Our Coaches

Emily Huang is pursuing a Communications major while actively teaching debate courses at Cogito Debate. Ms. Huang started debating in elementary school and continued throughout high school. She was a semi-finalist for NSDA Taiwan in 2018, and also competed in NSDA Korea representing Taiwan. With vast NSDA judge experience, Ms. Huang has been very involved in Cogito tournaments.

Andrew Juliano completed his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and education studies from the University of California, Irvine in 2019. His training in philosophy has fundamentally altered the way he writes, speaks, and thinks, impressing upon him the value of logically valid, structured arguments and clear communication. He speaks fluent Spanish and is conversational in Mandarin. In his free time he loves to surf, do yoga, read fantasy, and meditate. He has spent three years tutoring children at various education centers in Orange County and has had his own classroom for two years now. He taught elementary school (3rd-5th grade) English and History in the 2020-22 school year and taught ESL in 2021-22. He believes passionately that meaningful connection with young people makes us all better. He wants to help children not only to be engaged, but to fall in love with learning and with their own innate goodness.

Dominique Woods currently holds a BA in Linguistics from Cal State Fullerton and is a former speech and debate competitor for Orange Coast College. Mr. Woods has several first-place state and national titles in poetry, dramatic interpretation, programmed oral interpretation, duo interpretation, and reader’s theatre from 2010 to 2011. He’s also been awarded Best Actor in the ARTa (American Reader’s Theatre association) competition of Los Angeles in 2010 & 2011. As a former volunteer coach for various speech and debate programs from 2010 to 2017 and with his experience teaching an array of classes ranging from public speaking to creative writing, Mr. Woods aims to make lessons both fun and meaningful while developing the student’s confidence in effective communication.

Jeffrey Lin is currently in his 3rd year at UCI working towards a bachelor’s in Political Science. He has been debating since middle school and joined a junior program for
Parliamentary Debate. Throughout his high school career, he has attended multiple local, invitational, and state tournaments competing in Parliamentary Debate and Extemporaneous Speech. He also had a quick stint coaching in the UCI debate club and has worked with people of all ages, from middle schoolers to college students. Jeffrey believes that before all else, a person must be confident about their speaking skills, so he aims to cultivate these skills in his students. Outside of debate, Jeffrey loves listening to podcasts and music.

Kaiden Leard is a high school and college debate competitor. Kaiden has over eight years of debate experience – specifically Lincon Douglas and Parliamentary debate. Awards include finals in both Lincoln Douglas and Parliamentary debate – including ‘best speaker awards. Kaiden is currently a Concordia University Irvine student studying Business Administration with a focus on Marketing. Kaiden has a passion for teaching kids and debate. Kaiden is excited to teach Cogito students.

Varshini Srikanthan is a coach at Cogito Debate, as well as an Economics and Philosophy student at the University of California, Irvine. She participated in speech and debate for all four years of high school, competing in Original Oratory, Impromptu, and Extemporaneous Speaking events. Throughout her time, she won numerous awards, captained her team, and co-founded the Extemporaneous branch. Now, she is the President of UCI’s Mock Trial team, and has received many individual and team awards during her three years on the program. Due to her passion for law and trial advocacy, she is also teaching assistant for a class called “The Art of Trial Law” at UCI. Ms. Srikanthan loves public speaking and teaching, and is very excited to teach with Cogito!