9 Faculty and Staff Members Depart LWHS

Joanna Bethencourt

After nine years, Joanna Bethencourt will be leaving LWHS and moving on to teach Spanish at The Bay School. Her creative and enthusiastic teaching style, as well as her contagious laugh and bubbly energy, will be dearly missed by the entire community. 

Bethencourt taught many levels of Spanish throughout her time at LWHS but was most famous for her Spanish 3 Honors class, known by many students as one of the most difficult — and most fun — language courses in the school. 

Bethencourt is universally beloved by her students. “The thing that stands out to me the most is the energy that she brings to the classroom,” said Ananya Sridhar ’21, who took Spanish 2 Accelerated with Bethencourt. “She always has a smile on her face and I think that energy’s super infectious… It makes the classroom atmosphere unforgettable.” Sophia Casey ’21 echoed the sentiment. Casey, who took Spanish 3 Honors with Bethencourt, said that as a Frosh in a room full of upperclassmen, “she made me feel right at home.” 

Bethencourt said that she would miss her students and colleagues when she leaves the community, adding that “Lick is a really special place.” However, she said, “I wish that student voices, particularly those of students of color, were heard more and that the promises given to them were kept. I find that disappointing.” 

Bethencourt’s students all appreciate the ways in which she supports them in the classroom. Whether it be through her “happy and cheerful” attitude or her creative lesson planning, Bethencourt gives her students a fun and safe environment to learn Spanish. 

One of students’ favorite things about Bethencourt’s teaching is the incorporation of her celebrity crush, Denzel Washington, into the material. Often, difficult grammar is practiced and assessed through writing letters to the famous actor. The cover page of Bethencourt’s final exam is typically a picture of Washington, as well. When asked about him, all Bethencourt said was, “The offer still stands, Denzel, if you are out there and you read this, I will run away with you!” 

“It was a fun way to bring a joke into learning really difficult things,” said Sridhar. “That’s a great example of the joy that she brought into teaching Spanish.”

-Anna Hochman

Ernie Chen

It seems almost impossible to imagine walking through the shops pit without hearing the lively Ernie Chen enthusiastically teaching or to find him in the main building animatedly talking about math with a student.

At the end of this year, Chen will depart from LWHS to move across the Atlantic and teach math in Rennes, France. 

Chen has taught Algebra 1, Algebra 2 Accelerated, Statistics and Applied Math for six years. Before LWHS, he worked at Head-Royce in Oakland, as well as School Year Abroad in both Italy and China. 

School Year Abroad is a program located in various parts of the world that immerses students within the culture of a new country. Students stay with a host family and take classes in the country’s primary language. In the middle of January, Chen was invited to work again for School Year Abroad, this time in France. “It was unexpected, but when an opportunity drops into your lap to live in Europe, you go,” Chen said. He will be teaching Algebra 2, Precalculus and Calculus to American sophomores, juniors and seniors studying abroad.

Chen does not speak French but as an Italian speaker, he isn’t too worried. “When in doubt, you pick the word in Italian and pretty much 70% of the time you’re going to get pretty close,” he joked. He will be joined by his husband who goes by the American name Eric (officially Jiacong Lu) and their eight-month-old son, Auggie.

Chen said he will miss LWHS’ progressive view on the world and the opportunities the school offers for teachers to learn along with their students.

Chen’s favorite tradition at LWHS was with his advising group which graduated in 2019. They took an advising photo — with each student standing in the same spot — every semester of high school. Everyone knew where to stand and even noticed on their own when one time two students switched places by accident. At the end of their four years, Chen made a collage for each advisee with the eight almost-identical photos. 

Chen is known by his students for grading their work almost immediately and recognized throughout the rest of LWHS for his lively persona and imaginative teaching powered by personal charisma. Chen empowers students as thinkers and initiators and likes to change the way his students think about math through experiential lessons. 

“Mr. Chen is super friendly and is always there for his students. He makes time for us and truly wants us to learn and understand the content,” said Natalie Heller ‘23. She noted Chen’s desire to teach the material and to give students a deeper understanding and confidence in the subject. Chen said he believes his biggest achievement at Lick was preparing Algebra 1 students with enough confidence for the LWHS mathematics experience. 

The relationships Chen builds with his students is his favorite part about being a math teacher. “I know my students well enough that I can make fun of certain kids. And I know just how to pick on them enough to make them feel special. That’s part of the love that I like to share with kids.”

