Sonia is grateful to be returning to Khan Lab School for her fourth year as the Level 1 Lead. Prior to KLS, Sonia worked as a school-based occupational therapist in Bay Area public and charter schools (K-5) for 15 years, where she helped support diverse learners. Her experiences include tutoring ESL students, teaching reading in after-school programs, and homeschooling her two children. Combining her expertise in child development and a passion for education, Sonia helped launch the Khan Academy Early Explorers Summer Program in 2013. It is her joy to cultivate children’s love of learning through creativity and personal connection. She is excited to be part of growing Khan Lab School’s mission through the development of her students and a collaborative team.  In addition to being creative in the classroom, Sonia enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, laughing with friends, baking, gardening, traveling, and sitting down with a good book. Sonia has been a member of the KLS team since its founding in 2014.

Amelia received her Bachelor's Degree in art history from Grinnell College in May of 2019, and has since moved to the Bay Area to pursue a career in education. Amelia first encountered her love for teaching as a high-schooler growing up in New York City, where she tutored at an after school program in the Bronx and later worked at various summer camps. After graduating from Grinnell College Amelia worked as a summer program coordinator at the Castilleja School, inspiring her to pursue a full-time job in education. She is extremely excited to begin her journey at Khan Lab School and hopes to bring her love of art history to a younger audience. In her free time, Amelia enjoys biking, reading, and planning her future travels. 

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. 

Derek grew up in Monroe and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the third of four children to a Texan father and French mother. In addition to a very strange accent that he’s since lost, his upbringing instilled in him a love of languages, cultures, and travel that he’s maintained to this day. Eager to leave the “Deep South” after high school, Derek went to the only slightly less southern University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He entered college a pre-med chemistry major and exited it fully embracing his passion for the humanities, earning a B.A. in history and a minor in creative writing.

After graduation Derek moved to France, where he taught English as a Second Language to elementary students from largely immigrant communities in the suburban regions outside Bordeaux. A year later he returned to the U.S. to begin his graduate education at Stanford University. In the years since, he’s earned his M.A. in history, married his lovely wife Ariel, moved back to France to conduct archival research in Paris, and then moved back to the Bay Area to work on his dissertation while Ariel earned her Master’s in Library and Information Sciences. Along the way, he’s also taught numerous history and interdisciplinary courses at Stanford: 20th century U.S. history, Modern Europe and the World, history of science, art history, and more. His research looks at memory, mythmaking, and the intersection of politics and culture in modern France.

Now that Derek has successfully taught 1st through 5th graders and freshman through senior undergraduates, he is delighted to join Khan Lab School and complete his pedagogy bingo card by teaching middle-and high-school students. In addition to the importance of STEM education in the 21 st century, he believes it is crucial for children to develop their historical, critical thinking, and writing skills in order to thrive as members of our global society. He is grateful that KLS has allowed him to join this all-important mission. When he’s not in the classroom, Derek loves movies, podcasts, cooking, playing the drums or guitar poorly, and reading just about anything he can get his eyes on.

Devin has over 13 years of experience working with students. Prior to joining KLS, he was an outdoor education teacher and basketball coach for both elementary and middle school students. In his spare time, he enjoys being outdoors, dancing, and playing baseball. Devin is currently pursuing a degree in child development and looks forward to a long career in physical education.

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.

Jacob was born and raised in San Francisco and first performed music professionally at 15. After seeking a BA in Music Performance at UCSC, he pursued a MOM at SF State University with an emphasis in Music History. He has toured and recorded with some top artists in the field including Nicki Minaj, Zap Mama and Chris Isaak, scored movies and theater productions. In between performances and recordings, Jacob taught at Universities in US and Canada and helped to design the music curriculum for Waldorf elementary and middle school.  He is passionate about music education and excited to become a member of the Khan Lab School team.

Jason Bush is an experienced educator in the fields of Spanish language teaching, Latin American Studies, and Theatre History.  After receiving his BA in Theater from University of California, Los Angeles, and his MA in Theatre Studies from California State University, Northridge, Jason decided to explore Latin American cultures during his Ph.D studies in Theatre History and Performance Studies at The Ohio State University.  At Ohio State, Jason conducted extensive ethnographic research on Peruvian indigenous performance on the global stage. In the process of living and working in Peru, Jason became proficient in written and spoken Spanish. While writing his dissertation Jason decided to try his hand at teaching Spanish and he absolutely fell in love with language teaching.  He has extensive classroom experience teaching Middle School and High School Spanish at Basis Independent School, Stratford School and university level Spanish at The Ohio State University and San Jose State University. In addition, Jason has developed a specialized expertise in individualized instruction in Spanish, tailoring a personalized educational experience that draws on students’ interests and preferred learning styles at AJ Tutoring, Fusion Academy, and Tilden Preparatory School.  He is currently continuing his education by finishing his MA in Spanish at San Jose State University with a specialization in second language acquisition and applied linguistics. His favorite part of teaching language is helping provide students with the tools in order to express themselves in new ways, communicate to new groups of people, and explore cultures in different parts of the world.

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 her interest in working with children and families by working 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.

Jessica has provided school-based counseling support for the past six years and in 2016 became a licensed MFT. In addition to her time at KLS Jessica works as a therapist in private practice where she sees children, adolescents, and adults. Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, 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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A graduate of the Florida State University, Julia earned her bachelor’s in biological studies with a focus in computational biology and botany. Her undergraduate research included field work in the Apalachicola National Forest studying herpetofauna and writing models to investigate interspecies evolution. Coming from a family of educators, Julia has always had a passion for education and giving back to the community. After college, she served with AmeriCorps in Washington, D.C. for Kid Power, an after-school program serving Title I Schools, writing science curriculum and overseeing the middle school programs. In her spare time, Julia is an avid road cyclist, lover of the outdoors, and is enjoying exploring her new home on the West Coast. 

French-born Marie-Helene Bauguil is a visual artist and educator with 13+ years of experience teaching fine arts to children and adults. She believes that deep inside each person, there lives an artist. She strives to create learning environments in which students allow their inner artist-self to grow and flourish. In addition to teaching studio art techniques and media, she has designed and implemented arts programs in a variety of settings, and has mentored teachers and volunteers in how to teach art. She holds a Master in Architecture and recently completed an Ed.D in Educational Leadership.  When she is not working or passionately advocating for the arts and arts education, Marie-Helene enjoys meeting with friends, hiking, and gardening. 

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. 

As a Utah native and newcomer to the Bay, Parisa is excited about being a part of the KLS team because of the focus on a technology-empowered, student-centered, mastery-learning approach to education. Her research during her B.S. and M.Ed. from the University of Utah (Go Utes!) focused on the power of effective technology integration and instructional design in the classroom, specifically with an emphasis on technology as a cognitive partner in learning to foster analysis, evaluation, communication, collaboration, and creation. With more than five years of experience in different learning settings, including public, charter, and private school, tutoring, and educational summer camps, working with students from Kindergarten up through 6th grade, Parisa comes ready to support deep thinking processes and the social-emotional learning of diverse students populations. She believes in the power of using authentic problems, project-based learning, and hands-on experiences to help her students discover the intricacies and relationships among math concepts in real life. Her favorite part about teaching is the joy of igniting a passion for learning in her students, just as she loves the thrill of discovering a new topic about how our world works. Parisa is excited to continue growing the KLS vision of reimagining the way education empowers youth to find their individual, fullest potential. When Parisa is not in the classroom or reading about teaching and learning, she enjoys even more reading, listening to music, watching and playing sports, and exploring the amazing outdoor and cultural opportunities of the Bay area with her family and friends.

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.