Education Unlimited: Staff
Executive and Home Office Staff
Matthew Fraser — CEO & Executive Director
Matthew Fraser and several college friends founded Education Unlimited in 1993 with the vision of teaching students critical thinking skills in a fun learning environment. During his tenure as Executive Director Education Unlimited has grown from a single program with 34 students in its first year to roughly 50 sessions of camp on about a dozen...
Jenny Herbert, MBA — COO & CFO
After directing and teaching at Education Unlimited summer programs for many years, Jenny joined Education Unlimited's management team in 2003. Her primary responsibilities are to manage the business and...
Nermin Kamel, MA — Director of Admissions
Nermin is Education Unlimited's Director of Admissions. She came to us after several years as a school administrator, most recently as a high school principal. The arrival of a new baby girl prompted her to leave school administration and join the Education Unlimited team.
Nermin grew up in Southern California earning her Bachelor of Arts...
Audrey Lee, MA — Chief Academic Officer
Audrey Lee is a teacher and administrator with 20 years of experience, most recently as the Director of Curriculum and Educational Technology for the Martinez Unified School District in the SF Bay Area; a role which she held for six years. In addition, Audrey is an expert on Common Core Standards for the State of California and therefore...
Adrienne Schell — Marketing Manager
Adrienne Schell has 10 years of experience in account and project management in retail marketing and the advertising specialty industry. While on the vendor side of the retail marketing realm, Adrienne managed large-scale initiatives for Nike for over 6 years. With this experience, she brings knowledge in brand management and recognition,...
Chelsea Toller, MA — Division Director of Elementary Education
Chelsea Toller is a teacher and administrator with over 20 years of experience, most recently as principal of Glenview Elementary School in Oakland, CA. Since her start in education in 1995, she has worked throughout California as a classroom teacher, Bilingual Teacher on Special Assignment, School Reform Coach, District English Language...
Sarah McGonagill — Administrative Assistant
Sarah McGonagill earned dual degrees at the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular and Cell Biology and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Rhetoric. Headed to medical school in the fall, Sarah has worked in a variety...
Todd Newkirk — Division Director: Secondary Programs
Todd Newkirk is the Division Director of Secondary Education at Education Unlimited, and is also the Camp Director for our Summer Focus Program on the campus of UC Berkeley. An experienced high-school...
John Bettonville, MS — Finance & Operations Associate
John is our Finance & Operations Associate at the Berkeley Head Office. Before joining the team at Education Unlimited, he worked for several years as a manager for AMC Theatres in northern California. He also spent two years living in Nagoya, Japan, where he taught English as a...
Suzie Wood, MS — Associate
Originally from England, Suzie has a master’s in Human Resources Management. She's previously enjoyed working for other youth focused organizations, including a fundraising company in Canada which helped...
Camp Directors
Christina Hale-Elliot, MA — Camp Director
Christina Hale-Elliott is a 20-year veteran within the field of education. Most recently, she served as a lecturer within UC Riverside’s Graduate School of Education, instructing pre-service teachers on developing students’ literacy skills across content areas. Christina received her master’s degree in teaching and curriculum from Harvard...
Emily Mullaney, MA — Camp Director & Instructor
Emily Mullaney is a teacher and doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, working towards a PhD in Education Leadership with a focus on how to best support beginning teachers as they enter the field. In addition to her 7+ years of teaching experience in subjects such as language, culture, and high-school English, Emily has...
Joseph Reynolds, MFA — Camp Director
Joseph Reynolds is an author and adjunct professor teaching English and Philosophy at colleges in the New England region. Joseph has three Master’s Degrees in Political Science, Literature, and Creative Fiction. In addition to courses taught during the school year, he also teaches at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland during the summer term,...
Trinity Thompson, MA, MS — Instructor
Trinity Thompson works as a residential faculty member at a high school called CITYterm, where she teaches in their Urban Core. She has a Master of Arts Degree in Sociology from Stanford and a Master of Science Degree in General and Special Education from Progressive Education Institute, Touro College. She also did her undergraduate studies at...
Thalea Torres — Camp Director
Thalea is a graduate student currently pursuing her Master of Science in Social Work at Columbia University in New York City. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Social Welfare from University of California, Berkeley. Thalea has worked with and directed summer camp programs since 2012. She is a huge believer in the...
Brianna Broady, MA — Camp Director and Instructor
Brianna Broady is a lecturer with a Master of Arts in Communication Studies from California State University, Northridge in Southern California. Brianna teaches classes at several Southern California colleges in Communication Studies in her primary areas of interest: performance studies and intercultural communication studies. A seasoned...
