Mentors

  • Ishan Dubey

    MENTOR

    Ishan debated at Strake Jesuit in Houston, Texas for 4 years, graduating in 2023. During his career, Ishan received 24 bids to the TOC. His most notable wins include Yale, Florida Blue Key, the Cavalier Invitational at Durham, the University of Texas, the University of Houston, St. James, the Barkley Forum, Holy Cross (LD), Hockaday, and the TFA state tournament. Ishan also reached finals at the Glenbrooks and Tournament of Champions along with placing seventh at NSDA Nationals and reaching quarterfinals at the national Great Communicator Debate Series championship. Ishan specialized in efficient debating as well as overall versatility throughout his career.

  • Joseph Nahas

    MENTOR

    Joseph Nahas will be a rising junior at La Salle High School where he will serve as the captain of his debate team. His primary achievements consist of 5 career bids, winning his national district tournament, breaking at NSDA, and was the top speaker at UNLV. Joseph is a second speaker who specializes in any form (lay, flay, or tech) of substantive debate. During his free time, he enjoys playing basketball, watching movies, and hanging out with his friends. Joseph is ecstatic to aid his mentees on their journey to becoming the best debaters they can.

  • Daniel Guo

    MENTOR

    Daniel is a rising junior at Strake Jesuit in Houston Texas. This will be his third year competitively debating, previously qualifying for the TOC and TFA state. Daniel has broken to deep outrounds at several national tournaments this year, most notably the University of Texas Invitational, Mid America Cup, and Yale. Daniel specializes in judge adaptation, especially more traditional forms of debate such as lay appeal, round vision, and efficient frontlining. In his free time, Daniel enjoys playing tennis, watching basketball, and fishing.

  • Jason Zhao

    MENTOR

    Hey everyone! My name is Jason, and I’m a rising sophomore at Seven Lakes High School, where I debate as the second speaker of Seven Lakes LZ. I’ve qualified to TFA State, NSDA Nationals, and GTOC, and reached deep elim rounds at multiple national tournaments, including championing Laird Lewis. I also have competitive experience in other debate formats like CX. ​​Having spoken both first and second, I can help with a wide array of skills from round vision, weighing, to efficiency but I’m happy to work on whatever’s best for you. When I’m not debating, I like to swim, listen to music, and hang out with friends.

  • Pranav Pradeep

    MENTOR

    Hey everyone, I am Pranav the second speaker for Mira Loma PM. My partner and I have been ranked as high 5th in the nation and have amassed a handful of bids to the TOC this season. I specialize in weighing, frontlining, analytics and adaptation. I am excited to work with everyone!

  • Arrman Kapoor

    MENTOR

    Arrman is a rising sophomore at Jasper High School and has been primarily competing in Public Forum Debate for the past two years. He has qualified to TFA State and NSDA Nationals, as well as the TOC where he placed amongst the top 20 speakers. With his partner, Anuj, he has made it to numerous elimination rounds at national level tournaments including 1st at the Seattle University Invitational and Colleyville Invitational, in addition to quarterfinals at Hockaday and octofinals at the Peninsula Invitational.

  • Roy Kapoor

    Roy debated for 2 years at Fairmont Prep in Anaheim, California. Across his career, he was ranked as high as 7th in the nation, qualified to the Gold Tournament of Champions 2 times, and reached elimination rounds at 20 tournaments, accumulating 10 bids in the process. Roy reached late elimination rounds/ championed tournaments like the NDCA, Emory, Berkeley, Bronx, ASU, and Durham. He co-captained a Fairmont squad that placed 3rd in cumulative bids across the country his junior year, and as a coach, led 2 teams to their first TOC Qualifications. He specializes in technical debate with a focus on theory and K.

  • Dean Mrkva

    Dean is a freshman who debates at Palm Harbor University High School in Palm Harbor, Florida. Throughout his 3 years of debate experience he has competed both nationally and locally against opponents of all skill levels. Most notably he was one of the first middle school debaters to reach outrounds at a popular bid tournament. He hopes to share his knowledge about the fundamentals and more technical aspects of debate through our mentor program. Outside of debate he enjoys playing basketball, swimming, and playing chess occasionally.

