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Jessica Ahn
Georgetown Day School Jessica was born and raised in Baltimore, MD, and currently spends her days at Georgetown Day School teaching fourth grade Mathematics. She is also the assistant coach of the Women’s JV basketball team at Georgetown Day High School. Prior to residing in Virginia, Jessica taught fifth grade at Edlin School as well as third and fifth grade in Baltimore County. Being a Korean-American in the dynamic city of Baltimore has helped shape Jessica into the driven, light-hearted individual she is today. She holds a B.A. in Elementary Education and always knew teaching was what she was born to do. Jessica is looking forward to connecting and supporting other passionate educators from coast to coast. She is excited to be a part of the AsEA steering committee and planning for the first East Coast conference.
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Deborah Katz
Georgetown Day School Debby teaches high school English at Georgetown Day School, where she co-advises AAA (Asian American Affinity) with Abe Pachikara, as well as Fusion, GDS's multiracial affinity group. Debby has been instrumental in helping her department expand and diversify its core curriculum. She has presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Convention and the People of Color Conference about the importance of incorporating writers of color into the English classroom to teach social justice, cultural competence, and critical thinking. She is thrilled to be a part of bringing the wonderful, inspiring, and rejuvenating AsEA conference to the East coast this year. A proud Jewpanese (get it?), Debby holds a BA in English and Jewish studies from Wellesley College and a PhD in English from Brown University.
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Kim Kaz
Georgetown Day School Kim Kaz is currently a third grade Homeroom teacher at Georgetown Day School. She pushes herself to be an intentional educator looking through a lens of diversity as she helps her students to navigate curricula around "Coming To America," including stories of Angel and Ellis Islands, and to understand what's left out of the dominant narrative around Colonial America. She recently helped refresh the third grade classroom libraries, hand-selecting a full set of nonfiction titles that all featured lesser known heroes of color. At GDS, Kim is also proud to be a member of the team that spearheads the Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage assembly for the entire lower school. Prior to GDS, Kim worked in independent schools in Washington, D.C. and Beijing, China. Kim holds an A.B. in Literary Arts from Brown University and an Ed.M in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
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Sonali Kumar
Georgetown Day School Bio forthcoming
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Kiira Lee
Lowell School Kiira Lee worked at Lowell School as a second grade teacher for six years before taking this year off to care for her 6 month old son. During her time at Lowell School, Kiira was a member of SEED and attended the annual NAME and NAIS PoCC conferences. After having forged many meaningful bonds during the affinity group sessions at PoCC, Kiira helped found AsEA in the DMV, in an effort to unite and connect APIDA educators in the DC area. Kiira loves teaching young children about culture and identity, with a particular interest in children’s literature. Kiira looks forward to meeting and learning from fellow educators at this year’s AsEA conference.
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Abe Pachikara
Georgetown Day School In addition to being the 9th Grade Dean at Georgetown Day School, Abe also teaches history to 9th and 10 graders as well as teaching a required course for all incoming 9th graders on diversity, equity, and the intersections of identity. Abe also helps in advising AAA (Asian American Affinity) alongside the amazing Debby Katz as well as assisting the It’s Academic/Quizbowl team and Model UN Team. In his free time, Abe loves spending time with his family and fiancé along with regularly training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ). He is excited to take part in the process of bringing the AsEA conference to the East coast this year and is looking forward to welcoming all that are new or have been here before! Abe holds a dual BA in History and Government and Politics from the University of Maryland-College Park and a M.Ed from American University.
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Unushe Walker
Georgetown Day School Bio forthcoming.
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Kavan Lee
Lowell School
Lowell School
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Kavan earned his BS in biology from North Park College and his MEd in educational leadership from the National College of Education at National-Louis University. Before arriving to Lowell School (Washington, D.C.) in 2010, he taught at the Carleton W. Washburne School in Winnetka, IL and the John G. Shedd Aquarium, in Chicago. At Lowell, he has served in a variety of roles, including Middle School science teacher, science curriculum coordinator, and director of Middle School student life. In 2013, he was selected by the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Education to blog his observations of the Finnish school system. Throughout his career, Kavan has been a student and an advocate for progressive practices in both public and independent schools. He became Lowell’s director of Middle School in 2015. Kavan spends most his time afterschool enjoying a glass of wine with his wife or building fairy houses in the backyard with his daughter.
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Laura S. Yee
Georgetown Day School
Georgetown Day School
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A native of New England, Laura transplanted to the DMV to teach in DCPS in 2002. After teaching in urban, rural, and suburban contexts, she finally found her home at Georgetown Day School. For the past four years, Laura had the privilege to serve with a talented team of educators as Lower School Principal at GDS; she now works with faculty across the school as Assistant Head of School for Curriculum and Instruction, enacting upon her commitment to social justice and anti-oppressive education daily. Outside school, Laura spends her time with her three children - Riley, Taylor and Kennedy - and 13-year old mutt, Mrs. Brisby. When she has free time, Laura enjoys all things outdoors, including hiking, biking and long distance running. Laura proudly identifies as Chinese-American, with family hailing from Sichuan and Qingdao provinces as well as Taiwan. Her favorite fruits include lychee and mangoes, and she indulges in Ben and Jerry's Coffee, Coffee, Buzz Buzz Buzz as much as possible. While Laura possesses a passionate curiosity about people from all walks of life, she strongly dislikes talking and writing bios about herself. She looks forward to welcoming you at this year's conference and hopes you find great joy and nourishment in the experience.
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