Aarnav Nagabhirava

Ascend Academy - Extemporaneous Speaking Coach

As a freshman at Stanford University and recent graduate of Bellarmine College Preparatory, Aarnav has competed in Extemporaneous Speaking (“Extemp”) since his freshman year of high school. In 2024, Aarnav received 3rd place at the California High School State Championship in Extemp. He has also competed in Congressional Debate, in which he has finaled at numerous invitationals including Berkeley, Stanford, CSU Long Beach, and MLK, as well as Parliamentary Debate, earning 2nd place in the 2025 CHSSA tournament. Aarnav believes in the importance of unique, nuanced argumentation in extemp. In his eyes, an informative speech and an entertaining speech are two sides of the same coin; one cannot come without the other. Outside of speech, Aarnav enjoys lifting, eating all kinds of food (especially cookies), and late night drives with SZA on at max volume.