Site Director Bios

ER Taylor | Presidio | St. Paul's | Marina | East Palo Alto | SF Community | Urban | Lick-Wilmerding | Redwood City | UPA | Marin Academy | Marin City | Mission | Headlands

 

Aim High at ER Taylor Elementary School, San Francisco

Reiko Ando – Co-Director

Reiko has a BA from the University of Michigan in Environmental Studies and a multi-subject credential from San Francisco State University. Reiko has been with Aim High since the summer of 2007, when she was a Master Teacher in math and science for rising 9th graders. This year, she is excited to return to the Visitacion Valley site as a co-director. Reiko has been involved with the field of education since 1999, when she worked with high school students in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and has since worked for environmental education organizations and public schools throughout the Bay Area. During the school year, she teaches kindergarten at E.R. Taylor Elementary School, where she has also served as school garden teacher. She enjoys traveling with her husband, arts and crafts, and playing with her dog.

Erica Hernandez – Co-Director

Erica is excited to return to Visitation Valley to co-direct for her fourth summer.  During the school year she serves as an Admissions Associate and Outreach Coordinator at The Urban School of San Francisco where she works through the application process with eighth grade families.  She hopes that her work experience in various educational programs can be utilized to create stronger programs for all students in the Bay Area.  In her spare time, Erica enjoys running  around Lake Merced with her dog and frequenting the neighborhood shops of her native Daly City.

 

Aim High at Presidio Middle School, San Francisco

Christine Maog - Co-Director

Christine Maog has been involved with Aim High since 2006 as a Humanities, Issues and Choices Teacher, and Site Director. Christine has a Bachelor's in Social Work from San Francisco State University and a Single Subject English Credential from Bay Area Teachers Center. During the school year Christine works at James Lick Middle School as a Peer Resource Coordinator and English Language Teacher. In her spare time Christine enjoys dancing and is a part of a professional tahitian dance group.

Judson Steele - Co-Director

Judson is currently the Student Advisory Council Coordinator for the San Francisco Unified School District.  He has worked in the SFUSD for the past ten years at Mission High School, John O’Connell High School and Leonard Flynn Elementary as a paraprofessional, After School Programs Coordinator, Outreach Consultant and Attendance Liaison.  Judson has taught Humanities and Issues and Choices at the Aim High for several summers in San Francisco and Oakland.  When he’s not working Judson enjoys playing basketball, listening to music and eating the great food in the Mission.

Danny Chui - Co-Director

Danny earned his degree and teaching credential from UC Berkeley. He currently teaches AP US History and Government at Terra Nova High School in Pacifica, where he also coaches the badminton team in the spring. Danny has taught Humanities at Aim High as an Intern and Lead Teacher, and returns this year - his 5th - as co-director. He looks forward to keeping the ball rolling with this amazing program. Danny's favorite sport is and will always be baseball.

 

Aim High at St. Paul's Episcopal School, Oakland

Kenton Young - Co-Director

Kenton Young comes to us from the campuses of St. Paul's Episcopal School where he is the Director of After School. He is also a member of the school's administration team, and an advisor to middle school boys. During the school year he enjoys teaching the basics of cooking to kindergarten through eighth grade students. He graduated from Holy Names University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies.

Benjie Achtenberg – Co-Director

A native of San Francisco, Benjie Achtenberg has taught at Aim High as a Teaching Assistant, Intern and Lead Teacher at several sites in San Francisco and Oakland. Benjie holds Single Subject Credentials in English, History and French from Mills College and will soon complete his Masters in Education. During the school year, he teaches 8th grade Humanities at Melrose Leadership Academy in Oakland. Benjie brings a passion for teaching, supporting and inspiring students and fellow teachers, and is excited to return to Aim High - the place that sparked his passion - and the St. Paul's campus.

