OUR SDLA TEAM
Our team is comprised of two outstanding coaches, Jan Pizzo and Jesse Meyers. With more than 60 years of Speech and Debate coaching between them, Jan and Jesse each boast their own impressive resume of national awards, achievements and honors.
MEET OUR COACHES
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JAN PIZZO
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Jan is a seasoned speech and debate coach from Portland, Oregon where her passion for coaching began in 1978. Over the years, she has served as a judge, coach, and committee member at the national level. A distinguished member of the Oregon Speech Coaches Hall of Fame and an NSDA diamond coach, Jan has mentored numerous state champions and national qualifiers in Extemp, Public Forum, LD, and Congress. In 2024, she coached the 10th best LD speaker in the nation and most recently helped qualify a student to Nationals in Congress.
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JESSE MEYERS
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
Jesse is a debate coach from Iowa with 24 years of experience as a coach, judge, and student competitor, giving him extensive knowledge of all aspects of NSDA Speech and Debate. Since starting as a coach in 2010, he has qualified 80 students to nationals in every event except policy. His students have also achieved honors in the late elimination rounds of the NSDA National Tournament.
OUR FOUNDER
SDLA was founded by Kelli Cienkus. Kelli’s introduction, admiration and subsequent love of Speech and Debate began at an early age. While growing up in Texas and Oklahoma, she spent her weekends attending both local and national tournaments alongside her mother and National Debate Hall of Fame inductee, Glenda Ferguson. Kelli’s goal for SDLA is to create a vibrant community where students can explore diverse perspectives, practice critical thinking, and develop their leadership skills through engaging in debate and civic discourse.