Tony teaches English in the high school. Tony was born in Seoul, South Korea and spent his upbring­ing in Taiwan, Malaysia, and South Korea before immi­grat­ing to the United States for univer­sity. He received his Bachelor’s in the Writing Semi­nars from Johns Hopkins Univer­sity and a Master’s in English Single-Subject Teach­ing from Pepper­dine Univer­sity. Before joining Waverly, Tony spent nine years in inde­pen­dent board­ing schools in Cali­for­nia and Mass­a­chu­setts, where he taught English, creative writing, and coached soccer and badminton. In his free time, Tony likes to do outdoor activ­i­ties with his family, street photog­ra­phy, and screen­writ­ing. (Email)

Kate teaches science and math in the high school. Kate earned her B.A. in cultural anthro­pol­ogy from the Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Cruz and obtained her M.A. in multi­cul­tural educa­tion from Sacra­mento State Univer­sity. Kate aims to make educa­tion inter­est­ing, engag­ing and acces­si­ble for every­one. She has been working in educa­tion for almost 20 years, and has taught courses on the colle­giate level and most recently at Tree Academy, a progres­sive school in West Holly­wood. When not teach­ing or research­ing about educa­tion, Kate can be found trav­el­ing, walking for hours through cities, the coun­try­side, or the forest taking photos and making art. (Email)

Kathy teaches middle and high school math. Kathy has a B.S. in Math­e­mat­ics with a Minor in Music from Loma Linda Univer­sity, an M.A. in Applied Math­e­mat­ics from Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Santa Barbara, and an Ed.D. in Lead­er­ship for Educa­tional Justice from Univer­sity of Redlands. Addi­tion­ally, Kathy holds a Cali­for­nia single-subject teach­ing creden­tial in Math­e­mat­ics and certi­fi­ca­tion in cross-cultural language and acad­e­mic devel­op­ment. A self-described math nerd, Kathy lives in Los Angeles with her partner Jon and her dog Barney. (Email)

Ryan teaches U.S. history/​APUSH and 9th grade English. Ryan received his Bachelor’s in English from the Univer­sity of Cali­for­nia, Berke­ley. He contin­ued his passion for history and English, complet­ing both his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Univer­sity of Exeter, in England, focus­ing his research and studies on liter­ary study and trans­la­tion with his thesis titled: ​“Chron­i­cle and Conflict in Twelfth-Century León‑Castile.” Prior to coming to Waverly, Ryan taught history as an adjunct profes­sor at Long Beach City College. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys surfing, reading, and spend­ing time with his family. (Email)

Briana teaches psychol­ogy, art history, and human nature (philos­o­phy) at the high school. She also serves as the coor­di­na­tor of the well­ness program and teaches weekly yoga classes for students. Briana holds a B.A. in art history, an A.A. in devel­op­men­tal psychol­ogy, and has grad­u­ate-level expe­ri­ence in social work. She encour­ages her students to adopt a broad lens on human behav­ior and history, utiliz­ing the spec­trums of a micro/​macro lens. She encour­ages students to unpack the intri­ca­cies of what it means to be human with curios­ity, self-reflec­tion, and compas­sion. (Email)