Meet Our Team
Coaches
Elise Matton
Director of Speech & Debate
matton@aa.edu
Elise Matton is the Director of Speech & Debate at Albuquerque Academy, where she is also a full-time history teacher. An alum of the team (’10), she co-founded the Tulane University Debate Team where she was nominated for university-wide student leadership awards. She has worked in both New Mexico and Louisiana with middle school, high school, and college-level debate programs, spanning CX, LD, PF, NPDA, IPDA, and MSPDP debate styles. Since coming on to AA’s team to coach in 2017, she has been named the NMSDA Debate Coach of the Year (2021 and 2022) as well as the NSDA NM District’s Assistant Coach of the Year (2019 and 2022). As of 2023, she is also treasurer of the New Mexico Speech & Debate Association, a district committee member for the New Mexico District of the National Speech & Debate Association, and a board member of the Speech & Debate Educator’s Foundation (SDEF). Dubbed “Enthusiastic Elise” by many of her former teammates, she is ecstatic to have returned to her home on the AA team.
Norah Doss
Assistant Speech Coach
doss@aa.edu
Norah, an '08 alum, competed in Informative Speaking, Humorous Interpretation, Program Oral Interpretation, and her main event, Dramatic Interpretation, during all four years of high school. In addition to being an English teacher specializing in writing, she has also taught theatre and Humanities. She considers blazers to be an appropriate addition to any outfit to this day.
Jason Barton
Assistant Debate Coach
barton@aa.edu
Jason is a fourth-year PhD candidate studying philosophy at UNM. His research primarily focuses on early-19th century German philosophy with a lingering interest in the philosophy of psychoanalysis. As part of his doctoral program, he also teaches introductory courses on philosophy at UNM. His debate experience includes: three years of competition at the high school level (CX, LD, and PF), four years of competition at the college/university level (NPDA/NPTE), and three years of coaching/judging at the college/university level. During his senior year at Rice University, he and his partner finished respectively 2nd and 5th at the concluding national tournaments for the season (NPTE and NPDA). He is more than excited to be joining the Albuquerque Academy Speech and Debate team!
Brennan Foster
Assistant Speech Coach
Brennan Foster is the Artistic Director of Mother Road Theatre Company, as well as an actor. He is a member of SAG-AFTRA and has worked in numerous film, television and theatrical productions. This year, he wrote and directed a segment for the locally produced collaborative feature film, "Pandemic Response".