This year, twelve new faculty and staff joined the Lick-Wilmerding community. There’s plenty to learn about these new faces, from instruments they play like didgeridoos and electric violins to their obsessions with shows like Jane the Virgin and Grey’s Anatomy.
Claudia Andrade – Science/Biology Teacher
Lick’s new Biology teacher, Claudia Andrade, moved from Santa Clara to Oakland and came across Lick while looking for a job to shorten her commute. Before Lick, Andrade taught biological and cultural anthropology and led the Gender Equity Center at De Anza College. She has been teaching for over ten years.
Andrade’s childhood experience in school systems showed her that “institutions weren’t equipped or didn’t want to address inequalities.” As a young female first-generation Mexican, “it was very difficult to be seen and for teachers to believe in me.”
Andrade wants to make sure her students don’t have a similar experience. She is serious about her job and wants to help. For Andrade, working with young students is a unique and rewarding experience. “Younger people have a way of seeing the world because . . . [they’re] part of a different generation and with that comes new ideas and cultural phenomenon.”
Prior to working in education, Andrade was a professional dancer, trained in modern, Latin, and Baile Folklorico. She also enjoys hiking and being out in nature. One of her favorite spots for outdoor activities is Mt. Diablo. Andrade watches and enjoys Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and the Great British Baking Show.
Katie-Rose Breslin – English Teacher
Katie-Rose Breslin, a new English teacher, grew up in San Francisco and attended The Urban School. She still remembers hanging out at Randall Park, riding around on Muni, and having bonfires at Ocean Beach. While at Urban, she was known for being shy, starring in musicals, and playing love songs in a band with her brother.
At Lick, she teaches sophomore English and leads a senior seminar, “Reimagining Shakespeare,” on the modern-day applications of Shakespeare’s plays.
Unlike other school environments she’s been in, Breslin notes that Lick “is a place where people seem to love going to school and being together.”
Ever since leading an English discussion in high school, Breslin knew she wanted to be an English teacher. Breslin finds that being with students is quite enjoyable; she does love humor, but also has a more serious side to her teaching; she wants students to feel like she’s “tough but really cares.”
Breslin is on the board of directors at a nonprofit family camp for LGBTQ families and works at an animal rescue in her free time. One of her longtime goals is to only read books by underrepresented women of color. Breslin’s favorite shows are Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks and Rec.
Faheem Carter – Gardener/Custodian
Faheem Carter, the new gardener and custodian, has lived in San Francisco all his life. Carter attended Lowell High School and remembers playing basketball and football with his friends, with whom he still keeps in contact. Carter loves San Francisco for its weather and food (especially an Indian and Asian fusion restaurant in the Bernal Heights area).
Since a young age, Carter has loved gardening. As a kid, he was tasked with tending to the yard and enjoyed learning how to grow his own vegetables. He is currently studying to be a botanist.
Before working at Lick, Carter did community gardening work and taught gardening to young elementary school students.
Though Carter is not a teacher, he wants students to learn from him that “we can all change and change our ideas.” He sees flexibility as an important human quality.
In his free time, Carter enjoys playing basketball and tennis, swimming and dancing hip hop. He also watches anime, horror movies and Forty-Niners’ games.
Whitney Clayton – School Security and Safety Monitor
Whitney Clayton, the newest school security and safety monitor, heard about Lick from one of her good friends who worked here. Clayton notes that at Lick, “everyone is very positive” and there is a strong community. Clayton is typically shy, but she already feels comfortable at Lick.
Clayton manages Lick’s front desk and oversees security from 3:30 to 11:00 p.m.
Outside Lick, she immerses herself in the arts, specifically photography and design. Clayton admires the art of writing and enjoys reading fantasies and biographies. This love of the arts formed Clayton’s dream of owning an art supply store.
Clayton encourages you to stop by the front desk and get to know her. She’s a self-proclaimed “chill and down to earth” person.
Owen Dempsey – LSC Coordinator
Before working at Lick, LWHS’s new LSC Coordinator Owen Dempsey taught in East Coast public middle and high schools. He worked with students who had learning differences.
