Meet Our Team

Meet your officers for the 2022-23 season — the people who help our amazing team run smoothly every day :D! Whether you have a question about an assignment or anything regarding s&d they will always be there for you. Whether the weather is cold, whether the weather is hot, we’ll be together whatever the weather whether we like it or not.

President of Speech

Amy Wang

“Hey everyone! :) I'm Amy, and I'm super excited to be your speech president this year. I've done a variety of platform and interp speech events and am more than willing to help out with any questions/concerns you may have. love Jane Austen, feeding my gacha game addiction, and have been a proud member of Expos (Info) since sophomore year. :D JOIN EXPOS (if you want)! I'm super excited for all of the in-person tournaments this year and looking forward to another great season with y'all. ミ ᕕ(ᐛ) ᕗ”

President of debate

Leon Huang

VP of platform

Jessica Yao

VP of Interpretation

Parsa Ansari

“Hi! My name is Parsa, and I’m your VP of Interp. My main event is OPP, but I’ve done HI and POI as well. Some of my hobbies include geocaching, 3D printing, and electro swing dancing. I also have a YouTube Channel called Persian Songs Explained (go subscribe!) I look forward to working with you all this year; feel free to hit me up if you need help with anything or just want to talk about life :)”

vp of spontaneous

Samika Mathada

“Hello! I am Samika, a senior, and the VP of Spontaneous. I have done speech and debate for a few years now. Although I have done many speech events — DUO, OI, Expos — my main event is Impromptu. It's exciting being on this team and I look forward to this season :)”

VP of Congress

Jonah Oshana

VP Congress

Michael Que

“Hi! I’m Michael, your Co-VP of Congress this year. My interests lie mainly in business and specifically finance. However, In my free time I love to watch classic movies from directors like Scorsese, Spielberg, and Nolan. I’m a very open person, so don’t hesitate to chat with me about anything. “

VP of Policy Debate

Natalie Gao

“my chipotle order is a burrito with chicken, corn, tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, white rice, pinto beans, and guac"“

vp of policy debate

Anahita Kashani Gregg

“Hi everyone! I'm so excited to be one of your co-VPs of policy this year!! This is my fourth year doing policy & third as leadership. Outside of debate, I love music (Phoebe Bridgers, SZA, Japanese Breakfast, Mitski, Clairo, etc), rollerskating, spending time with friends, and wearing Doc Martens in the summer. I'm so excited for this season and to meet you all!”

VP Of Policy Debate

Nicole Mui

“hi everyone :) i'm nicole and i am so excited to be a co-vp of policy debate this year! Some of my hobbies are reading graphic memoirs, going for long hikes and listening to music (SZA, Frank Ocean, Haley Heynderickx.) i love policy debate because it's taught me to be confident, advocate for the issues i care about and work alongside the lovely policy fam. Please reach out to me if you ever need anything or have any questions!”

VP of lincoln douglas debate

Eshan Velidandla

"Hey y'all! I'm Eshan, this year's VP of LD! I've been debating since middle school, and I love talking to new people so don't be afraid to say hi! Generally, I enjoy naps, good food, and traveling. I love music so my dms are open for song recommendations at any time of day! My second event is usually congress, but I've done a variety of events in the past and look forward to seeing all the new faces this year!”

Vp of Public Forum Debate

Alexis Minvielle

“Hi everyone! My name is Lexie Minvielle and I am a senior. This year, I am Co-VP of Public Forum Debate with Sterling and Daniel. I have been doing speech and debate since middle school and this is my fourth year of doing PF. I am super excited to work with the team this year! Outside of speech and debate, I love doing calligraphy, eating korean food, and my dog.”

Vp of parliamentary debate

Juhi Jadav

“Hi everyone! I’m Juhi and I’m your VP of Parliamentary this year. I’ve done Parli and Duo — THE best combination — for all four years in speech and debate. Outside of class, I also love listening to music (stan Golden Child <3), doing calligraphy, and playing Egyptian War in C-1 during tutorial :)”

VP of Public Forum Debate

Daniel Xie

“Hey! I'm Daniel, one of the co-VPs of PF. I've done PF for 4 years now, and it has become one of my main passions. I hope to inspire others to love and enjoy debate as well! Outside of debate, I enjoy skiing, playing video games, and being a penguin. Looking forward to a great year!”

