TO OUR SVUDL COMMUNITY

“Before joining SVUDL, I thought I had nothing worth saying.”  - Nicholas Carrubba

Sometimes students think they don’t have a voice to share, or an opinion worth hearing. SVUDL empowers  students to discover and express their voices, both literally and figuratively. Students develop portable skills in critical thinking, problem solving, public speaking, and collaboration that drive their success in higher education and the workforce.

One benchmark of our impact is our reach, which is growing at a fast clip. This school year, we reached more than 2,300 students - an all-time high. Through practices, classroom instruction, and tournaments, our team had more than 26,000 hours of contact with students participating in our programming. Students attended 18 Speech and Debate tournaments around the country. Two teams attended the Tournament of Champions, and one team reached the quarterfinals at the Urban Debate National Championship.

There are other ways to measure the impact of our work at SVUDL, and GPA is one of those key indicators. Analysis of data from the 2022-23 school year showed that the average GPA for SVUDL participants was nearly 13% higher than their peers who did not participate in SVUDL Speech and Debate programming. 

Hope is another important factor. While it can’t be measured precisely, its presence is undeniably felt. The uplifting sense of hope resonates in the voices of SVUDL students, illuminating a brighter future:

“I’m an immigrant and my experience and feelings about a topic is something that no one else can describe better than myself.” - Anderson Ortiz

“Participating in discussions about free speech at BILL was a transformative experience
for me as a public speaker.  I felt genuinely listened to and empowered to express my thoughts in a professional, inclusive, and open environment.”  - Katelynn Nguyen

These words are powerful. They are the heart and soul of our work: helping students to
uncover and hone the power of their voices, so they can confidently step into their full
potential as professional and community leaders.

Because of your support, students become agents of change, thoughtfully considering the issues facing their communities, taking on the responsibility to speak out, and becoming people who bravely stand up for what’s right. 

With Gratitude, 

Measuring SVUDL’s Impact  

Analyzing data from the 2022-2023 school year, an independent researcher compared the average of all the SVUDL program participants’ average cumulative GPAs to the average of all schoolwide average cumulative GPAs. These statistically significant results show that the average GPA of all SVUDL participants was 3.21, while their peers across all schools who did not participate in our Speech and Debate programming had an average GPA of 2.85. In essence, SVUDL participants seem to have a higher cumulative GPA than their corresponding schoolwide average cumulative GPA. These findings are consistent with existing academic research on the power of Speech and Debate programming on student achievement.

SVUDL Alumni Network Launches 

In April 2024, the SVUDL team began efforts to launch a formal SVUDL Alumni Network. The Alumni Network represents an opportunity to re-engage with young professionals who participated in our programming in some way since its inception 10 years ago. By gathering information about our alumni and highlighting their stories, SVUDL can further demonstrate the impact of its work in the community. In turn, alumni can identify opportunities for professional access and development (similar to their high school peers at their respective alma maters), work or volunteer with current SVUDL students, and find ways to support existing SVUDL programming at high schools across Silicon Valley.  Instrumental in shaping this Alumni Network were SVUDL staff members Najma Ali, Addis Arciniega, and Kwodwo Moore – each an urban debate alum in their own right. 

This summer, the team completed a soft launch of the SVUDL Alumni Network, reaching out to over 100 of our alumni, including some of the earliest participants in SVUDL. They have taken part in coffee chats, attended networking events with current SVUDL students and members of our Legal Advisory Committee and Board of Directors, and have continued to judge at Speech and Debate tournaments. We anticipate a formal launch of the program during the 2024-2025 school year, including outreach to hundreds of more alumni. Stay tuned for future updates on SVUDL’s Alumni Network, including how our stellar alumni continue to thrive and contribute to our community!

Anderson Ortiz, a first year student at UC Berkeley (and graduate of Oxford Day Academy in East Palo Alto), recognizes that having a diversity of voices helps to build a more equitable and brighter world. “We can all share experiences and feelings about a social conflict that is affecting our society. I’m an immigrant and my experience and feelings about a topic is something that no one else can describe better than myself.  Perhaps I was there and people around the world can learn from my unique perspective. This is true for many around the globe. If we all have a voice, we can start to address those conflicts,” he noted.

