Coaches
These are the adults that coach and advise the team.
Josh CohenDebate CoachJosh Cohen debated in high school and has coached the Newton South debate team since 2010, when his own children joined the team. He is also a health economist on the faculty at Tufts Medical Center. Josh is a big Star Trek fan. Between debate seasons, he likes to go hiking, especially in the Adirondacks in upstate New York.
Josh uses he/him pronouns. |
Sarah CulpepperTeamwide Head CoachCulpepper is a math teacher with degrees in math, English, music theory, and education. In college, Culpepper competed in parliamentary debate, Model UN, and Mock Trial. Other interests include hiking, football, and the two cuddliest cats in the world.
Culpepper uses he/him, they/them, and she/her pronouns. |
Lisa HoneymanTeamwide CoachLisa Honeyman, along with her husband, Jim Honeyman, founded the Newton South Speech & Debate Team in the fall of 1997. After teaching mathematics at Newton South for 34 years, she retired in 2021. When she is not coaching, Mrs. Honeyman enjoys traveling, walking, reading, baking,gardening, taking photographs and doing NYT puzzles (although, not at the same time).
Mrs. Honeyman uses she/her pronouns. |
Marcel LachenmannTeamwide Coach
Marcel Lachenmann participated in debate and speech in high school. He briefly coached Lincoln-Douglas debate at Calvert Hall College HS in Towson, MD while he was in college and has coached the Newton South speech & debate team since 2020. Marcel also works in software as an applications and lab automation scientist. In his free time, you can often find Marcel reading, hiking, or cooking.
Marcel uses he/him pronouns. |
Debate Leadership
Ethan ChengVarsity CaptainEthan is interested in public policy, public health, and social justice. Outside of debate, he is the Co-President of Future Business Leaders of America, Senior Officer of the Asian Student Organization, and Branch Leader of the Green Students Movement. In his free time, he loves to listen to music, sleep, and destroy Marcus Ye in basketball.
Pronouns: he/him |
Kaveri KrishnamoorthyNovice CaptainKaveri is interested in public health, history, philosophy, and biochemistry. Outside of debate, she is the co-president of both Aspirations in Medicine club and Research and Data Science club. In her free time, she loves reading murder mystery novels, learning new songs on her ukulele, watching reality TV, and listening to Taylor Swift.
Kaveri uses she/her pronouns. |
Taban MalihiVarsity CaptainTaban is interested in foreign policy, international relations, and nonprofit work. Outside of debate, she enjoys planning cultural celebrations as President of MESWANA club, geeking out over the newest opera aria she's learning, volunteering at her local women's shelter, and working on DEI initiatives as student rep for the South Human Rights Council.
Taban uses she/her pronouns |
Neena TarafdarVarsity CaptainNeena is interested in global health, genetics research, and international affairs. Outside of debate, she is co-president of the Aspirations in Medicine club, French club, and Synthetic Biology club. In her free time, she enjoys rewatching her favorite Netflix shows, learning new languages, and hanging out at bookstores with friends.
Neena uses she/her pronouns |
Ishaan Tewari
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Marcus Ye
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Bella Fankhauser
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Abby Shin
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Speech Leadership
Andrea TangTeam CaptainAndrea loves spending time in nature with her family, friends, and dog Daisy! Outside of speech, Andrea enjoys playing table tennis, making art, learning about new advances in STEM fields, and exploring the beautiful Boston cityscape.
Andrea uses she/her pronouns. |
Susan HongTeam CaptainSusan enjoys learning about random facts through hour-long video essays on YouTube. When she isn't thinking about speech, Susan watches TikTok videos of food that she wishes she knew how to cook.
Susan uses she/her pronouns. |
June KimCongress CaptainJune is interested in biology, public health, and dentistry. Outside of Congressional Debate, she spends her time in the Newton South Student Government and as a Co-Founder of the Youth Music Mentorship program in Newton. For fun, she loves to bake, try new foods, and spend time with friends and family.
June uses she/her pronouns. |
Mads TraxlerPlatform Captain
Mads loves playing and running Dungeons and Dragons games, refereeing soccer and doing volunteer work for Good Samaritans. For fun, she enjoys playing video games, listening to music and eating good food.
Mads uses she/her pronouns |
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Emma Zhang
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