VP of Public forum

Sterling Xie

“Hi! I'm Sterling, a co-VP of PF with Daniel and Lexie. This is my 4th year of PF and I've enjoyed nearly every aspect of it—the people, the event, and the competitive aspect of it. I hope to share this passion with more people. Outside of debate, I enjoy listening to music, watching TV shows, and playing Tetris. Don't hesitate to contact me about anything and I'm excited to meet you all!”

Vp Of Bret Harte

Nikita Parakala

“Hi! I’m Nikita and I am the VP of Bret Harte Speech and Debate. I have been doing speech and debate for six years, and have enjoyed every moment of it. My love for this program started in middle school, which is why I wanted to give back and help middle schoolers today find their passion through speech and debate. My other hobbies include reading, tennis, and hanging out with my sister. I can’t wait to meet you!”

VP of Bret Harte

Michelle Qiao

“I am excited to be a part of the leadership team at Leland Speech and Debate. I have been a part of the program all four years of high school, and work with the Bret Harte Middle School program.”

Vp of Bret Harte

Alexander Lee

“Hello everybody—Vice President of Bret Harte Speech and Debate here! I love all things Broadway, Star Wars, and chicken. Outside of Speech and Debate, I'm the ASB President at Leland, and the leader of a really awesome club called The Creative Writing Club. Beyond that, I love doing things that every other high school student loves to do: eat, drink, and sleep! Come talk to me if you get a chance—I only bite the annoying people...!”

vp of Bret Harte

Claire Chen

“Hi! My name is Claire Chen. I'm 17 and I'm a junior. I love traveling, baking, spending time with friends and family, shopping, and kids who ask when they have questions. I've worked with Bret Harte Speech and Debate in some form for two years now, and the most rewarding part has definitely been seeing how much everyone grows and develops a voice over the course of program. The energy and passion of the fantastic people in this program are so inspiring, and I'm looking forward to great season with you all! “

VP of Bret Harte shadow

Dominic Vu

VP of bret harte shadow

Rayan Sengupta

“Hey y'all! I'm Rayan, a junior and one of your Bret Harte Speech and Debate Shadow VP 's. My main events are Public Forum and Extemp. Outside of LSD, I like to listen to music, ski, scuba dive, and hang out with friends. But most of all, I LOVE procrastinating. I'm looking forward to the year and excited to meet y'all!”

Treasurer

Allison Trinh

“Hey! My name is Allison, I am the senior treasurer, and this is my fourth and last year on the team since I am a senior. Some of my hobbies outside of speech and debate are spending time with friends, shopping, and reading. Also I've done PF since freshman year and am super excited to try out Congress this year.”

secretary

Maya Chivakula

“Hi everyone! I have done OI for all 4 years of speech and debate at Leland and have been an OI chair for the past two years! I am also the team secretary this year and absolutely love being a part of the wonderful speech and debate community at Leland. Outside of speech and debate, I love music and sing when I can. I'm also obsessed with the beach and have spent every birthday there since I was 12 :)”

tournament director

Eunwoo Kim

head of Art Committee

Amelia Khor

“Hello! I'm Amelia, the Head of Art Committee! I've done speech and debate throughout middle school and high school, and I'm excited to continue it this year! I like watercolor, acrylic and honey star cereal. LD is my main event, and I'm so excited to meet all of you this year! :)”

Art Committee

Jessica Yao

Art Committee

Karis Moon

“yo wassup, this is karis (rhymes with paris) and i am a senior this year !! i do expos and ld, if you have any questions about either of these events or school or anything hmu please, my life is incredibly boring. my favorite things are traveling, kaomojis, lying down, lowercase letters, espresso, aesthetic instagram feeds, ice cream, speech & debate, music (if you have any reccs, please send!!), america, and drawing. if you're doing speech & debate, you're automatically a cool kid, so congrats! finally, a life tip from chika fujiwara (the best rapper): in order to rap, just add yo at the end of every sentence :v peace out, yo”

art committee

Kenji Guo

“One of my favorite foods of all time is wafers, they are very cheap and taste absolutely amazing. Every Wednesday I would go and buy packs of wafers from CVS with their 3 for $3 deals, making sure to take at least one chocolate, one vanilla, and one strawberry favors every time. Even though it is just a trivial enjoyment that makes my entire week better, there are always people trying to ruin it. Granted, I am completely fine with people asking for some and while I do not expect anything in return, some even take that extra step. However, there are said people that take it away from me mercilessly, making me feel very very bad. Just goes to show how much I absolutely love those cheap wafers.”

