MEET OUR TEAM

Ashley Lim is a senior at Arcadia High School in California and has been involved in Speech and Debate since middle school. Her main event is Lincoln Douglas debate but she has also competed in Parliamentary and World Schools Debate. She was a semifinalist at NSDA Nationals and also reached elimination rounds at the California State Championship. At school, she has served as the Captain of Lincoln Douglas for the past 2 years. She enjoys learning philosophy but her favorite argument to run is policy. Aside from debate, she finds joy in playing the drums! A fun fact about her is that she ate pasta everyday during quarantine. She is more than elated to see this organization connect webs of debaters and is dedicated to the cause.

Cindy is a junior at Walnut High School in California. She has also coached a total of over 125 middle school students in debate, including tournament champions. At her high school, she was the first person in school history to qualify for the National Speech and Debate tournament, in which she has competed and advanced to break rounds 2 times.  She has been competitive in speech and debate for six years, and specializes in World Schools Debate and Lincoln Douglas. Her favorite type of argument to run is traditional arguments and she loves weighing on values. A fun fact about her is that she loves going to cafés!

Jayden Park is a sophomore at Interlake High School in Washington state and has been doing speech & debate for four years, but primarily focuses on Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate. He advanced to elimination rounds at the NDCA, Berkeley Invitational, UK Season Opener, the TOC Digital Series, and the Columbia Invitational as the top seed. His favorite arguments are either the process counterplan or the Econ DA. One interesting fact is that he has an unhealthy obsession with Red Bull. Outside of debate, he likes to read, listen to music, and chill with his dog. He’s looking forward to working at the EDI this year! 

Michael is a junior at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, and has been participating in various speech and debate events - primarily Lincoln Douglas - beginning in middle school. As a debater, he has consistently broken at tournaments - such as Harvard, Newark, Blake, Yale, Princeton, and TOC Digital Series 3 as top seed, in addition to several speaker awards on the national circuit such as 2nd speaker at the Harvard invitational. His favorite arguments consist of philosophy and critical literature. In his free time he enjoys playing piano, listening to music, playing video games, and hanging out with friends. An interesting fact about him is that he used to live in Iowa on the same street as Caitlin Clark! He’s excited to work with Evergreen Debate Institute to provide a productive and accessible curriculum for students this year!

Jessica is a senior at Scarsdale High School in New York, where she is an officer of the debate team. She has been debating in LD for four years, breaking at several national circuit tournaments and qualifying for states and NSDA Nationals. Her favorite arguments are philosophy and policy. She is passionate about expanding access to debate and is excited to serve as the director of outreach for EDI. Outside of debate, she loves reading, hanging out with friends, and conducting neuroscience research. 

Selina is a junior at The Village School in Houston, Texas and is currently the LD captain of her team. In LD, she has qualified to the Tournament of Champions, received fourth speaker at the TFA State tournament, and finalled & top spoke the Columbia Invitational. Her favorite arguments consist of policy and theory arguments. Outside of debate, she loves painting and working on environmental initiatives. She’s excited to work with EDI as Director of Curriculum! 

Andie is a junior at Taft Charter High School in Los Angeles, serving as debate team captain. She has been involved in debate since 7th grade, qualifying for the CHSSA States and NSDA Nationals two years in a row. She’s ranked 17th nationally in Big Questions and has received awards at over 20 tournaments. Her favorite arguments to run are policy-based and traditional. In her free time, she loves listening to K-pop, baking desserts for her friends, watching professional football, and visiting Disneyland. She’s eager to work with the Evergreen Debate Institute this year! 

Daniel is a senior at Stuyvesant High School in NYC. He started debate in middle school, where he did parliamentary debate for three years before transitioning to Lincoln-Douglas debate during high school. At Stuy, he’s currently serving as captain of the LD team and for 2 years served as an assistant debate coach for his middle school’s debate team. He’s cleared at multiple national circuit tournaments and co-champed the 2024 UPenn invitational. His favorite arguments are impact turns and counterplans, and loves the occasional T-Framework 2NR. A fun fact about Daniel is that when he was 7 he photobombed a Steve Nash interview whilst having no clue what was going on or who Steve Nash was. He’s really excited to support the EDI team and community in whatever way he can! 

Chloe is a junior at Germantown Academy and is one of the captains of her debate team. She has debated for three years, primarily in LD, where she has broken at the UPenn and UK Season Opener tournaments and qualified for nationals. Her favorite types of argument to read are policy and topicality. Outside of debate, she enjoys reading, listening to music, and spending time with friends. She is super excited to work with EDI this year! 

Jack is a Junior from St. Francis High School in Minnesota, who has competed in various Speech and Debate events (Policy, LD, Congress, HI & IX). He started competing in Speech & Debate his 8th grade year. He has previously qualified to the MSHSL State Debate tournament once & has reached MSHSL Speech Section finals twice, missing out on qualifying to state. He enjoys any arguments & speeches that have dedication, passion & time put into presenting them. Outside of S&D he enjoys listening to and collecting music on Vinyl, hanging out with his family and friends & staying involved with his school.

Haiet is a Senior at Lake Nona High School in Orlando, Florida, who has competed in various Speech and Debate events (LD, Congress, PF, OO, HI, DEC, and IX). She used to live in India, where she was first introduced to debate in 8th grade (Bombay, Oxford, and other styles), and has debated at an international level in India, and at a national level in the USA. She is a true debater at heart, and is passionate about all things debate - whether it’s tournaments, or just a fun argument with her friends or family. If you don’t catch her researching or debating, you’ll see her displaying her artistic talents through drawing, dance, and playing the violin; or you can spot her volunteering in her free time. A fun fact about her is that she used to live in California and knows a few famous people! Her favorite type of argument to run is a traditional argument: she loves debating on values and philosophy! She’s super excited to be a part of EDI this year! 

Diana is a senior at Vail Mountain School in Colorado. In college, she hopes to major in philosophy and either evolutionary biology or biological anthropology. This is her third year of speech and debate, though she was involved in Model United Nations for four years prior to that. During her time in speech and debate, she has gone to nationals twice- once for Informative Speaking and once for Big Questions Debate. During the season, she typically competes in Informative Speaking and Value Debate, though she regularly branches out to different events. A fun fact about her is that she loves playing music!!

Jiadong is a junior at Bellevue High School in Seattle, where he competes largely in congressional debate and is the president of his team, finalling at the Berkeley invitational and championing state. He also participates in extemp occasionally. In Congress, he loves running non-unique arguments that interact with the round before him. Outside of school, he’s an avid model airplane flier, soccer referee, and civic activist. A fun fact is that he used to live just a block away from Frank Sinatra’s birthplace (Although he can’t really sing as well as him)!

Karim is a Syrian Canadian high school student in East York Collegiate institute, Toronto, Canada who has a huge passion for debating especially in WSDC style “economics and politics motions”, He has participated twice in the National School Debating Championship in Syria. On the other hand he also loves Robotics and he participated twice in the World Robot Olympiad in Syria. With all that, Karim has a passion for volunteering with NGOs, and he is planning to go to med-school and continue debating!