EXECUTIVE TEAM
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President
Emma Ding
Emma is a student at Grandview Heights Secondary who started public speaking at the age of eight and has taken part in many speech and debate competitions. She hopes to share the joy of debating and help more people discover how fun and rewarding it can be.
Co-President
Izele Yao
Izela is a student from Point Grey Secondary School. By leading the YDL team, she hopes to continue YDL's mission of making debate accessible to everyone and further it so more people, regardless of their original mindsets, would be aware of the importance of debate. Apart from YDL, Izela is an empathetic member of her community who is passionate about using language to bridge gaps. She has a wide array of interests, ranging from crocheting and tarot cards to reading, writing, and language learning.
Administration/Management
Crystal Su
Crystal Su is an introverted, resolute, and optimistic individual. Beyond debate, she spends her time cafe hopping to search for the best matcha latte in Vancouver, finding niche songs to add to her Spotify playlist, and taking long walks around her neighbourhood. Engaging in competitive debate for many years, she is beyond ecstatic to give back to the debate community and empower future young debaters through the Youth Debate League.
Website Department (Head)
Melody Duan
Melody Duan is a student at Richmond Christian School responsible for designing/maintaining YDL's website. She spends her time 3D modeling, playing competitive badminton, tinkering in robotics, and challenging the great outdoors. Debate helped Melody overcome her fear of public speaking, inspiring her to help others find their voice. As YDL’s Website Department Head, she uses her skills to create a more engaging and accessible online presence for the organization.
Past Executive Team
Founder / President
Adam Han
Adam is an experienced debater who has been participating at a competitive level for over 7 years, now he is a student at Harvard studying Economics. He has won many speaker and team awards at international tournaments such as Harvard, Princeton, Georgetown, and the Tournament of Champions. Adam first heard about debate at a seminar and decided to pursue it further. From debate, he has learned to think more critically, to write more effectively, to speak more convincingly, and to pay more attention to the world around him. In his free time, Adam likes reading, playing the piano, and going out with friends. Adam first came up with the idea of Youth Debate League when he offered to teach a debate class free of charge for 15 students but received over 40 sign ups in less than 4 days. The number of people that signed up in the short amount of time despite the limit helped him realize the need for free, accessible debate education and inspired him to create an organization of like-minded people that work to make the art of debate an opportunity available to everyone.
Awards
2023 Harvard Annual International Invitational Round-Robin Debate Tournament - 2nd Place Speaker 2021 Princeton Classic - 1st place speaker 2020 UK National Speech and Debate Association Season Opener - 1st Place Speaker 2021 Georgetown Fall Tournament - Champions - 3rd place speaker 2021 MS Tournament of Champions - 3rd Place Speaker (International) 2020 UBC Summer High School Tournament - Champions 2020 UBC Elementary School Tournament - Champions - 3rd place speaker 2022 SFU Novice Worlds Schools Tournament - Silver Champions - 2nd place speaker 2020 Georgetown University Summer Tournament - 2nd place team 2019 UBC Summer Elementary School Tournament - 3rd Place Speaker - Quarterfinalists 2022 Georgetown - Quarterfinalists - 6th Place Speaker 2021 NSDA Season Opener Hosted by UK - Octofinalist 2021 SFU World Schools Tournament - 5th place 2021 UBC Spring High School Tournament - 6th place 2021 Stanford Invitational Tournament - Octofinalist 2022 Harvard - Double Octofinalists 2021 Harvard World Schools - Double Octofinalists 2020 Georgetown University Fall Tournament - Octofinalists 2020 Georgetown Spring Public Forum Tournament - 14th Place Speaker
Vice President
Nishesh
Ali joined YDL on Feb 20, 2022 in its early stages and is now the vice president. He is a student at Semiahmoo Secondary IBDP who is a proficient programmer with seven years of experience in various programming languages including Java, C#, and Dart. His passion for programming has led him to successfully publish a mobile application after dedicating over two years to its creation. Apart from coding, Ali’s interests range from mathematics, business, video editing, the Persian language, to playing the guitar and soccer. Ali is thrilled to join the YDL team and eagerly anticipates working with everyone. He is the creator of the YDL Student Management Automation System, the YDL website, and several other YDL project and ideas.
