Executive Directors

Aayush is a junior at Plano West Senior High School and has competed in speech and debate for 5 years. He has qualified twice to TFA State and once to NSDA Nationals and the Tournament of Champions. Most recently, he co-championed the Texas State Tournament with Plano West. With his partner, Yang, he has made it to numerous elimination rounds, including at Grapevine and Glenbrooks, where he placed amongst top 15 speakers.

Sophia Wei is a rising senior at Plano West and competes primarily in Extemporaneous Speaking. As a former BTL student, she has competed in speech and debate for over 5 years on both the middle school and high school circuits, qualifying for TFA State, NIETOC, UK TOC, ETOC, and UIL State. Sophia's excited to serve as the Executive Director and Head of Social Impact for the upcoming year!

Anuj is a rising senior at Plano West Senior High School and has been competing in Public Forum Debate for the past two years. He has qualified twice to TFA State, where he won the tournament, NSDA Nationals, and the Tournament of Champions, where he placed amongst the top 10 speakers. With his partner, Arrman, he has made it to numerous elimination rounds, including semifinals at Grapevine and UT, quarterfinals at Glenbrooks and Harvard, and Doubles at Stanford and Yale.

Design Department

Evelyn Ding is a senior at Plano West and competes in Extemp and Congress. She has advanced to outrounds at multiple national and state tournaments, including semifinals at the Emory University Barkley Forum and TFA State. She is a 2x NSDA District Champion in International Extemp and 1x NSDA District Champion in Congressional Debate. She has qualified to NSDA Nationals, TFA State, NIETOC, ETOC, and TOC.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Education Department

Eric Qian is a junior at Plano West who mainly competes in extemporaneous speaking. He has semifinaled TFA State, quarterfinaled NIETOC, and championed the NSDA North Texas Longhorns district tournament. He’s thrilled to be back for another year of BTL!

Anshul is a rising senior and has been competing in speech and debate since 6th grade, with a special focus on Extemp since 9th grade. He has qualified and attended various tournaments like NIETOC, ETOC, UT, and TFA State. He is proud to be a part of the tight-knit team that runs BTL and looks forward to another memorable year.

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.

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.

Arrman Kapoor is a rising junior at Plano West and competes in Public Forum Debate. He is a three time qualifier to the Gold TOC and NSDA Nationals. This past season, he accumulated 8 bids to the TOC and was ranked as high as 5th in the nation. His accomplishments include semifinals at UT and TFA State, quarterfinals and the number one seed at Glenbrooks, and octafinals at Harvard. Recently, he placed 10th at NSDA Nationals. Arrman is 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.

Logistics Department

Aayush is a junior at Plano West Senior High School and has competed in speech and debate for 5 years. He has qualified twice to TFA State and once to NSDA Nationals and the Tournament of Champions. Most recently, he co-championed the Texas State Tournament with Plano West. With his partner, Yang, he has made it to numerous elimination rounds, including at Grapevine and Glenbrooks, where he placed amongst top 15 speakers.

Hello hello! I’m Kate, a rising senior at Plano West, and the only BTL team member who writes their bio in first person. I mainly compete in extemporaneous speaking — aka the best event. This past year I’ve had final round appearances at Florida Blue Key (5th), The Longhorn Classic (3rd), and Sunvite (1st). I’ve been invited to the MBA Extemp Round Robin, and even accidentally won TFA State in impromptu speaking. I’ll catch y’all in class — and in round!

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

Hi! I'm Ryan, a rising junior at Plano West. I mainly participate in Lincoln-Douglas debate, where I've qualified to NSDA Nationals in both of the years I've competed and ranked within the top 15 debaters in Texas. I'm excited to have a great first year at BTL!

Hi this is Goutham! I'm a sophomore at Jasper. I have been involved in the speech and debate sector since middle school achieving local, state, and national recognition through various other organizations. I have been nationally recognized and certified in logistics. I enjoy listening to music, playing video games, technology, and swimming. I'm glad to be your logistics coordinator and a part of the BTL community!

Social Impact Department

Sophia Wei is a rising senior at Plano West and competes primarily in Extemporaneous Speaking. As a former BTL student, she has competed in speech and debate for over 5 years on both the middle school and high school circuits, qualifying for TFA State, NIETOC, UK TOC, ETOC, and UIL State. Sophia's excited to serve as the Executive Director and Head of Social Impact for the upcoming 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!

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.

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!

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!

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