The encouragement of every culture is something that surprised him during his journey through Speech and Debate. “As an English language learner, I was scared about how the experience was going to be in the SVUDL environment. But, when I saw that everyone understood my situation, and gave me the opportunity to participate in my first language, Spanish, it changed everything for me. It was incredible to see the encouragement of everyone around me without them ‘seeing’ my nationality, race or religion,” he said.

Anderson will be heading to UC Berkeley this fall with the goal of majoring in Kinesiology.  We know he’ll be ready for the challenges as he brings his full experiences and skill set from the past few years to campus.

“I’m an immigrant and my experience and feelings about a topic is something that no one else can describe better than myself. - Anderson Ortiz

Debate Centered Instruction
CONTINUES TO GROW

Education philosopher John Dewey famously noted in his essay entitled The Need for an Industrial Education in an Industrial Democracy that, “Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.”

But public education often fails to impart the social skills needed to nurture a healthy democracy. Social skills include learning to persuade, listening to different sides of an argument, thinking critically and communicating clearly. Citizens gain these social skills in public education.

But as SVUDL Director of Programming Dr. Robert Burns argues, public education has an argument deficit. Most high school and college students don’t have sufficient practice in creating, communicating and evaluating evidence-based, reason-backed arguments.

On high school debate teams, students learn to offer claims backed by evidence in respectful and intellectually rigorous conversations. 

At SVUDL, Program Specialists have taken the basic tools used to train debate coaches for competitive success.  We have more than 100 teachers across 15 high schools using Debate Centered Instruction (DCI). 

SVUDL coached teachers to implement DCI across all subject matter areas, resulting in over 1,800 students participating in DCI activities. 

Some examples of DCI activities included:

• A debate about how best to label a Unit Circle in Precalculus.

• A debate about who was responsible for the death of Romeo and Juliet in Language Arts.

• A debate about the best System of Government in World History.

In this pilot year, teachers have reacted positively to implementing this approach:

“I wasn’t sure what Debate Centered Instruction would bring to the classroom, but every year that we have run the units in class, I see students shine in new ways, or see other students who previously might not have taken a chance in class stepping up to participate.”  

- Damien Quach, English teacher

“It has been a game changer in my class.”   

- Kathleen Leal, History teacher

Urban Debate Leagues are in a position to help reweave the fabric of civil society torn by polarization when they partner with teachers to make public schools true nurseries of democracy. Debate isn’t just for after-school teams. It can transform classrooms and our society.

Coaching the Next Generation of Civically Engaged Citizens

SVUDL’s Speech & Debate program provides high school students with leadership development opportunities rarely found elsewhere. Our program teaches students how to analyze and solve complex problems; research information and evaluate evidence; and speak and persuade; all of which are skills that will serve students in college and in life – and to address the complex problems of our time. Our programming offers regular Speech and Debate practices and opportunities to compete; our dedicated coaches mentor the students in a variety of ways as they navigate the path through high school and beyond.

2023-2024 Teacher Coaches

Andrew Hill High School Michael Winsatt 
Downtown College Preparatory  Jessica Lew-Muñoz
East Palo Alto Academy Peter Otte
Independence High School Debbie Huynh and Gretchen Larese
Latino College Preparatory Academy Andrew Garcia
James Lick High School Michael Ghali
Mount Pleasant High School Mark Hartung
Oxford Day Academy Latrice Bennett
Silver Creek High School David Brodsky
Yerba Buena High School Emily La

The Evolution of 
World School Styles Debate

SVUDL Program Specialist Rachel Zubrin shared her experience with World School Style debate in the Newsweek article “World Schools Takes Away ‘Gamification’ Of Debate.” While SVUDL has long been loyal to policy debate, the packets made up of hundreds of pages and the heavily technical aspects of this format have sometimes served as barriers for accessibility.

This changed in December 2023, when SVUDL first opened its doors to the World School Styles debate format. By the time the SVUDL Championship Tournament arrived in February, there were more students practicing World School Styles than all other debate formats combined, and teachers across districts had begun implementing World School Styles debate within their classrooms.

Unlike other formats, World School Styles resolutions are not decided on a national level. Rather, each tournament features several topics. This makes the otherwise prolific practice of finding and recycling pre-written briefs online impossible. Additionally, World School Styles rounds are scored on a rubric that combines content (40 percent), style (40 percent) and strategy (20 percent). This ensures real-world speaking skills will be practiced and perfected, rather than lost through gamification. 

