Sonia is grateful to serve Khan Lab School as Head of Lower School and brings over 20 years of experience in education as a teacher and educational-based pediatric therapist in Bay Area public, charter, and independent schools. Combining her expertise in child development and a passion for education, Sonia helped launch the Khan Academy Early Explorers Program in 2013 and was a member of the KLS team since its founding in 2014.

It is her joy to cultivate children’s love of learning through creativity, exploration, and personal connection. She is honored to be part of growing Khan Lab School’s mission through the development and empowerment of students and a collaborative team.

Arden is thrilled to join KLS’s student-centered learning environment. Arden is originally from Philadelphia and graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina. Her professional experience centers on experiential education. She has spent extended periods of time in India; and led Field Studies programs in Tanzania, Cambodia, Vietnam, France, and the US. She also worked for the School For Field Studies in Cambodia, where she facilitated environmental science research, managed student life, and led experiential learning opportunities. Next, Arden also enjoyed her role as the Lead Teacher and Program Coordinator at The Traveling School, a nomadic U.S. school that travels throughout Southern Africa: where students learn from the world around them, camp every night, and become change-makers. There, Arden taught Global Studies and History. Most recently, Arden was an Associate Teacher at Greene Street Friends School in Philadelphia, a school grounded in social justice and Quaker values. Arden enjoys traveling, hiking, camping, and just about anything outdoors! She also loves ramen and making dumplings. 

Brandon is so excited to join the Khan Lab School team. His educational experience started in college at Tufts University where he studied Child Development, with a focus on incorporating engineering into the elementary school classroom. For his senior project, he combined his passion for tech and language and developed a robotics curriculum for the Horace Mann School for the Deaf. After getting his MA in education at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, he launched Boston public school's first engineering program at the Dever-McCormack K-8. He soon realized that Boston was an unnecessarily dreary place that sunlight only touched 5 days out of the year and moved to San Diego. There he launched the engineering program at High Tech Elementary. After 3 years, Brandon was given the opportunity to help open an engineering based high school by leading instruction and curriculum design. Now Brandon is moving on to create his fourth engineering lab in a school in Mountain View. In his spare time, Brandon likes to rock climb, make wedding cakes, convince his dog Mochi that the world is not a dangerous place, and re-watch Scrubs for the 30th time. 

Chi-Ray graduated from Stanford University with B.A. and M.S. degrees in Biomechanical Engineering. He spent a few years applying his studies as General Manager for a local company, prototyping and manufacturing coronary stents. Soon, he decided to pursue his interest in system thinking, and he became an operations generalist for small-to-mid-sized organizations. Chi-Ray has held a number of roles similar to what he does at KLS, including serving as Director of Operations, Technology, and Facilities at a large church in Boston; working as Program Director for the Digital Media Academy at Stanford; and most recently, working as Director of IT and Employee Services at One Kings Lane (the online home goods retailer). In his spare time, Chi-Ray has been known to lead scouts, root for the New England Patriots, play banjo, listen to country music, wish he had a pick-up truck, and dream of seeing the U.S. on an extended RV trip with his wife, Erica, and kids, Timothy and Megan. You'd never guess he was born in Boston and raised in L.A. Chi-Ray has been a member of the KLS team since its founding in 2014. 

Drew first became interested in education reform as a student in Bay Area public schools, leading him to intern as a software developer at Khan Academy in 2012-13. He has been excited to return to the next iteration of Sal Khan’s vision — having seen his own interests morph from education technology to the broader question of what a modern classroom might look like. Drew has volunteered and taught in a variety of educational settings, from a high school in the Italian countryside to a charter school in Cambridge, MA. On a bike trip across America, Drew and six others hosted hands-on STEM Learning Festivals for hundreds of students in Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. At KLS, he draws upon his physics and computer science degrees from MIT. He is currently pursuing an MA/MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Emily's own non-traditional school experience has inspired her passion for student-centered, mastery-based, innovative education models. Thus drawn to KLS, she is so excited to be joining the team! Since graduating from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a teaching certificate in ELA, she has enjoyed teaching in both traditional and non-traditional classroom settings in South Korea, the East Coast, and the Bay Area. Committed to being a lifelong learner, Emily is an avid reader who also enjoys travelling, trying new recipes, and exploring national parks.

Hannah McDonald was born and raised in the Bay Area, and has had the honor of being a coach and instructor for over 10 years. As a new team member to Khan Lab School, she is excited to continue working in the South Bay's school programs. She graduated from San Jose State University with a BA in Behavioral Sciences. Her love of teaching began with coaching swim lessons, and she was soon inspired to get certified in a concentrated area of teaching. As a lifelong horseback rider, she decided to become certified as a P.A.T.H. therapeutic horseback riding instructor in 2010, teaching horsemanship & riding to students with various mental and physical abilities. Most recently, Hannah has been teaching music lessons for the past 5 years at a community center, both private lessons and band classes. She has also spent the past year working as a teacher's aide and is thrilled to continue this journey in education. In her free time, Hannah loves to spend time on the trails with her horse, Lily, swim, write songs, and play music with the band. 