Stephen Buettler — Camp Director
Stephen Buettler is an instructor and public speaking expert with dual degrees in literature and philosophy from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In addition to roles as lecturer and...
Elizabeth Bull, MFA — Camp Director
Elizabeth Bull is a writer and filmmaker. Her writing has been published in various journals, including the Los Angeles Review of Books, H.O.W. Journal, Third Coast Magazine, and Gulf Coast; her work has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes. Her involvement in television and film began at AMC Networks, where she worked in original series...
Angela Ciandro, MFA — Camp Director
Angela Ciandro is an experienced program director with a Master in Fine Arts from the London International School of...
Carl Dugdale — Camp Director
Carl Dugdale is an educator, academic consultant and historian originally from Lancashire England. Carl holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Royal Holloway, University of London, and a TEFL...
Carlos Flores, MA — Camp Director and Instructor
Carlos Flores received his B.A. and M.A. in Communication Studies at California State University Northridge. As an undergraduate, Carlos was a member of the Matador Speech and Debate Team, competing in events such as informative speaking, impromptu speaking and extemporaneous speaking. He has been a member of the Education Unlimited team for...
Amy Hough — Camp Director
Dr. Amy Hough earned her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Riverside. An instructor at UC Riverside since 2012, Amy has taught courses in her main areas of interest and expertise: Foreign Language (Italian), Introduction to World Literature, and Introduction to Film, Literature, and Culture. In addition to her...
John Kephart, PhD — Camp Director & Instructor
Dr. John Kephart III is an associate professor at California State University, Northridge. Dr. Kephart has a PhD in Rhetorical Theory and Criticism from the University of Southern California. A member of the Education Unlimited team since 2008, Dr. Kephart has served as instructor, director and curriculum designer. He helped to develop the...
Robert Loy, MA — Instructor
Robert Loy is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Los Angeles Pierce College. He holds a Master of Arts Degree in Communication Studies from California State University, Northridge. Since 2014, he has been a lecturer at CSU Northridge in the areas of public speaking and argumentation. A director with Education Unlimited since...
Macara Nicoll, MS — Camp Director
Macara Nicoll is a school counselor with a Master of Science in School Counseling from California State University, Sacramento. Macara first came to Education Unlimited as a camper, a step which led her on a path to an undergraduate career at the University of California, Berkeley. Her love of education and working with youth brought her back...
Aaron Walker, PhD — Camp Director
Dr. Aaron Walker currently serves as CTO of Relobase, LLC. where he manages data and technical operations for a company, facilitates relocation for the United States Armed Forces and provides portable careers to military spouses.
Previously, he served as Assistant Director and Program Specialist with the USC McNair Scholars Program, Office...
James Webb, PhD — Camp Director
Dr. James Webb is a seasoned instructor and lecturer with a PhD in Educational Theater from New York University. He has taught at numerous colleges and universities in the greater New York City area, with...
Steven Wolkoff — Camp Director and Instructor
Steven Wolkoff is an experienced college counselor and professional SAT Tutor. A graduate with honors from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, Steven holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English. He has dedicated over a decade to private SAT instruction for students across the globe. Steven has been with the Education Unlimited team since...
Janet Willford — College Tour Leader
Janet Willford is an experienced high-school teacher. She has taught both leadership and speech and debate at San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, CA for over twenty years. As the winner of the Eukel...
At Camp Staff
Jasmine Ashoori — Instructor
Jasmine Ashoori is a Communication Studies graduate student at California State University, Northridge, where she also teaches two sections of the Fundamentals of Public Speaking. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles. Jasmine has spent time working with both grammar and...
Elisabeth Benson, MBA — Instructor
Liz Benson is a tutor and academic coach with over 10 years of experience helping students achieve their academic goals through SAT and ACT prep, as well as specialized tutoring in algebra, geometry, grammar, writing, and both study and organizational skills. She has a Masters of Business Administration in Marketing from Bentley University,...
Jason Blalock — Instructor - SNAP Coding and Astronomy
Jason Blalock is a computer and science teacher who has been teaching middle school students since 2009. Since 2011, he has been teaching science to 6th and 7th grade students in the Moraga School District, where he has also taught computer technology and coding for the past five years. He has extensive experience teaching programming...
John Bolen — Instructor
John Bolen currently teaches Creative Writing and Analytical Writing at the University of Florida. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature from Sewanee: The University of the South and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Florida. While he was an undergraduate, he volunteered as a writing...
