Our Team

Max Rosen

Head Coach. Max is a fourth year student at McGill University, studying Political Science with a minor in Urban Studies. In high school, Max was a member of Team Canada Debate when they reached the final and won the World Schools Debating Championships in 2019 + 2020. Max has also won both the BP and CNDF Canadian National Championships. In university, he has won the 2022 HWS Round Robin, the 2022 Cambridge IV, the 2022 North American Debating Championship, and the 2020 Canadian BP Debating Championships. He was the 4th best speaker at the 2022 World University Debating Championships. When not busy debating, Max enjoys biking and rock climbing.

Matthew Farrell

Matthew is a first year law student at the University of Toronto, and a graduate of McGill University. He has debated for over 7 years. As a member of Team Canada Debate, he has been a finalist and champion of the World Schools Debating Championships. Domestically, he is a BP High School National Champion. Internationally, he is a World University Debating Championships semifinalist, an Oxford IV finalist, and an HWS Round Robin Top 10 speaker. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball and going to the beach.

Reana Yan

Reana is a fourth year student studying Accounting at McGill University. She has 7 years of debating experience, and was a member of Team Canada Debate at Online WSDC 2020, where they won the championship and she placed 8th speaker. In university, she was the 4th ranked team and a Quarterfinalist at the 2024 World University Debating Championships. She has also made the finals of the North American Debating Championships, the Hart House IV, and the Yale IV. In her free time, she loves reading and doing crosswords.

Diba Heydary

Diba is a fourth year student studying pure mathematics, earth sciences, and environmental systems at the University of Toronto. Throughout her 6 five years of debating experience, she has become a two-time national champion, having won the 2018 BP National Championship and the 2020 CNDF National Championship. Internationally, she was a Cambridge Schools BP Tournament semi-finalist in 2019, and a Harvard World Schools Invitational finalist in 2020.

Armin Safavi

Armin is a first year Masters stuedent at Oxford University, and a graduate of the University of Toronto. He has over eight years of debate experience, representing Team Canada at the 2017 World Schools Debating Championship. In university, he has won the 2017 Central Novice Championship, ranked 1st at the 2017 Canadian BP Championships and reached the Grand Finals of the 2018 Cambridge IV. He also works for Refugees Seat, a non-profit politically empowering refugees.

Jacob Silcoff

Jacob is a third year medical student at McGill University. In addition to winning the Hart House IV twice, he won the Canadian National BP Championship and the John’s Hopkins IV, was a finalist at the Yale IV, and was the top speaker at the Canadian Parliamentary National Championship. In his free time, Jacob enjoys computer programming and is currently doing research on using AI to extract insights from product reviews of medical tech.

Noah Pinno

Noah is a political science and linguistics graduate of the University of Toronto. Across 10 years of debating, he has broken at several major tournaments such as NAUDC, Debate Korea Open, and Cape Town WUDC. As a coach for the past 5 years, he has also overseen the success of Oxford Nationals finalists and several breaking teams across Canadian tournaments. In his free time, Noah enjoys playing strategy games and cooking.'

Stellar Zhang

Stellar is a second year student at McGill University. She has been debating for three years, and has won several tournaments, including the Queen’s University Championship, Xerxes Cup, and Hong Kong WSDC. As well, she has made the finals of Harvard World Schools, where she placed as third overall speaker. She is an incoming member of the 2022 Team Canada Development Squad. In her spare time, Stellar likes buying her cat unnecessary toys and testing out fountain pens.

Gaby Lin

Gaby is a third year student studying law at Oxford University. She has debated competitively for 4 years and represented Team Canada in 2021, where they won both Oxford Schools and the World Schools Debating Championship. Additionally, Gaby was the champion of Hart House and McGill’s high school tournaments, and the top overall speaker at UPenn World Schools. In her free time, she enjoys painting and reading.

