Ishika Kothari is a senior at Plano East Senior High School and has competed in extemporaneous speaking for 3 years and counting! In the past, Ishika has finaled in international extemp at large tournaments like UIL State and UT Longhorn. She has also made outrounds at tournaments such as Harvard, TFA State, and more. Ishika qualified to several national-level tournaments such as the 2024 NSDA Nationals, UKTOC, and NIETOC. Ishika is thrilled to be teaching at Be The Light again this year!

Hi! My name is Eshaan, and I’m excited to be an instructor at Be The Light. Throughout my debate tournaments, I have broke at multiple tournaments including the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament. I also qualified twice for the TFA state tournament and qualified for the 2024 National Tournament. I’m really excited to return to Be the Light as an instructor!

Vivian Ho a rising senior at Plano West and competes primarily in Original Oratory with experience in International Extemporaneous Speaking. She has competed in speech and debate for 3 years starting as a freshman. This past year, she champed Plano Senior/Clark swing, advanced as a doubles finalist at Harvard, and qualified for TFA state and NIETOC.

Tara is a rising senior at Plano West Senior High School and has been competing in Congressional Debate for the past four years. She has qualified for TFA State and NSDA Nationals in her sophomore and junior years. Further, she has been competing on the local circuit for some time, championing and having top-five finishes at multiple tournaments. Her most notable accomplishments include making it into elimination rounds at Harvard and breaking into semis at the Longhorn Classic and TFA State. Tara is excited to be teaching at Be The Light this year!

Kaitlyn is a junior at Plano West and primarily competes in Domestic and International Extemporaneous Speaking. She has competed in speech/debate for the past five years, advancing to the semifinal round at both TFA State and NIETOC. She is excited to teach at BTL this year!

Swathi is a junior at Plano East Senior High School and has competed in speech and debate for 5 years. She primarily competes in Original Oratory and Informative Speaking at national, state, and local tournaments. She has qualified to NIETOC, TOC, NSDA Nationals and TFA State in Informative Speaking, placing 9th at TFA and being a semifinalist at the Stanford tournament. Most importantly, she can't wait for another year of BTL

Roshan Shivnani is a junior 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.

Serene is a rising senior at Plano East Senior High and mostly competes in Congressional Debate and Extemp, qualifying to tournaments like TFA State and NSDA Nationals as well as reaching outrounds in various locals. She is excited to be teaching at BTL again this year!

Lindsey Zhao is a junior at Plano Senior High School and has competed primarily in Extemporaneous Speaking since 7th grade, although she’s competed in PF, Congress, and Original Oratory. She semifinaled the California Invitational her freshman year, and in her sophomore year was invited to the Capital City Round Robin, placed 10th in the state for International Extemp, and won 4th place at the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions. She’s excited to return to BTL!

Yang Bai is a junior at Plano West Senior High School. He has participated in Public Forum for three years and reached many late-elimination rounds, including co-champing the Texas State Tournament his sophomore year with his partner Aayush Appan, sharing first place with Arrman and Anuj. Yang has been teaching basic and competitive debate at BTL for over a year now.

Rehan is a junior at Plano West who primarily competes in extemporaneous speaking. He has most notably finished 6th at NIETOC, 6th at TFA State, and semifinaled at both Harvard and UT Austin.

Rishya Vemireddy is a junior at Plano West and has competed in Public Forum for 4 years. At Jasper High School, she was a captain for PF and qualified for both TFA state and NSDA nationals. Rishya has competed at several national level tournaments where she co-championed Hockaday, quartered at Grapevine, doubled at UT, and reached quadruple finals at the Harvard tournament with her partner. Rishya is super excited to be a part of BTL!

Vijay Shivnani is a sophomore and speech captain at Shepton High School. In middle school, he won Plano Original Oratory City Champion and presented his oratory at the Robinson Fine Arts Center. In his freshman year, he qualified for TFA State, NIETOC, and Nationals in Informative Speaking.

Andy Lee is a sophomore at Jasper High School and competes primarily in extemporaneous speaking. He is currently the captain for extemp at Jasper High School and has actively competed in speech for the past four years, qualifying for the TFA state tournament and NIETOC. He looks forward to working with BTL and all of its wonderful students this year!

Esther is a sophomore at Jasper High School. She competes in public forum debate and has broken to many elimination rounds at the local level, qualified and competed at TFA State, and has placed fourth at the district tournament. She's looking forward to working with students at BTL during this year's workshops!

Sanjit Konda is a sophomore at Jasper High School. He mainly competes in Extemporaneous speaking and Congressional Debate, in which he has competed at the state level qualifying for the TFA state tournament. He has reached many elimination rounds at tournaments and is passionate about teaching debate to other students.

Skanda Gopikannan is a rising sophomore at Jasper High School. He is currently the Lincoln Douglas Debate captain at Jasper and has previously competed in Public Forum Debate. He qualified to TFA State, UIL State, and NSDA Nationals. Most notably, he was 5th in the state at UIL. He's extremely excited to be with BTL for his first year!

Jessica Zhang is a sophomore at Jasper 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. She is excited to work with students at Be the Light!

Sanvi Porwal is a sophomore at Jasper High School, where she competes in Extemporaneous Speaking. She has been competing in speech and debate for the past 4 years, and currently serves as the Extemp captain at Jasper. This past year, she placed at various local tournaments and qualified for TFA state and NIETOC.

Sean Kim is a rising sophomore at Jasper High School and competes in Lincoln Douglas Debate. Throughout his middle school career he has also competed in PF and Congressional Debate; finaling at multiple tournaments. In his freshman year, he has broken to multiple elimination rounds and is looking forward to serving as one of the LD captains for Jasper High School. He can't wait to be apart of the Be the Light team this year!