Jennie Savage
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Speech and Debate Director
Speech and Debate Director

Sarah Simon
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Speech and Debate Assistant Director, Speech and Public Forum Head Coach

about jennie

​Jennie is entering her 17th year with the Paly team, and her 16th year as director of speech and debate. She has been awarded her second diamond by the National Speech and Debate Association for her coaching dedication and results. She has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Virginia 1988. Prior to retiring from the paid labor force to raise a family, Jennie worked as worldwide sales trainer and executive speech consultant at Adobe Systems, Inc. Her other jobs included: public affairs manager and nationwide CEO speech/crisis media coach at Planned Parenthood Federation of America; senior legislative aide on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC; political advance team member on a presidential campaign; and policy analyst for the Children’s Defense Fund and for the Southern Poverty Law Center. In high school, she competed in Policy (CX) debate for the Montgomery Academy, AL, regularly won top speaking awards, participated in numerous out-rounds, and was on the state champion team. Jennie is a published author, a non-profit board founder and chair, and is raising two college juniors (Emory/Georgia Tech and UCSC) and has a daughter who just completed graduate school at MIT.

Maya Levine
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Congress Co-Head Coach

about Maya

Maya Levine was on the Paly Congress team for four years as a high schooler, and captained the team as a senior. She placed in many local tournaments and made it to semifinals at the national tournament in 2019 and 2020. She now attends Stanford University, where she studies urban policy and management.

Michael Alisky
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Public Forum Assistant Coach

about Michael

Michael Alisky is a sophomore at Stanford, majoring in International Relations and Computer Science. Originally from Aurora, Colorado, he competed with the Smoky Hill speech and debate team, finishing his senior year with a seventh-place finish at nationals and a state championship in National Extemp. Michael continues to debate in college with Stanford’s Parliamentary Debate team and is also a member of the club swim team. He enjoys learning languages, backpacking, skiing, playing chess, and stumbling upon pretentious words.

Ali Cohen
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about Ali

Ali Cohen is a junior at Stanford University who has been competing in congressional debate since the 6th grade. Her freshman year of high school she began competing on the national circuit. That year, she won the Arizona State championship, finaled at the Berkeley Invitational and became the only freshman in the country to semi-final at the Tournament of Champions. Her Sophomore year she collected 4 more bids to the Tournament of Champions, placed 4th at the Glenbrooks tournament in Chicago, and repeated her semi-final performance at the TOC as well as her state championship. Ali’s junior year she finaled at every national circuit tournament she went to including the Harvard invitational, widely thought of as the most difficult tournament in the country. She also placed 7th in the country at NSDA nationals in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Her senior year Ali championed the ASU tournament and ended her career placing 6th in the nation at NSDA nationals. Throughout her career, she amassed over 12 bids to the Tournament of Champions and finaled at 10 national circuit tournaments. She served as captain of her team and mentored novices in the activity. Now the junior class president at Stanford, Ali competes on the top 10 mock trial team as an attorney

About sarah

​Sarah is a third-year student at Stanford Law School. Originally from Valparaiso, IN, she competed in U.S. extemp, impromptu, Public Forum debate, Congress, and original oratory in high school. She was a four-time qualifier to the national tournament. Sarah attended the University of Pennsylvania for undergrad, where she studied political science and urban education. After graduating from Penn, Sarah worked for two years at a charter school in Indianapolis as a fifth grade teacher (and tournament-winning basketball coach!). While she was teaching, Sarah received her Master’s in education from Marian University. Now that she’s in law school, Sarah is an Articles Editor of the Stanford Law Review and producer of the Law School Musical. She will be clerking for a judge in Columbus, OH upon graduating. In her free time, she loves baking, going for long walks, watching Jeopardy!, and reading science fiction.

Tiffany Lo
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Speech Assistant Coach

about Tifanny

Tiffany Lo is a third year student at Stanford Law School. She participated in speech and debate for all four years at Irvington High School, competing in Oratorical Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, and Parliamentary Debate. She was an alternate state qualifier in OI and placed first and achieved winning records in multiple regional tournaments. While in high school, she also co-founded the Mock Trial team, participated in the We the Program program, competed in DECA conferences--finishing as a finalist at the international competition, and performed in musicals. She attended UC Berkeley from 2015 to 2018, where she double majored in Political Science and Rhetoric. Now at Stanford, Tiffany is part of the Stanford Law Review, Asian Pacific Islander Law Students Association, Tax Club, and Women of Color Collective. She is very excited to be coaching the speech interpretation events on the Paly team!

Kyle Hietala
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LD Debate and Public Forum

about Kyle

Kyle Hietala volunteers with the team, primarily judging practice and tournament rounds for LD & PF. Kyle began debating in 9th grade for Morse High School, and went on to become a 2x Maine State Champion in LD. He also competed occasionally in Original Oratory and Declamation. Kyle continued debating at Yale University, where he was the 2nd place Novice of The Year in APDA in 2015, a National APDA Semifinalist and the 3rd Team of The Year in 2017, and won the North American (NorthAms) Championship tournament in 2017. Kyle’s debate coaching career includes 3 years with St. Luke’s School, 2 years with The Spence School, and most recently a year with Sidwell Friends School. He works full-time for a tech startup as a marketing leader and lives in Menlo Park.​