Lillian Liang is a junior at Plano West High School and competes primarily in Public Forum debate. She's reached doubles at Harvard and quarters at Grapevine, and was the 7th top speaker at Grapevine. She's a 2x nats qualifier, 1x GTOC qualifier, and 2x tfa state qualifier. She's excited work with everyone at BTL’s workshops!

Dayan Shah is a junior at Plano West High School who competes in Public Forum Debate. He's been doing debate for around 3 years, and is also a part of the Plano West Wrestling Team. In his free time, he enjoy reading and baking. He's so excited to be a member of BTL this year as a mentor/instructor!

Kristine Qiao is a sophomore at Phillips Exeter Academy. She's done Public Forum, World Schools, and Parlimentary debate over the past 3 years and is excited join BTL's team this year!

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

Ethan Guo is a a freshman from Jasper High School. He mainly competes in Public Forum Debate, where he placed in multiple tournaments. In his free time, he enjoys biking, fishing, and playing table tennis. He is looking forward to working with BTL students!

Varshini Arun is a senior at Plano West Senior High School. She competes primarily in Extemporaneous speaking in the DFW area. She's had multiple national circuit successes, most notable placing 4th at Harvard and winning Impromptu at the Extemp Tournament of Champions. In her free time, Varshini enjoys shopping, reading, and listening to music. She looks forward to working with Be The Light!

Sanjit Konda is a senior. 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.

Snehit Basu is a junior at Plano West Senior High School. He has competed in Public Forum Debate for the past 3 years and Lincoln-Douglas for one year, reaching elimination rounds at local tournaments. He’s very eager to work with Be The Light and its students!

Aahana is a junior at Plano West, and her main event is Humorous Interpretation. She is a 2x NIETOC, Nationals, and State qualifier, and has broken to elimination rounds at several local and nationally ranked tournaments. Some of her hobbies include biking, reading, and eating new foods. She's excited to get to know everyone this year!

Urvashi Shah is a freshman at Jasper High School! She mainly focuses on Congressional Debate and Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, and she is so excited to be an instructor and a coordinator for Be the Light!

Aashna is a senior at Plano West and has competed in Public Forum for the past three years. She was a captain for PF, qualified for TFA state, and qualified for NSDA Nationals. She has reached out rounds of University of Seattle, Grapevine, UT, and TFA State. She is excited to teach at BTL this year!

Esther Zhao is a senior at Plano West Senior High School and primarily competes in Public Forum debate. She has advanced to late elimination rounds at many national circuit tournaments including Grapevine, Florida Blue Key, Glenbrooks, and the Tournament of Champions. She looks forward to working with everyone at Be the Light this year!

Jay Lee enjoys cooking, watching anime/reading manga, playing the viola, and playing video games.

Vijay Shivnani competes in Informative Speaking (and Original Oratory!) as a senior at Plano West High School. After 7 years in the activity, he has advanced at tournaments including the Texas State (2x semifinalist), Florida Blue Key (2x semifinalist) and the Tournament of Champions (quarterfinalist). He is excited to bring his passion for speech back to BTL for another year!

Collin is a senior at Plano West. He competes in Public Forum and started in his freshman year. In his free time, he enjoys playing volleyball, guitar, basketball, and some video games! He is super excited to work with everyone this year!

Maggie is senior from Plano West who competes in Public Forum debate. She has experience on both the local and national circiut, and is very excited to share my experience with new debaters at BTL!

Sean Kim is a senior at Plano West Senior High School and has competed in Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, and Congressional Debate. Most notably he has qualified 2x to the TFA tournament in LD and has also qualified to the STOC. He is very excited to return to BTL and teach!

Anahita is a senior at Plano West. She competes mostly in Congressional Debate and has been involved in debate for 5 years, qualifying to TFA state and nationals! She's so excited to be working in BTL this year!

Andy Lee is a senior 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 few years. Some of his most notable achievements include making it to the quarterfinals at the TFA state tournament twice and octafinaling NIETOC. He looks forward to working with BTL and all of its wonderful students this year!

Priscilla Yu is a senior at Plano West High School. Having been part of debate for the past 4 years, she has qualified to TFA state and STOC. She's really excited to be working with the new students!

Skanda is a senior at Plano West High School. He has competed at the national level for 3 years, qualifying to NSDA Nationals, TFA State, and the Tournament of Champions. Skanda is very excited to be teaching with Be the Light!