  • Eesha Suri

    MENTOR

    Eesha debated at Southlake Carroll in Texas for 4 years, graduating in 2023. She has reached elimination rounds at nearly every national tournament she has attended, and was ranked the top female team in Texas, which is one of the most competitive states for debate. She has also championed 5+ locals, and can help guide debaters who want to succeed on the local circuit as well. Additionally, Esha has a lot of experience coaching both novices and experienced debaters, helping them achieve success on the local, state, and national level. Eesha enjoys helping all stages and specializes in round strategy, helping debaters think quickly on their feet and use analytics, and salvaging difficult rounds.

  • Ethan Liu

    MENTOR

    Ethan debated at Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas for 4 years, graduating in 2023. During his career, he amassed 13 total bids, qualified every year to the TFA State Tournament and National Tournament, twice to the TOC, and was invited to the Strake and Kandi King round robins. In addition, He’s also semifinaled the state tournament, Grapevine, quartered Blake, and won Plano West. He specializes largely in lay debate and progressive arguments. In his free time he loves listening to Ye, Future, and Cudi, so feel free to talk to him about music!

  • Cecilia Granda-Scott

    MENTOR

    Cecilia debated at Ransom Everglades in Miami, Florida for 3 years, graduating in 2022. In her senior year, Ceci and her partner Nicole were the first female team in the country to qualify to TOC amassing a total of 7 gold bids. Ceci reached semifinals at Nova Titan and Durham, quarterfinaled Holy Cross and the Tradition, octofinaled Yale, Blake, the Sunvitational, and Harvard, and got 10th place at Nationals. Coaching younger debaters at Ransom, Ceci’s students have quarterfinaled novice Blue Key and Princeton, and won Florida Novice States. Ceci was a first speaker and ran primarily fem frameworks her senior year. She was a competitive swimmer for 8 years and is obsessed with Taylor Swift.

  • Varnica Basavaraj

    MENTOR

    Varnica debated at Lambert High School in Suwannee, Georgia for 4 years, graduating in 2023. During her career, she has reached late outrounds at many tournaments including UPenn, Princeton, Columbia, and NSDAs. She is also a 3x TOC qualifier and quarterfinaled her junior year. Having spoken both first and second, she can help with a wide array of skills from weighing to round vision or analytics. In her free time she loves to go on drives and listen to Kanye and Kendrick.

  • Satvik Mahendra

    MENTOR

    Satvik debated at Plano West Senior High School in Plano, Texas for 4 years, graduating in 2023. Throughout his junior year, Satvik was consistently ranked as high as #1 in the nation, and has amassed a total 14 bids to the Tournament of Champions. In the process, Satvik has won tournaments like Arizona State and Bellaire, made semifinals at Blue Key, was the top seed and made quarterfinals at Harvard and Bronx, and went undefeated in prelims at Harvard Round Robin. Most recently, Satvik finished 4th at NSDA Nationals. Satvik’s favorite parts of debate include analytical responses, weighing, and judge adaptation. When he’s not debating, Satvik enjoys cooking unique dishes, playing basketball with friends, and staying up way too late.

  • William Pirone

    MENTOR

    William debated at the College Preparatory School in Oakland, California for 4 years. In his four years of debate, he has been ranked as high as third in the nation, championing the Apple Valley MinneApple Debate Tournament, quarterfinaling the Tournament of Champions, and semifinaling multiple national tournaments including the Sunvitational, the Strake Jesuit Round Robin, the California Round Robin, and the Kandi King Round Robin. His areas of expertise include crafting robust analytical responses, conducting in-depth research, and adapting to judges. He’s also comfortable with progressive styles of debate including theoretical and critical arguments. Outside of debate, Will enjoys playing chess, petting his two cats, and learning languages like Russian and Swedish.

  • Ilan Ben-Avi

    MENTOR

    Ilan debated at LC Anderson high school in Austin, Texas for 4 years. His most notable accomplishments include championing Blue Key without dropping a ballot, reaching the finals of tournaments like TFA State and Stanford, and being ranked consistently within the national top five. He has received 11 bids to the tournament of champions and made it to elimination rounds the first time he attended. His favorite parts of debate include weighing and writing blocks.

