New teachers at Urban
Photo Credit: Isabel Moore
Sara Brooks and Cassiel Chadwick
October 28, 2009
Filed under Top Stories
With the loss of several teachers at the end of last year, Urban welcomes a number of new faculty members, including an athletic director and head of service learning. Urban students are fortunate to be the beneficiaries of their expertise and the interesting and diverse backgrounds each one brings to their subject area.
Sarah Crockett joined Urban’s math department in August. She teaches functions classes, and will teach additional math classes next year. She has spent the past few years caring for her two young sons, along with intermittently substituting at Both Urban and the Bay School. Sarah graduated from Smith College with an A.B. in mathematics, subsequently joining the Peace Corps in Ghana and eventually moving to San Francisco in 2000. Sarah enjoys biking and is involved with various bike advocacy organizations and activities, including her recent implementation of innovative bike racks at Pacific Primary pre-school, where her son currently goes. She was drawn to Urban in particular by its advocacy of environmental awareness, and its focus on the greater San Francisco community.
- Sara Schonwald decided in graduate school that she would like to “work with young people doing leadership empowerment”. This vision eventually brought her to her new position at Urban as the director of service learning. After coming to the Bay Area in 2002 with Teach for America, Sara taught social studies and English at Elmhurst Middle School in Oakland. She later attended graduate school, receiving a masters degree in policy organization and leadership studies from Stanford University. In coming to Urban, Sara is looking forward to teaching in a new environment and developing mutually instructive relationships with students and faculty. She is currently four months pregnant, which has temporarily hindered her ability to satisfy her love of outdoor activities such as “hiking, biking, and walking around the city.”
- Sarah Clowes returns to Urban to teach science after spending a year in Michigan where her husband was attending graduate school. Sarah’s teaching career began inadvertently. While researching climate change and human impact on the oceans, she found herself surprisingly enthused as she imparted her knowledge to undergraduate students. “It turned out I liked teaching,“ said Clowes.
- Xiaorong Li joins Urban as the school’s Mandarin teacher. She previously taught at The Head Royce School in Oakland. Since arriving at Urban, she has been inspired by her students, saying that they motivate her to do well. Li describes her students as “mature and independent” and is impressed by the way Urban uses technology to facilitate learning. Expressing her stated passion for teaching, Xiaorong says, “I cannot imagine doing anything else.”
- Sasha Laundy knew she wanted to be a teacher after working at the Center for Talented Youth summer program. She now joins us in her second high school teaching position as one of our new science teachers. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and attended high school in Chicago. Having graduated from Swarthmore College near Philadelphia, this is her first time living on the West coast. She is excited to be teaching two of her favorite fields in science, neuroscience and physics. She says, “It’s great to have students who are curious about what they are learning because they want to get closer to the truth.”
- Kelli Yon has joined us as our new photography teacher, but was not available for interview at press time.
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