Jacob Liu

Head of DECA. Jacob is a fourth year student at the University of Toronto, within the Engineering Science program. He participated in DECA for 4 years in high school, finishing first in the Stock Market Game at ICDC 2019, and qualifying for the canceled 2020 ICDC in three categories (Stock Market, Virtual Business Challenge, and Hospitality Services). As a debater, he was the champion of the York and McMaster University High School Tournaments. His favourite sport is Ultimate Frisbee.

Micaela Lewis

Micaela is a law student at McGill with a BSc from in Biology. She has 13 years of debate experience and 7 years of coaching experience. Mic’s debate CV includes winning the 2022 BP National Championships, breaking first and top speaking at the 2019 Hart House IV, making finals at the North American Championships, and breaking as both a speaker and judge at Worlds. Mic enjoys going on walks in the forest to find salamanders and binging podcast episodes about the US Supreme Court.

Andrew Liu

Andrew is a first year student studying music and business at Western University. He has been debating competitively for 3 years, during which he was the champion of Western Fall as well as champion and finals best speaker of WSDO. He was also a two-time finalist of Hart House High Schools, Winter Holiday Open, CUSID Nationals, and a semifinalist at Harvard World Schools. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and ultimate frisbee, as well as vibing to music on walks.

Michael Chen

Michael is a second year student at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been debating for 5 years, during which he was the Champion of the Queen's University Debate Championship. He was also a Schools Finalist at Doxbridge 2, and won the Hong Kong WSDC, and the Xerxes (Carleton) Cup. He was selected to the 2021-2022 Team Canada Development Squad. In his spare time, Michael loves swimming, Ferrari, and basketball.

Jaleelah Ammar

Jaleelah is a fourth year computer science student at the University of Ottawa. She has five years of debating experience, placing fourth speaker at the Ontario High School Provincial Championship and madking the quarter-finals of the Canadian University British Parliamentary Championship. Jaleelah is also an experienced judge, judging the semi-finals of the North American Debating Championship in 2021. In her spare time, Jaleelah enjoys playing indie video games.

Adam Banihani

Adam is a fourth year Public Policy student at the University of Toronto. He has four years of debate experience, including as Hart House Debate President. Adam has achieved notable success in debating, reaching the octofinals at WUDC twice, advancing to the quarterfinals at Oxford IV, making it to the semifinals at both LSE IV and Western IV, and winning the title of Canadian Austral Champion. In his leisure time, Adam enjoys watching a lot of sports, particularly the UFC .

Sarah Zhao

Sarah is a second year student studying Engineering Science at the University of Toronto. In her three years of competitive debating, she has broken at several major tournaments, including the McGill Championship, Queen's Tournament, and Xerxes Cup. Internationally, she finalled in the Harvard World Schools Invitational and UPenn WSDC, placing top 10 in the latter. In her free time, Sarah enjoys card making and boxing.

Serena Yuan

Serena is a fourth year student at the University of Toronto studying Environmental Science and Public Policy. She has been debating for 6 years and is a breaking adjudicator at Madrid WUDC 2023, Zagreb EUDC 2022, and the US University Debating Championships 2022. She has broken at WUDC 2024, and was also a quarterfinalist at Yale IV 2021 and NAUDC 2021. Outside of debating, Serena enjoys building Spotify playlists and playing strategy card games.

Eamon Roach

Eamon is a third year International Relations student at the University of Toronto. During 2 years of university debate (plus many in high school) he has broken at many Canadian and American tournaments including Western IV, Guindon Cup, Chancellor’s Cup, Drexel IV, Canadian BP and CP championships, and the Colgate Open. In his free time he enjoys reminiscing about the 2019 Raptors playoff run.

Shahraiz Chishti

Shahraiz boasts over 15 years of experience in debate coaching and public speaking. He has played a pivotal role in coaching the Pakistan National Team for WSDC events in 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2023. Under his guidance, the team has consistently reached the quarterfinals, with individual speakers frequently ranking in the top 3. His commitment to the debating community extended to his role as the Vice President of the DSP (Debating Society of Pakistan) until 2020.