Originally from Sacramento, Janan has a “Nor Cal” background, having also graduated from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. in Politics. During her time as an undergraduate, she studied abroad in Cairo, Egypt and had a transformational educational experience. So after graduating college she returned to Egypt to study Arabic intensively at the American University of Cairo. She worked in the NGO sector, writing grant proposals and fundraising for the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, but eventually she returned to education in order to help other students have life-changing educational experiences, as she did. 

Janan worked as an EducationUSA advisor, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, to advise students, free of charge, on how to apply to U.S. colleges and universities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. During this time the Egyptian Revolution occurred (and she was evacuated twice!), which eventually led her to Jordan. In Jordan she worked for King’s Academy, a liberal arts boarding school. While there she managed the school’s standardized testing, counseled over 200 students through the college admissions process, and raised awareness among higher education institutions about the new school. 

She is still in touch with many of her former students, who have gone on to graduate from colleges and universities around the world. Some of which are even working and studying right here in the Bay Area! Nothing brings her greater joy than helping students achieve their dreams and hearing about their successes later on in life. In her free time, Janan enjoys hiking, yoga, cuddling with her dog, and traveling the world. She’s traveled to 30+ countries so far and can’t wait to see more!

Jenn is a passionate Spanish language educator dedicated to fostering a language-rich environment of Comprehensible Input (CI). Born in the Bay Area and raised in the greater Boston area, Jenn prefers iced coffee all 12 months of the year. Inspired by her outstanding teachers and unique opportunities to study abroad early on in her career, she went on to earn her B.A.S. in Spanish and secondary education from Salve Regina University, a small coastal institution in Rhode Island. In her teacher preparation program, she experienced a variety of educational settings where she began to research second language acquisition and implement strategies such as Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) to bring interpersonal communication to the forefront of world language classes. Jenn first studied abroad in Spain in high school, which sparked her enthusiasm for the Spanish language. She later sought out the opportunity to spend a semester in Salamanca, Spain and continued to grow her language expertise at the country’s oldest university, Universidad de Salamanca. She later pursued her M.A. in Spanish with a concentration in hispanic literature with Middlebury College, Madrid before beginning her teaching career in 2019. Outside of the classroom, she is an avid traveler and enjoys musical theatre, tap dance, and the great outdoors. 

Originally from a small town in Wisconsin, Jessica graduated from college in Minnesota and then her adventurous spirit brought her West. First to Portland, Oregon, then to Santa Barbara, and finally to the Bay Area. While in Portland, Jessica volunteered for a year of service as part of the AmeriCorps program which then led to pursuing her Masters degree in Public Health at Portland State University. After working in program development and implementing community-based programs in the non-profit public health sector for several years Jessica eventually settled in the Bay Area. It was here that Jessica decided to shift her career and pursue a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. While gaining the clinical experience required for obtaining licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) Jessica discovered she was most interested in working with children and families by working in a counseling capacity in several different schools from San Francisco to San Jose and in between. Jessica finds school-based mental health services to be a particularly effective way to connect with children, adolescents, and families in order to promote a holistic approach to supporting students.  She looks forward to continuing to support the development and implementation of social and emotional learning at KLS and believes that cultivating and nurturing relationships is foundational.

Jessica has provided school based counseling support for the past several years and in 2016 became a licensed MFT.  Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children, cooking, traveling, reading, hiking, cheering on the Green Bay Packers, and exploring all of the amazing food and experiences the Bay Area has to offer.

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After dedicating a year of service to AmeriCorps in Washington, D.C. writing curriculum for an after-school program in Title I schools, Julia joined KLS as an Associate Teacher with Independence Level 1. Julia spent her first year at KLS honing her teaching craft under the guidance of mentors. She began teaching first-grade math content, going on to fulfill her current role of IL1 Advisor and Math Specialist. Julia strongly believes in empowering student voice and prides herself in being dependable and trustworthy for her students. Julia's teaching style involves discussion-based lessons and game and project-based investigations. She finds most excitement in teaching when she is collaborating with students and fellow staff-members. When not at school or commuting to and from San Francisco, Julia is an avid cyclist and a Bananagrams champion.