Maximillian Brichta — Instructor
Max is a public speaking teacher with a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies from Cal State University, Northridge, where he also received his bachelor’s degree in the same discipline. He's taught public speaking for the last 3 years, including a year with Communication for Youth Institute at CSUN and two as a graduate teaching...
Joshua Butler, MA — Instructor
Joshua Butler is a lecturer at Mount Saint Mary’s University and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. He holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Loyola Marymount University. Joshua teaches classes such as Introduction to Ethics and Introduction to Rhetoric, Composition, and Communication. In addition to his teaching roles, Joshua...
Alex Cadena — Instructor
Alex Cadena is a graduate assistant at California State University Northridge, where he is working on his Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies. He is an assistant coach for the CSUN Matador Speech and Debate Team, helping students learn policy-debate and individual events. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Communication at...
Bethany Carlson, MDiv, MFA — Instructor
Bethany Carlson is an adjunct English professor based in New Haven, Connecticut. She holds two graduate degrees, a Master’s in Divinity from Yale University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Indiana University. Through her graduate school years she has studied liturgy, theology, creative arts and poetry. She has taught...
Nikki Chawla — Instructor
Nikki Chawla is an actress and experienced drama teacher with dual masters degrees. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from The Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City as well as a Master of Science in Education from C.W. Post LIU in Brookville, New York. Formally trained in the Stanislavski method, she has over 10 years...
Tiffany Chen — Instructor
Tiffany Chen is a teacher and tutor currently pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies from California State University, Northridge. Skilled in the fundamentals of public speaking, Tiffany has developed coursework and lectured at the undergraduate level in the communications department of CSU Northridge since 2015. Prior to...
Alex DeJean, MA — Instructor
Alex DeJean is a college instructor in the Los Angeles Area, teaching courses related to communication such as public speaking, argumentation, and interpersonal communication. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Communication from California State University Los Angeles, where he also earned his Bachelor’s of Art degree my Communication,...
Sean Devlin, MA — Instructor
Sean is a freelance journalist with work published in publications such as the New York Daily News, Observer, Daily Mail, and more. He received his Master of Arts degree in Journalism from City University of New York in 2015. In addition to his freelance work, Sean has also worked as a blogger, editor, and social media manager, working with...
Charli Engelhorn — Instructor
Charli Engelhorn is a freelance writer and editor and managing editor of the literary magazine The Coachella Review. She received her Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Kansas and will be graduating with an Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing in the summer of 2019. Charli has had to pleasure of teaching...
Brian Garcia, MFA — Instructor
Brian Garcia is a Certified Arts, Media, and Entertainment instructor who has been teaching video and multimedia production at the high school and college level since 2014. Brian earned his Master of Fine Arts degree in Cinema from San Francisco State and his graduate thesis film has screened at numerous film festivals across the country. He...
Hershini Gopal — Middle School Instructor
Hershini is an experienced paralegal and mock trial competitor bound for UCLA School of Law in the fall of 2018. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Maryland. During her undergraduate years, Hershini worked for the United Nations Environmental Programme in Washington D.C. where...
Nadia Hallaj — Counselor
Nadia Hallaj is a recent graduate from Tufts University in Boston, MA, where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering. She has her sights set on work in a biomedical engineering lab before going back to graduate school to study pharmaceutical technology. During her time at Tufts, Nadia worked for a pharmaceutical...
Thomas Harper — Instructor
Thomas Harper is a robotics enthusiast currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical and Human Factors Engineering at Tufts University. His passion for robotics started at a young age. In addition to being president of the robotics and 3D printing club at The Head Royce School in the San Francisco Bay Area, Thomas turned his...
Aaliyah Henry — Instructor
Aaliyah Henry is an experienced English teacher and reading specialist with a Master of Science degree in Literacy Education for grades 5th-12th from St. John’s University. She also received her Bachelor of Science in Adolescent Education with a concentration in English from Saint John’s. During her time in higher education Aaliyah was honored...
Sarah Hoffman, ME — College Counselor
Sarah Hoffman brings more than 30 years of experience in the college admissions field both as a College Admissions officer and a high school college counselor. She holds a Master of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in sociology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is a...
Shaun Holloway — Instructor
Shaun Holloway is an English and Composition Instructor at George Mason University, where he is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree. Through his writing workshops, he focuses on a wide variety of genres including novel, short story, personal and personal and philosophical essays, poetry, radio drama, and graphic novels. Shaun is a...