Chen believes that he is “just one cog in the wheel in the history of LWHS. I came in, I did my work, I left. It got really comfy here, really nice. But cushy is not always great,” he said. “Life is about bold moves and it’s about doing things, and taking advantage of the fact that places are opening up. We’re just going to go, and figure out the next steps from there.”

-Naomi Taxay

Sarah Garcia

After teaching math for three years, Sarah Garcia will be moving on from the LWHS community. She will be remembered by students and teachers as a positive and supportive presence on campus, and of course, as an impactful and brilliant math teacher.

Tabitha Robinson-Scott teaches dance at LWHS and has worked closely with Garcia to choreograph dances as well as chaperone the Regional Dance Festival. Robinson-Scott saw the influence that Garcia had on students inside and outside the classroom. “I don’t think she realizes how much she has had an impact on all of us,” she said, “and the joy that she brought all of us, through the laughs and the silliness.” 

In addition to her upbeat, positive presence on campus, Garcia is also known for her hard work advocating for the needs of her students. Garcia “creates structures so that students can participate and have access to her material in an equitable manner,” said Yetta Allen, who works in the math department alongside Garcia. “She’s very mindful about cultivating safe spaces where students can bring their whole selves to school.”  

Past students of Garcia echoed this sentiment, characterizing her as a caring teacher who wanted to see her students succeed. Oscar Moss ’21 had Garcia for Algebra 2 and remembers that she was “always walking around, checking in with people, making sure your day was going well.” Jace Borkholder ’22 also commented on the interactive, personal classroom environment that Garcia cultivated, describing her Algebra 2 class as a “fun learning environment that just felt very inclusive and made me look forward to going to class.” All of the students interviewed wished to thank Garcia for all of her hard work and impact on the school community. “You’ve been there for me when a lot of other teachers weren’t always there for me,” said Jayvyn Morthel ’22, “both as an advisor and also as a math teacher, so I just appreciate you.” 

Garcia is starting an exciting new chapter of her life in Los Angeles.

-Bridget Martin

Cristal Ogletree

After ten years, Cristal Ogletree has decided to step down from her position as Director of Enrollment Management to move to Texas and be closer to her family.

At LWHS, Ogletree worked her way up through many positions in the admissions office. She started in an associate position, became Director of Admissions and then took on the much larger role of Director of Enrollment Management, which includes directing admissions and overseeing each student’s experience as a member of the Lick-Wilmerding community.  

After her first two years in the associate position, Ogletree left LWHS to travel and teach English at an elementary school in Bangkok, Thailand. There, she was able to explore cultures she had never interacted with before. Sadly, her time there was cut short in 2011 by some of the worst flash floods Thailand had ever seen. 

Ogletree went on to travel the world, including stops in India, New Zealand and Paris. She feels she learned a lot about herself, and said, “it made me a lot more comfortable with uncertainty in every way.” After two years of traveling and teaching, Ogletree returned to LWHS with new knowledge and perspective on the world.  

Growing up, Ogletree was part of a large family that instilled in her a respect and love for education which she still holds. Her brother and cousins were a group she could rely on and learn from as she got older. While some of her cousins were going to medical school or getting married after college, Ogletree opted for a different route. She always knew she wanted to do something in education. After finishing Pomona College with a major in both Sociology and Gender and Women’s Studies along with a master’s in education from the University of Illinois, Ogletree worked for the non-profit QuestBridge in Palo Alto. There, Ogletree got her first taste of admissions administration — by leading workshops on the college process and reviewing the QuestBridge college applications. 

Though she enjoyed reading about incredible students, Ogletree realized she wanted to be in a school setting where she could directly connect with them. A college friend and LWHS alum supplied her with ample stories about LWHS’ friendly and unique environment. He felt Ogletree and the school would be a great match. With her previous experience in admissions, Ogletree was hired by the admissions team at LWHS. 

Ogletree embraced and fell in love with the close-knit community at LWHS. In addition to working on the admissions team, she was a club advisor and women’s soccer coach — permitting her to connect and mentor students as she had hoped. But when Ogletree was promoted to the director of admissions role, she felt that she “lost touch with students along the way. I didn’t have the chance or the time to do some of these other things that made me so grateful to be a part of the community.”

Ogletree is looking forward to being closer to her family. She plans to take some time for herself over the summer and will then begin what is sure to be a quick job search, as any place would be lucky to have her. Ogletree will be missed greatly at LWHS.

