• Najma Ali is a SVUDL alum and has been involved in debate since her sophomore year in high school. Najma didn't expect to find her voice and become a student leader, but once she was exposed to ideas that her school curriculum did not cover, she was inspired. By the time her junior year came along she became more competitive in Policy debate. She has competed at many national circuit tournaments including competing twice at NAUDL’s Urban Debate National Championships. After high school, Najma continued her involvement with SVUDL as a Lab Leader during the SVUDL Summer Debate Institute and has been a judge for countless tournaments.

    Najma earned her Bachelors of Science in Human Biology and Society from UCLA in 2022 and has been a Speech and Debate coach for students at Andrew Hill High School and Latino College Preparatory Academy, and Roberto Cruz Leadership Academy for the 2022-23 school year. Najma believes that debate is the segue where the students are able to foster necessary conversations on issues that affect them. As a Program Specialist, she wants to be able to develop different avenues for accessing these bright and untapped minds.

  • Addis is currently a full-time student at De Anza College in Cupertino studying Political Science. She competed in Policy debate throughout her high school years and is now starting a new role as SVUDL’s Program Coordinator and Coach.

    Throughout her four years competing in Policy debate, Addis was able to reach high levels. Addis qualified for the Catholic Forensic League Grand National Championship for four consecutive years and placed first at various local tournaments. As the Varsity coach at Downtown College Prep, Addis responds to the head coach and assists with lesson plans, discussions, and practices. Her current students have reached high levels of competition including the Urban Debate National Championship and elimination rounds at the UC Berkeley Invitational.

    Outside of her debate career, Addis has goals to work in a career in politics and law. Her goals are rooted in personal experience and the experience that debate gave her to see the world through a new lens. Addis enjoys exploring new coffee places and worlds within books.

  • As a high school student growing up outside Atlanta, debate gave Rob a grammar for critically reflecting on the social and political world around him. After spending countless hours researching in the Emory Law Library and attending the Emory National Debate Institutes, he was awarded a full scholarship to debate at Liberty University in 1998. As a freshman, he qualified to the college national debate championship. After transferring to Wheaton College his sophomore year, he continued to work as a teaching assistant for Wheaton’s debate class, graduating in 2001 with a B.A. in political philosophy and a minor in urban studies.

    For Rob, debate had a lasting and profound impact on his early career. Although he stopped competing in college, his work at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, a political advocacy organization, was sparked by ideas he was introduced to in debate.

    Those research skills and ideas continued to shape his professional life and eventually moved him to return to coaching. After teaching at the college level for several years, he began a policy program at Lindenwood University in Missouri. For his work training first-year college debaters, Rob was awarded the Dick Stein Coach of the Year award in 2013. Turning his focus to high school, Rob founded the policy debate team at North Star Academy in Newark, where he taught speech and debate to every grade level from 2014-2018. During his time at North Star, Rob coached the Co-Champions of the 2018 Harvard Invitational Debates in the policy division. Two of his varsity teams finished as quarterfinalists and octafinalists at the 2018 Tournament of Champions.

  • Rolland joined SVUDL as its Executive Director in December 2018.

    Born and raised in New York City to parents who immigrated from the Philippines, Rolland has developed a deep appreciation for the transformative power of education as a product of the NYC public school system. While attending and after graduating from Brown University, Rolland volunteered and taught at a preschool in Providence, Rhode Island. He later earned his Masters Degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

    During his time in Boston, Rolland was the Associate Director of Teacher Development at Jumpstart for Young Children, as well as the Director of Playmaker Operations at Life is Good Playmakers. Prior to joining SVUDL, Rolland served as the Chief Operating Officer at World Savvy. Across all of these roles, Rolland's focus has been on supporting students to reach their full potential by empowering the caring adults around them to do the same.

    Rolland also serves as Treasurer of the Board of the Directors of the Thrive Alliance of Nonprofits of San Mateo County, as well as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the California Association of Urban Debate Leagues. He is a Board member with SV2, and a Senior Fellow faculty member with the Institute of Nonprofit Practice. In his spare time, Rolland enjoys running, cooking, and exploring the Bay Area with his wife and two young boys.

  • Jenet joins SVUDL with an in-depth knowledge of office management and considerable experience in organizational administration. She combines these skills – so critical for a growing nonprofit organization – with a passion for helping others.

    Jenet has more than 16 years of general office experience and also has managed and organized multicultural events and disaster relief operations, including necessary actions after Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines in 2013.

    Jenet earned her bachelor of science degree in customs administration from Mariners Polytechnic Colleges Foundation in the Philippines and spent 11 years as a visa counselor, helping reunite families through tedious petitions and application processes, and also oversaw branch office operations.

    She is excited that her work will support a program that inspires at-risk students to excel.

  • Kwodwo has spent the past seven years involved in policy debate. He began his debate experience as a high school junior when he was encouraged to join the Bay Area Urban Debate League team at Emery Secondary School. The combination of intellectual stimulation and community engagement helped feed Kwodwo’s desire for purpose, and he soon became involved in BAUDL's Leading With Debate Fellowship, which focuses on the soft skills students gain, fostered by policy debate. After graduating from the program, during his freshman year at CSU East Bay, Kwodwo returned to his high school as a volunteer coach when he learned that the team was on the brink of disappearance after losing its coach. As a coach and as an advocate, Kwodwo led the debate team to great success.

    During his Sophomore year at CSU East Bay, he was one of the very first SVUDL volunteers and helped recruit students, run workshops and judge at tournaments in East Palo Alto. He was selected for a teaching position in SVUDL’s inaugural Summer Institute in 2015, and second Summer Institute in 2016. Kwodwo graduated with a Philosophy, B.A. from CSU East Bay in 2017 and won the Bassen Award for Philosophy in 2016 and 2017.

  • Rachel is excited to join SVUDL as their new Program Specialist!

    Before joining SVUDL, Rachel Zubrin was the Debate Program Lead at Writopia Lab. At Writopia, she launched their competitive debate program, which focused on World School Styles. She also designed and organized Writopia Lab’s World School Styles debate tournaments, which hosts competitors across the globe!

    Within each school she has taught, Rachel has created and coached multiple extracurricular activities, including creative writing, drama, speech, and debate clubs. Several students within these clubs have received recognition and scholarship awards. Rachel also established an ESL educational organization within an Indonesian orphanage while serving in the Peace Corps. Additionally, Rachel has developed creative writing, literature, and aerospace curricula to be used within schools in Thailand, Indonesia, and China.

    In August 2021, Rachel received her Master’s in International Development from American University.