New York City Urban Debate League

Wiliam Li

William Li has been doing Public Forum debate since 8th grade at Delbarton School. His favorite parts of debate are traveling with the team and coaching the novices. Outside of debate,  he enjoys science research,  runs cross-country, and eats pineapple on pizza.

Max Eastwood

Max Eastwood is a New York student attending Bard High School Early College Manhattan. He has had over seven years of public speaking experience and debate.  He also has vast experience in volunteering and service, and loves working with kids and teaching them. In his free time, he will spend time with his siblings and friends, and loves running, reading, and nature.

Danielle Senderovich

Danielle Senderovich is a senior in high school who is in her fifth year of debate. She has experience in debating parliamentary in middle school, has been debating public forum for the past three years, and is currently a varsity debater. When Danielle is not debating, she likes swimming, skiing, and reading.

Joelle Garcia

Joelle has been a debater since the fifth grade. She is now attending Wellesley College where she will continue to judge debates and be as involved in the debate community as she possibly can. Joelle has been with the UDL since the eighth grade where She’s judged, debated, joined the UDL debate club, and taught at summer camps. The UDL has always made her feel both supported and celebrated which is why she is always more than willing to help out in any way she can.

Briana Previllon

Briana Previllon and is a student at Bard High School, Early College Manhattan. When she’s not making funny videos and eating tacos, she loves debating with the NYCUDL program. She’s been debating for 3 1/2 years and loves breaking students out of their comfort zones showing them the potential that they all carry!”

Brandon Wu

Brandon Wu is an incoming college freshman at George Washington University, studying international affairs and economics. He debated for four years in Spring, Texas for Klein High School, competing at the state and national level in Public Forum and extemporaneous speaking. At the Summer Institute, Brandontaught Parliamentary Debate in the Marigold Lab, working with incoming middle school students to help them develop their communication and persuasion skills.

Sam Davidson

Sam Davidson is a rising senior at Trinity High School in Manhattan. He’s been debating public forum for six years and coaching with the UDL for four years, enjoying a third summer of summer institutes with the online Summer Debate Institute! When he’s not debating, Sam also enjoys baking and hiking.

Hassan Fatani

Hassane is a senior at Phillips Exeter Academy. He’s been involved with speech and debate for four years now, competing in  Parliamentary Debate,  PF Debate, Policy Debate, Extemporaneous speaking, and Student Congress. He enjoyed working with the NYCUDL this summer to bring debate access to more youth of color such as himself, as well as be a role model for other black debaters who don’t often see people who look like them in the sport. Hassane hopes to come back to the NYCUDL and continue to help out in the future.

Alanalee Hughes

Alanalee Hughes is a public forum debater from New York. She enjoys reading and track and field. Since joining debate she has become more aware of different problems that exist in the world and understanding multiple viewpoints.

Joshua Lee

Joshua is a rising senior going into his fourth year of Public Forum at Lincoln East High School in the fall. In his free time, Josh likes to solve puzzles and learn more about math.

Marie Lowry

Marie is a current senior at Strath Haven High School, and has competed in public forum for four years. She has reached elimination rounds at major tournaments such as Yale, Princeton, Lexington, and Penn, along with winning the NYCUDL girls round robin and qualifying to CFL nationals twice. Outside of debate, she enjoys playing field hockey and baking.

Amelia Andujar

Amelia is a part of the first generation of Public Forum debaters in the Dominican Republic, and has been involved in the activity for four years. She was captain of the Comunidad Educativa Lux Mundi debate team for two years, and worked coaching for the team and at local summer programs. She trained at the Harvard Debate Council Summer Workshops, qualified twice to the TOC PF Silver Division, and won and finaled multiple tournaments in the Dominican competitive circuit.

Olivia Northcult-Wyly

Olivia Northcutt-Wyly is a former Dallas Urban Debate Alliance alum and 2020 NAUDL debater of the year. They have been involved in debate for five years and have coached debate teams for three of those years. In the fall they will be debating at the University of Southern California..

Samah Sharmin

Samah Sharmin debated PF for 3 years at Strath Haven High School. She reached outrounds at many tournaments, including Yale, Princeton, Lexington, and CFLs. Outside of debate, Samah likes to knit, read, and cook!

Jemima Eastwood

Jemima is a Public Forum debater at Bronx Science who loves teaching and learning debate as well as hanging out with friends.

Enya Kamadolli

Enya is a rising junior at Newton South High School. She has been competing in Varsity PF debate on the National circuit for the past few years, a two time MA state finalist and reaching late elimination rounds at a number of prestigious national tournaments (including the Tournament of Champions). Enya aims to ensure that as many children as possible are able to utilize their voices. Besides debating, she loves photography, writing Op-eds, rock climbing, and reading historical fiction.

Shabnan Habib

Shabnan Habib, an NYC native, is a rising junior who attends the Bronx High School of Science. He began debate in middle school, participating in UDL tournaments, but is now committed to Public Forum. In the past two summers, he has taught middle schoolers as a summer leader. He believes the lifelong skills debate offers will assist his future career, either in law, politics, or whatever else. Outside of debate, he loves to read, play soccer & cricket, and tutor academically.

Jaida Sahan

Jaida Sahin and loves debate. The NYC UDL’s mission to make debate accessible for all resonates with her and she tries to help do that in any way I can. Debate changed her life for the better and is honored to do what she loves with the UDL.

Izabella Widulski

Mackenzie Wilson

Mackenzie Wilson has been a Public Forum debater for four years, and this is her first summer with the NYCUDL. She really enjoys going to tournaments and learning about a variety of topics. Other than debating, some of her hobbies include baking and playing tennis.

