New York Parliamentary Debate League
NYPDL Board 2025-26
Completely student-run!
Amrit Mohapatra
Technology Coordinator
Howdy! I'm Amrit (They/Them), a senior at Blind Brook High School. I've been involved in parliamentary debate since 7th grade, and I am the Vice President of our team. While i'm free, I love skateboarding, coding, and reading cool wikipedia articles.
Chen Jiang
Tech Committee Member
Hey! I'm Chen, and I'm a junior at Princeton High School. I've been debating since freshman year and I'm an officer on my school's parli team. Outside of debate, you may find me playing piano, doodling, listening to music, playing online geography games, or hanging out and playing card games with my friends. Looking forward to a great season this year!
Arnob Mitra
Celine Bach
Onbarding/Outreach Committee Member
Hi! I’m Celine, and I’m a junior at Trinity School NYC. I’m a member of Trinity's parliamentary debate team, and I've done debate since middle school. Outside of debate, I enjoy ice skating, reading, and playing the flute. I'm super excited for this year!
Mina Glanz
Zach Nadan
Onboarding/Outreach Committee Member
Hi, I’m Zach and I’m a senior at Horace Greeley High School. This is my fourth year competing in Parli l. I’m passionate about all things debate, whether it's teaching others, learning, or chatting with people on the circuit. Outside of debate, I love playing golf, skiing, going to concerts and spending time with friends and family. I'm looking forward to working with the NYPDL to create an unforgettable debate experience for everyone!
Zoe Manges
Executive In-Person Tournament Director
Hi! I'm Zoe and I'm a senior at Horace Mann. I've been debating since middle school and am now the president of Horace Mann's parli team. Outside of debate, you can find me spending time with friends, reading, writing, painting, and thrift shopping. I'm excited to make this our best season of parli yet!
Jane Kelley
Online/California Tournament Director
Hi! I’m Jane, a current junior at Berkeley High school. I am a captain of my schools debate team, and have been debating since sophomore year. Outside of debate, I love to learn languages, hang out with friends, dance, and travel! I am so excited for this coming debate season!
Alex Doft
Tournament Committee Member
Hi! I’m Alexander and I’m a Junior at Horace Mann. I’ve been debating since sixth grade. Outside of debate, you can find me cooking, building legos, or reading some of my favorite authors: Leigh Bardugo, Oscar Wilde, and Lucretius. I’m so excited for another great year of Parli!
Alexander Georgatos
Tournament Committee Member
Hey! I'm Alex, a junior at Stuyvesant High School. I've been debating Parli on the East Coast for 4 years and am currently the Varsity Director at Stuyvesant. Outside of debate, I enjoy reading/writing, playing basketball, and listening to music/watching movies. Very excited for this year!
Ethan Bordoff
Executive Director
Hi! I’m Ethan, a senior at Hunter College High School in NYC and the founder and captain of Hunter’s parli team. I’ve been doing parli for three years and debate for four. Outside of debate you can find me playing soccer or Spikeball or hanging out with friends. I can’t wait for a great year of debate!
Leevi Toikka
Tech Committee Member
Hello everyone! My name is Leevi. I'm a senior at Harriton High School and co-captain of our parli team. I competed in my first NYPDL tournament in 8th grade, but really started debating the next year. Outside of debate, you can find me reading, playing ultimate, or listening to heavy metal.
Maliha Thomas
Equity Director
Hi! I’m Maliha, a senior at Friends Seminary and one of the captains of the parli team. I started doing debate my freshman year, and this will be my fourth year. I love all things related to debate whether that be judging a round or teaching at a debate camp. When I am not debating, you can find me listening to music, trying different ice cream places (please give me recs!), reading, going for a run, or watching soccer. Can’t wait for such a great year!
Ariel Segura
Onboarding/Outreach Director
What’s up, I am Ariel! I am a Junior at Brooklyn Tech. I started debating in freshman year and am serving as a Founding Director of the Parliamentary Debate Team at BTHS. When I am not debating, I am most likely listening to music, hanging out with friends, or talking about politics. I am super excited to make the NYPDL community better for all this season!
Equity Officer
Hi! I'm Arnob and I'm a senior at Ridge High School. This is my fourth year as a Parli debater though I primarily compete in Public Forum. I love debate and am on the cusp of turning into a permanent talking head on just about any world issue. When I'm not debating, you can find me concerningly engrossed in car magazines, learning about something that nobody cares about, or scouring the internet for the most obscure artifacts of humanity's existence, especially if they're memes. If I'm not doing that, I'm probably running something with my friends and/or touching grass! I am looking forward to everyone having a great season this year!
Ayushree Dahal
Onboarding/Outreach Director
Hi! I’m Ayushree, a senior at San Leandro High School. I’ve done Parli for about 2.5 years and run the team at San Leandro. When I’m not debating you can find me working on something related to public speaking, trying new restaurants/recipes, watching (and rewatching) a ton of rom-coms, Googling random things, running, and reading. I’m super excited to be on the board this year!
