Our Mission

Our mission is to bridge the gap between debate circuits around the world.

Cogitare started in 2020 as a student-led, China-centric debate group that hosted tournaments and lectures for novice debaters across the country. Across the Cogitare team, we won every major Public Forum tournament in China from 2020-2021 (Nationals, TOC, Shanghai).

When we first participated in U.S. circuit tournaments, none of us were able to break into elimination rounds. The gap was real. Disclosure, spreading, kritiks, theory shells, and big-stick policy didn't come naturally to us. Now, partnering with mentors with 30+ TOC bids collectively and members of Team USA, we are bridging the resource imbalance across debate circuits around the world, in China, South Korea, Vietnam, and more.

Our Team

  • Img 2632
    Ronald Qiao, Co-Founder
    Phillips Exeter Academy '26

    Ronald is a senior at Phillips Exeter. He was ranked #7 in NSDA History. He won 12th place at NSDA U.S. Nationals 2025, setting a record for Chinese debaters, with Zona.

  • Img 2642
    Zona Zhou, Co-Founder
    The Webb School '26

    Zona is a senior at The Webb School. She won TOC China 2020, TOC China 2021, and NSDA China Nationals 2021. In 2024, she won 36th place at NSDA U.S. Nats, setting a national record. In 2025, she broke her own record by placing 12th.

  • Sally img
    Sally Lu, Co-Founder
    Princeton University '29

    Sally is a freshman at Princeton. She ranked #2 in NSDA China history. She won the NSDA China Nationals 2020. She was the first Chinese debater to advance to elimination rounds at NSDA U.S. Nationals in 2021.

  • Team member
    Erina Li, Director
    Richmond Hill High School '27

    Erina is a junior at Richmond Hill High School. She was ranked #1 in NHSDLC 2023, championed Peach States Classic 2023, and won Georgetown Spring in 2025. She is currently the only Chinese team with a silver bid in PF.

  • Cathy Tu, Director
    Harvard University '29

    Cathy is a freshman at Harvard. She was ranked #1 in NSDA China. She won NSDA Nationals 2020 and was the first Chinese debater to advance to elimination rounds at NSDA U.S. Nationals in 2021.

  • James Wu, Director
    Hong Kong University '29

    James is a freshman at Hong Kong University. He won the NSDA Nationals 2021 and the Harvard International Public Forum Championship in 2023. He represented Team China in the International Economics Olympiad in 2024.

  • Tico Liu, Director
    Oxford University '29

    Tico is a freshman at Oxford. He won TOC China 2021. In his first year of debate, he was ranked top 10 in the nation, setting a record.

  • Sudeep Vattikuti, Mentor
    University of Arizona '29

    Sudeep is a freshman at the University of Arizona. He was ranked the #1 team in the U.S. by NSD in 2025. He championed Yale and TOC Digital 2, earning 13 bids.

  • Aaron Tian, Mentor
    Thomas Wootton High School '26

    Aaron is a senior at Wootton. He championed Lexington, Grapevine, and semi-finaled at Harvard. At peak, his team was ranked top 3 in the U.S. He is currently a member of the USA Debate National Team.

  • Justine Mach, coach
    Columbia University '28

    Justine is a sophomore at Columbia. She was ranked #1 in Vietnam, and won NSDA Vietnam Nationals twice. She is the co-founder of Outreach Debate, and a coach at the Cogitare x SparkFlow x Outreach summer camp in 2023.

  • Sam Chen, Coach
    Harvard University '28

    Sam is a sophomore at Harvard. At peak, he was ranked #6 in Public Forum. He qualified to the TOC three times and to NSDA four times. He is the co-founder of Outreach Debate, and a coach at the Cogitare x SparkFlow x Outreach summer camp in 2023.

  • Ivy Yang, Coach
    University of Pennsylvania '27

    Ivy is a junior at UPenn. She was runner-up at the Tournament of Champions international division, and won TOC China in 2022. She founded the resource-sharing platform, SparkFlow.

Built on Unicorn Platform