New Owls for the 2023-24 School Year

Welcome to the Overlake transportation team, Mo! Mo has been a school bus driver for the past four years in Issaquah and Minnesota. As a man of many talents, he has also owned and operated MoCasa Trading Co in Minneapolis, Al-Shahrani Construction & Trading Co. in Doha, Qatar, and Casablanca Coffee & Tea Co. in Blaine, MN. He is an avid coffee connoisseur and has even created several blends of coffee during his time as a coffee shop owner. We are so happy to have him join the transportation team.

Lisa Arnold is joining Overlake after spending 12 years teaching at various schools in Oregon before moving to Washington this summer. She has a passion for inspiring students to share their voices through writing. In the past she has worked as a Middle School Language Arts teacher and Writing Specialist where she provided one on one support for students. Lisa will be here for the first semester while Nicole Balin is on maternity leave.

Jessica is taking her skills to a new role this year on the admissions team. For the past year she has been working as the School Coordinator. Before coming to Overlake, she accumulated extensive admissions experience having served on the admissions team at Westside School in Seattle, Marymount School in LA, and several colleges. Jessica will also be taking the lead on coordinating the reaccreditation process for the school. Thanks for your great efforts, Jessica!

The business office is happy to introduce Kayleigh Harper in a brand new role at Overlake, HR Coordinator. Kayleigh grew up on Whidbey Island and joins the Overlake community having recently worked as an HR Manager at a staffing firm. She was also a collegiate level volleyball player. Welcome, Kayleigh!  

A campus regular joins Overlake full time this year. Chris Hayes has been the go to sub for the past year at Overlake and will now get to coordinate those very same classroom subs as the new School Coordinator. He is also already plugged in as the assistant Cross Country coach. Before coming to Overlake and the PNW he was the Athletic Director and PE teacher at a school in DC and the Associate Athletic Director at a school in New York. He also proudly played Wide Receiver at The University of Miami.

Please put your hands together for one of our new bus drivers, Rick! Rick is a community focused driver who loves working with students. He has been the announcer at Juanita High School sporting events for 13 years and has even announced for UFC matches! He loves being involved in the community and cheering on students. In his working life, he has been a loyal Kroger employee and is proud of his perfect attendance record, never having used a sick day.  

The 6th grade team is pleased to welcome Dallas to the classroom. With 13 years of teaching experience, Dallas brings her whole-student approach and prioritizes making sure each student feels supported at their individual skill level. She has been teaching math at Holy Names Academy for six years and has already been plugging into the Overlake community this summer by getting involved in the Summer Program. She also grew up riding horses, so ask her about that when you see her in the halls. Dallas will be joining us for the year while Becca Flora takes a sabbatical leave.    

Joyce joins the Overlake Food Services team this year most recently having worked at the Redmond Safeway. She loves to volunteer in her spare time and has a son getting ready to go to college. Welcome to the crew, Joyce.

If you’ve been at Overlake for any length of time, you’ve probably met Jasmine Park, our Interim Director of Admission and Financial Aid. Jasmine spent four years working in the Overlake admission office as an associate before heading to Seattle to work as Director of Admission at Villa Academy. Jasmine has also worked as an Associate Director of Admission at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, and also with the University of Washington's Office of Admissions and Bellevue College's International Student Programs. Jasmine brings years of experience and a warm enthusiasm to her role with prospective families. Her generous spirit shows in every interaction she has with new and current families, and she has already been working in this role all summer long getting ready for a great admission season. Congratulations, Jasmine!

All the way from San Diego, California, please welcome Karen Parker to Overlake. She bring more than 15 years of experience teaching Social Studies in high school as well as taking the role of Social Studies Department Chair at the Francis Parker School in San Diego. She believes the goal of Social Studies is to promote higher level thinking that invites students into doing the work on Social Studies rather than just learning it. She in continually seeking to learn from her peers to promote an anti-bias and anti-racist framework in her teaching. She loves earl grey tea which will pair well with the grey winters of the PNW. Welcome Karen!

Vai rejoined the Overlake community towards the end of last year. She previously had a child at Overlake and is now a new member in the business office where she has been a great addition to the team. She has been working as a Controller for the last few years but prior to that has worked as the Head of Finance and Finance Director for several organizations. She also joins the small club of people who live close enough to Overlake to walk to work!

The MS math team is excited to have Usha Raman join the team this year. Usha began her career in India pursuing engineering before moving to the United States. Over the last several years she has taught and tutored at the college level. Over time she started teaching math on a volunteer basis to high schoolers which helped launch her love of teaching younger children. Eventually she pursued her Masters in teaching and turned her career to teaching kids after watching her children go through school. She loves to cook and will share delicious recipes if you ask.  

Kacie is joining the Overlake community this year having come from Lake Washington and having taught Language Arts and Social Studies. She played collegiate volleyball and is a huge volleyball fan. Welcome to Overlake, Kacie! 

Finya is an alum who is coming home to roost at Overlake for a year in the new role of Justice and Belonging Fellow. We are excited to have her input and skills in the DEI department this year. Following her graduation from Gettysburg College in 2020, she worked as an administrative assistant and then later a marketing specialist at a global healthcare company. She also participated in several justice and equity related opportunities, including traveling to various cities (through her college) to speak with policy makers regarding social justice and its impact on today's education. Welcome back to Overlake, Finya!

Welcome to Overlake, Briana! All the way from Oklahoma, Briana has taught Latin and Greek for 20 years. But her love of languages doesn’t just stop at Latin. She is active in the world language community and in addition to Greek she has studied Akkadian and Biblical Hebrew, modeling a lifelong pursuit of learning to her students. In her spare time she loves to read and also loves dogs. She even runs an instagram account highlighting dogs.    

Overlake’s newest Instructional Coach is Clarissa Toupin. She is excited to join the team bringing 15 years of teaching and instructional coaching. Most recently she has taught Science at Open Window School and served as the Head of Learning and Instruction at Willows Preparatory School. Over the last few years, Clarissa has adapted her work with teachers who adapted during the pandemic. She recognizes that this work is primarily done “in the field” and approaches her work as a partnership with teachers. She is eager to join Overlake and be a part of the next phase of Overlake’s strategic plan as the school grows. She also loves the outdoors which is perfect for this new owl.