The spread of World School Styles is not limited to the Bay Area. World School Styles not only serves as a new pathway into debate, but into freedom and self-expression for all young arguers.

“That’s what I love most about World Schools—its applicability to real life. It allows every debater to really show not only their technical debating skills, but also their personality. It’s not about constraining yourself to one given idea or system, but rather about making every motion your own,” Leonardo de Arruda of Silver Creek High School said.

In the upcoming school year, SVUDL hopes that this investment will help World School Styles reach new heights as it welcomes hundreds of new debaters.

Offered by SVUDL’s Professional Access & Mentoring program, the SVUDL Moot Court 2024 Showcase was a fantastic opportunity for SVUDL students to prepare and argue a case before a distinguished panel of judges, including: Hon. Michelle T. Friedland, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Hon. Cynthia C. Lie, Associate Justice, California Sixth District Court of Appeal; and Hon. Charles E. Wilson, Associate Justice, California Sixth District Court of Appeal.

SVUDL Board Member and DLA Piper’s Deputy Managing Partner Carrie Williamson hosted the event at DLA and opened with remarks about how SVUDL’s mission folds naturally into the signature pro bono project of the firm -- advancing education’s promise.

Students had been working intensively for weeks to prepare for the Moot Court Showcase through collaboration with coaches and practicing and retired attorneys.

The question at the heart of this fictitious moot court case was whether it is a permissible search under the Fourth Amendment for the government to obtain routinely collected GPS location data from a third-party GPS provider.

SVUDL students Hilda Huynh (Independence High School) and Michelle Ly (Silver Creek High School) served as defense counsel and students Ria Tyagi (Mount Pleasant High School) and Isabel Reinke (Independence High School) served as prosecution.

The judges evaluated the students on the quality and persuasiveness of their presentation, as well as their unscripted responses to spontaneous questions from the bench. 

“I liked being able to feel like I’m in the shoes of a lawyer,” reflected Ria Tyagi. “Being able to experience Moot Court opened up a new world of law and public speaking that I had never known before,” noted Hilda Huynh.

The judges evaluated the students on the quality and persuasiveness of their presentation, as well as their unscripted responses to spontaneous questions from the bench, and shared an appreciation for the students’ time, effort, and energy. They made a point to express how they couldn’t imagine having done this exercise in high school themselves!

 “The first of September in 2020 marks a day I will forever be grateful for.  Staring at my Zoom screen filled with minuscule faces, my nervousness left me gripping the edge of my seat. As a shy freshman, I blindly ventured on a journey I would soon grow to love. I even recall reciting my introduction over and over: ‘Hi! I’m Neha Parthasarathi and I joined Speech & Debate to learn how to argue’ was my line,” said Neha Parthasarathi, UC Berkeley first-year student (and Silver Creek High School graduate).  

This was also the beginning of her college essay, and illustrates how SVUDL helps students to uncover and hone the power of their voices, so they can confidently step into their full potential. “Stepping out of my comfort zone back on September 1, 2020, empowered me to find my voice buried within me - enabling me to accomplish goals I had never dreamed of before,” shared Neha. 

It is that discovery of voice that reveals the opportunity to evolve into a professional and community leader. “The art of literacy is fundamental to a human. SVUDL has not only taught me to voice my thoughts unapologetically, but for a long time helped me pave the path to actually participating within institutions that allow for youth to express their opinions,” she said.

“The art of literacy is fundamental to a human.” - Neha Parthasarathi

I RESOLVE: 
Amplifying Voices

Held at Google offices on November 9, 2023, I RESOLVE was a public debate presented by The National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) and the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (SVUDL). This event brought together high school students, distinguished civic leaders, and community members for an exploration of a pressing societal topic - debated publicly by SVUDL students.

Google Senior Counsel and SVUDL Board Member Bryson Santaguida emphasized that it is more important than ever to have the skills of Speech and Debate offered by SVUDL as a training ground for future leaders to help shape the future for good. The Bay Area is a region of extreme wealth and poverty, making this year’s topic especially timely and relevant: the viability of guaranteed income as a policy solution to economic inequality. 