Steven Kennedy, JD — Instructor
Steven Kennedy is an acting attorney and adjunct professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Steven has more than 20 years of trial experience in insurance law and civil litigation. He is currently a senior trial attorney for a major national insurance company. For the past 13 years, Steven has also been an adjunct professor...
Meghan Lamb, MFA — Instructor
Meghan Lamb is a writer and teacher with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Fiction from Washington University in St. Louis, where she worked with the Modern Literature Collection and Dorothy, A Publishing Project. She served as the Spring 2018 Philip Roth Writer-in-Residence at Bucknell University and spent the summer of 2017 teaching at...
Adam Marston, MFA — Instruction
Adam Marston is an English teacher and freelance writer. He has taught both at the high school and college level, most recently as a writing instructor, teaching Introduction to College Composition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has also taught Leadership to high school students for the Kingdom Education Foundation. Adam has a...
Tia Martineau — Instructor
Tia Martineau is a high school physics teacher in Chelmford, Massachusetts. She received Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She is currently preparing to transition into her graduate career, where she will be pursuing her doctorate in physics at the University of Florida. Alongside her...
Tamra McCarthy — Instructor
Gary Metzker — Instructor
Gary Metzker is a lecturer and publications adviser at California State Long Beach. Prior to taking on his role at Cal State Long Beach in 2008, Gary spent 24 years at the Los Angeles Times, working in a variety of roles including sports news editor, metro news editor, and senior editor. He was the page one designer for some of the biggest...
Aimee Newton — Instructor
Aimee Newton is a teacher in the Communications Department at California State University, Northridge where she teaches the Fundamentals of Public Speaking. Aimee is pursuing her Master of Arts in Communication Studies at CSUN, following a Bachelor of Arts from CSUN and Associate of Arts from College of the Canyons in the same field. Aimee...
Charlene Nguyen — Instructor
Charlene Nguyen is a high school biology teacher at Animo Leadership Charter High School in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences and had worked in research labs as an undergraduate. Following her graduation from college, she tutored students in biology and...
Ben Parson — Instructor
Ben Parson is a teacher of writing at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is also a fiction candidate in the Master of Fine Arts Program for Poets & Writers. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from UMass with a specialization in Creative Writing. In addition to teaching regular courses at the University, Ben has also...
Kayley Pettoruto, MPH — Instructor
Kayley Pettoruto is an 8th grade science teacher in Andover, Massachusetts. She has a Master’s degree in public health from Boston University, in addition to a Bachelor’s degree in community health, Spanish, and child development from Tufts University. Kayley spent several years as a researcher in public health in a private firm before...
Shannon Pylant, MS — Instructor
Shannon Pylant is a 6th grade science teacher in Winston-Salem, NC. She has a Masters of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and a Bachelor of Science in Biology with Minors in Chemistry and Education from Belmont Abbey College. Prior to teaching, Shannon worked as a cancer...
Andrea Rivard — Writing Instructor
Andrea Rivard is a teacher currently teaching AP Literature and Composition and AP Language and Composition at Summit Public Schools: Tahoma in South San Jose. Andrea has a Bachelor’s Degree in English, with a minor in Earth Science, from University of Northern Colorado. A high school teacher, Andrea has taught Intro to Journalism, Creative...
William Russell — Instructor
Bill Russell has spent his entire adult life learning how to craft arguments and present them most effectively. After a successful career as a college debater where he finished among the top ten teams at the National Debate Tournament three times, Bill spent nine years as the assistant director of Debate at Dartmouth College. During that times...
Matthew Schwartz, PhD — Instructor
Dr. Matthew Schwartz is a full-time lecturer at Simmons College in Boston, where he teaches Anatomy and Physiology. He received his PhD in genetics and genomics from Harvard University in 2016. As a graduate student, Dr. Schwartz fostered his long-standing interest in scientific outreach through his work with Science in the News to give...
Marina Shew — Middle School Instructor
Marina Shew is a law student at Columbia Law School in New York City. She has dual Bachelor’s Degrees in Philosophy and Political Science from Clemson University in South Carolina. In both high school and college, Marina was the president of her respective debate teams, taking on leadership, teaching, and mentoring roles for younger students....
Jasmine Sufi — Instructor
Jasmine Sufi is a full-time poetry instructor in middle and high schools throughout the Bay Area, teaching students how to express themselves and share their stories via the written and spoken word. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing from University of California, Santa Cruz. In...
Emily Tomusko, MA — Instructor
Emily is a writing teacher at the high school and college level in Cleveland, Ohio. She has a Master of Arts degree in English from John Carroll University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and anthropology from Cleveland State University. In addition to her time spent teaching, Emily is also the assistant director and a writing...