Art Committee

Jessica Liu

“Hi everyone!! I'm Jessica (or you can call me jessie) and I'm part of Art Committee this year! My events are Expos and Duo Interp. Some of my hobbies include napping, drawing fanart, playing (bad) covers of video game/movie songs on the piano, and eating bbq kettle chips. I look forward to another year on the team! <3”

art committee

Lori Yang

“Hello. I am universally accepted as a freshman. I am definitely not a junior. If I seem dead anytime during the year, I am definitely, totally, very much not dying. Feel free to come up to me anytime and talk about anything :)”

head of fundraising committee

Pranavi Gandikota

“Hi! I'm Pranavi and I'm your Head of Fundraising Committee! My events are Duo (everyone should join because i am also a chair!) and Expos, and I've previously done OI and DI. Some things I really enjoy are binging Netflix and hanging out with my friends. I look forward to making the most of my last year on the team and throwing some epic fundraisers :)”

Fundraising Committee

Aniket Mittal

“Hi! My name is Aniket Mittal. Fun fact. I am a junior and I do Leland Speech and Debate. Even more fun fact. I am so excited to be writing this intro! I do PF and Congress and love flossing (Gotta keep those teeth shiny). Other fun endeavors include hitting the griddy and debating with a funny shadow VP of debate.”

Fundraising Committee

Elaine Ju

“Hi my name is Elaine! I'm a junior and my events are Policy & OI. I enjoy listening to music a little too much (fun fact I have 116k+ minutes on spotify) and watching k-dramas. My favorite artists would probably be Keshi, beabadoobee and Laufey! Looking forward to getting to know everyone this year :)”

Fundraising Committee

Parmis Broumandi

“Hey y'all! My name is Parmis and I'm a junior at Leland. This is my second year on the fundraising committee and my third year on Leland Speech & Debate -- being on this team has been super fun and such an honor. I am so excited to do in person activities this year and meet new novices! Feel free to hit me up if you ever have any questions or just want to talk :). Some things I enjoy doing are swimming, singing, traveling, sleeping, and going to amusement parks. Some events that I have tried until now are OPP, OO, and DI. This year I'll be doing OPP, Duo, and PF. Some other fun facts about me are that my zodiac sign is a leo, I saw Steph Curry at Great America with an iconic squad, I'm obsessed with Persian music and food, and I am deathly afraid of spiders. Looking forward to creating some exciting fundraisers this year, go LSD!!”

Fundraising Committee

Eleanor Yu

“Hi! I’m Eleanor, and I’m a sophomore this year (yes, it’s very contradictory to my height). I’m on Fundraising Committee and one of the POI chairs (!!) so I’m excited to be working more closely with the team. I think that Speech and Debate has some of the coolest people (Amy Wang rights) and I look forward to making more friends & memories. :) A bit about me is that I will scream about books, TV shows, songs, and coffee without shame. (fun fact: I've basically memorized Gilmore girls) Oh, and apparently I look very focused when scrolling through Pinterest.”

Fundraising Committee

Raymond Dai

“早上好中国! My name is Raymond! I love playing badminton in my spare time, and I'm also a fan of the Golden State Warriors (LeBron James has ZERO real rings in my book!!! 😤) I also play a little bit of Tetris. Aniket Mittal disapproves of this new hobby, but personally I think it's a skill issue.”

head of Spirit Committee

Eric Yue

“Hi everyone, this is Eric, one of your Co-Heads of Spirit Committee for this year! Throughout the year, we will be creating and leading in class and team bonding activities that, hopefully, all of you will participate in! I do Parli and Informative as my two events, this means I hope ranting about some random thing in round with a made up statistic (jk, we don't do that in parli) and I hope giving an educational speech on my topic with a lot of visual aids. I enjoy simply chatting with people, ask me about the experience of Ms. Touchton's AP Lang class and I will tell you an embarrasing story of me :D. Please make sure to stay connected to everything that is happening, keep up with your event work, and always ask questions. There is a leadership structure set up so we can help you in any way whenever something comes up, so utilize it!”