The two student debaters were Chloe Truong from Independence High School in San Jose, and Cristel De La Cruz Bonilla from Summit Everest High School in Redwood City. Panelists included Senator Dave Cortese and Scarlet Corona. Senator Dave Cortese represents State Senate District 15. Scarlet Corona is Program Manager for the Rise Up Alameda Guaranteed Income Pilot Program.

Chloe Truong argued that we need a society of solidarity and universal basic income is part of that structure because of its simplicity, unifying force, and realism. Cristel De La Cruz Bonilla contended that the US should acknowledge its immoral actions against historically oppressed groups and apologize in the form of reparations. 

Senator Dave Cortese and Scarlet Corona took their turns to ask questions of the SVUDL students. A conversation followed where the audience was given the opportunity to ask questions as well. 

Chloe Truong reflected on the experience of I RESOLVE. “Many members of my family who came had experienced the same historical injustices described in my speech and I was grateful for the opportunity to highlight their personal stories,” she said.

“I learned that if you want your voice to be heard, you have to take a step and be confident to participate in any event that can help you do that,” shared Cristel De la Cruz.

Professional Access and Mentoring Highlight: Visit AT BILL

SVUDL students and employees from BILL, a leading financial operations platform for small and midsize businesses, came together to network while exploring campuses. This event was hosted by BILL and made possible by the Makahakama Foundation. 

“As humans we possess this unique ability amongst all species to debate, and we have the capacity to settle disputes through reasoned discourse, rather than resorting to violence,” said Raj Aji, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at BILL. As the first in his family to immigrate to the US at age 22, he appreciated the opportunities to use the power of his voice to be heard and engage with society. This is part of what he is particularly drawn to about SVUDL - the chance to hear and offer different perspectives.

Student debate centered on the question of whether we should allow unrestricted speech on moral and political issues at colleges and universities, and how it should be balanced with an institution’s obligation to create a culture of mutual respect.

Independence High School Junior Frank Shau advocated for absolute free speech. Silver Creek High School Junior Kaitlynn Nguyen advocated for freedom of speech with limitations on speech that incites violence. Mt. Pleasant High School Sophomore Ria Tyagi advocated for freedom of speech with limitations on offensive discussions involving immutable characteristics.

“Participating in discussions about free speech at BILL was a transformative experience for me as a public speaker. I felt genuinely listened to and empowered to express my thoughts in a professional, inclusive, and open environment,” said Katelynn Nguyen.

Professional Access and Mentoring

Students in better resourced schools often have plenty of opportunities modeled for them in their day-to-day lives, but exposure to different career paths and opportunities is not something often offered to students in Title 1 schools. These students benefit immensely from deliberate exposure to future possibilities.

SVUDL’s Professional Access & Mentoring program engages high school students and SVUDL alumni in activities aimed to broaden their horizons, opportunities, and networks. Whether from learning interview skills at Orrick; visiting Superior Court Justices in Santa Clara and San Mateo Courts; exploring the Stanford Business Graduate School or networking at Google and BILL, students enjoyed experiences that exposed them to diverse professions and work settings that built their social, cultural, and professional capital and showed them how the skills they learn through Speech and Debate can propel them in the professional world.

THANKS AND APPRECIATION

SVUDL is grateful to the following individuals, foundations, and corporations for their generous cumulative support in 2023. Special thanks to the Sobrato Family Foundation for providing in-kind office space for SVUDL at the Sobrato Center for Nonprofits in Milpitas, CA.

$25,000+
Applied Materials Foundation
Anonymous
James F. Basile
John Dawson
The Franklin & Catherine Johnson Foundation
Intermedia Communications
Kirkland & Ellis 
LaureL Foundation
Leo M. Shortino Family Foundation
PwC Foundation
Rick and Carol Tinsley
John M. Sobrato
VMC Foundation
The William and Charlene Glikbarg Foundation

$10,000 - $24,999
100 Women Charitable Foundation
Allen & Overy
Atkinson Foundation
The Coca-Cola Company
Diversity Lab
|DLA Piper LLP
East Side Union High School District
Ellen and Ira Ehrenpreis
Google Inc.
Jon Goulden and Kwok Lau
KLA Foundation
Meta Platforms, Inc. 
Palo Alto Community Fund
ProStainless
PwC
Robins Kaplan LLP Charitable Foundation
Bryson Santaguida and Annie Pogue
Jennie Savage
John Sheputis and Susan Campbell
Leslie M. Spencer