Born and raised in the heart of San Francisco, Leo is excited to lead the Middle School Integrated Science program. Having taught overseas for the past decade, his educational experience includes leading hands-on inquiry programs in collaboration with GEMS at the Lawrence Hall of Science and the MAD Science Program. He combines his passion for Molecular & Cell Biology as an undergrad at UC Berkeley with his research through Neuroscience whenever possible while in the classroom. After receiving his Masters in Urban Education at the University of Southern California he quickly transitioned to leading flip-learning, AP, IB, and STE(A)M initiatives at various International Schools throughout Taiwan. He has served as a K-12 classroom teacher, student advisor, technology coordinator, Google Educator, and Department Head. His favorite lessons are those where students’ exhaust their imagination and driven by their curiosity. If not in the classroom, one can often find Leo cycling or running through trailheads in the Bay Area or dabbling in gastronomy. 

Matt joined KLS in 2020 as the Content Marketing Manager with a mix of experiences in educational marketing communications and post-secondary student development. He earned his master’s degree in Student Development Administration from Seattle University and his bachelor’s degree in Media Studies from the University of San Francisco. With 5 years of experience in higher education social media strategy, he has specialized in digital communications and enjoys storytelling for educational institutions with a sense of mission. Matt is also passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion work in the education space. He grew up in the Bay Area and enjoys spending his free time being with family, exploring coffee spots, going to the beach, and hanging out with his cat. 

Originally from the Greater Los Angeles area, Michael is thrilled to be a part of the KLS team. He has experience teaching 7th grade math and science, and most recently taught 4th grade in Oakland, CA. Now entering his sixth year of teaching, Michael is ready to work with IL3 students as a math specialist and advisor. He earned his B.A. in Liberal Arts from Cal Poly Pomona and his M.Ed. from Harvard University in Mind, Brain, and Education. He strongly believes in grounding learning in authentic, real-world problems. When not in the classroom, Michael enjoys long-distance running, whether on the road or trails and is a huge Clippers fan (sorry, Warriors!) He is looking forward to discovering all of the outdoor opportunities that the Bay Area has to offer. 

Natalie is an educator, researcher, and education technology enthusiast with 15 years of experience creating innovative curricula. Before joining Khan Lab School, she worked at Stanford University as an instructor, writing fellow, and undergraduate thesis mentor in the Department of History. At Stanford, she taught students how to tackle big and important questions and conduct original archival research. Her Ph.D. dissertation explores how U.S. scientists influenced democratic thought during the Second World War. She also has worked with several technology companies, including Google and wikiHow--most recently serving as a project manager for ClioVis, an edtech startup helping students to visualize historical connections. Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Natalie taught high school in the Pueblo of Zuni with Teach for America. As a high school instructor, she was a recipient of a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, which took her to Athens, Greece. With her students in Zuni, she coordinated local museum exhibits and an oral history initiative.

Patrick holds a BFA from the School of Art/Design, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and a Masters in Digital Media and Learning from the School of Education, University of San Francisco.  Before becoming a teacher, Patrick was in the digital visual effects and animation business, and has earned production credits on twenty-eight feature films.  He has taught sculpting and high-end computer graphics at the college level, digital arts to high school and middle school students, and fine arts and Make/maker projects to both middle and lower school kids.  Project-based learning has been at the core of his entire teaching experience, and he greatly values the benefits of having students draw as much as possible. Patrick is a fine artist who uses both traditional and digital media, and an avid photographer with a life-long interest in science and natural history. He and his wife enjoy spending time with their cat.

A Bay Area native currently studying at Phillips Academy in Massachusetts, Saffron is grateful to have spent the last two summers at KLS. As an intern, she assisted with KLS’s advisory program, a social emotional learning curriculum, and projects for college counseling. She currently serves on the advisory board for the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, a non-profit organization with the mission of expanding teacher diversity nationwide. She will be co-teaching a sophomore seminar at Andover this fall on Empathy, Balance, and Inclusion. Saffron has also served on the Youth Advisory Board for the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Making Caring Common initiative that fosters collaboration around social and emotional learning. Saffron is inspired by KLS’s groundbreaking pedagogy and hopes to pursue a career that advances equity in education. In her spare time, Saffron enjoys baking cakes and reading memoirs.

Sharifa’s diverse experience as an educator and Program Manager has allowed her to reach students throughout the Bay Area and Sacramento. She has attained her Master of Arts in Education and a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Sharifa has six years of experience as an elementary school teacher and an additional seven years of experience serving students as a tutor, paraeducator, student teacher and substitute teacher. In her role as a Program Manager for a non-profit organization focused on educational programs, she oversaw all aspects of a program that supported early literacy skills for Oakland’s youngest readers.  As a lead teacher in an after-school program, she used Creative Writing to motivate English language learners to expand their literacy skills. Sharifa has over 13 years of experience in education and working alongside veteran teachers to hone in on best teaching practices in order to facilitate her students’ academic, social, and emotional growth.

Sharifa is dedicated to lifelong learning, which inspires her to travel, immerse herself in different cultures and continually build her community of friends. When she’s not traveling with her husband or in the classroom, she spends her time teaching her pet cat Sammy new tricks.