EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ​

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!

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!

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!

DESIGN DEPARTMENT

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!

Kristine Qiao is a junior 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!

Cindy Yan is a junior at Plano West who mainly competes in Public Forum debate. Outside of debate, she has experience working with different forms of media and enjoys finding creative ways to communicate ideas. In her free time, she likes painting. She’s excited to serve BTL this year and be more involved with the team!

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.

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!

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

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!

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!

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!

Mohamed is a senior at Plano West Senior High. He's competed in Speech and Debate for around 3 years, being a State and National semifinalist in variations of limited preparation speaking. This is his second year at Be The Light, and he's excited to use that experience to tailor the best educational opportunities for all students!

LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT

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!

Shayaan Farooqi is a sophomore at Southlake Carroll High School and competes in Publix Forum Debate. In his freshmen year, he’s most notably qualified to the TFA state tournament, qualified and broke at STOC, and earned 1st Speaker at UT. He is excited to work at BTL this year!

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!

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!

SOCIAL IMPACT DEPARTMENT

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!

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!

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

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!

Jessica Zhang is a senior at Plano West Senior High School. For the past five 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!

Our Alumni
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