 

Aim High at Marina Middle School, San Francisco

Paula Egan – Co-Director

Paula Egan attended the Kansas City Art Institute and Central State College in Wilberforce, Ohio. She is an artist who has supported her two sons through college by working at Yick Wo Elementary School in San Francisco for more than two decades. She currently runs the school computer lab and teaches art classes for the students by special request from classroom teachers. She has been a part of Aim High for fourteen years, and has been co-directing the Yick Wo Aim High site for the last six summers.

Suzy Garren – Co-Director

Suzy has been a devoted member of the Aim High community for fifteen years and was a founding science teacher at Aim High's Yick Wo campus. She has served in the role as co-director for the past eight years. Her undergraduate degree is from Reed College and she received her teaching credential from UC Berkeley. She has been a public school teacher in San Francisco and the East Bay for many years and also operates her own landscaping business.

 

Aim High at Willow Oaks Elementary, East Menlo Park

Viviana Montoya-Hernandez – Co-Director

Viviana Montoya-Hernandez was born and raised in San Francisco's Mission District. She attended Aim High at the Lick-Wilmerding campus from 1994 to 1996 where she found a passion for education and service that led to academic success and community involvement. After graduating from St. Ignatius High School in 2000, she attended Santa Clara University. She obtained a B.S. in Sociology in 2004 and a single-subject credential in Social Science in 2005. She recently completed an M.A. in Education at Santa Clara University. Viviana is completing her sixth year of teaching at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino and is looking forward to her fifth summer as Co-Director of the Aim High site in East Palo Alto.

Cosmo Mejia - Co-Director

Cosmo Mejia is a South Bay native and professional educator since 2001. He joined the East Palo Alto community of Aim High in the summer of 2007, where he taught Issues & Choices and Humanities. He assumed the role of co-director in 2011. Cosmo teaches English, math, and social justice to middle school students at an independent private school in San Jose. He earned his BA in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State, and an M.Ed. in Multicultural Teaching from National University. 

 

Aim High at SF Community School, San Francisco

Stacy Thomas – Co-Director

Stacy has been involved and invested in Aim High for eight years. He began as a math intern while working on his teaching credential at University of San Francisco. He taught Math in Aim High for two years and was the founding site director of the SF Community campus and has served in that leadership role for seven summers. He is currently a lead math teacher at Cal Prep/Aspire Charter School and serves on the Board of Trustees for Archway School.  Stacy has his undergraduate degree from UC Irvine and is a huge Dodger and Laker fan.

Gaela Peters - Co-Director

Gaela is returning to the vibrant San Francisco Community Aim High campus as co-director after teaching Issues & Choices during the Summer of 2008. During the school year, Gaela works at San Francisco’s Balboa High School as an Instructional Reform Facilitator, working to assure opportunities for academic success for its underserved students. She received her Master’s of Education in Social Foundations of Education from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science Education from the University of Georgia. As a San Francisco native, Gaela is thrilled to be part of such an extraordinary program serving the amazing young people of her hometown.

 

Aim High at The Urban School of San Francisco

Thomas Jacquez – Co-Director 

Tomás has been involved with Aim High since 2006.  He is in his fifth year as co-director at the Urban campus. During the academic year, he teaches Service Learning and Spanish at The Urban School of San Francisco.  Tomás played collegiate baseball at UCLA and achieved his childhood dream of pitching in the Major Leagues. Upon retiring from an 8-year professional baseball career, Tomás returned to the University of San Francisco and graduated with honors with a BA in Spanish Literature in 2005.  His professional practice is deeply rooted in creating equal access to opportunity and achievement for all youth. His hobbies are spending time with family playing guitar, snowboarding and surfing.

Alex Endo - Co-Director

Alex has been with Aim High since 1993. Over the summers, he has been an intern, master teacher, activities director and site director at Aim High sites at Potrero Hill, Roosevelt, Ben Franklin, Lick-Wilmerding and most recently, Urban High School.   Alex has a Master’s degree in Education from the University of San Francisco and a California teaching credential. He is inspired by each teacher, intern, volunteer and student at Aim High and its ideal positive learning environment.  He encourages each member of the Aim High family to be "Champions".