head of Spirit Committee

Tanaisha Mistry

“Hello everyone! I’m Tanaisha Mistry and I am your Co-Head of Spirit Committee. As you can probably tell by the picture, I love candy! I also love boba, painting, ice skating, table tennis, high-fives, and of course, speech and debate. I’m so excited to meet all you novices and work with (hopefully) every single one of my teammates!”

Spirit Committee

Ilinca Flacau

“Hey team! My name is Ilinca and I’m a member of the spirit committee. I’m also an LD chair and do info and parli. Outside of speech and debate you can catch me watching British tv, hiking, or thinking about absurd hypotheticals.”

Spirit Committee

Rhea Naik

“Hey everyone! My name is Rhea and I'm currently a junior. I'm so excited to be a member of Spirit Committee again this year and help create some amazing bonding events for our team! In the past, I've done OO, OI, and Expos, and this year, I'm planning on doing OO, PF, and Duo. Speech and Debate is such an amazing activity and I'm really looking forward to working with everyone and attending in-person tournaments. Some fun facts about me are that I am a Virgo (my bday is September 11!), Parmis and I (and some other iconic people!) once saw Steph Curry at Great America, I have a black belt in karate, and I enjoy playing the piano, writing poetry, and singing in the shower! If you're ever in need of a helping hand or someone to talk to, I got you! I can't wait to make this year the most spirited and fun yet! :D”

Spirit Committee

Brandon Vu

“You are slowly falling asleep. You will listen to my every command. Join OPP. JOIN OPP. When I snap my fingers you will wake up. *snap* oh and I’m part of Spirit Committee I guess.”

Coaches

GAY BRASHER

Email: gay.brasher@gmail.com

Gay Brasher has been the head of the Leland Speech and Debate Program for more than 20 years. She is recognized as a seven-diamond coach by the National Speech and Debate Association and is a lead member on the board of the Coast Forensic League. To see her students utilize exercises and rely on tactics they learned from Speech and Debate in college and in their careers is Mrs. Brasher's motivation to continue her efforts. In addition to her work with Leland, Mrs. Brasher has extensive relationships with the Speech and Debate programs at Bret Harte Middle School, Burnett Middle School, Horace Mann Elementary School, and the California Migrant Education program.

PRIYA GARCIA

Email: pRgarcia@sjusd.org

Priya Garcia is an English Teacher at Leland as well as a coach for Leland Speech and Debate. This will be Ms. Garcia’s third year as one of the lead instructors of Leland High School. She has previously coached speech and debate at another high school and also worked at a private speech and debate company. Ms. Garcia is a one-diamond coach and during her time in high school, she competed in Parliamentary Debate and a variety of interpretation events.

CHRIS WARDNER

Email: cwardner@almadencountryday.org

Chris Wardner has been a coach for the Leland Speech and Debate team for 14 years. During this time he has coached Lincoln- Douglas Debate, as well as both International and National Extemporaneous Speaking. Mr. Wardner helps students develop as speakers while expanding their knowledge on many relevant and important issue. He has been recognized as a three-diamond coach by the National Speech and Debate Association and has helped many of his students achieve both state and national titles. Along with being a coach for Leland Speech and Debate he is also the head of the Almaden Country Day School Speech and Debate team and was awarded the 2021 Middle School Coach of the Year by the National Speech and Debate Association.

MICHAELA NORTHROP

Email: michaelanorthrop@gmail.com

Michaela Northrop has been a coach at Leland for 7 years and has been coaching for 17 years overall. During her time at Leland she has coached both Impromptu and Policy Debate. Through her time on the team she has helped many students become better speakers and debaters. She is also recognized as two-diamond coach by the National Speech and Debate Association. Ms. Northrop puts countless hours into coaching students on the Leland Speech and Debate Team, and is extremely committed to seeing them succeed both inside and outside of tournaments. She always encourages her students to practice and gives them helpful feedback that will help them develop as public speakers.