$5,000 - $9,999
Amazon
David Andrews
Eugene Assaf
Sahil Bhardwaj
Brandon Brown
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
John Castelly
The Chrysalis Fund 
Covington & Burling LLP
Elizabeth Deeley
Desmarais LLP
Devcon Construction
GI Partners
Andrew Gold and Jocelyn Johnson Gold
Lisa Guerra
Willie and Bernice Hernandez
Marian Hoffman
HP Inc.
Intuit
Christopher and Ali Keegan
David Kung
Mark Lemley and Rose Hagan
Mayer Brown LLP
Mark and Kelly McKane
Meta Local Community Fund
Mortenson Family Foundation
National Association for Urban Debate Leagues
Palo Alto Weekly Holiday Fund
David Quigley
San Jose Earthquakes
Shineon.org Foundation
Matt Abrahams and Think Fast Talk Smart LLC
Carrie Williamson

$1,000 - $4,999
Julia and Thomas Alloggiamento
Mr. and Mrs. Adam Alper
Naomi Andrews
Anonymous
Lisa Auerbach
BartkoZankel
Karen Boyd
Cynthia Bright
Eb Bright
Stuart Casillas
Indra Neel Chatterjee
ConnectSafely
Davis & Gilbert LLC
Rolf De Vegt
The Flourish Collective
Michelle Galloway
Gap, Inc
Michael and Jill Gold
Jocelyn Goldfein
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Rekha Hemrajani
Christopher Hersey
Vivienne Hsu and Ken Tsai
Matthew Irwin, Marlow Lenoir-Irwin and Virginia Irwin
Craig and Gina Jorasch
Rich and Gina Kelley
Denny Kwon
Sabine and David Lam
Eric Lancaster
Larry Langdon
Cynthia Lie
Camelia Lim
Anjanette and Greg Lundell
Samantha Madrid and Brendan Gibbs
Mariella Lo Papa
Larry Orr and Nicole Lederer
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Adam and Dana Phillips
Sanjay Pichaiah
Allison Railo
Raymond James
Corlyne Recht
Victor Rivas Umana
San Jose Sharks Foundation
Kian Sandjideh
Rob Schilling
ServiceNow
The Teichert Foundation
The Triumph Philanthropy Fund
Jason and Anne Veldhuis
Venable LLP
Roger Wery
Paul M. Work

$500 - $999

Amalgamated Charitable Foundation
Apple
Nadia Arid
Iris Chen
Tiffany Cheng
Moira Dawson
Eldan Eichbaum and Rosy Chattha
|Elana Gold and Ronny Vansteenkiste
Yabo Lin
Claudia Lohnes
Grace Mah and Don Chin
Stephen McClain
Joanne Mills
Mary O’Leary
Achim Pantfoerder
PayPal Giving Fund
Nadine Rambeau
Shahram Seyedin-Noor and Ozge Turan
Kayvan and Gertrude Shahabi
Tim Tonella
Wendy Yale
Stanley Young

$499 and below
Sofia Abdirizak
Marlon Alvarado and Tamara Mozahuani Alvarado
Amazon Smile
AMD
Anonymous
Robert Bartlett
Mark and Susan Boennighausen
Jennifer Choy
James and Cancice Claussen
Randall Collins
Philip Damberg
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Edward Davila and Mary Greenwood
Monica De Lazzari
Dallas Dolen
Paul English
Ernest Fernandez
Dr. George Fisher
Diane Gabl Kratz
Cindie Gaspar
Nathaniel Gleicher
Ilana Golbin
Karan Gosal
Gabrielle Granier
Greg and Rita Hernandez
Cindy Hess
Janet Howes
Rodolfo and Perla Janairo
Neal Jagtap
Debra Kegel
Jonathan Lamberson
Elizabeth Lee
Listen4Good
Dolly Mah
Ann Mahowald
Jenet Manuel
Danielle Mitalipov
Christophe Mosby
Julie Mulhern
Usha Narayanan
Eric Nehrlich
Network for Good
Richard Nieman
Michaela and Seth Northrop
One Hope
Lisa Oullette
Mariella Lo Papa
A. Mitchell Polinsky
Linda Prieto
Marinna Chang Radloff
Ann Wang Reed
Cheryl and Craig Reiss
Laura Roberts and Robert Jones
Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund
Caren Ulrich Stacy and Wayne Stacy
Janette and John Tavs
Nellie True
Richard, Lisa and Barbara Van Dusen
Eric Venzon
Alison Watkins
DeMarcus Williams
Jason Yu
Richard Yun