 

Aim High at Lick-Wilmerding High School, San Francisco

Nate Lundy – Co-Director

Nate serves as the Associate Director of Admissions and Outreach, and the Assistant Director of Athletics at Lick-Wilmerding High School. Nate serves as an Advisor to the Black Student Union. Before joining Lick, Nate was the Co-Director of Admissions at the Bay School of San Francisco, and was an Admissions Counselor at Chapman University. He is a member of POCIS (People of Color in Independent Schools), and has served on the Board of Seven Tepees Youth Program in the Mission. Nate has a BA in History from the University of California at Irvine.

Carrie Maslow – Co-Director

Carrie has been an Aim High Co-Director since the summer of 2003 and was a master teacher in science in 2001 at the Lick-Wilmerding site. During the school year, she teaches Anatomy and Physiology, Brain and Behavior, and Biology at Lick-Wilmerding High School. Carrie has also taught outdoor education. Carrie has a BA in Psychology from Brown University, a Masters in Education from University of California at Berkeley, and received her secondary science credential through the Bay Area Teachers Center.

 

Aim High at Hoover Elementary School, Redwood City

Kathryn Hopkins - Co-Director

Kathryn has spent the last decade either teaching, managing, or researching youth programs. She has worked as an outdoor educator and recently served as Policy Research Associate for the Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities at Stanford.  As a founding Co-Director of the Redwood City site, she is re-connecting with former colleagues in San Mateo County to help bolster Aim High’s presence in Redwood City.  During the school year, Kathryn continues to work on her PhD while taking on evaluation and consulting projects and volunteering her time with local education initiatives.  Kathryn earned her B.A. from Brown University and her M.A. in education policy from Stanford University.  Kathryn serves on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Center for the Stanford Community and Blossom Birth in Palo Alto.

Anona Shugart – Co-Director

Anona has served as a Lead Teacher at the Aim High Redwood City site since 2009 and is excited to assume the role of co-director of the site in 2011. For the last three years, she has taught fourth and fifth grade at Green Oaks Academy in the Ravenswood City School District. Prior to becoming a teacher, Anona managed the distribution of literacy grants for a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles. She earned her BS in Public Policy and Management at the University of Southern California.

 

Aim High at Urban Promise Academy, Oakland

Amadis Velez – Co-Director 

Amadis Velez was born and raised in Berkeley and currently lives in San Francisco's Mission District. He earned BAs in Psychology and Spanish Literature from UC Berkeley and a JD from George Washington University along with an MA in International Studies. In 1999, Amadis returned to California to work as a voting rights attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). In 2007, Amadis realized that education is a better solution than litigation, and began his transition into his current role as a history and English teacher at Mission High School in San Francisco. Amadis taught humanities at Aim High / UPA in summer of 2008 and has served as co-director since 2009. He is a passionate advocate for students who aspire to reach higher education.

Yvonne Valdez – Co-Director 

Yvonne has spent her summers with Aim High since 2007 as a humanities teacher and co-director, and is currently an English and Writing Instructor / Recruitment Coordinator at the Alameda Science and Technology Institute. Prior to her current position, Yvonne has worked as a Puente Project Teacher and a Reading Intervention Teacher at Hayward & Tennyson High Schools, and as a 12th Grade English Teacher at Hayward High School. Yvonne has an MA in Education from the School of Education and a BA in Spanish and Interdisciplinary Field Studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Yvonne has also received numerous award including the Mayor’s Community Service Award (UCB), Chancellor’s Community Service Award (UCB), Governor’s Teaching Fellowship, AVID Outstanding Teacher Award, and California Teachers Association / Human Rights Award.

 

Aim High at Marin Academy, San Rafael

Vielka Hoy - Co-Director

Vielka has been a high school teacher and university instructor for over twelve years including a stretch in the Peace Corps and education consulting for Oakland Unified School District. This is her fifth year with Crossroads/Aim High at Marin Academy. Vielka earned her teaching credential and B.S. from New York University and holds an MA in Afro-American Studies from UCLA. She also just completed her sixth year of PhD work at UC Berkeley in African Diaspora Studies and welcomed her first child this in October of 2009.

