“There is no greater privilege than to assist young people to reach their own actualization, empowerment, and even liberation; coaching competitive academic debate has been the best method for me to help students achieve those ends.”
Sohail Jouya joined Poly in 2023 as Head Debate Coach before becoming Associate Director of Debate in 2024. As a former director in collegiate, high school, and even middle school debate for the past decade, he has coached a plethora of debaters to not only qualify for national championships, but also advance to elimination stages at the National Debate Tournament and the Cross-Examination Debate Association tournament. Additionally, he coached the National Parliamentary Debate Association National Champions and the National Forensics Association – Lincoln-Douglas Debate National Champion. At the high school level, he has coached several competitors to advance at the Tournament of Champions, the National Speech & Debate Association Nationals, and Grand Nationals. He has also worked for debate institutes at the University of Texas, the University of California – Berkeley, Dartmouth, and most recently at Harvard. In particular, he has assisted students in argument construction that intersects concerns of public policy with identity with a focus on raciality, class, and gender. In his free time, he enjoys watching and playing sports, coffee, and traveling.
Performing Arts