Awards
Vice President
Brooke Ji
Brooke joined YDL on Oct 3, 2022. A student at Collingwood School’s Morven Campus, Brooke has dedicated over two years to debate. Since his beginnings at the start of the 2020 year, he has gone on to win awards at local, provincial, and global tournaments in a variety of styles, including BC provincials, SFU, and Harvard. Debate has truly helped him grow as an open-minded individual and learner, as well as provided valuable skills in critical thinking and persuasion. When he isn’t giving a speech at his school’s debate club or researching for the next debate topic you can find him reading, playing video games with his friends, hiking, or best of all, taking an undeserved nap.
Awards
2022 SFU Novice Worlds Silver Champion Harvard College World Schools 2022 Doubleoctofinalist 2021 Vancouver Worlds Schools Tournament (Junior) Silver Finalist 2021 Tournament of Champions (Silver) International Quarterfinalist 2020 BC Provincials (Junior) Top 15 2020 LMN Regionals (Junior) Bronze team
Director of Africa
Thandolwenkosi Nkosi
Thandolwenkosi Nkosi is a South African children's rights advocate for the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. She's also part of the Intergenerational Advisory Committee as a child rights advisor for the International and Canadian Child Rights Partnership. In her free time, she also volunteers in giving menstrual hygiene workshops to adolescent girls and young women. She was recognised by the South African Youth And Development Agency as last year's Trailblazer for the hard work she does for her community
Awards
Director of South Asia
Warda Chaudhary
Hey there, I am Warda, an English Literature student from Pakistan. Before Pursuing Literature for my higher education I have done my intermediate in Pre- Medical. Not on an international level, but I have always been involved in active debates and declamations and have won quite a few awards. For me, It's not always about winning, but learning something new by discussing the topic with like minded people. I believe Debate can help one to think out of the box. It has helped me to grow my knowledge more effectively. Reading books is my one true love. I do have a blog where I share my views on the books I have read. Furthermore, I’d say that I'm an adaptable and multitasking human being who loves to perform and manage various tasks at a single time.
Awards
Coaching Director
Henry Gong
Henry joined YDL on Mar 3, 2023. He is the debate club president of Magee Secondary School and has about 4 years of debate experience. He has debated in multiple formats such as World Schools, British Parliamentary, cross-examination, and CNDF, but he specializes in World Schools and British parliamentary as the second/third speaker. He has attended debate tournaments such as Harvard, SFU, CUSID, WSDO, UBC, Western, and more. Besides debate, Henry participates in basketball, rugby, and writing. He looks forward to working with students!
Awards
Alberta Debate Jr Provincials 2022 Champion (Jr. Beginner Category) Alberta Debate Pre-Regionals 2023 1st Place Team (Junior Open Category) 2nd Place Speaker (Junior Open Category) Master’s Midwinter Invitational Debate Tournament 2023 3rd Place Speaker Award International Style Debate Competition 2023 4th Place Speaker Award CalgaryMun & SWCHSMUN Staff
Marketing Director
Sophie Zhang
Sophie joined YDL Nov 9, 2023. She is an experienced youth in leadership and marketing management. She is the Media and Marketing head of Peer Leadership council in Elgin Park Secondary, the Chief of Finance in Youth Hunger Mission Foundation, Onboarding coordinator in Internal affairs of Canada Youth Climate Action team, selected youth teachers teaching Dollar with Sense in JA British Columbia Program and advanced entry for Conrad challenge 2023. Aside from Leadership, Sophie enjoys playing music in her spare time. She is a professional performer of the traditional instrument Zheng, started playing at the age of 4, and reached level 10 within 6 years, and is the first part Zheng of Azalea Ensemble under the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Awards
Secretary
Kai Bundy
Kai is a student at Elgin Park Secondary. He joined YDL on October 4, 2023. Kai is extremely delighted to help more students connect with the world of leadership and debate. He is a leader in 6 major clubs at his school, while staying one of the top students in all his classes. He has shown persistence, effort, and excellence. “In a world where everything is constantly changing, you need to keep an open mind.” Is what he has said to many students that he has inspired. His interests range from psychology, leadership, community service, and mental endurance. In one of his most inspiring speeches, Kai said, “Learning comes from accidents, accidents come from mistakes. This is how the world works. Even though it may be tough, it has brought us to a world of evolution and creativity.”
