Luca Zislin is a graduating senior at American Heritage school in Plantation, Fl. She started debate in sixth grade and is currently in her seventh year of congressional debate. In congressional debate, she has placed twice at both Nationals and TOC, finaled at Harvard, Yale and Bronx among others, championed the Sunvitational and collected over 25 career bids. Outside of debate, she enjoys learning Mandarin, writing political commentary and listening to Phoenix.
Program: Congressional Debate
Alexandra Sencer
Alexandra Sencer is the Director of Speech and Debate at Collegiate School in New York, New York. Over the past decade, Alexandra has coached dozens of students to late elimination rounds in Congressional Debate and other events at invitationals across the country, including Harvard, Blue Key, Yale, and the Glenbrooks as well as NCFL and NSDA Nationals. She credits her success to her perpetual commitment to helping students discover their authentic selves. In the arena of Congressional Debate, this translates into ensuring that a commitment to constituent advocacy bolsters each speaker’s technical proficiency.
Alexandra, herself, is a fierce advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion for all students. As a tab director at some of the nation’s largest tournaments, she has made instituting systemic changes in support of these values a priority. Before her time at Collegiate, Alexandra coached at Cary Academy, Lake Mary Prep, Lake Highland Prep, Boca Raton High, and Wellington High. Alexandra can’t wait to work with students at ISD: Florida and help them find their voice in this life-changing activity!
Luke Tillitski
Luke Tillitski is a senior at Charlotte Latin School in Charlotte, North Carolina. In his first three years of high school, he spent the majority of his time competing in Congressional Debate. Most notably, Luke is the 2018 NSDA national champion in Congressional Debate – Senate. He has won five other national tournaments (Glenbrooks, Crestian, Crestian Round Robin, Blue Key Round Robin, and Durham Academy) in addition to placing in the top six at several others, including the Tournament of Champions, Emory, Bronx, and the Bronx Round Robin. In his career, Luke has amassed 15 total bids to the Tournament of Champions and has been ranked as highly as #1 in the country by DebateRankings.com. Luke is one of twelve members of the NSDA selected for the USA National Team. Being one of two delegates from the state of North Carolina selected for the United States Senate Youth Program and holding the office of senior class president, Luke is eager to lead and serve. He can’t wait for an amazing year with the ISD family.
Sahaj Singh
Sahaj Singh is a senior at Carroll Senior High School in Texas, where he has served as the school’s congressional debate captain for three years. In his career, Sahaj championed the New York City Invitational and the Texas State Debate tournament. In addition, he has placed 2nd at the Yale Debate Invitational, 4th at the Harvard National Congress, 4th at the Blue Key Debate Tournament, 7th at the Glenbrooks Debate Tournament, and was a finalist at the Tournament of Champions. Most notably, Sahaj won the Overall Leadership Bowl at the Harvard National Congress and was the championship presiding officer at the NSDA National Senate. Over the last six years, he has been ranked as high as #1 in the nation by the NSDA and has amassed over 25 bids to the Tournament of Champions. Sahaj is very excited to join the ISD family and coach the next generation.
Ranen Miao
Ranen Miao is a senior at Millburn High School, where he serves as President for his team. He has been ranked as highly as 2nd in the nation, and has received 20 bids to the Tournament of Champions. He has championed Harvard, Glenbrooks, UPenn, Blake, Princeton, the Blake Round Robin, and New Jersey States twice. He has also placed top 10 at Bronx, George Mason University, NCFLs, and the Tournament of Champions. Ranen is also a two-year member of the USA Debate Team, where he championed international tournaments in Slovenia, Cornell, Greenhill, and Harvard-Westlake.
Ranen loves Congressional Debate for its clash and for unique argument creation. He is so excited to be working at ISD this year!
Jun-Yong Kim
Jun-Yong (Jun) Kim competed for four years at Seven Lakes High School in Texas and currently competes in Parliamentary Debate for the Harvard College Debating Union. He has been nationally ranked in both Congressional Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking. He is a three-time national finalist in Congressional Debate as well as a six-time state finalist in Congressional Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking. Competitively, he is a three-time finalist at the University of Texas Tournament, which he championed in 2017. Outside of Texas, he is a two-time finalist at the Emory Barkley Forum and the Harvard Debate Tournament. Moreover, he championed the Sunvitational and the Round Robin in 2018. Jun placed third at the NSDA National Tournament his junior year and was the top presiding officer. At his penultimate tournament his senior year, he finished as the National Runner-Up. As a coach, he has helped students place at multiple national tournaments. He is incredibly excited to return to ISD this summer!
Ambreen Imran
Ambreen Imran is a senior at Cypress Bay High School, where she has competed for four years in Congressional Debate and is currently serving as her Debate Team’s Congress Captain. As a junior, she served as her team’s Student Tournament Director. Throughout her career, she has amassed over a dozen bids to the TOC and has been ranked as highly as 2nd in the nation. Some of her most notable achievements include championing the 2018 Nova Titan Invitational, placing 3rd at the 2018 Florida Blue Key (2nd at the Round Robin), 6th at the 2018 Glenbrooks Tournament, 2nd at the 2018 Sunvitational, and 7th at the 2018 Harvard Speech and Debate Tournament. She has also reached the final rounds of NSDA Nationals (14th), GMU Patriot Games, and FFL Varsity States (5th). Ambreen can’t wait to coach at ISD this summer and help students hone their individual skills!
Haruka Margaret Braun
Margaret Braun is a senior at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, Arizona. There, she has served as President of her team for two years. Margaret has been ranked as high as first in the nation in Congressional Debate. By the end of her junior year, Margaret championed ASU, Blake, the Blake Round Robin, and the Arizona Division I State tournament; she was runner-up at Glenbrooks, took 3rd at the TOC and Yale, 4th in the Sunvite Round Robin, and competed in the final rounds of Harvard and Sunvite.
While trained in the traditional structure of Congressional Debate, Margaret has come to deeply value argumentation and clash in rounds. She believes a crucial responsibility of debate is to fully understand the impact policy has on real people.
Margaret cannot wait to work at ISD: Carolina this summer!
Faizan Asif
Faizan Asif is a senior at Seven Lakes High School and serves as the Congressional Debate captain of his team. He has been competing since freshman year, and has been active in both Congressional Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking. Most notably thus far, Faizan placed 2nd at NSDA nationals in Congressional Debate and is the State Champion of Texas for Foreign Extemporaneous speaking. Aside from this, Faizan has placed 4th at Harvard, 5th at Glenbrooks, 7th at Emory, and 5th at TFA state in Congress during his junior year. Outside of Speech & Debate, Faizan loves sports, travelling, and music. He is beyond excited to coach at ISD:Florida and work with the future of debate in the summer of 2020!
Brittany Stanchik
Brittany Stanchik is in her eighth year coaching Congressional Debate at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, AZ and is the new Director of Forensics at DV. Over the course of her coaching career, she has coached numerous TOC qualifiers, including 7 finalists, 18 NSDA National Finalists, and 7 National Semifinalists. In 2014 alone, Brittany coached five students to the Final Round of Congressional Debate at NSDA Nationals.
Brittany understands the need to preserve the tradition and educational aspects of Congressional Debate but has learned the progression that naturally comes with the event; she teaches students how to adapt in a quickly changing environment by having them focus equally on three pillars: argumentation, presentation, and refutation.
During her personal career, Ms. Stanchik was in the 2009 NSDA National Congress Final and the 2010 NSDA National Quarter finals for Public Forum Debate. She graduated from Arizona State University where she majored in Communication and Justice Studies. She can’t wait to spend another summer with her ISD Family!