Anushka Pallakke
Onboarding/Outreach Committee Member
Hi! I'm Anushka, a junior at Evergreen Valley High School and one of the vice presidents of my school's debate team. I've been doing Parli for the past three years and speech and debate since sixth grade. Outside of debate, I enjoy swimming, binge-watching k/cdramas, skiing, and spending time with my friends and family. I really love debate and the community it creates, and I’m super excited for this upcoming season!
Ava Alexander
Onboarding/Outreach Committee Member
Hi! I'm Ava, a senior at NEST+m. I founded the parliamentary debate team at NEST+m during my freshman year, and it has been incredibly rewarding to watch our program grow over the past three years. When I'm not debating, you'll usually find me on the basketball court, the soccer field, or playing my guitar. I'm super excited for another amazing year of debate!
Onboarding/Outreach Committee Member
Hi, I’m Mina, a senior at Bard Queens. I’m the Co-Captain of the Bard Debate Team and I’ve been involved with debate since freshman year. I am a huge advocate for punny one-liners and fun impacts (alien invasion!) When I am not debating, I like to paint, read, argue with innocent bystanders, and hang out with my cats.
Moses Esterson
Onboarding/Outreach Committee Member
Hi! I'm Moses, a junior at Berkeley High and co-president of the debate team. I've been debating since freshman year and love competing, coaching, and talking with others in the circuit. When I'm not debating, you can find me climbing, playing guitar, and listening to music. So excited to have a great season this year!
Shawnak Shivakumar
Onboarding/Outreach Committee Member
Hi! I’m Shawnak, a senior at Menlo-Atherton High School. This is my fourth year in Parli and I’ve done other formats since middle school. I’m passionate about all things debate, whether it's teaching others, learning from alums, or chatting with people on the circuit. Outside of debate, I love cooking and baking, grinding competitive chess, going downhill skiing, and spending time with my family & friends. I'm looking forward to working with the NYPDL to create an incredible debate experience for everyone!
Anika Mangla
Equity Officer
Hii! I'm Anika and I am the president of Irvington Debate. I have been debating since 7th grade in almost all events and I also compete and am the president of Speech. In my free time i love to read and play basketball. I'm so excited to work with the NYPDL this year!
Annabel Gottlieb
Equity Officer
Hi! I’m Annabel, a senior at Hunter and co-captain of our Parliamentary team. I’ve been debating for four years, three of them in parli. When I’m not debating, you can probably find me hanging out with my friends, listening to music, thrifting, or rewatching Community for the hundredth time. Looking forward to a great season!
Andrew Montvelisky
Tournament Committee Member
Hey! I’m Andy Montvelisky, a sophomore at Blind Brook High School. I’ve been doing debate since middle school, and I’m very excited to be part of the board! When I’m not debating, you can probably find me watching Christopher Nolan movies, listening to 70’s music, or practicing my public speaking somewhere else. Looking forward to a great year!
Campbell Langdon
Tournament Committee Member
Hi! I’m Campbell, a senior at Dalton. I’ve been doing Parli for the last 4 years and been involved with debate since seventh grade. When I’m not debating you can find me playing tennis, piano, hanging out with friends, or watching my favorite shows. I’m really excited for this debate season and I can’t wait to make it the best one yet!
Daniel Matloub
Tournament Committee Member
Hi, I’m Daniel, a senior and one of the captains of the debate team for Menlo-Atherton High School. I’ve done Parli since my sophomore year. Outside of debate, you’ll probably find me playing tennis, spending time with friends, reading (if you have any good recommendations let me know!), or working as a math tutor. I’m excited for this year/season!
Darius Zell
Tournament Committee Member
Hi I’m Dari, a Senior at Bard High School Early College Queens. I’ve been debating for three years and this is my second year on board. When I’m not debating I’m probably doing Model UN, listening to music, or swimming. Can't wait for this season.
Shreya Ranjan
Tournament Committee Member
Hey! I’m Shreya, a senior at Dalton and I’m so excited to start my third year on the board! If I’m not debating you can probably find me listening to music while baking, reading, painting, or watching f1 and tennis!
If you would like to learn about previous student leaders of the league, please view the document below:
From Our Founders
from Radhika Mehta (Horace Mann '18, Columbia '22), Co-Founder of the NYPDL
We started the NYPDL towards the end of my sophomore year of high school to provide a platform for students across the metropolitan to engage in a form of debate that emphasizes critical thinking and public speaking skills. During my sophomore year, we held spars with Stuyvesant and Dalton, but without a league, we were unable to hold large formal tournaments that had a high level of competition. Starting the NYPDL allowed students across the tri-state area to learn and compete in a new, engaging, and non-technical debate format!
from Rodda John (Stuyvesant '17, Columbia '22), Co-Founder of the NYPDL
As high school students ourselves, Radhika Mehta (Horace Mann '18, Columbia '22) and I founded the NYPDL to expand Parliamentary Debate, the most popular form of debate at college, at the high school level. We wanted to create opportunities for students from schools without traditional debate teams to participate and form teams of their own. The league was built with an emphasis on student leadership. Though there are teachers and alumni of the league who oversee some of the activities requiring adults, the student-led board ultimately runs the league -- scheduling, programming, and planning are all organized and executed by the students.