Dempsey was born and raised in Northampton, Massachusetts. Although Dempsey loved Northampton’s vibrant college-town culture where “a lot of creative people were doing art and music and there were a lot of cute dogs,” he decided to “experience living somewhere else.”
When Dempsey saw a job opening at Lick for a specialist in neurodiversity, he jumped at the opportunity to combine his passion for working with students with his desire for a new experience. He has fallen in love with Lick’s “focus on creativity and encouraging [of] students to follow their passions” and “how eager folks are to engage in difficult conversations.”
Dempsey enjoys writing folk songs and “being out in nature, camping, hiking, and swimming.” He plays the didgeridoo and has a Pekingese dog, Ziggy. Dempsey is incredibly passionate about social justice work and used to work on campaigns for LGBT rights.
Naomi Fierro – Director of Student Inclusion
Director of Student Inclusion Naomi Fierro was raised in the Mission and Excelsior neighborhoods of San Francisco. She attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory. While there, she was on Student Council all four years, danced at all the sports games, and cheered on SI at the annual Bruce Mahoney. However, Fierro also remembers school as “really hard, socially.”
Fierro has always been “passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion in education.” For Fierro, finding the right place to explore this passion has been difficult. After college, she started off as a middle school teacher, then worked for the Youth Commission at City Hall. When Fierro saw the job opening at Lick for a Director of Student Inclusion, she felt that the “job was made for [her].”
At Lick, Fierro has noticed an “underlying desire for an alternative, for a different kind of private education.” The private school with a public purpose idea can be a cliche for students, but Fierro feels like many people at Lick want to make the motto a reality.
Fierro believes her role is to make every single student, no matter their experiences or what they look like, feel respected and welcome in all Lick spaces.
When she’s free, Fierro dances the Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian styles. On weekends, she attends shows like Pop Up Magazine in Oakland and immerses herself in storytelling. Fierro was this year’s runner up for the SF Carnaval Queen and she’s incredibly proud of and isn’t afraid to show off her heritage.
Yuka Hachiuma – Counselor
Lick-Wilmerding’s new counselor, Yuka Hachiuma, is a native of Kobe, Japan, but grew up in a suburb of Chicago. For college, she moved to New York. After ten years there, Hachiuma moved to San Francisco — drawn to the Bay Area because of its diversity, as well as its tasty food options.
Before working at Lick, Hachiuma was a program director at a community mental health agency. Throughout her training as a counselor, Hachiuma worked with youth. In her administrative role, she missed working directly with young people. She found “something really energizing about being in a school environment.”
Lick stood out to her for the values and mission it upheld. Hachiuma wants to be a part of fulfilling this mission. She sees her role as giving people a safe space to have conversations “whether it’s because they’re struggling with something or if they just want to chat.”
Hachiuma loves reading. One of her favorite genres to read is historical fiction; Hachiuma sees the genre as “an entry point for [her] to learn about what was going on in a certain time and place through the eyes of a particular protagonist.”
Hachiuma loves traveling to explore “different countries and cultures.”
Jeanette Moore – Chief Financial and Operations Officer
Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Lick’s CFO Jeanette Moore looks back fondly on her childhood — including the great orange juice, beach visits, and trips to Disney World. At age 14, Moore left home to attend an all-girls boarding school in Northern Virginia where she learned leadership skills as the soccer team captain and a leader of multiple student clubs. Her school experience fueled her passion for learning.
Ten years ago, after spending most of her career as an investment banker, Moore made the decision to work with schools. She enjoyed seeing how her work affected the day to day lives of students. Before Lick, Moore worked mostly with K-8 schools in San Francisco such as Burke’s and the San Francisco School. She knew about Lick and was curious to work in a high school. She especially liked “the mission of the school. It spoke to [her].”
Moore says she hopes students will drop by and get to know her and the staff in the Business Office, who work in the background, but play a role at Lick that “is pretty important to the school. The budget drives so much of all the decisions that are made.”
Some of Moore’s talents include playing (and winning) Ms. Pacman and typing numbers into Excel at an extremely high speed.
In her rare free time, Moore enjoys skiing, reading historical fiction, spending time with family, and swimming. She also enjoys binge-watching the news or shows like Jane the Virgin.