Awards
Raymond Li
Raymond joined YDL on Jan 15, 2022 and is a co-founder of YDL. Raymond is student at Semiahmoo Secondary. He has been debating for two years and has received several awards from local and national tournaments in various different styles of debate. He has only started attending tournaments for one year and has been a finalist in the Vancouver World Schools Tournament and La Costa Canyon World Schools Tournament and a quarterfinalist in the Stanford Invitational. He has also received multiple speaker awards including 5th speaker in the Varsity division at The Ed Long Invitational at The Hockaday School. Outside of debate, Raymond plays competitive badminton and hockey and is a certified snowboarding instructor. He looks forward to working with everyone!
Awards
Momina Sarfraz
Momina Sarfraz is an avid learner and speaker. As much as she loves speaking, she is eager to see her students go big.
At the top of her skills include her ability to be punctual and reliable. Currently, she is studying Literature in my last year of university.
She is highly motivated in her pursuits in debate and looks forward to learning more!
Awards
Aaliyah Cabiles
Aaliyah joined YDL in October 2023. She is currently a sophomore at York House School. She is an avid debater who especially likes international relations and social justice topics, and she has gotten a variety of awards in her debate career. Most notably, she recently acquired the title of finalist in the International Division in the Yale Tournament Invitational. Although she typically debates many formats, she has a specific delight in debating Public Forum. She has been debating PF since she was in Grade 7, so it has been a big part of her life now. In her spare time, she loves to read and watch Netflix, as well as spend time hiking or walking in the outdoors.
Awards
Eva Wang
Eva joined YDL on September 7, 2022, and is a student at West Point Grey Academy. Since beginning debating in 2021, she has won multiple awards at various tournaments, including being champion at the 2022 Junior Provincial Debate Tournament, 2021 Interschool Debate Cup, 2022 Appleby Novice Tournament, and the 2022 Canadian Junior National Debating Championships. She has also received numerous speaker awards, including first junior speaker at the 2021 Vancouver World Schools Debate Tournament, 2022 Provincial Debate Tournament, 2022 SFU World Schools Invitational, and first overall speaker at the 2022 McMaster High Schools BP Debate Tournament. Outside of debate, she enjoys playing basketball, practicing the violin, and spending time with friends.
Awards
Alberta Debate Jr Provincials 2022 Champion (Jr. Beginner Category) Alberta Debate Pre-Regionals 2023 1st Place Team (Junior Open Category) 2nd Place Speaker (Junior Open Category) Master’s Midwinter Invitational Debate Tournament 2023 3rd Place Speaker Award International Style Debate Competition 2023 4th Place Speaker Award CalgaryMun & SWCHSMUN Staff
Halla Mohamed Mohamed Hassan
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Eva joined YDL on September 7, 2022, and is a student at West Point Grey Academy. Since beginning debating in 2021, she has won multiple awards at various tournaments, including being champion at the 2022 Junior Provincial Debate Tournament, 2021 Interschool Debate Cup, 2022 Appleby Novice Tournament, and the 2022 Canadian Junior National Debating Championships. She has also received numerous speaker awards, including first junior speaker at the 2021 Vancouver World Schools Debate Tournament, 2022 Provincial Debate Tournament, 2022 SFU World Schools Invitational, and first overall speaker at the 2022 McMaster High Schools BP Debate Tournament. Outside of debate, she enjoys playing basketball, practicing the violin, and spending time with friends.
Awards
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Lucy Yin
Lucy Yin joined YDL on Aug 10, 2023. She is a freshman at R.E. Mountain Secondary School and began debating in grade 9 after joining her school’s debate club. Lucy’s debate journey has been full of surprises, from utterly failing her first school tournament to ranking high at nationals all within the same year! Lucy is (and always will be) a diehard STEM enthusiast, but debate has helped her open her mind to appreciate social studies and English. Debate has improved her analytical, writing, and communication skills, making it much less painful to analyze Shakespeare plays in class. Aside from debate, Lucy enjoys drawing, playing piano, composing music, and watching anime. Lucy is excited to start teaching at YDL!