-Maya Martinez-Krams

Suzanne Shimek

Dr. Suzanne Shimek, who has taught English at LWHS for 12 years, is leaving the school and moving to Santa Rosa at the end of this academic year. 

It’s a change that she’s been thinking about for some time. “I just want to slow down and think about the world and my life and what I want to do for my next steps,” said Shimek, who has been teaching English for a total of 26 years. 

Without the pressures of teaching, Shimek hopes to spend more time exploring the outdoors. “I want to buy a canoe and, if there’s enough water in California in the near future, I want to get good at that,” she said.

She’s also looking forward to having a dog and gardening, two things less easily done where she currently lives in Marin.

For her students, Shimek’s departure is a significant loss. “There’s so much genuine excitement” in her teaching, said Ananya Sridhar ’21, who is in Shimek’s American Poetry senior seminar. “You can tell she’s so familiar and knowledgeable with the material,” Sridhar added. “It really elevates the discussion and the way students are able to analyze texts.”

Shimek’s advisees, after three years with her, will adjust to a new advisor for their senior year. Shimek “put her own twist” on advising activities, said Ronan Furuta ’22, adding that Shimek “got to know me and helped me make decisions about what to do at Lick.”

Sarah Chess ’15 didn’t get to take any of Shimek’s classes when she was a LWHS student, but as her teaching assistant this year they’ve developed a close working relationship. “I’ve learned a lot from being her TA,” Chess said, “seeing how she conducts the classroom environment and how she sets the tone each day.”

One thing that has made Shimek’s classes special is her musical talent. She and her spouse, Dorit, who sings and plays guitar, have on a couple of occasions this year performed via Zoom for her students, with Shimek on the banjo. Shimek said she hopes to accompany Dorit, a musical therapist, on some of her jobs in the future. 

Though Shimek taught remotely until the last week of the school year, she’s continued to find joy in “the intellectual and creative and humor-based conversations” she’s had with her students and colleagues. And while there’s a lot she’ll miss about LWHS, the creativity of the curriculum and the emphasis on building things stand out to her the most. 

“It’s hard to find that in the world,” she said.

-Gabe Castro-Root

Martha Stoddard

After teaching music at LWHS for 30 years, Martha Stoddard will be leaving the community and retiring. 

Stoddard, who is the Performing Arts Department Chair and teaches Instrumental Music — classical and jazz — will be remembered fondly by students and colleagues for her enthusiastic conducting of the school’s orchestra and her passion for music. 

“You could tell that she really enjoyed teaching,” said Greg Kalman ’21, who took Stoddard’s Advanced Chamber Orchestra PPP class. She is “truly one of the most passionate women [I know].” She “was excited to perform and get us in tip-top shape.” 

Stoddard said that when she leaves LWHS, she will most miss seeing the transformation that students go through as they “liven up and experience music… To watch that, and have maybe a little influence on that, or certainly be a support to kids that want to do that, means a huge amount to me.” 

Stoddard reminisced on her favorite moment as a member of the LWHS community: a trip to perform at a Los Angeles festival that resulted in a beach day with the jazz band, orchestra and choir. “It was a beautiful day at the beach… and [the students] were all playing football and going for walks and it was just kids really having fun,” she said. 

She also cited a memory of Wynton Marsalis, a famous trumpet player, coming to campus. Stoddard was awed to be able “to share the stage and [her] band with” him because of LWHS’ resources and connections. 

When she isn’t conducting at LWHS, Stoddard spends her time helping out with the school’s tennis program. A self-described tennis fanatic, Stoddard picked up the sport six years ago when playing soccer and basketball became too taxing on her body. For the past few years, she has coached for LWHS at the JV level. 

For Stoddard, similar to teaching music, coaching tennis is “a really fun environment, and it’s satisfying to see how people grow.” Kalman, who was also a member of the tennis team that Stoddard coached, loved playing with her. “She let us have a good time, and coached us very professionally,” Kalman said. “She knew how to get our game up and be very sportsmanly.” 

Stoddard says that even in her retirement, she may come back to LWHS during the spring seasons to continue coaching the men’s JV team. 

There will sure be a lot of tennis for Stoddard as she steps away from teaching. “I think I already have three games a week set up for the rest of my life,” she joked. Other than athletics, Stoddard plans to spend a lot more time composing original music. 