Erica Obando – Academic Scheduler and Registrar
Academic Scheduler and Registrar Erica Obando was born and raised in Marysville, a small city in Northern California. She attended high school there and remembers being busy as a student-athlete, playing basketball and volleyball. Obando originally came to San Francisco for college; she went to SF State on a volleyball scholarship.
Obando first heard about Lick-Wilmerding after attending a workshop here. She was “impressed with the kids,” who were respectful and polite. When Obando saw a job opening for an academic scheduler and registrar, she knew that Lick was the place for her.
This year, Obando hopes to form connections with faculty, staff, and students. She wants everyone to know that her door is always open, and she’s “available if they need anything.”
Obando thinks it’s a very special experience to be a part of someone’s life as they’re growing and developing and thinks it’s “great to get a young person’s perspective.”
Outside of work, Obando focuses on nurturing her two kids, aged five and seven. Her main goal in parenting is to raise adults who “find purpose … without having to compromise who they are.”
In her free time, Obando enjoys watching Grey’s Anatomy, barbequing, and baking her world-famous sweet potato pies.
Kenzo “Yanni” Velasquez – Center for Civic Engagement Associate
For Yanni Velasquez, who graduated from Lick in 2015, returning to LWHS “was a pretty smooth transition — it felt like coming home.”
As a Center for Civic Engagement Associate, Velasquez develops curriculum for student leaders, updates the Center’s blog, arranges conferences for students, and helps out with the Public Purpose Program.
While a student at Lick, Velasquez was “politically active. I was pretty vocal about racial justice.” This passion continues to influence Velasquez.
He aims to provide “opportunities and safe spaces where students are comfortable” to share their ideas. He wants to find students’ passions and use his resources to help them nurture and continue their personal journeys.
Before returning to Lick, Velasquez worked with various associations to connect students of color to tech companies, so students could feel “a sense of belonging when pursuing a career in STEM.”
In his free time, Velasquez often dances, a passion he discovered at Lick. He also enjoys doing impressions, including those of Patrick Starr and Scooby-Doo.
Corey Wolffs – Engineering and Fabrication Instructor
Lick-Wilmerding High School alum Corey Wolffs ‘06, the new engineering and fabrication instructor, felt it was “pretty natural” to return to Lick. He found out about the job opening from Andrew Kleindolph, the Technical Arts Department Chair, and thought it would be a great experience to teach at the place where he discovered his own passion.
In high school, learning in the shop classes was “so impactful” in influencing who Wolffs is today. Wolffs wants to have that same influence on students, not by making them perfect welders, but by teaching them how to design effectively and build with a purpose.
After college, Wolffs worked in maker spaces, innovation labs, and university design labs. He likes working with students because they always ask questions.
In his free time, Wolffs keeps busy, working on personal projects, producing music, exploring sound design, and playing his electric violin. He sometimes performs at weddings and cultural centers.
Wolffs has a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named after Audrey Hepburn. His greatest fears are spiders and wasps. One of his biggest dreams is to have one of his own works featured in a museum or design gallery.
Singwai Yip – Math Teacher
Malaysia native Singwai Yip, a Geometry and Precalculus teacher, moved to the United States nine years ago. He settled in New York, and even though it had great food, shopping malls, and restaurants, he wanted to try living in another city. Prior to coming to Lick, he had never been on the West Coast.
Since the year has begun, Yip has noticed the strong work ethic Lick students have. He relates to this, as he is a “very passionate learner.” As a math teacher, he says he learns from his students’ varying ways of looking at the same problem. Yip wants to teach his students that they each “have different lenses to look at the same thing.”
Previous to working at Lick, Yip taught math at a high school in New Hampshire with incredible economic diversity. At Lick, he sees and appreciates the increased diversity in terms of ethnicity and race.
Yip grew up in Malaysia, where he attended an all-boys high school. He played water polo as a national athlete and spent a lot of time traveling around the country with his team. Now, Yip focuses more on working out. He can deadlift over 400 pounds and leg press over 900 pounds.
He enjoys playing competitive video games like Overwatch and Dota 2 with his brother, who still lives on the East Coast. Yip also likes watching anime and Korean dramas.
