Meet our Team.
Zantia Crier
(they/them/theirs)
Zantia works as the Youth Engagement Coordinator (YEC) at Neighborhood House High Point for STUDIO. They are developing youth programming focused on social and emotional learning (SEL), youth governance, and leadership. They have recently moved back to the Pacific Northwest after working as a public school educator all the way down in Houston, Texas for the past 4 years. A little about them is that they love to sing, game on their Nintendo Switch and explore the PNW for amazing viewpoints.
Alumni and Past Members
Jiyoung Lee
Jiyoung serves as the liaison between STUDIO, and the University of Washington College of Education. She joined STUDIO in 2016 and has been working with High Point youth in designing curriculum and supporting undergraduate mentors. As a former science teacher turned graduate student, Jiyoung loves discovering and understanding STEM in our everyday lives. She has been working on research that hopes to understand the caring nature of STEM through online cooking activities with youth.
Felisha Keaton
(she/her/hers)
Felisha works at Neighborhood House as a Youth Engagement Specialist at Studio engaging with the youth and helping them explore many things like cooking, gardening and coding. She lives in this community, and loves it dearly. A fun fact about Felisha is that she loves to cook! At STUDIO, we also provide space for youth to do homework, or come hang out. Please come join us if you have youth in Middle School or High School.
Derek CHEN
Derek was an AmeriCorps member with STUDIO serving at Neighborhood House's High Point Center from 2018-2019. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology. He is interested in bringing STEM education to the community through intentional programming and relationship building.
KARI NASU
Kari graduated from the University of Washington studying Informatics. From 2017-2018, as an undergraduate Lead Mentor, she worked closely with the STUDIO staff and graduate students to ensure that youth and mentors are supported. She also supported the graduate students through documentation for research.
SUSIE NAKAMURA
Susie is a master's student in the Learning Sciences and Human Development program in the College of Education at the University of Washington. She conducted research on STUDIO, looking specifically at the mentor-mentee relationship building process.
KIMIA IMANI
Kimia is a senior at the University of Washington, earning a double degree in Biochemistry and Psychology. She was a STUDIO mentor since her freshman year and was one of the undergraduate lead mentors. She collaborated with Neighborhood Staff, as well as the graduate students in the research team in developing curriculum and documenting the youth's progress.
Everet Wang
Everet was an AmeriCorps volunteer from 2017-18 with STUDIO serving at Neighborhood House's High Point Center. He graduated with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Washington, and was also a UW mentor to the STUDIO program prior to joining AmeriCorps.
Chris Batalon
Chris is our STEM Coordinator and manages the STUDIO program at High Point. He has worked at Neighborhood House since 2014 and continues to find new ways to teach culturally responsive curriculum to youth. A graduate from the University of Washington, Chris also loves to audio record and engineer music with youth.
Linh Huynh
Linh is our STEM program assistant and previously our ECO intern from the University of Washington. She is going back to obtain her Mater’s in Social Work to pursue counseling to help others within her own community. Within STUDIO, she wants to help in providing resources for the youth, whether that be access to STEM resources or socioemotional learning, by creating and building relationships to help guide them to success.
Mohamed Ali
Mohamed Ali is a AmeriCorps member with STUDIO serving at Neighborhood House High Point Center. He is currently a student at Bellevue College and plans to transfer to the University of Washington to pursue a degree in International Business and Marketing. He joined AmeriCorps because he wanted to help build a community that understands the importance of STEM and to allow opportunities to those who might not have access otherwise.