  • Bobby Missell

    MENTOR

    Hi I’m Bobby! I’m a senior at Lambert HS and I’ve been competing nationally for almost 6 years now. I have 18 career bids, quarter finaled TOC and NDCA, cochamped Stanford, and made deep outs at several large national tournaments. I’d consider myself a pretty flexible debater but would probably be better on the technical end of things. I can help with things like round vision, strategy, or weighing but truthfully I’m happy to work on whatever is best for you. Outside of debate, I’m also into music and love artists from Taylor to Carti.

  • Ani Sukhija

    MENTOR

    Hey! I’m Ani (he/him) and I’m a rising senior at Durham Academy. I’ve been competing on the national and local PF circuit for the past three years, and during that time I’ve been ranked as high as the best PF team in the nation. Over the past two years, I’ve been ranked as the top PF team in North Carolina, qualifying to the gold TOC both years and earning 13 bids: seven gold and six silver. Notably, I’ve championed Isidore Newman, Duke, and the Strake Round Robin, while co-championing Sunvite and UK. I also finaled the NDCA championship, semied Emory, and quartered Harvard, while earning several speaker awards and co-championing my state tournament. Currently, I am the Co-Captain for Durham Academy’s Public Forum Team, and I love to work on back-half strategy, judge adaptation skills, and weighing. When I’m not debating, I like to play volleyball, listen to Kid Cudi, pet dogs, and hang out with friends.

  • Arnav Mehta

    MENTOR

    Hi, my name is Arnav Mehta and I am a rising junior and I go to Seven Lakes High school where I compete as a second speaker for Seven Lakes KM. I have championed two national circuit tournaments at Alta (Silver and Black) and the University of Houston while also acquiring a gold bid at Blake, with two silvers from Blue Key and Berkeley. He has also been invited to the Berkeley and King Round Robin. Acquiring 5 total bids my sophomore year.

  • Jonah Sah

    MENTOR

    Hi, I’m Jonah. I am a rising senior at Poly Prep in New York City. In my 7 years of PF debate, I have collected 10 bids and attended the TOC and NSDA nationals twice. I am excited to work with The Debate Group to help with anything from lay debate to Ks.

  • Jessica Gold

    MENTOR

    Hi everyone! My name is Jessica and I’m a rising senior at Riverdale Country School in New York City. I’ve debated since freshman year and have qualified to the TOC twice, amassing three total bids. I’ve reached semifinals of the silver TOC, won top speaker at NDCA nationals, won UNLV, reached semifinals at UPenn, and been ranked as high as 11th in the country by the NDCA. I think can help mostly in the areas of framing, efficient frontlining, critical argumentation, and weighing. Outside of debate, I’ve participated in Model UN for three years and will serve as the captain of my varsity tennis team this upcoming season! I’m so excited to meet y’all!!

  • Ava Ye

    MENTOR

    Ava Ye is a junior at Flintridge Preparatory School in Los Angeles, California. Throughout her career, she has accumulated 9 bids to the Tournament of Champions, qualified to NSDA Nationals and the Harvard Round Robin, and reached octofinals at NDCA Nationals. She has broken and reached late elimination rounds at tournaments like Yale, Bellaire, UPenn, and Berkeley. Aside from public forum, Ava has qualified to the California State Championships and/or the NIETOC in parliamentary debate and extemporaneous speaking. When not spending her weekends at tournaments, she enjoys stress baking and manifesting rain.

  • Nicole He

    MENTOR

    Hello! My name is Nicole He and I am a senior at Seven Lakes and I have been competing in public forum for four years. I’ve gone to the TOC two years in a row and I’ve reached elimination rounds at tournaments such as UNLV, UH, Emory, Yale, and more. My partner and I really like reading progressive arguments related to marginalized groups so I can help with writing cases or doing drills on progressive debate for any debater interested!

  • Jessica Chai

    MENTOR

    Hi! I’m Jessica Chai (she/her), the first speaker of Seven Lakes CH, and I’ve been doing public forum debate since middle school. I’ve qualified to TFA, both silver and gold TOC, and NSDA Nationals. I’ve reached elimination rounds at national circuit tournaments like Yale, Bronx, Plano West, Glenbrooks, Churchill, Columbia, etc. If I get the chance, I like to run women-centered arguments and kritik frameworks.