Awards
BC Sr Speech Provs | 7th overall, impromptu speaking & interpretive reading finalist UBC Fall | Silver Champion, 10th speaker (Junior) Fall National Debate Open | Semifinalist, 1st speaker (Open) Georgetown Fall | Junior Varsity Lincoln Douglas Champion Hart House Summer Open | Open Quarterfinalist, 1st Junior Speaker, 10th Open Speaker Canada Cup | Champion novice team, 1st novice speaker, 2nd open speaker Canadian Junior Speech Nats | 4th Overall, 3rd in debate (finalist), 5th in interpretive reading (finalist) UOttowa CNDF Cup | Semifinalist team, 1st speaker (Middle school open) BC Jr Speech Provs | 11th overall, impromptu speaking finalist, 2nd in interpretive reading (finalist) Law Foundation Cup | 8th junior speaker LMS Regionals | 3rd team, 5th speaker (junior)
Ali Cheraghi
Ali joined YDL on February 27, 2024. Ali is a grade 10 IB student at Western Canada Highschool and began his debate journey in 2022 after taking a summer class from his friend’s brother. Since then, Ali has went on to win numerous debate awards across regional, provincial, and national tournaments in a variety of formats most notably including Canadian National Debate Format and British Parliamentary. Ali believes the art of persuasion alongside speaking skills are indispensable tools to success in this world, and embraces the goal of sharing it. Outside of debate, Ali enjoys playing several sports including football, rugby, basketball, and soccer. Ali is eager to spread his passion for debate and diversify the space with new minds growing to be great!
Awards
2023 Calgary Regionals 1st Speaker, 2nd Team 2023 Alberta Provincials 2nd speaker, 2nd Team 2023 Renert BP 2nd Speaker, 2nd Team 2023 SWCHS 3rd Speaker Impromptu 2023 JGD 1st Speaker Impromptu 2024 Calgary Regionals 1st Team 2024 Alberta Provincials Semi-Finalist, 2nd Speaker 2024 Canadian Nationals Quarter-Finalist, Top 20 Speaker 2024 Canadian National Speech Qualifiers 3rd Speaker - Debate
Andrew Wang
Andrew is a Grade 10 IB student at Sir Winston Churchill High School in Calgary, Alberta. Ever since his first debate tournament in 8th grade where he opposed the misuse of Santa’s 9 reindeer, Andrew has pursued his passions in public speaking and worked to make debate more accessible locally. In his first year of competing, he taught himself debate from the foundations and won the Alberta Debate Provincial Championship without a coach. Since then, he has worked to jumpstart his school’s debate program, won awards at many other debate tournaments, and branched out his public speaking skills into Speech competitions and Model UN conferences across Canada. He loves to teach and is looking forward to mentoring younger debaters to become the best speakers they can be!
Awards
Alberta Debate Jr Provincials 2022 Champion (Jr. Beginner Category) Alberta Debate Pre-Regionals 2023 1st Place Team (Junior Open Category) 2nd Place Speaker (Junior Open Category) Master’s Midwinter Invitational Debate Tournament 2023 3rd Place Speaker Award International Style Debate Competition 2023 4th Place Speaker Award CalgaryMun & SWCHSMUN Staff
Audrey Wei
Audrey has been a member of YDL since February 2023. She is a junior at Crofton House School and very excited to be working with a team of passionate debate students. She has been part of the debate community for 9 years and has achieved many of her debate goals. Ever since she was young, she enjoyed the enrichment that debate classes brought from “peaceful arguing” to all the world issues she has learnt about. Outside of debate, you can find Audrey working up her boxing form, lifting weights, and doing too much math. Audrey is ready to meet new people at YDL and learn together with the students.
Awards
2022 Worlds Stanford octos brown invitations octos princeton classic octos
Jerry Song
Jerry joined YDL on Apr 15, 2023. He is a grade 10 student at Mulgrave. He love hanging out with friends and trolling teachers whenever he gets the chance. Jerry fell in love with debate at a young age and wishes to spread my passion with others to ignite the same flame that was sparked in my heart a long time ago. Apart from debate, he also loves biking, baseball, table tennis, swimming, mock trial, and rap music. He is excited to talk to all of you guys and share his love of debate with everyone and looks forward to meeting everyone.
Awards
Jason Song
Jason joined YDL on Apr 15, 2023. He is a grade 10 student currently attending Mulgrave school. He loves to joke around and have a good time in anything he does. Jason is extremely passionate about sharing his knowledge about debate and public speaking, and hopes for others to fall in love with debate like him. He is looking forward to interacting with everyone and having a blast!
Awards
Eric Ma
Eric joined YDL on March 10, 2023 and is a student currently studying in the United States. Having started debating since 8th grade, he has competed in several tournaments ranging many different styles, having extensive experience 5in both parliamentary and american debate formats. Outside of debate he enjoys playing the piano and volunteering in his spare time.