THE SVUDL TEAM

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Served during the 2023-2024 program year

James Basile, Chair
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Matt Abrahams
Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business

The Honorable Julia Alloggiamento
Judge of the Superior Court, Santa Clara County

Nadia Arid, Secretary
Associate Product Counsel, Google

Sahil Bhardwaj, Vice Chair
Partner, Strategy& (a PwC company)

John Castelly, Treasurer
VP of Legal and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, ServiceNow

Alison Eliott
Former Educator and Community Volunteer

Andrew Gold, Chair Emeritus
Attorney, The Office Of Andrew Gold, Esq.

Christopher Hersey
Partner, Ventura, Rossi, Hersey & Muller

Mark Lemley
William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School

Kian Sandjideh
Angel Investor and Startup Founder and Entrepreneur

Bryson Santaguida
Senior Counsel, Google

John Sheputis
Digital Infrastructure Executive

Vaishali Sirkay
Executive Director, Cities Association
of Santa Clara County

Leslie M. Spencer, Secretary
Partner, Desmarais LLP

Rick Tinsley. Treasurer
Tech Entrepreneur and Investor


LEGAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

The Legal Advisory Committee brings together leaders from the Silicon Valley legal community to help students realize their dreams of becoming successful lawyers. Thank you to these members who mentor, host firm visits, and provide internships.  

Brandon Brown
Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Graham “Gray” Buccigross
Partner, Intellectual Property, Mayer Brown LLP

Andrew Cain
Directing Attorney, The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley

Marc Fernandez
Assistant General Counsel, Intuit

Willie Hernandez, Chair
General Counsel, International The Coca-Cola Company

Christopher Hersey
Partner, Ventura, Hersey & Muller LLP

Matthew Irwin
Associate General Counsel, Gap, Inc.

Jennifer Kim
Associate, Davis Polk & Wardell LLP

Denny Kwon
Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP

Eric Lancaster
Partner, Paul Hastings LLP

Christophe Mosby
Associate General Counsel, HP Inc.

Ballari Mukherjee
Counsel, Employment at Zendesk

Ash Nagdev
Counsel, Sidley Austin LLP

Usha Narayanan
Senior Legal Counsel, HP

Shayne O’Reilly
Associate General Counsel, Intellectual Property, Facebook, Inc.

Carlos Orellana
District Counsel, Valley Water

Ajwang Rading
Founder and CEO, Stealth Mode

Bryson Santaguida
Senior Counsel, Google

Leslie M. Spencer
Partner, Desmarais LLP

Caren Ulrich Stacy
CEO, Diversity Lab

DeMarcus Williams
Associate, White & Case

Carrie Williamson
Deputy Managing Partner, East Palo Alto, DLA Piper

Li Zhu
Partner, Robins Kaplan LLP

PROGRAM ADVISORY COUNCIL

The Program Advisory Council convenes leaders in the field of education, Speech and Debate champions, community stakeholders, students and alumni who can share their varying perspectives and expertise to inform the programmatic direction of the organization.

Matt Abrahams
Lecturer Stanford University Graduate School of Business

John Castelly
Vice President of Legal and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer at ServiceNow

Diego Certa
Coordinator of Goodwill ASSETS Youth Programs

Danielle Mitalipov
MBA student, Harvard Business School

Jennie Savage
Emeritus Director of Speech and Debate, 
Palo Alto High School

Rachel Stattion
SVUDL alum and Santa Clara University alum

Elizabeth Wells
Executive Director for the Foundation for a College Education

Erick Zaragoza 
SVUDL alum and Princeton University student

STAFF

Najma Ali
Program Specialist

Addis Arciniega
Program Coordinator and Coach

Dr. Robert Burns
Director of Programming

Teague Clark
Summer Intern

Sofia Funk
Program Specialist

Rolland Janairo
Chief Executive Officer

Jenet Manuel
Administrative & Operations Manager

Kwodwo Moore
Senior Program Specialist

Rachel Zubrin
Program Specialist