  • Andrew Chun

    MENTOR

    Hi! I’m Andrew and I’m a rising junior at the Bergen County Academies in New Jersey. I’ve been debating for five years and qualified to the Tournament of Champions in both my freshman and sophomore year. I’ve reached elimination rounds at national tournaments like Yale, UPenn, Bronx, Apple Valley, and more. I also have competitive experience in other debate formats and have won several local tournaments. I mainly specialize in judge adaptation as well as round vision/strategy. Outside of debate, I love playing and watching sports.

  • Raiyan Choudhury

    MENTOR

    Hey y’all I’m Raiyan (he/him) and I’m a rising senior at BASIS Chandler High School from Chandler, Arizona. I started debate in 10th grade and have competed on the national circuit for 1 year. Over the course of my first year in varsity this season, I have accumulated 2 gold bids at ASU and Blake, 4 silver bids, and championed the Arizona State District Tournament. I really like techy substance rounds, but I also have a ton of experience debating lay/flay. As the first debate team from my school in over 5 years, I never had any captains or resources, so my TDG mentor (Shout-out to Lars Deutz!) taught me basically everything I know about debate, and would love to be able to give back to the Debate community with a resource that was so helpful to me in my early career.

  • Adam El Bahey

    Hi, I’m Adam, a senior at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale, CA. I started debate in my freshman year and have competed in a lot of different formats. Last year I semifinaled Laird Lewis, went to gold TOC, and octad NSDA nats in world schools reading setcol. I was a mentee with the debate group at the start of my debate career and am now looking forward to mentoring new debaters and help them acclimate to a changing technical pf circuit.

  • Nathan Gong

    MENTOR

    Nathan is a senior at Plano East and competes in LD. Nathan’s competitive successes include ranking top 16 and earning 2nd speaker at TFA State. He also amassed four bids to the TOC, where he advanced to double-octofinals. Nathan enjoys listening to King Geedorah, The Smiths and playing with his dog, Oscar.

  • Amrit Sharma

    MENTOR

    Hey everyone! My name is Amrit and I’m a senior at the Quarry Lane School. I’ve competed in Public Forum debate for the last three years. This year I was invited to the Ivy Street and Cal Round Robin, and got bids at Blue Key, Glenbrooks, Nano Nagle, and Jack Howe. I’m very excited to work with The Debate Group help beginners and people with experience in the activity improve with efficiency and technical debate.

  • Melinda Li

    MENTOR

    Melinda debated at A&M Consolidated High School in Texas. Throughout her career, she has competed twice at both TOC and NSDA Nationals, reaching semifinals at the Bellaire Forensics Tournament, octofinals at the Texas Forensics Tournament, and elimination rounds at multiple national tournaments.

  • Claire Wang

    MENTOR

    My name is Claire Wang, and I debate for A&M Consolidated High School in Texas. I’ve done debate for 4 years now, and I’ve achieved competitive success on the local and national level. I reached top 70 at nats twice, octafinaled TFA state, qualified to TOC twice, and was ranked as high as 12th in the nation. Throughout my debate career, I’ve specialized in running framing (neolib, fem) and also in lay debate.

  • Brennan Lee

    MENTOR

    Brennan is a rising senior at Plano West Senior High School, and has been competing in speech and debate for five years. Throughout his time competing, Brennan has finished 11th at the NSDA Nationals in PF, qualified twice to the Tournament of Champions in Extemporaneous Speaking & Public Forum Debate, and reached late outrounds of major national level tournaments such as Harvard, Yale, Logan, and the Texas Forensic Association State tournament. In his free time, he loves cooking, basketball, soccer, and playing video games.

  • Ananshi Patel

    MENTOR

    Ananshi Patel is a rising junior at Plano West Senior High School and has served as a public forum debate captain in her school. She has been competing in public forum debate for over four years, and has reached outrounds at numerous national level tournaments, earning a bid to the silver TOC. Additionally, Ananshi and her partner reached the doubles elimination round at TFA State, playing them amongst the top 25 teams in the state. She specializes in flowing, weighing, and summary strategy. Outside of debate, she loves traveling, listening to music (especially Taylor Swift), and hanging out with her friends. She’s super excited to work with people at The Debate Group!

