Our Team

Mrs. Andersen grew up in a large Italian family. Each Sunday we would get together at my Grandparents house for dinner. All the cousins would spend the afternoon together and we would eat traditional Italian courses for hours. I grew up with a love for cooking and would love to extend that passion with students. What is so exciting about the Imposter Cooking class is we are making familiar foods in a different way, which brings some mystery to the class. And the passion extends to the campers going home and being able to cook for their family.

Ms. Anderson has her Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology as well as her single-subject teaching credential in Physical Education and Health from California State University East Bay, she has taught grades preschool through high school in California, Idaho, and most recently, Seattle, Washington.

Meghan was drawn to teaching because she realized the importance of mentorship in the lives of young people. She enjoys Physical Education because she loves sports, being active, and knows PE is a great way to teach not only skills, but also teamwork and sportsmanship. She also enjoys teaching games and activities that are not your "typical" games covered in PE class and can't wait for this year's summer camp!

Ms. Chang has been in the education field for more than 16 years with experience teaching K-8, summer camp courses, and building after school programs. She enjoys creating memorable experiences that encourage kids to explore learning in innovative ways. Ms. Chang is also the parent of two boys at the school and is looking forward to meeting new campers this summer!

Amy DeSantis is a wife, a mother of two boys, and an educator of 16 years. Her roles in education have included being a teacher leader, a classroom teacher, and a club teacher. Outside of school, she enjoys cooking, watching her children play sports, reading, spending time with family and friends and trying to get a full night's sleep. Amy is excited to share her passion of cooking with children through memorable cooking challenges this summer.

Mike Fishback has taught humanities, theater, and journalism for over two decades. At ACDS, he teaches social studies along with electives exploring history-altering assassinations, the art of the TV sitcom, and U.S. elections; he also publishes the student-written advice column Ask The Mask. Mike is the parent of two elementary students at the school. This will be his sixth summer teaching camp.

Kaitlyn Johnson loves all science. On the weekends, she enjoys going to the Oakland Zoo or Happy Hollow with her two girls. She has been the Middle School Science teacher at ACDS for the last 12 years and has a B.A. in Biology. She is looking forward to bringing her love of science to summer camp!

Hello! My name is Sarai and I have been working as a substitute teacher at ACDS for about 3 months and have worked in 2 other schools prior to this within the last 3 years. I have been playing the piano for about 15 years and I love to play sports! Volleyball, soccer, and dodge ball are some of my favorite sports to play. I also enjoy camping with my family and friends and love to be in nature!

Mr. Leonard has been at Almaden Country Day School since 2016, and he has enjoyed watching generations of nervous elementary students grow into confident, charismatic performers. A member of Actors Equity Association, Mr. Leonard has performed nationwide and toured internationally with The Sound of Music (Rolf). He has appeared throughout the Bay Area at American Musical Theatre San Jose, American Conservatory Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Theatreworks, and more. He loves working with the brave, unique energies here at ACDS, as well spending countless hours wrapped around the finger - er, paw - of his dog, Willa.

Alyvia McIntyre graduated from ACDS in 2017 and is currently attending college at Husson University (NCAA Div 3) where she is on the volleyball team and now the starting setter. She has a long list of accomplishments already in her volleyball career including: 

• 2021 NAC Conference Tournament appearance
• All-North Atlantic Conference Selection
• Selected as Husson Female Athlete of the Week
• Husson women's volleyball record for single game assists
• 6 year Club Player
• 2-Time All-League Honoree in HS
• Former ACDS Player & Coach

She looks forward to teaching volleyball to novices and expert students alike this summer!

Athletics Director Derek McIntyre (known as Coach Mac on campus) knew from the time he was 13 that he wanted to coach and work with kids. "I loved watching the progression and seeing the improvement kids were able to make. I was fortunate to have had a number of great mentors that made me want to do the same for others."

He chose ACDS because when he visited ACDS, he realized what a wonderful community it was and it reminded him of his childhood school. "We also felt that this would be a great place for our children to continue their education."

Fun fact: His family lived in Egypt for two years. "We vacationed on the Red Sea, took a cruise down the Nile and saw the Great Pyramids every day. We made a number of wonderful friends while there and have memories that will last us forever."we

Ms. Murison grew up in a large family, in which the love of arts & crafts, reading, the outdoors, and sports were fostered. With over 25 years of experience as an educator, she brings her love of teaching to inspire, engage, and challenge students. Through activities, students will develop higher level problem solving, critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication skills.

