Rishya is a senior at Plano West who has competed in Public Forum debate for 5 years. She has been competing on the national circuit, qualifying to the TFA State tournament 3 times and also qualified to the Tournament of Champions and the NSDA Nationals. Most notably, she has advanced to elimination rounds at multiple tournaments including Harvard, UT, and Grapevine, and she is super excited to serve on BTL's team again!

Jacob Yang is a sophmore at Jasper High School. He has mainly competed in Public Forum Debate over the past 4 years, reaching elimination rounds in numerous local tournaments, and most notably qualifying to TFA State in his freshman year. He looks forward to being a part of Be The Light and working with its students!

Hi! I'm Anahita, and I'm a junior at Plano West High School. I compete mostly in Congressional Debate and have been involved in debate for four years, qualifying to TFA state. I'm so excited to be working in BTL this year!

Sanjit Konda is a rising junior. He mainly competes in Extemporaneous speaking and Congressional Debate, in which he has competed at the state level qualifying for the TFA state tournament 2 times in a row. He has reached many elimination rounds at national tournaments and is passionate about teaching debate to other students. He was also a congressional debate captain for the Jasper high school debate team and a Plano ISD city champion in Congressional Debate in 2023.

Vijay Shivnani competes in Original Oratory and Informative Speaking as a junior at Plano West High School. After competing in speech for 6 years, he qualified for TFA State (semifinalist), TOC (quarterfinalist), NIETOC, and NSDA National tournaments. As the captain of Shepton and Renner speech teams, he helped double the team sizes and is excited to bring his passion for speech back to BTL for another year!

Sanvi Porwal is a junior at Plano West Senior High School. Having been a part of speech and debate for the past 5 years, she has competed in Domestic and International Extemp, and has qualified to the TFA state tournament and the NIETOC. She’s excited to work with BTL!

Andy Lee is a junior at Plano West Senior High School and competes primarily in extemporaneous speaking. He has served as the captain for extemp at Jasper High School and has actively competed in speech for the past four years. Some of his most notable achievements include making it to the quarterfinals at the TFA state tournament and qualifying for the National Speech and Debate Tournament. He looks forward to working with BTL and all of its wonderful students this year!

Hi! My name is Maggie, and I’m going to be a junior at Plano West. I mainly compete in Public Forum debate, where I’ve participated in numerous tournaments and qualified for TFA. In my free time, I enjoy reading and playing tennis. I’m excited to be here and get to know you all!

Hi, I’m Skanda. I compete in LD and have qualified to state and national level tournaments. I’m extremely excited to be working with you!

Sean Kim is a rising junior at Plano West Senior High School and competes in Lincoln Douglas Debate. Throughout his middle school career he has also competed in PF and Congressional Debate; placing at multiple tournaments. In his freshman year, he has broken to multiple elimination rounds and most notably qualified to the TFA State tournament his sophomore year while also serving as his school's LD captain. He is looking forward to working with students at Be the Light this year!

Esther Zhao is a rising junior at Plano West High School and a public forum debater. She's a two-time TFA State qualifier, has reached doubles at Glenbrooks and octas at STOC, and was the 9th top speaker at STOC. She's excited to work with everyone at BTL’s workshops this year!

Jessica Zhang is a rising junior at Plano West Senior High School. For the past four years, she has competed in public forum debate, placing at many local tournaments and, most notably, qualifying for the TFA state tournament and the Tournament of Champions. She is excited to work with students at Be the Light!

Lindsey Zhao is a senior at Plano Senior High School and competes primarily in Extemporaneous Speaking and Congressional Debate, with some experience in Original Oratory. She is a 2x invitee to the Capital City Round Robin; extemp finalist at NIETOC, Glenbrooks, and UT; and placed 8th and 7th in Congress/International Extemp in the state. She is excited to return to BTL!

Roshan Shivnani is a senior at Plano West High School. He competes in both Extemporaneous Speaking and Congressional Debate. He has reached the outrounds of several national tournaments like semifinals at the Extemp Tournament of Champions and quarterfinals at Harvard along with qualifying for TFA, ETOC, NIETOC, TOC, and NSDA.

Rehan is a senior at Plano West who competes in Extemporaneous Speaking. He has notably placed 5th at Emory, 6th and 7th at TFA State, and 6th at NIETOC.

Aashna is a junior at Plano West and has competed in Public Forum for the past two years. At Jasper High School, she was a captain for PF and qualified for both TFA state. She has competed in debate reaching out rounds of Grapevine, UT, and Seattle. She is excited to teach at BTL this year!