Christine Wang — Instructor
Christine Wang is an experienced ESL teacher currently working as a substitute teacher in the Vacaville Unified School District for grades 1st-12th. Prior to this, Christine spent four years teaching English as a Second Language for the HESS International Education Group in Taiwan. A graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu...
Gerry Weiner — Acting Instructor
Gerry Wiener is a drama teacher with a Masters in English Education from New York University. He has taught beginning and advanced levels of drama as well as musical theatre, choir, and English with an emphasis on arts integration for over 25 years in Martinez, CA. He was both a participant and later a presenter with the California Arts...
Erica Ho — Neuroanatomy Instructor
Erica is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at Yale University, and her research focuses on the systems neuroscience of social behavior. After receiving her BA in psychology from Cornell University in 2013, Erica spent three years as a full-time research assistant and later research coordinator at the Child Mind Institute's Center for the...
John Robert Johnson — SAT Instructor
Johann Somerville — Instructor
Johann Somerville is a high school history teacher in San Ramon, CA. Inspired to pursue teaching as a career after seeing the impact he could make during an experience as a teacher’s assistant in his college years, Johann received his credential from San Francisco State University in 2016. Johann places a strong emphasis on critical reading...
Gladys Velez Caicedo — Instructor
Gladys Velez Caicedo is a technical instructor in the Department of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A graduate of Columbia University in New York City, Gladys holds a Bachelor of Science degree in astronomy & physics. Gladys has conducted high energy particle astrophysics at various labs around the world, such as...
Casey Ann Hayward, MA — Instructor
Casey Ann Hayward is a teacher with a Master of Arts in Educational Theatre from New York University. As a seasoned performer and teaching artist, Casey Ann has a natural ability to empower students to find their own voice and confidence in front of a crowd, whether it be on stage as a performer or public speaker. Her background in educating...
Nana Adjei-Brenyah, MFA — Instructor
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is an instructor and creative writing fellow at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. Nana designed and now teaches the Introduction to Creative Writing (Fiction) course. He received a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Syracuse University. During his time at Syracuse, he designed and taught courses such as Practices...
Byron Arthur, JD — Instructor
Byron Arthur is a practicing attorney from New Orleans, Louisiana. As an acclaimed debate coach, he brings the perfect pairing of experience to our Mock Trial and American Legal Experience programs: legal knowledge and expertise combined with impeccable public speaking and critical thinking skills, which he has taught at the high school level...
Jennifer Brakeman, PhD — Instructor
Dr. Brakeman is a dedicated high school science teacher who holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University. For more than 20 years, she has been one of the most beloved teachers at the prestigious...
Pamela Davis, MFA — Lead Instructor
Pamela is a Chicago-based theatre artist and educator passionate about new work and the actor's ability to grow empathy in the world. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University. In Chicago, Pamela works and plays on lots of stages ranging from DIY storefronts to more established houses like Strawdog...
Carlina Duan — Instructor
Carlina Duan hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan in English and Creative Writing in 2015. As a Fulbright grant recipient, she lived and taught in Malaysia...
Alix Feinsod — Instructor
Alix Feinsod is an experienced teacher and software engineer with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Computer Science from University of California Santa Cruz. During her time as a professional software engineer she worked as a developer in Java, Python, C and a variety of other programming languages. She is able to bring her real world industry...
Harrison Foster — Instructor
Harrison Foster holds a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics from University of California, Berkeley. His love of language and the power of words has inspired his teaching career. He has taught in both class and individual format, developed curriculum and materials, and worked to build confidence in high school students as they prepare for the...
Jesse Garrett — Public Speaking Instructor
Jesse Garrett is the Assistant Coordinator of Speech and Debate at James Logan High School, one of the largest and most acclaimed Forensics programs in the country. He was a competitor for Logan in high...
Rob Goldman, MFA — Instructor
Rob Goldman is a photographer, multimedia artist, educator, author and speaker. His work combines aspects of art, education and social awareness and action as a means of personal and professional development while fostering community.
Goldman’s photographs have been celebrated in gallery exhibitions and national magazines including...
Rochelle Gray — Assistant Director
Rochelle Gray is a senior program director for the Boys & Girls Club of Central Sonoma County. Since 2014, she has worked within the organization to identify and address behavioral, emotional, and learning issues and works on an interdisciplinary team to recommend strategies for invention and appropriate learning plans. Her ability to...
