Gurugram, Haryana, India
Shivansh Gupta is a multi-talented teenager, a grade 12 student of IBDP and recipient of multiple awards. He is an international debating champion who has been a part of the Indian Debate Team from the years 2023-24 and 2024-25, been the ESL Champion at Cambridge University, been the champion at a Hart House (University of Toronto) Debate, ESL Finalist and 3rd Best ESL Speaker at Oxford University, Semi-Finalist at Harvard University, Best Speaker at Georgetown University, 2nd Place Prelims and 2x Finalist at Stanford, Silver Champion at Imperial College London, Silver Finalist at King’s College London and Octofinalist at University of Kentucky. He has won awards at Harvard MUN and gotten over 75,000 rupees to fund his project from Harvard. He is a coder par excellence with knowledge of over 15 languages and frameworks in computers and has built over 300+ applications! He has won awards at the First Tech Challenge, honoured at MIT’s App Building Hackathon and more. He is B1 Speaker Level in Spanish and N5 in Japanese. He has participated in several chess tournaments at state and national levels. He loves Math and Science and has won honour rolls and distinctions in Olympiads, AMC and CEMCs. He loves music and is currently a grade 5 level guitarist, grade 3 level drummer and grade 3 level at music theory. He is currently co-authoring 2 research papers in STEM and Economics under renowned college professors. He recently additionally won the Silver Medal at the International Economics Olympiad and Best in Economics Award (100/100). He has been interviewed on BBC India, Disney+ Hotstar, the All India Radio, he has been published in over 200+ News Media Outlets and won the Young Change Maker Award by ET Now (Economic Times). He also is a Top 50 Finalist at the Global Student Prize 2025 from 11,000+ nominations You can check out his substack here: https://shivanshgupta26.substack.com/?r=1s79tr&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist
Founded by Shivansh Gupta, The Teen Debater is Asia’s largest youth-led, government-recognized nonprofit dedicated to democratizing debate education and empowering students through communication, critical thinking, and leadership. Built with the vision of making high-quality debate education accessible regardless of geography or socioeconomic background, the organization has trained over 12,000 students from 250+ schools across 15+ countries through workshops, tournaments, mentorship programs, podcasts, and open-access learning initiatives. What began as a student-led initiative has evolved into a global community that enables young people to independently develop argumentation, public speaking, diplomacy, and analytical reasoning skills while fostering confidence and intellectual curiosity. Through structured training, international debate opportunities, and one of the largest repositories of free debate resources for students, The Teen Debater has created an ecosystem where students can learn, collaborate, and compete at the highest level. As of 2026, The Teen Debater has been recognized with the Young Changemaker Award 2025 by The Economic Times and has been featured in 284+ media publications, including ANI, The Print, and The Tribune. The organization has also been highlighted on All India Radio for its impact in transforming youth communication and leadership.
As the Founder of Beyond the Gavel, the official podcast of The Teen Debater, I have been at the forefront of revolutionizing debate education for students across India. My role involves setting the strategic direction of the podcast, where I create detailed three-month roadmaps that outline goals, objectives, and plans to ensure consistent growth and impact. I actively work to bring in seasoned professionals and experts as guest speakers through extensive networking, cold emails, and outreach, enriching each episode with meaningful and impactful discussions. Content creation is another key responsibility, where I develop engaging questions, manage a team of volunteers from The Teen Debater, assign roles, and prepare episodes for seamless production. In addition to content generation, I manage podcast distribution across platforms. This includes designing thumbnails, editing episodes, and ensuring the podcast remains updated and accessible to a wide audience. I am also deeply committed to continuous improvement, collecting and analyzing feedback to refine episodes, enhance engagement strategies, and better reach our target audience. Through Beyond the Gavel, I have successfully created a dynamic platform that goes beyond traditional debate topics, exploring global issues, personal development, and life skills like essay writing and public policy. This initiative has not only inspired students but has also empowered underprivileged communities by making debate education accessible to all. The podcast was officially closed on 28/05/2026.
Awarded the Distinctive Debate Club Grant from ISDS (including a recording of 10 ISDS Masterclasses and fee waivers for Team India selections competitions for HIXS Students) after being selected from a rigorous application pool and interview process as the only top few clubs. The HIXS Debate Society (DebSoc) is a student-led organization promoting a vibrant school debating culture. It teaches students the art of debating, offering platforms for practice, skill development, and active engagement. As a learning hub, DebSoc educates students on argumentation, critical thinking, and public speaking, introducing them to various debate formats and strategies. It provides regular opportunities for hands-on practice through mock debates, workshops, and discussions, allowing students to refine their skills on diverse topics. DebSoc connects members to local, national, and international competitions. As the founder and president of the HIXS DebSoc, I am responsible for implementing and and institutiing the following through the DebSoc. 1. Debating Training: Providing FULL training in debating based on their experience help students participate in competitive events, learn from them, and improve independently. 2. Debating Resources: Providing a seven-year resource bank for debating and MUNing. 3. Debating Competitions: From training for national/international competitions held by Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, and the Indian Selections for Team India WSDC (Olympics of Debating) to sending the official HIXS Delegation to India's biggest school Competitions—such as Jaipur Debate, India Today Cup, etc. 4. Debating Initiatives: Provide the opportunity to host HIXS's first Debating Cup, stock sessions and other debate-related events in the school as part of the official HIXS DebSoc 5. Debating Network: Provide the opportunity to meet fellow debaters from other schools and worldwide through various cross-debates that will be conducted as part of the HIXS DebSoc.
