Who We Are

Start with SPAR is a site for educators, students, or anyone looking to improve their speaking abilities. In a status quo where speaking over others is the norm, we understand just how important it is for people to learn how to TRULY communicate. By promoting SPAR, our hope is that people, especially students, learn how to speak effectively. Our goal is to increase accessibility to resources that allow for that change, and thus, Start with SPAR was created!

Meet the Team

  • Annie Jiang

    FOUNDER - ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR

    Annie is a rising senior at University High School. She’s done competitive speech and debate for the past seven years, securing national placements in Extempareous and Impromptu. She’s also a part of her school’s Mock Trial team. During her time on the team, they’ve earned two county championships and an eigth place finish at state. Outside of competitions, she loves watching anything mystery (her favorite show is NCIS!), begging her parents for a dog, or brushing up on her Brawl Stars skills.

  • Bruno Rodriguez Diaz

    CO-FOUNDER - CURRICULUM DIRECTOR

    A rising senior at University High School, Bruno’s been involved in speech and debate for five years and has won various tournaments in public forum. At his school, Bruno competes on the county-champion Mock Trial team and leads the Model UN program, where he’s won at various national competitions. In his free time, you might find Bruno hitting the gym, playing with his two cats, enjoying overly complicated board games, or trying (and failing) to bake.

  • Rustin Jafarkhani

    CO-FOUNDER - LOGISTICS DIRECTOR

    Rising senior going to University High School, Rustin has been in speech and debate since before middle school, winning competitions in modified parliamentary and public forum. In high school, he has been in Model UN, winning and chairing in multiple conferences and also traveling to conferences across the country. Besides speech and debate, Rustin has a love for science and medicine, enjoying time in the lab, watching movies, taking naps, or just learning random things off Wikipedia.