Samuel Haley-Hill, MFA — Instructor
Sam Haley-Hill is a lecturer at U.C. Berkeley who teaches Public Speaking and Acting in the department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. Sam also coaches Policy and Public Forum debate for the...
Taylor Halsey, MS — Instructor
Taylor Halsey is a Graduate Teaching Associate at Cal Poly Pomona where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and a minor in Chemistry. She received her Master’s Degree in Biological and...
Jessica Kwack, MA — Instructor
Jessica Kwack is a teacher at California State University, Northridge, where she also received both her Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Communication Studies. Since 2014, Jessica has taught...
Robert Lebeda, MA — Instructor
Bobby Lebeda is a teaching associate currently teaching public speaking at California State University Northridge. He received his Master’s Degree in Communication Studies from CSU Northridge in 2017. In addition to teaching, Bobby is also a speech and debate coach for CSU and he has been coaching at the high school level for the past six...
Sarah Levine, MFA — Instructor
Sarah Levine is a published writer and teacher currently teaching middle school english at Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley, Massachusetts. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Writing...
Iris Malone — Instructor
Iris is a Ph.D. student in the Political Science Department at Stanford University where she studies international security and political methodology. Prior to Stanford, she had a Fulbright Scholarship in...
Ari Moskowitz, MFA — Instructor
Ari Moskowitz holds a BA in English from Wesleyan University and an MFA in Creative Writing from SFSU, where he was the Editor in Chief of Fourteen Hills. In February ’17, he was awarded a fellowship to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. His writing has appeared in The Pinch, Fourteen Hills, Transfer, and others. His story, “Three...
Jennifer Newman, MTS — Instructor
Jennifer Newman is a content creator for The Public Interest Network in Boston, Massachusetts. She received her Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as dual Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Politics and Philosophy from George Fox University. Jennifer’s love of speech and debate began in middle...
Victoria Obenchain, MS — Instructor
Victoria Obenchain is a dedicated science teacher to primary and middle school age students. For more than 10 years she has taught at The Salkan School in Moraga, CA where she has focused on hands-on...
Jennifer Parker, MA — Instructor
Jennifer Parker teaches Leadership, Business and Professional Communication, and Public Speaking for Creighton University. She has a Master of Arts Degree from University of Nebraska. Jennifer has a strong passion for public speaking and performance, and consults for forensics teams and leadership camps across the country. Previously she...
Lauren Patrick — Instructor
Lauren is currently a PhD student at Yale University in the Neuroscience area of Psychology. Prior to this she gained a strong foundation in neuroscience during her undergraduate degree at Washington University in St Louis.
She has spent the past five years working in a variety of cognitive neuroscience labs at Washington University, Duke...
Ploy Pirapokin, MFA — Instructor
Ploy Pirapokin is a writer and instructor currently teaching Nonfiction for the Creative Nonfiction Foundation. She is also an adjunct instructor for the University of Los Angeles Extension program and does freelance training for The Writer, a global brand language agency. Ploy has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco...
Katibelle Sharkey — Instructor
Katibelle was born and raised in the Bay Area and has spent many years exploring the culture and architecture of Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco. She is proficient in a multitude of digital mediums and is fluent in four different coding languages (Python, HTML, CSS and JavaScript). She is currently majoring in Sculpture at Rhode Island...
Oishee Shemontee — Logic and Science instructor
Oishee Shemontee is an experience science instructor and SAT tutor with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in English from the University of California, Irvine. Oishee is passionate about making science more relevant and easily accessible to people from a young age. In high school, she co-founded a peer tutoring program to help...
Adeline Tran, PhD — Instructor
Adeline received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, where she studied British, American, and French detective fiction and film noir. She has taught literature and writing at UC Berkeley,...
Valerie Tran — Instructor
Valerie Thacher Tran is currently in Graduate School at UC Berkeley pursuing her Doctorate in Optometry. Her passion in caring for patients and dedication to giving excellent clinical care emanate from her life mission of empowering individuals to strive for the best and get the most out of their lives. She graduated from UCSD with a Bachelor’s...
Mitch Ziegler — Instructor
Mitch Ziegler is a dedicated high school teacher and Certified Journalism Educator with nearly 30 years of experience and service to the student journalism program at Redondo Union High School in Southern...
Patricia Hicks — Instructor
Patricia Hicks is an educator, writer, and passionate teaching artist with over 20 years of experience. In addition to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication from San Francisco State University, she has numerous certifications in specialized curriculum including intensive drama therapy training and work as a certified seminar leader...