Teachers

Ms. Tong is the 9^th grade English Teacher and will be in her first year at Making Waves Academy. She grew up in southern California, but when she attended the University of California, Berkeley for college she loved living in the bay area. 

Mr. Ryan is the 10^th grade Biology Teacher and in his first year at Making Waves Academy.  He is a Bay Area native, but went east for college and received his Bachelor of Arts at Boston University.  However, four years away from the Bay Area was too much, and he returned to het his Master’s degree and teaching credentials at the University of California, Berkeley.  

Mr. Persina is the Ninth Grade English Teacher at Making Waves Academy.  He grew up in Washington DC and graduated from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 2003 with a BA in Economics.  After working for three years in New York City for Sony Music as a Music Royalties Consultant, Mr. Persina pursued his love of poetry at UC Davis for a Masters of Arts in Poetry, which has been his life-long passion.

With over ten years of experience in education, Ms. Medina joined the staff of Making Waves Academy in August 2012. She has over six years of experience in elementary education, working with students in under-resourced schools to build literacy skills through tutoring initiatives in Alabama and the Bay Area, most recently serving as the Richmond Training Coordinator for Bring Me a Book. 

Mr. Malixi is the 10th Grade United States History teacher for Making Waves Academy Upper School. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Mr. Malixi grew up in Union City, CA and graduated from James Logan High School. Afterwards he attended the University of California, Berkeley where he earned two Bachelors of Arts in Sociology and Asian American Studies. 

Ms. Lokken earned her B.A. in English from Emerson College and a J.D. from University of St. Thomas School of Law. While in law school, she became interested in immigration issues and taught several types of law to adult immigrants through the Minnesota Justice Foundation, including constitutional, employment, immigration, consumer, and criminal law to help them navigate through challenging and critical points in their lives. 

Mr. Lau’s story of wanting to teach art begins in high school when he had a wonderful art teacher who inspired him to be creative, imaginative, and risk-taking.  He also thirsted to continue his art education. Unfortunately, the next art teacher was negative and harsh to his growing interest, and making art was abandoned for years after that class.  

Mr. Hazel, Math teacher and Director of Athletics for the Upper School, attended the University of California at Berkeley and earned an AB in Political Science in 1983.  After working in the Recreational Sports Department at Cal for a few years he earned his clear teaching credential in Math and Social Sciences from Cal State San Francisco and began teaching at Salesian High School in Richmond.

Ms. Gill is a Mathematics Teacher at Making Waves Academy. She grew up in India and graduated with double major Physics and Math in 2000. She then decided to go for higher education and got a Masters Degree in Physics in 2002.  

Janet Ramírez is an Upper School Spanish Teacher. She attended the University of California, Davis where she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and minored in Spanish language. While studying there, Ms. Ramírez became interested in teaching Spanish. Upon graduation she entered the teaching credential program at California State University, Sacramento. As a native speaker of Spanish she utilizes this perspective to improve the Spanish of native speakers in potential areas of improvement.