Josephine O’Brien

Josephine O’Brien is a rising senior at Hunter College High School in New York City. She is starting her fourth year of public forum debate this fall, and will be serving as the President of her school’s debate team. She’s passionate about teaching debate because she wants to share her favorite activity with others and create a supportive community for young debaters. When she’s not debating, she enjoys working on political campaigns, biking, and learning Mandarin.

Matthew Qiu

Matthew Qiu and is a rising senior at Stuyvesant High School. Outside of competing in policy debate, he enjoys reading, writing, and learning about subjects like philosophy!

Philip Oravitan

Alexander Saul

Alexander Saul is from New York and enjoys  working with the NYCUDL since he joined the Brooklyn Tech Debate Team as a freshman. He loves to work with them by teaching younger kids the rules of debate and tips on how to get better. He likes to read and write and learn more about the world.

Sam Davidson

Sam Davidson is a rising senior at Trinity High School in Manhattan. He’s been debating public forum for six years and coaching with the UDL for four years, enjoying a third summer of summer institutes with the online Summer Debate Institute! When he’s not debating, Sam also enjoys baking and hiking.

Naina Panjwani

Naina Panjwani is a rising junior at Presentation High School in California. She has been competing in Public Forum for 3 years and has additionally participated in Congress. In the season, she has had many successes at tournaments such as Cal Invitationals. Outside of debate, she tutors middle schoolers in math and plays tennis.

Aeden Kamadolli

Aeden is a rising junior from Newton South high school in Massachusetts, where he does Public Forum Debate. He qualified to the
Tournament of Champions and Nationals as a second year, reaching the 11th round.  He has also reached elimination rounds at several other tournaments, including the Columbia Invitational where he placed 3rd and was the top speaker in Public Forum. Aeden is currently disgusted by the elitism and sexism inherent in debate. Aeden wants to graduate having made debate a more inclusive and accessible activity where anyone can find their voice regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation.

Fernando Cuello Garcia

During his years in Public Forum Debate, he has been focused on increasing accessibility and growing the program in the Dominican Republic. He founded and coached the fastest-growing PF team in the country for the past two years, while he laid the foundations for the first Speech team. Additionally, he judged several dozen debates and won multiple local tournaments

Aiden Ng

Aidan is a rising senior at Stuyvesant High School who loves debate, music, and history! When he’s not competing or prepping for tournaments, he’s probably composing music or going for a run at the Staten Island Boardwalk..

Jeffrey Chen

Jeffrey did policy debate for 4 years at Stuyvesant High School and I’m an incoming freshman at Yale. Apart from debate, I like listening to music, trivia, soccer, and spending an unhealthy amount of time on Tik Tok.

Rajendra Singh

Rajendra is a rising sophomore at The City College of New York.  He has been debating since the 7th grade, and is now out of high school,. He is still heavily involved in middle and high school debate.  When he is not debating, he likes hanging out with his friends going on mini adventures, playing basketball, and going to the gym. He loves playing video games, and am an outgoing person!

Mira Mehta

Mira has been involved with the UDL for six years, when she joined one of its camps.  The UDL helped her start a debate team of her own, and she has loved her time with both the organization and the team.  Outside of debate, she runs and writes for her school’s newspaper.

Manvitha Pabbathi

Manvitha Pabbathi is a rising junior at Presentation High School. She has been competing in PF for 6 years and has had multiple winning records including at the Glenbrooks and Cal Invitationals. In her free time, she enjoys reading and watching The Office.

Etta Humes

Etta Humes is high school senior in her fourth year of debate at Poly Prep. After holding leadership positions in sophomore and junior year, she will be captain of the her school’s speech and debate team during her senior year.

Lizna Merani

Lizna Merani is a summer lab leader. She helped teach the Young Speakers this past summer and am a competitive Public Forum debater for Brooklyn Tech!
She had an amazing experience teaching the enthusiastic campers and preparing them for our showcase!

Dylan Cawley

Dylan is a rising senior from Northwest New Jersey. He’s been doing speech and debate for three years while also competing on the swim team. In his free time, he enjoys photography and sudoku.

Raaj Kumar

Raaj is a rising senior from Westborough High School in Massachusetts. He is the co-founder and captain of his school’s Speech and Debate program.
He debated on the national circuit for 3 years and was a finalist at the Villiger Invitational and the Top speaking team at the MSDL tournament.  In addition, he was the first team from my school to ever receive a Gold Bid to the TOC and attended it this year.  Prior to teaching at NYCUDL, he ran an outreach program where he met biweekly with middle schoolers, working on teaching them the fundamentals  of Public Forum debate so they could have success at the high school level. Outside of debate, he loves listening to music; especially rap, indie pop, and psych-rock. He also on my school’s cross country and track teams and loves long boarding with my friends in my free time.

Brandon Lu

Brandon is a rising senior at NYU majoring in chemistry with a minor in math. He debated for four years in high school in Public Forum Debate and He is currently on the Policy Debate team at NYU. He is also coached high school teams and helped run various debate tournaments. Outside of debate, he enjoys reading, singing, and playing video games. He is also involved in chemistry research, specifically DNA crystals. After college, he hopes to attend medical school and become a doctor

Dencizan Ozdemir

Denizcan usually gowa by DJ and I’m a rising senior at Bard High School Early College Queens. This year will be his sixth year doing debate on the local and national circuit. In addition to competing in and teaching debate, he super interested in politics and history. In the future, my goal is to become a civil rights lawyer.

Fatoumata Binta Barrie

He is the founder of my school’s policy debate team, and has debated competitively for 3 years. She looks forward to debating at Stanford University in the fall.