“I’ve been writing music since I was a teenager,” she said. “When I was young, I was a guitar player and wrote songs — I would definitely have been in Mr. Asaro’s songwriting class. I wrote folk songs, protest songs and all that kind of stuff. And then in college I started writing instrumental music and choral music.” 

Now, Stoddard focuses on writing for the Oakland Civic Orchestra, which she has been conducting for 22 years. The orchestra is now finally getting back on its feet after the pandemic. Stoddard will be working on “the restructuring of the orchestras” as they find the new normal of music-playing. 

While she will have plenty of time to work on her own original compositions and conduct adult orchestras, Stoddard will still miss the LWHS community dearly. “It’s just a real gift to be a part of kids’ lives,” she said.

-Anna Hochman

Monica West

After eight years of teaching English at LWHS, the last five of which focused on teaching English 1 and creative writing electives, Monica West, following the release of her debut novel, Revival Season, had intended to leave LWHS. However, instead, she will return this fall as a “guest artist” to teach creative writing electives. 

West said her time at LWHS has been transformative for her as both a teacher and colleague. “It’s been really gratifying. I’ve gotten to meet amazing students that have been my privilege to teach. I’ve been able to work with an amazing faculty and amazing department team,” she said.

West learned a lot from her time at LWHS: “At the school, I came from before Lick, you were kind of on your own and you designed your own class there.” The collaborative team teaching structure of LWHS was incredibly rewarding for her.

Some memorable moments from West’s time at LWHS were the English Department’s lively lunches, “sitting in the office together and talking about anything from politics to a book to pop culture to anything. There are lots of really little moments that have reminded me of why I stayed and how special this place is.”

West has worked at LWHS two separate times, first from 2011 to 2015 and then from 2017 to 2021. Between these two four-year terms, West earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Iowa while continuing to work on her novel. Before moving from San Francisco to Iowa, she worked on the novel while also teaching full time — on weekends, summers, or whenever she got the chance. Upon returning to LWHS from Iowa, she worked part-time which allowed her more time to write.

Finally, after nine years, Revival Season will be published through Simon & Schuster on May 25. 

The inspiration for the novel came to West through an image. “I kept seeing this one picture in my brain of a van going down the highway. And I had to tell myself the story of what’s happening. I see pictures a lot, but when I see pictures repeatedly then I know there’s a story, there’s something there that I need to tap into,” West said. “From that moment forward, I had to think about who’s in the van, why does it matter, what’s the tension, the conflict, who was in this world.”

“For me, an issue I’ve always struggled with is how people remain devoted to systems that oppress them and one of the ways that happens is in religion,” West said. “It was interesting to put people on very different sides of a religious power structure in a space for long periods of time.” To give life to the concept, West “made this really powerful preacher, faith-based healer and his daughter, who has no power, and put them in the same van and made them live together in a really confined space for a while.”

Currently, West is hard at work with media marketing in preparation for the launch: writing articles, essays, conducting interviews and recording for podcasts. May 25th will also be the first night of her virtual book tour at Great Good Books in Oakland. 

“The thing that excites me is also terrifying,” West said, reflecting on the launch of the book being just days away. “The book has been mine forever and now the book will be other people’s soon. I’m really excited to connect with people who’ve read it and have thoughts about and ideas about it and who are interested in what I’m thinking about it. Also, that’s scary because that could also mean someone can hate it.” West is also excited to be in conversation with those who have read the book, from her writer friends to book clubs. And despite some of the anxieties that come when the personal becomes very public, West is “trying to be really present and be mindful about not taking such a big thing for granted.”

Following the launch, life for West won’t look much different. She will continue to teach two graduate classes at the University of San Francisco during the night and dedicate most days to writing and working on her next book. “I just want to keep writing books as long as ideas come to me. I want to keep writing and making worlds and that’s what I love to do.”

“I will always be grateful for the time I spent at Lick, and I have a place in my heart for the students I taught and my teacher friends and it’s been such a wonderful experience to have worked here,” said West.

West was adored by faculty and students alike. Phoebe Russell ’22 — who took two of West’s creative writing courses — said, “Ms. West was such a bright and positive spirit in the classroom and fostered a creative learning environment. She was always so understanding, friendly, and formed such genuine connections with her students.” 

