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Brian Auld
Brian began his work with EPACS as a fourth grade teacher in 1998. A few years later, he founded the EPACS Development Office with fellow teacher Bess Kennedy in order to "provide resources for the EPACS community that were commensurate with our students' amazing results." Brian left East Palo Alto to pursue his MBA at the Harvard School of Business in 2002. He is currently the Senior Vice President for Baseball Operations for the Tampa Bay Rays. Although he lives and works across the country, Brian remains involved with the Advisory Board to ensure the success of the students at EPACS and EPAPA.
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Michael Berman
Mike Berman joined the EPACS staff in the spring of 2003. He has served as the Director of Development and Community Partnerships since 2009. Mike worked as a middle school Humanities teacher until July 2008, when he joined the staff of East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy as a college counselor/academic advisor, part-time dean of students, after school program director, and "utility infielder." In spring of 2009, he settled in to his two-part role: college counselor at the high school and director of development for K-12. While earning his BA and MA in US History from Stanford University, Mr. Berman tutored at several different schools in East Palo Alto. The experience inspired him to learn more about this fascinating and vibrant community, and he wrote his master's thesis about the history of East Palo Alto. Originally from Silver Spring, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC, Mr. Berman has remained at EPACS and EPAPA because this school is his family away from his family, and he is dedicated to seeing every student graduate from a four-year college or university.
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Zachary Bogue
Zachary Bogue joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2003. Zack founded and runs our annual High School Application Workshop for our eighth graders, and helps with 501(c)(3) issues for the EPACS Foundation. The workshop brings one-on-one tutoring from the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley to help our students apply to private and other desirable high schools in the area and so that the students can continue the tradition of excellence that we foster here at EPACS. He gained his legal and entrepreneurial background from working at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Zack currently works at Montara Capital Partners, a boutique real estate private equity fund real estate fund he helped found. Zack also brings to bear past experience from his volunteer work at two charter schools in Washington DC. Zack earned his AB from Harvard University and his JD from Georgetown Law School. He is most impressed with the school's strong culture of success and high expectations it sets for its students.
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Jennifer Carolan
Jennifer Carolan joined the Advisory Board in 2004 and was formerly a Palo Alto school teacher. She left to pursue her Masters in Curriculum and Teacher Education from the Stanford School of Education. While at Stanford, she studied Curriculum Differentiation and jointly with fellow Ad Board member Abby Guinn, published her study findings in Educational Leadership. Currently, she works at NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy fund investing in education organizations and serves as a Stanford S.O.S. school coach.
Back to the topTarah Evans
Tarah Evans joined the EPACS-EPAPA Advisory Board in 2010. She is the Executive Director of the Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master's Degree in Communication Management from the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California. Tarah also obtained her certification (CPCC) in Executive Coaching in 2005 from the Coaches Training Institute. Youth education programs are her passion - she also currently serves on the board of the East Palo Alto Youth Court, a program that facilitates youth-driven restorative justice as an alternative to the juvenile probation system.
Back to the topVicky Evans
Vicky Evans joined the EPAPA staff as a College Counselor in 2009. In that capacity she works tirelessly to guide our students and families through the college-going practice. Before joining the EPACS-EPAPA family in 2009, Vicky spent the previous 8 years at Downtown College Prep in San Jose, one of the first charter high schools in the state, where she developed the College Guidance program. Vicky received her BS in Human Development and Elementary and Secondary teaching credentials from UC Davis and earned an MBA from Santa Clara University. Our school's staff, students and families are the beneficiary of Vicky's years of experience and success preparing students to be the first in their families to attend and complete college.
Back to the topPeter Gifford
Peter Gifford joined the East Palo Alto Charter School Advisory Board in the spring of 2004. He brings a diverse background in finance, strategy, business development, and fundraising. Peter currently works at Regis Management Company, a private investment firm in Palo Alto. Peter received his AB in Political Science from Stanford University and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Peter loves working with the passionate faculty and staff of EPACS and seeing the tremendous impact the school is having in the community.
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Sharon Johnson
Sharon Johnsonbecame the reading coach at EPACS in 2006. She has been teaching at the school since 2000. At first she taught 5th grade for three years and then 2nd grade for three years. She is originally from Palo Alto and attended Northwestern University for her BA in Psychological Services. Recently she earned her Master's degree from San Jose State University in Educational Leadership. Before coming to EPACS, Ms. Johnson was a teacher in Compton, CA with Teach for America. What she enjoys most about EPACS is the commitment to student learning, high expectations and the school culture that believes all students can earn a college degree. Ms. Johnson also feels that the constant collaboration and relentless dedication of staff, students and families is what makes the school unique.