  • Sanjana Kumar

    MENTOR

    Sanjana is a junior at Plano West Senior High School and primarily competes in Public Forum Debate. She has been a part of the speech and debate community for nearly five years, and she has served as the PF captain for Jasper High School. She has qualified and broken to elimination rounds at TFA state, qualified to the Silver Tournament of Champions tournament, qualified to the NSDA National Tournament, and championed several local tournaments.

  • Jonathan Chen

    MENTOR

    Hi, I’m JC and I’m a rising senior from Taipei American School in Taiwan! I’ve been doing PF since eighth grade and have served as TAS’ PF captain since my sophomore year. I’ve broken at a few national tournaments and collected a few speaker awards (#1 in Sunvite and #3 in TOC Gold). Am a huge San Antonio Spurs fan so pls hmu if you wna talk NBA – excited to work with yall!

  • Humzah Ahmad

    MENTOR

    Humzah is a high school debater who has broken at dozens of NSDA Tournaments, qualified for UIL State in Texas, and qualified for NSDA Nationals. Along with that, he is heavily involved in local politics as a candidate for the Economic Advisory Board for his local city government.

  • Sabrina Huang

    MENTOR

    Hi! I’m Sabrina Huang (CPS HP). About me: me and my partner have been ranked as high as 3rd in the country, quarterfinaled at TOC, semifinaled at Sunvite and the King and Strake Round Robins, and won Minneapple! I think I’m good at coaching case delivery (whether you want to spread or you want to improve your lay appeal), and progressive arguments. In my spare time I like to play Fire Emblem and check out new restaurants in the Bay Area. I’m excited to be working with you all!

  • Michael Wu

    MENTOR

    Hello everyone, my name is Michael Wu, and I am a senior from Seven Lakes High School. I’ve debated for four years where I have achieved 11 TOC bids as well as been to the Gold TOC twice. I have reached semis at TFA State and Grapevine, quarters at blake, and won Plano West. I am excited to coach and I specialize in lay debate and theory.

  • Andy Li

    MENTOR

    Hey y’all! I’m Andy, the second speaker for Southlake Carroll BL. I have been competing in speech and debate for 3 years, and my partner and I have state qualled. I specialize in analytics and efficiency and have experience against all kinds of debaters. My nuance is especially in more traditional forms of debate, such as lay debate. Outside of debate, I love to play tennis. Looking forward to working with y’all!

  • Nathan Wei

    Hi, I'm Nathan and am currently a junior debating at Strake Jesuit. I have 5 career bids and made elims at the TOC in LD, as well as breaking at TFA State 2x. I also have bids in PF. I'm mostly do kritical debate as well as some trixs. I recently championed the Emory University Debate Tournament.

  • Annie Chen

    Hi I'm Annie and my pronouns are she/her. I'm a current senior and I've debated for the past three years at the Overlake School. My partner and I qualified to silver TOC in my junior year, and became the first team from my school to fully qualify for gold TOC in my senior year. I've had experience in helping with prep/research, round vision/strategy, progressive arguments, and judge adaptation, but I'm also down for anything else. I especially have experience in helping with small school registration and logistical matters, as well as addressing structural inequities in the debate space. Besides PF, I've qualified for NIETOC in Informative Speaking since my freshman year and reached Octafinals in my junior year. In my free time I like exploring new boba shops, listening to music (Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, and Frank Ocean to name a few), and watching basketball.

  • Yufei Li (Fiona)

    Hi I'm Fiona I'm a current junior at The Overlake School. I've been debating for the past three years and qualified to silver TOC in my sophomore year, Gold TOC in my junior year and also reached outrounds at Nationals in worlds schools. I'm currently PF captain at my school and I've had experience in helping others with prep/research and round vision/strategy but I'm also down to help with anything else. My partner and I especially have experience in helping with small school/independent registration and logistic matters. In my free time I like listening to music, going to the library with friends, and binging random shows on netflix.