Mac Stratton

Instructor

Hi, I’m Mac. I’m a Strake Jesuit senior debater who also competed in middle school. Most notably, I have accumulated 16 bids to the TOC and quartered the TOC as well. Additionally, I won the Blake tournament, Glenbrooks, and the King Round Robin. I want to expand my horizons by dabbling in the coaching aspect of the debate realm. In my free time, I enjoy playing video games.

Aaron Tian

Instructor

Hi! I’m Aaron and I’m a senior at Thomas Wootton High School. I’m a captain of my school’s debate team and have been debating for more than 5 years on the national and local circuits. I’ve been ranked as high as top 3 in the country, and amassed 7 gold bids and 1 silver bid to the Tournament of Champions. Notably, I championed Lexington and SVUDL and reached semifinals at UPenn and Harvard. I enjoy both technical and lay styles of debate, and have experience in all types of arguments. Outside of debate I enjoy listening to music, hanging out with friends, and playing volleyball and pickleball. I’m super excited to get to work with everyone!

Alexis Kang

Instructor

Hi, I’m Alexis. I do debate for Fairmont Preparatory Academy, and I am a junior. Beyond qualifying to the TOC twice, some of my notable accomplishments this year include reaching semi-finals at Glenbrooks, quarters at Apple Valley, and quarters at Arizona State.

Michael Meng

Instructor

Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a senior at Strake Jesuit. I’ve been competing on the national circuit in LD since freshman year, qualifying for the TOC, reaching Quarters of the Lexington Invitational, Quarters of the Mid America Cup, Semis of Churchill, and clearing at other tournaments my sophomore year. A majority of my rounds consisted of policy arguments (DA/CP) with some involving critical arguments (Aff v K/K v Aff). Outside of debate, I like listening to music and fencing.

Daniel Guo

Instructor

Hi y’all! I’m Daniel and I debated public forum at Strake Jesuit in Houston Texas! As a 1st speaker I’ve won tournaments like the TOC, Yale, and the Harvard Round Robin. I’m super excited to help teach all styles of PF debate and can’t wait to get started! In my free time I love hiking and gardening, especially with family and friends.

Ben Rask

Assistant Coaching Director | Instructor

I’m Ben, junior at Basis Independent Mclean in Virginia. I’ve debated high school pf for three years. So far, I’ve broken at numerous national tournaments, qualifying and reaching elimination rounds at multiple championship tournaments such as Gold TOC and NCFL Grand Nationals, and placed First at the Virginia State Championship. I enjoy all kinds of debate, but specialize in fast-paced technical rounds where skills like weighing and back-half strategy are crucial. I have experience coaching students and am captain of my school’s team. Outside of debate, I enjoy spending time with friends and playing the violin.

Winston Wu

Instructor

Hey y’all, my name is Winston and I’m excited to work with everyone! I’m currently a senior at Strake Jesuit and I’ve done debate for 2 years. I have plenty of experience on the local circuit as well as on the national circuit. My biggest accomplishments are placing top 20 at Columbia, State, and NYC Invitational, and I’m also ranked top 200 in the nation. Outside of debate, I enjoy working out, drawing, and going on walks with my friends.

Leon Le

Instructor | Resource Creator

Hi, I’m Leon, a junior at Harker. As a debater, I’ve acquired 9 bids to the TOC, qualifying to the silver TOC my freshman year and ranked #2 on the bid leaderboard my sophomore year. I’ve made it to elimination rounds of tournaments such as Apple Valley, Mid America Cup, and Grapevine. Outside of debate, I like to play Geometry Dash.

Ali Fehmi

Instructor

Hi, I’m Ali! I debated for Canyon Crest and was the former captain of the team. I have competed on the national circuit for three years, attending both TOC and Nationals. Most notably, I won ASU and have been ranked as high as 6th in the nation. In my free time, I enjoy cooking, hiking, and spending time with family and friends. I’m looking forward to teaching at Circuit Skillbuilder!

