Meeting People Where They Are
Aleesha Kashif, Teacher Coach at KIPP San Jose Collegiate, didn't take a straight road to the front of a classroom which is what makes her such an effective Speech and Debate coach.
She started college as a psychology major, drawn by a deep curiosity about how diverse minds work. That led her to her first job as a Registered Behavior Technician, an experience that planted the seeds for a vision she still carries with her today: building an adaptive learning management system for neurodiverse children. Though she later shifted her academic focus to international business, management information systems, and political science, that early work never left her. "I hope to have the opportunity, experience, and skills to build it one day," she says.
The path from that first job to KIPP San Jose Collegiate wound through substitute teaching — and a fortunate moment of recognition. A colleague spotted Aleesha in a classroom and referred her for an Education Specialist position. She embraced the role as a chance to sharpen her public speaking, lesson planning, and collaboration skills while developing individualized education plans for students with mild to moderate disabilities.
Over the past two years, Aleesha has co-taught English, math, and biology — identifying skill gaps and reteaching in a resource lab through diverse forms of instruction. Both English and biology wove in Debate Centered Instruction through Socratic seminars, where students discuss current issues and build on each other's reasoning in real time.
It was during one of those co-teaching classes that founder Mohnish Balaji overheard Aleesha mention her interest in pursuing law. He asked her to coach the Speech and Debate Club and help restart the program at the school.
Together with a small team composed of Michelle Tran and Yizhi Fang, Aleesha helped bring the club back to life. What started as a handful of students has grown into a team of roughly 30, in only the last two years - with an average of 10 students competing at each tournament!
The growth has been more than numerical. The novice freshmen who joined in that first year are now rising juniors with real ownership over their craft. Julianna Herrera, the club's very first tournament attendee, put it plainly at the Championship: "Giving yourself courage to get out of your comfort zone can lead to becoming your best self." Raniya Sherefa, who joined this year, offered her own take: "Try something new - you never know, it might work out."
For many students, the club has become something more than a competition team. It's become a place to belong. Timothy Phan captured it with striking honesty: "Many turn to clubs as a way to escape their home and their pressures, but I come to Speech and Debate to go home and feel welcome instead." Michelle Tran added her own twist: "SVUDL has brought out my inner alpha."
First-year students spoke about the resilience they built along the way. Angel Rodriguez Lopez reflected on how the experience reshaped his relationship with discomfort: "When I was starting out, participating in Speech was pretty scary and was outside my comfort zone. However, participating in SVUDL has helped me get over that fear by pushing me to actively seek discomfort rather than stray from it." Adam Garcia added, "SVUDL showed me that fear isn't something you get rid of, but when you act with fear, you'll develop courage."
Stanley Tran spoke to the longer arc, and the kind of transformation that outlasts any single tournament result: "SVUDL has pushed me to explore my own abilities and expand my skills and confidence into a philosophy that has shaped how I think and communicate beyond competitions."
For Aleesha Kashif, that's the whole point. Whether she's one day building the adaptive learning platform she's dreamed about, practicing law, teaching or coaching, she brings the same instinct: meet people where they are, and help them find what they're capable of and at KIPP San Jose Collegiate and SVUDL, she found a team and a community doing exactly that.
