Empowering Activities: Top-Ranked Debater Making Education More Accessible

Are you interested in learning about how this top-ranked student debater is making education more accessible? We have personal insights just for you, from our very own student Arnav G.! In fact, Arnav’s work is not only in drone technology but also in entrepreneurship via a new debate skills app. Let’s see what he has to say about succeeding in high school and beyond!

This interview is Part 5 in our Empowering Activities series. To read more, check out the rest of the series right here! We hope that celebrating our stellar Empowerly students will inspire other high schoolers to reach for the stars.

“I am a rising senior at Saratoga High School, interested in the intersection of business, engineering, and the humanities. My specific interests encompass drone technology and spreading drone education, learning about venture capital, and competing in Lincoln Douglas Debate. At school, I am the President of the Aviation and Drone Club and Vice President of the Speech and Debate club. I also enjoy reading, playing video games, and casual basketball with friends.”

• A top 10 nationally-ranked debater.
• Founder of Democratize Debate, and its app, TheDebater, which democratizes access to high-level national debate for all debaters from small, underprivileged schools.
• Founder of an organization called Asteria Drones that sells unique plug-and-play drone kits to spread drone education.
• Host of the Investigating Pathways podcast, where he interviews accomplished entrepreneurs and VCs (venture capitalists) on their journey.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions! We are so excited to learn more about you and your amazing work. So...

Arnav: I am the founder of a company called Democratize Debate Inc., where I have published my TheDebater app. This app allows Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas debaters to debate each other anytime, anywhere with a highly qualified and vetted judge providing feedback to help the competitors improve. 

This project started as part of my mission to expand access to the debate community—which has traditionally been incredibly elitist, as it requires traveling nationwide and hiring expensive coaches to improve. As this app brings the community together, I feel empowered as I combine my passion for debate, business, and engineering to help overcome resource inequities and compete on an equal playing field. I hope to continue growing the presence of this app within the debate community and growing awareness about it as a resource.

A: I initially founded Democratize Debate in the summer of 2020 and have been developing the app since then, launching it in early July 2022. 

A: When major debate tournaments were put on pause following the nationwide shelter in place in 2020, middle school students were not given nearly as much attention as older students in the activity. Middle school tournaments were canceled and not rescheduled. A rising sophomore at the time, I wanted to offer these middle school competitors an opportunity to compete safely in person; so I created a series of four debate tournaments called “The Democratize Debate Invitationals” and invited local middle school students to compete. 

To remove any barriers to competition, I waived entry fees and only had a suggested donation of $10, raising a total of $2940 to donate and use as grants for low-income debaters in the community.

A: When debate fully shifted online during peak COVID, the need for tournaments like mine quickly subsided. In order to continue bringing everyone onto an equal playing field, I came up with the idea for the TheDebater app; as practice rounds are, by community consensus, the top way to improve quickly, but they were inaccessible to those who were not already part of expensive debate teams. Thus, I dedicated my new company, Democratize Debate, to creating a better resource: TheDebater. 

A: In my last year of high school and all throughout college, I anticipate growing each of my projects, including the Investigating Pathways podcast; my drone company, Asteria Drones; and Democratize Debate, with which I hope to expand access to entrepreneurship guidance for teens, drone education, and debate resources, respectively. 

A: Empowerly has guided me through creating deterministic schedules for each of these projects, ensuring that I keep them on track and optimize them to maximize their impact. They have also helped connect me to interns for Asteria Drones, which has helped improve our impact and reach significantly.

A: I would highly recommend always looking for ways to help a community you are passionate about, as those are the projects I have found to be the most successful. 

• In the context of Asteria Drones, I look to help those interested in robotics and STEM cultivate their interests with a high-quality, innovative plug-and-play drone kit. To learn more, reach out at asteriadrones@gmail.com.
• Similarly, with Investigating Pathways, I look to expand access to the journey that successful entrepreneurs and VCs took so that others interested in entrepreneurship can follow in their footsteps. Take a listen on Spotify here. 
• Finally, through my passion for helping the debate community, I founded TheDebater to democratize access to a community from which I have learned and grown so much. You can download TheDebater yourself on the App Store and the Google Play Store today.

We at Empowerly are continually humbled by the dedication and impact of students in our community. If you are curious to learn more about activities that will empower your students, we are here! Reach out to learn more about our program and how we can help. Book a free consultation below to receive a customized recommendation for your college application plan.