Our Mentors
Board of Directors
Agastya Sridharan
Co-President
Agastya Sridharan (he/him) is a senior at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego, California. He is the President of his school’s debate team. Notable accomplishments include 9 career bids, qualifying to the TOC twice, and finalling Stanford. He specializes in kritik and theory style debates, although he dabbles in every type of position possible (tricks, policy, philosophy, etc). In his free time outside debate, Agastya loves playing the flute, badminton, and binging Netflix shows (split screen with a speech doc on the side).
Laura Huang
Co-President
Laura Huang (she/her) is a junior at Carnegie Vanguard High School in Houston, Texas. She is a cabinet member of her school’s debate team and vice-president of Prime Debate Institute. As a sophomore, she qualified to the TOC with 2 bids and had multiple bid rounds, qualified to TFA State and made Octos, and made it to elims of almost every national-circuit tournament she attended. She primarily reads policy arguments, as well as the occasional kritik and theory. In her free time outside of debate, Laura loves playing with her dog, singing, and drawing.
Saranya Singh
Co-President
Saranya Singh (she/her) is a senior at Mission San Jose High School in Fremont, California. She is her school’s LD Captain and co-President of Women In Debate. Last year, she qualified to the TOC with three bids and championed the USC Trojan Invitational. She mostly reads policy-style arguments with the occasional kritik. In her free time, she bothers her pet cockatiel Don.
Sophia Tian
Co-President
Sophia Tian (she/her) is a senior at Prospect High School in California. She is the captain of the LD team at her school and also the co-President at W.in Debate. Sophia qualified to the TOC in her sophomore year with three bids, winning Apple Valley and the Harvard Round Robin. She primarily read philosophical arguments and a little bit of theory (obviously frivolous). Outside of debate, Sophia enjoys squishing her cats and reading an unhealthy amount of Kant.
Jayden Bai
Co-President
Jayden Bai (he/him) is a senior at Lexington High School in Massachusetts. He received 4 bids to the TOC his junior year and accumulated several speaker awards. Jayden reads every type of position possible. In his spare time, he likes to make videos, dunk basketballs, and read. He is excited to become part of the team.
Charles Karcher
Adult Contact
Charles Karcher is currently entering his third year at the University of Florida, where he studies International Relations and English. He debated (mostly independently) for Sarasota High School in Florida. Over the past two years, he has coached Cypress Bay, Valley, and a handful of independents and has worked at NSD, Samford, and Legacy during the summers. Charles believes that debate is the pinnacle of critical, legal, and philosophical education and is thus always excited to be involved in the activity in whatever way possible. He’s very excited to help advise PepTalk this year!
