● After-School
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Our after-school program boasts a dedicated team of teachers, including one expert in Writing & Public Speaking, two passionate STEM instructors, and one specialized GO class teacher. Together, they provide high-quality education and inspire students to excel in their respective fields.
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Mr. Michael
Writing & Public Speaking Michael Shannon Friedman graduated from George Washington High School and from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where he majored in English and Philosophy. He earned a Masters Degree in Modern American Literature as well as winning the Cornelison Graduate Essay Prize and the Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence. In the late 1990's he returned to Charleston, West Virginia, where he taught Composition and Humanities at The University of Charleston, West Virginia Community and Technical College, and West Virginia University-Parkersburg. He was also a frequent guest columnist for the Charleston Gazette and The Sunday Gazette-Mail, writing about music and literature as well as covering the nationally syndicated Mountain Stage radio program; his music and poetry criticism was also published in national periodicals such as No Depression and Appalachian Heritage. He worked as a Poetry Consultant for The Kanawha County Library, creating the "Poetry in the Branches" program, which brought an awareness of poetry to schoolchildren throughout the Kanawha Valley. In 2001, he moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and from 2001 to 2021 he taught at Cardinal Gibbons High School, focusing on AP Language and Composition and helping students plan and complete their college essays. He was awarded the Susan Scott Daly Excellence in Teaching Award in 2014. He also founded and moderated the Coffeehouse Club, an open-mic performance opportunity for students. He occasionally writes his own songs, and released an album, "The Cool of The Coming Dark" for the Perdition Records label in St. Louis, and his compositions have been frequently recorded by St. Louis bands Rough Shop and The Wilhelms. Mr. Wei
STEM Class Teacher Wei has been working at Cisco since 2015. In the early stages of his career at Cisco, he volunteered to teach an Intro to Python Programming course for young cadets at the CivilAir Patrol. He grew up in NYC and earned his Bachelor of Science from Duke University, majoring in Computer Science. Mrs. Chelsea
STEM Class Teacher Chelsea grew up in China and moved to the US for education. She graduated from Duke University with a Master of Science in Computer Engineering. With three years of industry experience as a software engineer at NetApp and an internship as a software automation engineer at Sunbird Software. Mr. Tian
GO Class Teacher Mr. Tian is an experienced Chinese amateur 5-dan player. He can interact patiently with children and teach the basic rules and strategies of Go in a simple and understandable way. Go training helps children develop their logical thinking, spatial awareness, and problem-solving skills, which will greatly benefit them in school and whole life. |
