Professor at Harvard Law School |
| John Sexton | Brooklyn Preparatory School | Professor of Law at New York University |
| David Alan Sklansky | Corona del Mar High School | Professor of law at Stanford Law School |
| Anand Veeravagu | Grapevine High School | Neurosurgeon at Stanford University Hospital and Clinics |

## Business

| Name | Chapter | Notability |
| Aimee Allison | Antioch High School | Founder of She the People |
| Roy Bahat | Stuyvesant High School | Venture capitalist |
| Austan Goolsbee | Milton Academy | President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers |
| Frances Haugen | Iowa City West High School | Whistleblower on Facebook |
| Ann Kim | Apple Valley High School | James Beard Award-winning chef and restaurateur |
| Craig Newmark | Morristown High School | Founder of Craigslist |
| Justin Rosenstein | The College Preparatory School | Software programmer and co-founder of Asana |
| Deena Shakir | Leland High School | Venture capitalist |
| Ben Silbermann | Des Moines Roosevelt High School | Co-founder and executive chairman of Pinterest |

## Entertainment

| Name | Chapter | Notability |
| Kalen Allen | Sumner Academy of Arts & Science | Actor and internet personality |
| Kristen Soltis Anderson | Cypress Creek High School | Republican pollster, television personality, and writer |
| Brian Baumgartner | The Westminster Schools | Actor |
| Daniel Beaty | | Actor, singer, and writer known as KOA |
| David Begnaud | Teurlings Catholic High School | Correspondent for CBS This Morning, the CBS Evening News, and 48 Hours |
| Chadwick Boseman | T. L. Hanna High School | Actor |
| Benjamin Bratt | Lowell High School | Actor |
| Nancy Cartwright | Fairmont West High School | Emmy Award-winning voice actor |
| Jessica Chastain | Sacramento City College | Actress and producer |
| Stephen Colbert | Porter-Gaud School | Comedian and television host |
| Chris Colfer | Clovis East High School | Golden Globe Award winning actor and singer |
| Bertha Coombs | Milton Academy | Reporter for CNBC |
| Robert Costa | Boston Latin School | Chief election and campaign correspondent for CBS News |
| Jim Cummings | Ursuline High School | Voice actor |
| James Dean | Fairmount High School | Actor |
| Joyce DeWitt | Speedway Senior High School | Actress |
| Paul W. Draper | Olympus High School | Mentalist and magician |
| Zac Efron | Arroyo Grande High School | Actor |
| Billy Eichner | Stuyvesant High School | Actor and comedian |
| Nelsan Ellis | Illinois State University | Actor |
| Sutton Foster | Troy High School | Broadway actress |
| Josh Gad | NSU University School | Actor |
| Ginger Gonzaga | Fred C. Beyer High School | Actress |
| Becky Gulsvig | Moorhead High School | stage actress |
| Arsenio Hall | Ohio University | Comedian, actor, and television host |
| LaRoyce Hawkins | Thornton Township High School | Actor, stand-up comedian, spoken word artist, and musician |
| Brian Tyree Henry | E. E. Smith High School | Actor |
| Marcello Hernández | John Carroll University | Stand-up comedian and actor |
| John Hoogenakker | South Mecklenburg High School | Actor |
| Chuck Huber | Trinity High School | Voice actor |
| David Henry Hwang | Harvard-Westlake School | Playwright and screenwriter |
| Hallie Jackson | Pennsbury High School | Correspondent and anchor for NBC News |
| Erik Jensen | Apple Valley High School | Actor, playwright, and documentarian |
| Cherry Jones | Henry County High School | Actress |
| Colin Jost | Regis High School | Comedian, actor, and screenwriter |
| David Lindsay-Abaire | Milton Academy | Playwright, screenwriter, and lyricist |
| John Lithgow | Princeton High School | Actor |
| Tom Llamas | Belen Jesuit Preparatory School | Emmy Award-winning anchor of ABC World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News |
| Shelley Long | South Side High School | Actress and comedian |
| Jon Lovett | Syosset High School | Podcaster, screenwriter, and television producer |
| Carlos Maza | | Video producer who started the Vox series Strikethrough |
| Brian McBride | Westbury High School | Musician known for Stars of the Lid |
| Heather McGhee | Milton Academy | Television political commintator |
| Idina Menzel | Syosset High School | Actress |
| Hasan Minhaj | Davis Senior High School | Comedian, actor, and producer |
| John Moe | Federal Way High School | Radio personality and podcaster |
| Anson Mount | Dickson County High School | Actor |
| Donna Murphy | Masconomet Regional High School | Actress |
| Roberto Orci | Spring Woods High School | Screenwriter and producer |
| Jared Padalecki | James Madison High School | Actor |
| Fred Parker Jr. | Northside Independent School District | Actor |
| Jane Pauley | Warren Central High School | Television host of Today and Dateline NBC |
| Jordan Peele | Calhoun School | Comedian, actor, and filmmaker |
| Kal Penn | Freehold Township High School | Actor |
| Brad Pitt | Kickapoo High School | Actor |
| Michaela Jaé Rodriguez | Newark Arts High School | Actress and singer |
| Paul Rudd | Shawnee Mission West High School | Actor and comedian |
| Danielle Schneider | Spanish River Community High School | Actress |
| Heidi Schreck | Wenatchee High School | Screenwriter, playwright, and actress |
| Katy Selverstone | Scranton Central High School | Actress |
| Yara Shahidi | Dwight Global Online School | Actress and producer |
| Casey Simpson | Agoura High School | Actor |
| Jenny Slate | Milton Academy | Actress, comedian, and writer |
| Brent Spiner | Bellaire High School | Actor known for Star Trek: The Next Generation |
| Bruce Springsteen | Freehold Borough High School | Rock musician |
| Jason Sudeikis | Shawnee Mission West High School | Actor and comedian |
| Maria Thayer | Apple Valley High School | Actress |
| Kenan Thompson | Woodward Academy | Comedian and actor |
| Stephen Tobolowsky | Justin F. Kimball High School | Actor |
| Michael Urie | Plano Senior High School | Actor |
| Michael Benjamin Washington | Plano Senior High School | Actor |
| Pete Williams | Natrona County High School | Television correspondent for NBC News |
| Oprah Winfrey | East Nashville High School | Talk show host, actress, producer, and author |
| BD Wong | Abraham Lincoln High School | Actor |
| Bowen Yang | Smoky Hill High School | Actor and comedian |
| "Weird Al" Yankovic | Lynwood High School | Comedy musician |
| Anthony E. Zuiker | Chaparral High School | Screenwriter |