This is Kelly’s second year teaching at ACDS Summer Camp. She’s a rising senior at Presentation High School and is a part of numerous leadership roles at her school. Throughout her life, she has gained in-depth knowledge about all things teaching from her mom who is the Head of Elementary at ACDS. She has 300+ volunteer hours working with elementary-aged children. She is passionate about environmental and animal awareness. In her free time, she loves being creative with art projects and enjoys spending time in the outdoors.

Anupama Natarajan has been a part-time teacher at Almaden Country Day School for the last four years, teaching Middle School Computer Science and Coding electives and running the after-school “Girls Who Code“ club. Prior to that, she worked for 13 years in several technology companies such as HCL-Cisco, Texas Instruments, Bytemobile and Citrix Systems, as a Network Quality Engineer and as an Automation and Quality Engineering Lead. In her technology roles, she has designed and programmed automated test systems, ensured quality releases of several software products, provided customer support, hired and mentored junior engineers and built out quality engineering teams. She has an undergraduate degree in Computer Sciences and she tries to keep up with useful innovations and programming languages. What she has enjoyed most about teaching CS electives at ACDS is the opportunity to bring computing thinking and fundamental coding vocabulary to young minds, helping to make the process of learning to code fun and less formidable, and witnessing students’ creativity and their aha moments. In her spare time, she likes to sing, dance, practice Yoga, organize, get out in nature and spend time with her family and friends.  Come join her in her summer camp and you will explore many Computer science concepts together and Program in Python! 

Miss Papini owned and operated a popular summer camp program and location in Walnut Creek for six years. Her formula for memorable fun and learning is a blend of engineering and design with science and technology. “My favorite part of camp is adding surprise activities and silliness to each day!”

Ms. Rizvi loves languages, world culture, food and traveling. She completed a Master's degree in second language acquisition and enjoys combining her academic knowledge of French with teaching language fluency. Ms. Rizvi is always seeking out new experiences; be it traveling to exotic places, rock climbing or trying a new dish. She applies this similar sense of adventure and novelty to her summer camps to make it interesting for students to engage with the French language. Her hope is to instill a sense of wonder and curiosity about the French language and culture so students continue their language acquisition journey long after the camp is over.

As someone who has always loved fables, fairy, and folk tales, Ms. Schapelhouman could not be more excited to embark on the Enchanted Stories adventure this summer. She has been performing for over fifteen years, over the course of which she has truly come to appreciate the power of the make-believe. Reading, crafting, acting, and cooking are some of her favorite hobbies, which she is eager to share with students this summer. Ms. Schapelhouman has had the pleasure of teaching at multiple performing arts summer camps over the years, including one at ACDS. Encouraging students to unleash their creativity is always her objective, and she can’t think of a better way to do so than through the art of storytelling.

Wenbo is originally from Northeastern China and came to the US to further her education. Born into a family of teachers, Wenbo started her learning path to being a teacher early. She was inspired by several family members' teaching stories as well as her favorite 3rd grade math teacher. She strived to bring the same passion to her own classroom. Wenbo earned both a Bachelor and Master degree in Bilingual Education. After graduation, she started teaching Chinese language and culture classes in three different states and worked for more than 12 years in both private and public schools. She believes that teachers are the messengers and drivers of the curriculum, and should be able to lead students to reach their potentials. Before moving to the Bay area, she worked as the Principal of Santa Barbara Chinese School.

Lisa has been teaching for 25+ years, 15 of which have been at ACDS. Math is her favorite subject to teach! She has a B.A. in Child Development and a California Teaching Credential. She is currently working on her Master's in Curriculum and Instruction. She's a mother to three and a grandmother to five!

Weronika Zaluska has been teaching Visual Arts at ACDS for five years. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics. She has also studied Early Childhood Education and Reggio Emilia Approach at UCLA. Ms. Zaluska's art curriculum is student-driven, and emphasizes exploration, as well as collaboration. In her free time Ms. Zaluska creates sculptures in a variety of materials, including: ceramics, paper and fabric. Her work is part of museum collections in New York and New Mexico.