Lauren Toker - Co-Director

Lauren has been the director of Marin Academy's Crossroads program since 2008 and has worked with Aim High since 2010, when the summer component of Crossroads merged with Aim High. She also is an administrator at Marin Academy in her role as the Crossroads Program Director and school-wide Community Action Coordinator. Prior to her current position, Lauren worked as a 9th & 10th Grade History teacher and 12th Grade English teacher at City Arts and Technology High School in San Francisco and as a youth program director at the International Institute of San Francisco. Lauren is excited to be part of the Aim High organization as she has spent most of her adult life teaching and advocating for educational equity in her native Bay Area. Lauren has a BA in Social Justice from the UC-Santa Cruz and a Single Subject Credential (BCLAD) from San Francisco State University.

 

Aim High at Martin Luther King Middle School, Sausalito

Matt Helmenstine - Co-Director

After traveling through 50 countries in 6 years, Matt returned to San Francisco to get his teaching credential in Social Studies. He taught at Aim High Yick Wo for two summers before becoming a founding co-director at Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy. Matt believes that educational experiences should build as much character as it does academic skills. With this in mind, he strives to give the students of Marin City Aim High experiences that will change the way they see themselves, their schools and the world around them. He is currently working on a MA in International Affairs and an MA in Educational Administration.  During the school year, Matt teaches 6th, 7th and 8th grade Social Studies at Willow Creek Academy in Sausalito.

Tracee Zyla - Co-Director

Tracee was among Aim High Marin City’s founding faculty in 2010 and assumed the role of co-director in summer 2011.  A Bay Area native, she earned her Bachelor's Degree from UC Santa Cruz, double-majoring in Literature and Photography.  Tracy tutored ESL students during college and has worked as a tutor with the San Francisco Day School and Making Waves After-School Education Program, where she also created student portraits. Most recently, Tracee served as a long-term substitute teacher for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade English at Willow Creek Academy in Sausalito. Tracee believes in empowering students through education while also promoting student-voice and self-advocacy.

 

Aim High at Mission High School, San Francisco

Kate Baker - Co-Director

Kate has eleven years of teaching experience, and has a teaching credential in Social Studies and CLAD certification. She served for three years as co-director at Aim High Gateway before becoming a founding co-director at Aim High Mission. Kate taught 7th grade Humanities and 6th grade Issues & Choices at Aim High Academy. Prior to Aim High Academy, Kate taught Humanities, Science and Computers at San Francisco Community Alternative Public School and served as a master teacher at Aim High Yick Wo for three summers. Kate has a BA from Wesleyan University and a Masters in Social Work at San Francisco State University. During the school year, Kate coordinates the Wellness Program at AP GIannini Middle School in San Francisco.

Chrissy Flores - Co-Director

Chrissy returns this summer to the Aim High team as founding co-director of the Mission High School site. In previous years she has taught Humanities at various sites. Chrissy earned her bachelors' in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley as well as a masters' in Sociology from Columbia University and a master's in Secondary Education and multi-subject credential from San Francisco State University. Chrissy loves middle school and teaches Language Arts, Social Studies, and AVID at a middle school in San Francisco during the school year.

 

Aim High Headlands Environmental Home - Tennessee Valley

Elizabeth Reiff - Co-Director

Elizabeth began teaching at the Aim High Headlands Environmental Home in 2007 and assumed the role of co-director in the summer of 2010. She holds a bachelor's in Environmental Studies from San Francisco State University and works as an outdoor educator with Girlventures.

Zander Lowry - Co-Director

Zander holds a bachelor's in History from the University of Oregon and a secondary credential in Social Studies. During the academic year, Zander works at a residential outdoor education center in Merced County. He began working with Aim High in 2005 and became a co-director of the Headlands Home in 2010.