## Law

| Name | Chapter | Notability |
| Samuel Alito | Hamilton High School East | Justice, Supreme Court of the United States |
| Preet Bharara | Ranney School | United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York |
| Lisa Blatt | Bellaire High School | Lawyer and partner at the law firm Williams & Connolly |
| Stephen Breyer | Lowell High School | Justice, Supreme Court of the United States |
| Paul Clement | Cedarburg High School | Solicitor General of the United States |
| Viet Dinh | Fullerton High School | United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy |
| David Frederick | Thomas Jefferson High School | Appellate attorney and partner at Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick |
| Thomas Goldstein | NSU University School | Lawyer and co-founder of SCOTUSblog |
| Ketanji Brown Jackson | Miami Palmetto Senior High School | Justice, Supreme Court of the United States |
| Neal Katyal | Loyola Academy | Appellate lawyer professor at the Georgetown University Law Center |
| Anna M. Manasco | Saint James School | U.S. District judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama |
| Katherine M. Menendez | Topeka High School | U.S. District judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota |
| Janet Reno | Coral Gables High School | United States Attorney General |
| Sonia Sotomayor | Cardinal Spellman High School | Justice, Supreme Court of the United States |

## Literature and print journalism

| Name | Chapter | Notability |
| Ty Burr | Milton Academy | Film critic at The Boston Globe |
| Pintip Dunn | Parsons Senior High School | Author of young adult fiction |
| Saeed Jones | Lewisville High School | Poet |
| Priya Krishna | Greenhill School | Food journalist for The New York Times |
| R. F. Kuang | Greenhill School | Fantasy writer |
| Min Jin Lee | Bronx High School of Science | Author and journalist |
| Ben Lerner | Topeka High School | Poet, novelist, essayist, and critic |
| Larry Magid | Ulysses S. Grant High School | Technology columnist, writer, and commentator |
| Celeste Ng | Shaker Heights High School | Novelist |
| Alan Sepinwall | Montville High School | Chief television critic for Rolling Stone |
| Bryan Washington | James E. Taylor High School | Writer |

## Politics

| Name | Chapter | Notability |
| Stacey Abrams | Avondale High School | Georgia House of Representatives |
| Rebecca Blank | Alexander Ramsey High School | United States Secretary of Commerce |
| James H. Burnley IV | High Point Central High School | United States Secretary of Transportation |
| G. T. Bynum | Cascia Hall Preparatory School | 40th mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Yvanna Cancela | Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart | White House Senior Advisor to Governors and Statewide Elected Officials and chief of staff to the Governor of Nevada |
| Joaquin Castro | Thomas Jefferson High School | United States House of Representatives and Texas House of Representatives |
| Frank G. Clement | Dickson County High School | Governor of Tennessee |
| William J. Crowe Jr. | Classen Hiigh School | U, S, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a U,S, Navy admiral |
| Steve Daines | Bozeman High School | United States Senator and U.S. House of Representative |
| Diana DeGette | South High School | U.S. House of Representative |
| Russ Feingold | Joseph A. Craig High School | United States Senator, Wisconsin Senate, and U.S.Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes and the Congo-Kinshasa |
| Peggy Flanagan | St. Louis Park High School | 50th Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota |
| Bob Graham | Miami Carol City High School | Governor of Florida and United States Senator |
| Thamar Harrigan | North Miami Beach Senior High School | White House Chief of Staff and White House Liaison of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency |
| Megan Jones | Spencer High School | Iowa House of Representatives |
| Colin Kahl | John F. Kennedy High School | Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and national security advisor to the vice president und |
| Kevin Kiley | Granite Bay High School | United States House of Representatives and California State Assembly |
| Richard Lugar | Shortridge High School | United States Senate |
| Michael McFaul | Bozeman High School | United States Ambassador to Russia |
| Tom Ridge | Cathedral Preparatory School | Governor of Pennsylvania and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security |
| Karl Rove | Olympus High School | White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Senior Advisor to the President |
| Robert Rubin | Miami Beach High School | 70th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury |
| Terri Sewell | Selma High School | United States House of Representatives |
| Jake Sullivan | Southwest High School | U.S. National Security Advisor |
| Megan Srinivas | Fort Dodge High School | Iowa House of Representatives |
| Elizabeth Warren | Northwest Classen High School | United States Senate |
| John Wertheim | | Chairman of the Democratic Party of New Mexico and political candidate |
| Paul Wesselhoft | | Oklahoma House of Representatives |