Julian Carlile

Instructor

Hey, my name is Julian and I’m from Strake CL, Class of 2026. I’ve gotten 4 gold bids this year and Co-champed two bid tournaments. My main specializations are lay and flay debate, but I can still help elsewhere. I love teaching and am always open if anyone needs help! In terms of hobbies, I like writing, reading webnovels, and playing games. My favorite animal is the magnapinna squid and I like other cool sea creatures too. My favorite bands are Modern Baseball, The Symposium, and Glass Beach, but I dabble in other music and like to listen to it while I walk. I’m looking forward to working with you!

Nikhil Bawa

Instructor

Hi! I’m Nikhil, and I’m a junior at Harker. I’ve been doing LD for 2 years and did a bit of PF before that. A few of my accomplishments include semi-finaling Harvard Westlake and Apple Valley along with acquiring 5 bids to the TOC this season. Outside of debate, I love playing tennis and sleeping for abnormally long amounts of time.

Finney Haire

Instructor

Hey, I’m Finney! I debated at Strake on the National Circuit ever since my sophomore year, bidding at Grapevine, University of Kentucky Season Opener, New York City Invitational, and Sunvite. I have reached elimination rounds at many other tournaments such as the Gold TOC and TFA State. I also have teaching experience throughout Houston and can teach about almost any aspect of debate, but I know the most about flay and traditional debate.

Zijia Mo

Instructor

Hey, chat, I’m Zijia, senior at Dreyfoos Arts. Some of my debate accomplishments include reaching octofinals at the Tradition, octofinals at Nova Titan, and doubleoctofinals at Florida Blue Key. I have also cleared at several bid tournaments like the Barkley Forum. I also make really good spaghetti.

William Li

Instructor

Hi! I’m William, a senior at Bellevue High School. I have 5 career bids in LD and have made late elims of a couple tournaments. My interests are primarily in technical K debating, theory, and impact turns like wipeout, spark, dedev, etc.

Siddhartha Daswani

Instructor

Hi, I’m Siddhartha, a junior at Harker who does LD. I’m the current LD bid leader, and have won a few tournaments and made it far at others. I primarily read policy arguments, but I can and have gone for all types of arguments.

Lucas Cao

Instructor

Hi! I’m Lucas Cao, a junior at Harker. I’ve been doing LD for a year. I cleared at almost all national circuit bid tournaments I went to this season and qualified to the TOC. I read all type of arguments, including policy [Process Counterplans, Impact Turns], kritiks [Asian CRT, Orientalism, Settler Colonialism, Anti-Blackness, Marxism, Baudrillard, Deleuze], and phil [Kant, Hobbes, Hegel].

Tara Prem

Instructor

Hi! I’m Tara, I’m currently a junior at The Harker School, and I have one bid to the TOC in LD this year. I love going for the Fiat K and mainly go for setcol as well as creative impact turns like wipeout and dedev, but I’m always down for a DA-Case debate!

Aanya Ujjval

Instructor

I’m Aanya, a junior at Westwood High School in Austin, Texas. I’ve broken a couple of times, had multiple bid rounds and 1 bid, and qualified for TFA State 3x. Outside of debate, I like listening to music and playing block blast.

Peter Hablinski

Instructor

Hello everyone my name is Peter Hablinski, and I am a senior at Strake Jesuit. One of my largest accomplishments was breaking at 4 TOC bid tournaments, including New York City Invitational where I got a silver bid. In the postseason, I attended the Tournament of Champions. A fun fact about me is that I love watching football.

Jason Zhao

Instructor

Hi, my name is Jason and I debated for Strake Jesuit. I’ve won a few tournaments including TOC and having spoken both first and second, I can help with a wide array of skills from round vision, weighing, to efficiency but I’m happy to work on whatever’s best for you. When I’m not debating, I like to swim, listen to music, and hang out with friends.