Sophie Shoemaker ’22, a student in West’s English 1 class, built on that point: “There are so many teachers who don’t totally get how to connect with students while simultaneously having their complete respect. I honestly don’t know how she does it, but I’ve always felt like Ms. West has effortlessly been able to do both, and it makes her class so special.”

LWHS English Teacher Jennifer Selvin described her experience working with West: “It’s so hard to narrow down what I will miss about Monica at school… the loving structure she provided for her students, English 9 planning meetings that managed to be both hilarious and deeply thoughtful, the way she models care for both language and for people, her incisive comments at department meetings, her honesty and compassion; her talent as a teacher and a writer.” Selvin added, “But mostly, selfishly, I will miss sitting next to her as I have for many years, sharing ideas, slides, candy, book talks, and catching each other up on the news from our days.”

-Charlotte Kane

Min Yoo

After seven years of working in the admissions department, Associate Director of Admissions Min Yoo will be leaving LWHS at the end of the year. Yoo managed all Admission’s related outreach programs, cultivated relationships with middle school counselors and partner organizations and oversaw the Lick-Wilmerding Admissions Intern (LWAI) and Tiger Ambassador program. 

Yoo will be missed for his outstanding work as an admissions director, bringing in LWHS’ outstanding student body, and for his kindness, generosity and humor.

Yoo (called Mr. Min by students) decided to depart LWHS earlier this year but is still undecided on where he will go next. “I think it’s an exciting opportunity to go on a new adventure or try something new,” he said. 

Yoo is appreciated by all. “The environment that he created in the admissions office was so friendly and welcoming,” said LWAI Raya Shveyd ’22.

Aside from his famous “tea times” with students, one of Yoo’s favorite memories was when he organized his first JV Tennis Invitational, where inexperienced and experienced tennis players participated in a friendly tennis tournament. “I remember the first time I did it, I had, like, 64 students come out and another 50 people in the stands; it was this random tennis tournament that I just wanted to try,” Yoo said. The tennis invitational became an LWHS tradition, happening every year since Yoo started working at Lick. Yoo said that all of his favorite memories from LWHS have to do with the students. 

Yoo learned many things that he felt he would take with him into the future, one of them being the importance of loving what you do. Before LWHS, “I had so many experiences where working was so hard and not this joyful thing. But I remember my first few years at Lick I hated weekends because I couldn’t wait to come back to work.” Yoo attributes a lot of that love of his job to the students who he brought into the school and then watched grow up. “Working with Min always meant getting to experience firsthand his passion for his job and his desire to always be improving what admissions does,” said LWAI Kyler Miyashita ’21. 

“We always talk about the Lick community — it’s not the building… it’s the kinds of people that come here and the same for the people that work here,” said Yoo. 

“Whether you wanted some afternoon tea, a person to talk to about video games or some dry humor to cheer you up on a hard day, Mr. Min would always be there,” said Miyashita.

-Margaret Murphy-Weise

Nikkia Young

After five years as Director of Counseling, Dr. Nikkia Young is leaving LWHS to become the upper school counselor at Head-Royce School in Oakland. Head-Royce is near Young’s home, which she believes will be beneficial for both her and her family. She is also excited for this change because she will be taking over the position of a dear friend who she has known for a decade and who supported her transition to school counseling.

As the Director of Counseling at LWHS, Young was tasked with supporting students and talking through their issues. More importantly, she felt responsible for inciting systemic change at LWHS — in particular, destigmatizing the topic of mental health. Though biased due to her position as a counselor, Young claims to have “felt some real shifts.”

Young reflects on her time at LWHS with relish and pride. She is especially proud of how she was able to assist a variety of students and cater to their differing needs. Young says she feels most satisfied when students finish counseling “and they feel grounded, proud of themselves and empowered and prepared to handle their business.” She added, “I feel really, really proud of being able to support [students] towards their own independence.”

Young is also pleased with her creation of Appetizer, a program for adults at LWHS. She hosts 30-minute weekly meetings where FacStaff are encouraged to, first and foremost, “connect with one another” but also “become aware of their feelings, practice listening and learn from one another.” 

Despite a plethora of accomplishments, Young’s favorite part about working at LWHS was “supporting students in their launch towards adulthood and the amazing, brilliant people” she worked with. When asked what she would change about her experience at LWHS, the only thing Young could think of was the commute. 

Outside of work, Young finds pleasure in listening to audio books, doing Cuban salsa and swimming in the bay, which is a new hobby she picked up during the pandemic.

-Ryan Chin

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