Hometown: Cleveland, OH

Jay Finch, a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Cleveland Boys Hope Girls Hope Scholar, is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in the Villanova University Honors Program. His campus activities include being the Founder and President of the Villanova Debate Society, Communication Director for the Black Cultural Society, Student Chief of Operations at the National Hispanic Institute, as well as being an Assistant at the Center for Responsible Leadership and Governance.  During the summer of 2005, Jay was a research assistant at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.  The previous summer was spent interning in the office of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) as a business liaison.  Jay’s passion for debate is evidenced by the fact that his high school, St. Ignatius, institutionalized the Jay Finch Debate Award in 2005, which is given to a debater with a winning record that does so without a partner. Jay plans to attend law school after graduation and live out his professional career as a foreign service officer or international lawyer.