At the heart of NexYouth is our inspiring community of volunteers — passionate individuals who dedicate their time, skills, and creativity to driving meaningful change. Coming from diverse backgrounds in science, education, advocacy, and the arts, our volunteers share a common commitment to protecting the environment and empowering youth.
Get to know the dedicated changemakers who make our mission possible!
Canada Head & Director of Operations:
Stephanie Uzea
Stephanie is an aspiring environmental engineer with a passion for writing. She’s written multiple comics about her brother if he were a superhero as well as a science fiction trilogy. In her free time, she likes trying out new foods and cross-country running.
Co Founder:
Justin Huang
Justin is an enthusiast of the environment. He is an avid reader of all forms of media related to the environment. He hopes that through this contest, others will also find their own love and passion for one of the largest global issues in the world.
Co Founder:
Max Wen
Hi, I'm Max, one of the co-founders of NextYouth. I'm in Grade 9 and have been debating and teaching for over 2 years! I enjoy public speaking, STEM, and content creation(@MaxW3n).
Director of technology:
Xuhan Yang
Hi I'm Xuhan! I'm a high schooler passionate about programming, math, or any thing STEM related!
Secretary:
Chloe Huang
Chloe is a Grade 11 student at Earl of March High School. She is an avid volleyball player and loves sports!
Conquitlam Chapter Head:
Rachel Wei
Rachel Wei is a rising senior at Port Moody Secondary School. She loves playing basketball, is an avid debater, and loves her pet cat! She is also a passionate environmentalist.
Debate Coach:
Kristen Yip
Kristen Y (she/her) is a grade 9 student and avid debater. Achievements include: Top 4th speaker+top jr speaker (Harthouse Winter Open), top 3rd speaker + grand finalist (Harthouse Summer Open), grand finalist + 4th jr speaker (Autumnloo 2024).
Economics Instructor:
Cody Zhang
Cody Zhang is a high schooler from Toronto and scored a 5 on AP Micro and makes economics simple, fun, and engaging!
Debate Coach:
Keerti Joshi
I’m Keerti, I’m a grade 11 student at Upper Canada College. I’ve been debating since Grade 8 and I debate in both WSDC and BP formats. I am a new member of the Canadian National Debating Team and have competed and won in many tournaments run by Canadian Universities.
Debate Coach:
Jeffrey Liu
Hi, i'm Jeffery! i am a grade 11 student at milliken Mills high school. In my free time i love cooking food, listening to music(especially hip hop and r&b), and working out! I am ecstatic to work with nexyouth this year to continue to promote accessibility in debate and further youth engagement!
Debate Coach:
Amy Liu
Amy is a G10 student and a competitive debater who has won many debate tournaments.
Debate Coach:
Ferrari Zhang
Ferrari is a G10 student and a competitive debater, who loves argumentation and refutation!
Debate Coach:
Terrence Guo
Terrence is a G12 student and a competitive debater at the national level, winning many debating tournaments, including being the top speaker at Hart House High Schools.
Contests organizer:
Yunfei Shuai
Yunfei wrote her first story when she was 7 years old and never looked back since (it would be great if she could actually finish her writing projects though, something she is notoriously bad at). She is an avid sci-fi enthusiast and an aspiring astrophysicist. Most of the time she can be found bingeing figure skating competitions and Arcane.
Contests organizer:
Susan Zheng
Susan finds way too much enjoyment in daydreaming about fictional scenarios and promising herself she’ll finish a project tomorrow. A sci-fi fanatic, she obsesses over very specific mathematical and scientific concepts she knows she will never understand.
English Instructor:
Annie Zhang
Annie compensates for her debilitating procrastination by consuming inordinate amounts of media and literature on social issues. She debates competitively and enjoys outdoor activity.
Science Instructor:
Shahrad Islam
Hi! My name is Shahrad! Some things you should know about me are that I like playing sports, playing instruments, watching movies and shows, and I really like cats! I am happy to be a part of the NexYouth Team helping mentor and tutor others!
Science Instructor:
Ronnie Liu
Hello, my name is Ronnie Liu. I am a gifted grade 10 scholar at Richmond Hill High School and I graduated with honors at Crosby Heights. I love teaching because I enjoy watching children learn and discover new things, as well as meet new friends along the way. I teach gifted science that is enriches students' knowledge and pushes the breadth and depth of the school curriculum.
Website Developper:
Brayden Fang
Coding Instructor:
Thomas Liu
Coding Instructor:
Eric Yue
Instructor:
Edward Wang
Website Designer:
Lucas Ho
French Instructor:
Angela Gao
Art Instructor:
Derek Huang
Debate Coach:
Ivy Xu
Instructor:
Jeff Jin
Mathematics Instructor:
Jade Zhang
Biology Instructor:
Abdullah Khan
Instructor:
Aiden Li
Debate Coach:
Haim Joshi
Debate Coach:
Maneesh V
Xuhan Yang - Director of technology
Chloe Huang - Director of Communications
Justin Huang - Co-founder
Max Wen - Co-founder
Stephanie Uzea - Canada Director
Rachel Wei - Vancouver director
Shahrad Islam - Director of publicity
Annie Zhang- Director of internal management
Lucas Ho - Website Designer
Brayden Fang - Website Designer
Rachel Wei - Conquitlam, B.C, Chapter Head
Stephanie Uzea - Ottawa Chapter Head
Jeffrey Liu - Chapter Head
Terrence Guo
Keerti Joshi
Ivy Xu
Rachel Wei
Max Wen
Justin Huang
Annie Zhang
Jeffrey Liu
Jade Wang
Jeff Jin
Aiden Li
Angela Gao
Xuhan Yang
Justin Huang
Xuhan Yang
Thomas Liu
Eric Yue
Edward Wang
Shahrad Islam
Ronnie Liu
Max Wen
Angela Gao
Edward Wang
Annie Zhang
Derek Huang
Annie Zhang
Aiden Li