Justin Wang

Instructor

Hi! I’m Justin, an debater from Canyon Crest with a strong record of success. I’ve champed the California Round Robin, the John Lewis Tournament, and the University of Michigan Tournament. Beyond that, I reached semifinals at TOC Digital 3, UK Season Opener, and Arizona State. I’ve also been ranked as high as #3 in the nation. Looking forward to working with everyone!

Sterling Utovac

Instructor

Sterling is a senior at Peninsula High School in California. Reading critical and philosophical oriented arguments, he reached elimination rounds at the TOC in 2024 and 2025 (including being ninth speaker in 2025). Outside of tournaments, he enjoys reading (especially critical theory), going to the gym, and making debate tournament recaps and other short films for his YouTube channel. While he never competed in PF, he became very interested in it after befriending several PF debaters at the TOC and is happy to help.

Eli Chen

Instructor

What’s up! I’m Eli, a current junior from Lincoln Sudbury in MA. I have been cooking up in public forum for 2 years now, saucing up on both the local and national circuit. In particular, I have garnered 2 gold bids to the TOC, won Stanford, semied the Delores Taylor Invitational, and had fun in various outrounds. Outside of debate, I like to run and listen to non-mainstream music.

Ian Ngo

Instructor

Hi, I’m Ian. I’m a senior at Strake Jesuit who joined debate sophomore year and got 3 silver bids at FBK, Sunvite, and Lexington with my friend Raj Trivedi. I like read fun stuff in round and I get sad when Raj doesn’t let me. I’m good to teach whatever is best for you and I’m excited to help out! I’m also pretty good at Minecraft.

Andrew Xin

Instructor

Hi! I’m Andrew, a junior, and captain of debate at Sharon High School. I’ve broken to elimination rounds at 6 national circuit tournaments with 6 different partners, got 3rd at Little Lex, and I look forward to working with you!

Stella Bie

Instructor

Hi! I’m Stella, a senior at Interlake High School in WA. I competed in PF the past 3 years, earning 4 gold bids to the TOC this year. This season, I’ve reached deep elimination rounds at Stanford, Berkeley, and Mid America. My favorite argument is Wipeout, and my least favorite argument is Pandemics. Outside of debate, I like doing math, playing volleyball, and sending my friends cat reels.

Colin Xu

Instructor | Resource Creator

Hi, my name is Colin. I’m a sophomore at the Awty International School and have done 2 years of PF debate. I have ample circuit and local experience, bidding at tournaments like Apple Valley. I have experience on various forms of debate, but I am most familiar with policy style argumentation. Outside of debate, I enjoy swimming and playing video games.

Dhruv Patil

Instructor

Hi, I’m Dhruv and I’m a senior at Westwood High School in Austin, Texas. Some of my accomplishments include quarterfinals at the Silver TOC, octafinals at Grapevine, and breaking at numerous other national circuit tournaments. Outside debate, I love hanging out with friends and listening to music.

Shaurya Shah

Instructor

Hey! I’m Shaurya and I’m a senior at Westwood High School. In my debate career, I’ve qualified to the TOC twice, qualified to the Texas State tournament twice (TFA), broken at 5 TOC-bid tournaments, received numerous top 20 speaker awards at TOC-bid tournaments, and, most notably, got to quarterfinals of the silver TOC. At Westwood, I teach both middle school and novice debaters, so I have a lot of experience coaching kids the activity. I’m very excited to work with you all!

Avi Sawhney

Instructor | Middle School Operations Director

Hi! I’m Avi, a freshman at Jericho High School in New York. I started debate this year and so far have champed MSTOC, as well as getting top 10 speaker and top 3 team awards at the locals I have attended. I’m super passionate about debate, and I’m excited to be working with Circuit Skillbuilder. I enjoy playing tennis and one fun fact about me is that I was born on Super Bowl Sunday