Awards
Marketing Team
Yi Zhang
Yi joined YDL marketing in January 2024. She is a student at Elgin Park Secondary School. Yi loves art and has been drawing for five years. She has trained in a variety of mediums such as sketching and painting. Yi also plays badminton competitively and has been on the school team ever since the start of high school. She strives to improve her leadership, teamwork and professional skills. She is a member in clubs such as Student Council, Peer Leadership Council and Create Change Club. She is also a part of the first TEDx event held at Elgin Park Secondary School. Yi wants to use what she has learned from these experiences and broaden people’s perspectives.
Ameer Hamza
Ameer Hamza is a Sophomore year student of Doctor in Pharmacy who is passionate about leadership and excited to collaborate with others to make a positive impact. He is eager to connect, share ideas, and grow more.
Ameer is keenly interested in Public speaking and am currently pursuing debating as an Extracurricular.
Carlos Zhu
Carlos joined YDL on Nov 20, 2022. He is a graphic designer at YDL. He is attending Elgin Park Secondary. Carlos has been drawing for 8 years and his goal is to attend a university for arts to become a concept artist. He has learned drawing from 7 different teachers resulting in him observing a wide variety of art styles and broadening his creativity. Over these 8 years of drawing Carlos has developed a more intricate view on colour, design and formatting. Aside from art, Carlos loves watching sci-fi movies, plays badminton competitively, and enjoys reading a wide variety of novels.
Alice Zhao
Alice Zhao is a student from Earl Marriott Secondary. She joined YDL marketing department on January 19th, 2024. Alice has lots of passion on publicize youth debate, and actively focus on advertise youth debate league. She has participate in a variety of club in her school, and is the vice president of the major club in school. She has a good grade and multiple experiences on volunteering. Moreover, Alice has a lot of extra activities such as boxing, playing the violin and public speaking. She believe, communication is the key to connect to the world, and it’s important to express different opinions and think critically.
Nicholas Shee
Nicholas joined YDL on Sept 10 2023. He’s currently studying at Burnaby South in 9th grade. He started in his school debate and speech club where he found his love for debate and speech. When he first started he had many troubles, but with the help of the great coaches and teammates he was able to be more confident and build better arguments. Nicholas now wants to share what he learned at his school club to help others get better with what he does online for YDL.
Harley Liu
Harley joined YDL on September 7, 2023. He is attending grade 11 at Southridge School. Although he doesn’t have a strong background in debating, he has always enjoyed socializing with others, helping people, and making new friends. Aside from his school life, he has dedicated over 5 years of his life playing competitive golf, winning multiple golf tournaments, and strives to play Division 1 college golf. Harley is eager to assist YDL introduce debate to more students around the globe, as well as supporting YDL develop into a greater organization.
Cyan Ni
Cyan joined YDL on April 2nd, 2024. He is currently a grade 11 student studying in the International Baccalaureate program at Semiahoo Secondary School., Cyan has a strong background in leadership from being actively present in the competitive swimming community and through tutoring he has helped several young students achieve academic excellence. During his 6 dedicated years as a competitive swimmer for the Pacific Sea Wolves Swim Club, Cyan had medaled and won countless competitions at a high level. After contributing many hours as a volunteer at swimming events and practises, he is now a coach trying to guide the youth to success using his own experience.
Lennox Wang
Lennox joined YDL marketing in January, 2024. They are a student at Grandview Heights Secondary School. Lennox is a Level 3 Flight Corporal of 907 “Black Knights” Canadian Air Cadet Squadron. They are also a fourth year scout at Troop 10th White Rock, as well as Patrol Leader of the Northern Lights Patrol. Lennox aims to become a better leader and team member, as well as improving in research and design. Lennox is a member of the Grizzlies Junior Girls Basketball team, GHS Speech and Debate Club, and FRC Ursa Major Robotics. They look forward to learning new skills and different perspectives of political standpoints.
Website Team
John Gao
John joined YDL in November 2023. He is a grade 11 IB student at Semiahmoo Secondary. He is taking Chemistry, Physics, and Math for his HLs, and Spanish as his secondary language. John likes to play sports; he plays soccer at a local club and has been on his school's badminton team since the start of high school. He believes in YDL's mission of bringing debate to people around the world and he has done what he can online to support this mission.
Fundraising Department
Sophie Yang
Sophie is extremely delighted to help introduce more students into the world of debate. As a student from Mulgrave School who has dedicated over 3 years to debate, she has spent countless hours for preparation and practice. She has achieved success in various debating competitions, earning a reputation as a formidable opponent and a proud member of the debating community. Her favourite aspect of debate is to attend tournaments to meet people and enjoy the travel with friends.