Speech & Debate

Sandip attended Plano East Senior High School (PESH) where he earned numerous local, state and national awards for his speech and debate skills. Winning those awards took practice and exposure to opportunities. (i.e. it’s difficult to win the National Championship if you’ve never competed in any other national tournament during the season). Sandip worked closely with the coach of the PESH team, Madi Gackenbach, who has grown the team from thirty to 120 students during her seven year tenure. The team now ranks fifth in the state of Texas, and aspires to grow its national presence. In the months before Sandip passed, he and Madi were setting up coaching sessions for the PESH students so they could eventually secure national titles - just as Sandip did during his debating days. 

As of February 2025, four talented students on the PESH Speech and Debate team were qualified for prestigious national tournaments in Chicago and Kentucky in the Spring, but the steep entry fees of the tournaments (plus food and travel costs) hindered their ability to participate. Thus, in March 2025, the Gupta family made an immediate, initial contribution to cover the full expenses of these four students across both tournaments (to be followed by an annual contribution). Madi shares that “while the students will unfortunately never have the benefit of Sandip’s coaching, this initial contribution will start to help fulfill Sandip’s original goal of giving back to his high school alma mater to develop the next generation of speech and debate talent.” She was right - the students went on to win multiple events in the Spring of 2025!