Elected as President of the Student Congress 2024–25 after a rigorous September campaign, concluding with a speech to 400+ students (Grades 9–12). Formally sworn in on October 1st at the Investiture Ceremony, leading the senior school body of 400+ peers. The role meant representing student voices while guiding a diverse team. Oversaw Diwali, Christmas, and Farewell celebrations, while introducing first-of-their-kind initiatives such as a Holi flash mob, Dandiya dance events, and kindness campaigns. Late staybacks and rehearsals transformed these into true community-building experiences. Focused on legacy-building, authoring the first Student Congress Code of Conduct, now signed by all members and passed to future teams. Initiated a Congress social media presence to boost engagement and launched a school-wide feedback form to formalize student input. Representation went beyond events—regularly raised student concerns with teachers, mentored peers, and modeled discipline and responsibility. Internally, organized staybacks, drafted minutes, and ensured accountability through delegation. Also one of only 4 students entrusted to run the 2025–26 Student Congress elections, managing all 6 evaluation stages—from nominations, interviews, and speeches to teacher panels and voting. Coordinated 3+ weeks of prep, 10s of emails, rules, scheduling, and logistics for 450+ students, ensuring transparency. Additionally, helped lead the first formal Teachers’ Day celebrations, including stayback activities and student-led events for faculty. This presidency became a defining leadership journey—deepening skills in servant leadership, collaboration, institutional legacy, and large-scale event execution, while leaving behind systems to empower future leaders.
Worked overall in managing in entire in-house school debate tournament. Helped in getting 24 teams (72 participants in registration), conducting judge briefings, debater briefings, award selections, pairings, making all 6 motions, and largely across every aspect of the tournament: including logistics, judging, social media and more. Conducted a whole tournament day of 40+ debates with 2 prelims and eliminations from octa-finals to grand finals. Additionally, worked as a member of the CAP and was by extension the one of the judges for the grand finals. Worked after every round, setting up draws, motion release, and handling the entire tabulation of team and speaker scores, along with my core team members. Worked on a modified WSDC format for the entire tournament with 15 minutes of prep time. Awarded semi-finalists, grand-finalists, champions and top 10 speakers, along with a rolling trophy given out, to be used every year. Set a legacy for the entire event to be managed, being the first of its kind in HIXS - preparing team sheets, judges rubrics, allocations, schedule, aiding in the script, sending emails and refining all student data points. Worked over 3 weeks in preparation and planning for the entire event conducted on the 10th of September, 2025. Awards included medals, trophies and certificates.
I write deeply reflective, research-backed essays on gender, unpaid care work and grassroots empowerment initiatives in rural India. My Substack captures stories from the ground - merging field experiences with academic insights to make complex socio-economic issues accessible to a wider audience. Through narrative journalism and data-driven analysis, I highlight the invisible labor sustaining communities, amplify rural women’s voices, and advocate for systemic change in how care work is valued globally.
- Working with District Project Manager (Mr. Afzal) under the Haryana State Rural Livelihoods Mission Nuh by the Government of India's State Rural Livelihood Missions to empower vulnerable women in tier 2/3 villages - Upskilling VFs (Facilitators), CSC (Common Service Center) Coordinators, FLCRPs (Financial Literacy Community Resource Person), Bank Mitra Women, CLF (Cluster Level Federation) Leaders, One GP One BC Sakhi Leaders (Mission by the Government of India to provide banking services in rural areas) and other members. Developing essential financial literacy, employability and digital security skills under the help of officer Mr. Waseem Akram and Mr. Mohammad Mehmood for such rural women to empower them as leaders and teach such skills to their own communities such as SFGs (Self-Help Groups) reaching over 40,000+ women under the HSRLM through targeted work. - Developed curriculum through research and under Mr. Afzal's guidance on digital Data and Finance Protection (including safety from Fraud Calls), Cybercrime awareness, Financial Literacy (opening accounts, insurance dealings, etc.), Financial Problem Solving (dealing safely with money transfers for lower socio-economic families) and Employability Skills including hard computer skills and soft financial skills of accountancy and transaction analysis to work in SHGs. - Curriculum covers Financial Literacy: opening bank accounts, safe money transfers, govt. financial apps, withdrawals, and schemes like PMJDY, Haryana PPP, Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana, and Kisan Mitra Yojana. Includes insurance schemes PMJJBY & PMSBY. Fraud Call Safety: identifying scams, handling fraud calls, responding if scammed, and preventive tips. - Working in different blocks of Nuh District, including main Nuh, Shekhpur, Khori Kalan (Taoru), Ujina