This fall, we welcomed a talented group of new educators to our community.

At the upper school, the most significant changes were in new Dean of Students Phillip Koshi’s office:

  • Deirdre Newell joined us from New Roads School in Santa Monica on July 1 as director of counseling. Ms. Newell is a licensed marriage and family therapist with years of experience in school counseling with a special interest in the role of nature and the outdoors in mental health.
  • Jacob Rivers, formerly the DEI coordinator at Viewpoint School (CA), was appointed as co-director of equity and inclusion to work alongside Isa Aguirre, who joined us last fall and worked closely with Dr. Mashadi Matabane, our former director of equity and inclusion, throughout the last year in support of both students and faculty.
  • Shanae Vaifanua-Pace transitioned to associate director of student support and wellness, and has started graduate studies in school counseling to further develop our social and emotional support structure. In this role she works alongside the dean’s team to develop our health curriculum for grades 9-12, and a transition program for our seniors as they prepare to head to college.
  • Lucy Stockdale transitioned from her role as director of resident faculty to a leadership position supporting all elements of the residential program as director of resident life.

The following new hires joined us on the Pebble Beach campus this August for the 2022-23 school year:

  • Elijah Colby joins us from York School to teach English
  • Elisabeth Campbell will teach Latin, arriving from Severn School (MD)
  • Bo Buller will teach history, coming from San Benito High School
  • Rosanna McCormick joins us from Monterey High School, and will teach English and coach the varsity field hockey team
  • Catherine Seok, a graduate of the prestigious teaching program at Vanderbilt University, will teach history
  • Carolina Fabry will join the Spanish department, from the International School of Monterey
  • Dr. Zeila Frade also joins the Spanish department, moving to Stevenson from Montclair State University (NJ)
  • Katie Klein will teach French, arriving from from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and having taught French at San Lorenzo Valley HS
  • Dexter Loken ’13 will teach mathematics with a focus on statistics. He taught mathematics as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania and has served as an Expo trip leader here at Stevenson.
  • CJ Vaifanua-Pace joins us as assistant director of athletics and will also work in our admissions office. Cj most recently served as head womens’ basketball coach at CSUMB
  • Kelsey Besette, currently living in Treasure Island with her husband Andy (a mathematics teacher) will teach history. Prior to coming to Stevenson, Kelsey taught history and led curriculum development at The Hill School (PA).
  • Keith Ducker brings 30 years of international business leadership experience to his Economics and Personal Finance classes this year. He joins us from St. Francis High School in Watsonville.

We have also added support to the dean’s office, with Marissa Trujillo joining the team as an administrative assistant from her former role in the college office, and Terry O’Hara moved into a student support role focused on attendance and supervision of the learning commons. Alyssa Clark, who taught English for the past two years, took over as director of student activities for this school year.

In the lower and middle divisions, new faculty and staff are settling in this fall. We are delighted to welcome:

  • Meg Barrager joins our community as the lower division learning resource coordinator. She works closely with lower division faculty and Kate Bitter to help teachers better understand how each child learns. Meg earned a BA in French from Lewis and Clark College and a Masters in Social Work from Smith College. She has taught several grade levels, as well as been a program director and curriculum coordinator. Most recently, Meg worked with graduate students at UC Irvine to help them learn how to teach reading. Meg and her family just arrived to the Monterey Peninsula from Los Angeles.
  • Though Marisa Tonini is new to Stevenson, this will be her 19th year of teaching. Marisa attended Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, where she received her BA in liberal studies as well as her Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. She has worked in both public and private schools and is currently teaching grade 3. Moving to the Monterey Peninsula in 2002, she spent six years in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District teaching third grade. Over the past 10 years, Marisa taught kindergarten and third grade at Santa Catalina School. Marisa and her family just relocated to Carmel about ten days ago, after living in Monterey for many years.
  • Nancy Miller, who brings eighteen years of professional experience to Stevenson, teaches in our elementary division kindergarten class this year. For the past seven years, she was grade level leader, a learning specialist, and taught first and second grade at Silicon Valley International School. For the seven years before that, she was the lead kindergarten teacher at Yongsan International School in Seoul, South Korea. She graduated from High Point University with a BA in elementary education and earned a MS in reading and literacy education from Walden University. Nancy is a newlywed and recently moved to Marina with her husband Chris.
  • Rita Mora joins us this fall as a middle division Spanish teacher. Rita earned a BA in Spanish from CSUMB and most recently completed her masters in TESOL from Middlebury Institute of International Studies. While attending graduate school, Rita has been raising her two children and working both as an ESL instructor and as a prevention educator at the Monterey Rape Crisis Center. Rita lives in Salinas with her husband and children.
  • With well over twenty years of teaching experience, Lisa Condino will step into the role of middle division art teacher. Lisa earned a BFA in fine arts from Western Michigan University. She went on to travel the world, studying art, and furthered her teaching practice by completing a certification process in art therapy at Northwestern University. Lisa lives on the Pebble Beach campus with her husband, Topher McKhann.
  • Jordan Gasperson will be both assistant athletic director for the upper division and head athletic director for our middle school. Jordan earned a BS from Sonoma State University and has most recently been working with Pacific Grove Unified School District as the assistant athletic director, while also coaching basketball and golf.