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Grace Kawahira
Grace joined the Advisory Committee in 2001 although her involvement with EPACS began two years earlier as an employee of Venture Law Group. The former Silicon Valley law firm, committed to giving back to its community, had adopted the school in 1997. Grace embraced that altruistic effort and has coordinated field trips to the SF Symphony, career day visits to the law firm, organized annual book drives, and has helped coordinate the annual Pancake Breakfast events. She is currently employed at Google Inc., which is also dedicated to making the world a better place. Grace earned her BA in Art History from New York University. When she's not organizing the world's information, you can find her walking her dog Ruby or discovering the wonderful plant and insect life in her garden.
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Bess Kennedy
Bess Kennedy started as a 4th grade teacher at EPACS in 1999. After two years teaching full-time, Bess joined fellow 4th grade teacher Brian Auld to co-found the EPACS development office. Through foundation grants, individual donations, and corporate giving, the development office raised over $500,000 in the first two years. The funds supported after-school programs, field trips, reading coaches, an organic garden program, and even an entirely new playground for all to enjoy. After 4 years at EPACS, Bess went on to earn her law degree at NYU. She is now a litigation attorney at Bingham McCutchen in San Francisco, but her heart and soul are still with EPACS!
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Thomas Madson
Thomas Madson joined the Advisory Board in 2006, and is principal of East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy. He came from Michigan in 1999 after working as a youth specialist for the Sarah Fisher Residential Treatment Center and teaching high school English. After teaching third grade at EPACS, he became Site Coordinator for the K-8 program. Mr. Madson has a B. A. in Psychology and in English Language and Literature and also holds an M. A. in Educational Administration.
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Margaret Perrone
Margaret Perrone joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2007. Prior to this, she was extremely committed to volunteering at the school for over two years. She has always been very involved at her own children's schools, and realized that they had plenty of talented volunteers. This prompted her to look elsewhere for a school serving at-risk children with fewer resources. Margaret is passionate about reading, and has always been interested in libraries, so she came to EPACS and has contributed to the library in countless ways through helping organize books, inspiring and instructing students, and raising money to continue developing the collection. Margaret is also a member of the Literacy Team at the school, and has been most impressed with the staff and the positive impact of their effort.
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Laura Ramirez
Laura Ramirez is the principal at East Palo Alto Charter School. She is from Capistrano Beach, in Orange County, California. Ms. Ramirez received her undergraduate degree in Economics and History from UCLA, earned her teaching credential at San Francisco State University, and her masters in School Leadership and Administration from San Jose State University. She joined EPACS as a second grade teacher in January of 2001, and continued to teach second and third grade, until becoming the school's K-5 math instructional coach in July 2006. This is now her first year as Principal of East Palo Alto Charter School! What Ms. Ramirez loves most about EPACS is the strong sense of community among the staff, students, and families. She can't imagine being anywhere else!
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John Rethans
John Rethans joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2007 after teaching fourth and fifth grade at EPACS from 2002 - 2005. In addition to AdBoard, he has continued to be involved with the school in various ways since leaving for a career in the solar industry. He is currently the national director of component manufacturing and sales for Solon Corporation. Give him a chance, and he'll gush effusively about his love of all things EPACS. John has a BA in History and European Studies from UCLA and an MBA from Santa Clary University.
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Rachel Rosenberg
Rachel Rosenberg joined the EPACS staff as an elementary school teacher in 2003. She taught second and third grade for four years before serving as a Bay Area instructional coach for Aspire. Rachel joined the Advisory Board in 2009.
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Nancy Rosenthal
Nancy Rosenthal joined the EPACS-EPAPA Advisory Board in 2008. Her original involvement with EPACS began in 2006 as a volunteer advisor with the Junior League of Palo Alto/Mid-Peninsula.
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Sara Rutherford
Sara Rutherford joined the Advisory Board in 2004, after teaching Kindergarten and first grade from 2002 - 2004. Since leaving the school in a teaching capacity, she has remained connected with students and staff. After earning a B. A. in Spanish & Peace & Global Studies from Earlham College in Indiana and an M. A. from Stanford University in the Social Science of Education, she is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Anthropology of Education from Stanford. Sara is most drawn to the sense of collaboration at EPACS among staff, students, and families. With the understanding that everyone's in it together here, she considers EPACS to be her second family, and feels very much at home whenever she comes back to visit or volunteer her time.
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Helen Streck
Helen Streck and her husband, Chris Woodard, wrote the original charter petition for East Palo Alto Charter School in 1996. Although they moved out of the area for a brief time, they have remained deeply involved with the school since its founding in 1997. Their younger son, Michael, "graduated" from eighth grade (before we'd founded a high school), and their older daughter, Veronica, works as a middle school teacher resident. Both Helen and Chris have served as college mentors for seniors at EPAPA. Helen has been a member of the Advisory Board since 2009.
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