Ying He

Accounting Clerk

Before joining Overlake, Ying worked for a small tech company for four years. What she loves about Overlake is the people and the welcoming and supportive community. In her free time, she enjoys trying new restaurants, cooking, and making art crafts, from DIY home decor to painting. As a swim mom, you might see her busy volunteering at swim meets over the weekends.

Haruka Kuga SCHOOL COUNSELOR

Welcome Haruka Kuga to the amazing Student Support team! She joined Susan Essex’s team as a school counselor just days after moving across the country. Kuga had been serving as a school counselor at Hunter High School in New York where she counseled over 215 middle school students and families. She led individual, group, and classroom sessions geared towards academic and socio-emotional areas of development. Kuga also has experience working in the college counseling department where she scheduled college visits, facilitated counseling workshops and helped launch a wellness initiative.

Delano Lopez

Us Social Studies And English Teacher

Please welcome Delano Lopez to the Overlake community. He has taught many subjects including Social Studies, English, and Language Arts and recently received his PhD in American History including work in Latin American and Native American history. He has taught at the high school and college levels but is excited to return to high school where his passion truly lies. One of Lopez’s favorite parts of teaching high schoolers is their sense of curiosity, empathy, and joy in learning.

Drew McGilvray TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SPECIALIST

Drew McGilvray moved north up the coast to join Overlake from most recently Southern California, where he studied computer science at California State University Northridge. A native of California, McGilvray has run the L.A. marathon six times. When not helping with everyone’s technology needs on campus, he is learning the Norwegian language.

Jerone Mitchell COMPUTER SCIENCE FACULTY

Jerone Mitchell comes to Overlake from the great state of Texas where he has spent the last decade teaching computer science and working to develop the AP Computer Science testing material. He also brings an interest in bringing diversity and inclusion work into the classroom. When he was teaching at the Episcopal School of Dallas he also served as the Diversity Coordinator and a mentor of the Black Student Union.

Mike Mullen BUS DRIVER

Mike is a new bus driver on the Transportation team and has been in and around independent schools for many years. He drives mostly sports routes and in his spare time, works for a solar company.

Tracy Prellwitz BUS DRIVER

Welcome to the Transportation team Tracy! She has been driving for Monroe schools and in her spare time loves tennis, pickleball, and camping.

McKenna Quick DEVELOPMENT AND SPECIAL EVENTS COORDINATOR

McKenna joined Overlake in October of 2021 jumping right into the school year already in motion. That hasn’t stopped her from being an integral member of the Development team this year. Her favorite memory from her first few months at Overlake was transforming the Dean Palmer Fieldhouse into the 2022 Owls Night Out venue – time to get excited about Owls Night Out 2023! She is originally from Montana and is a proud WSU grad (Go Cougs!). Next time you see her, congratulate her on a great first year at Overlake!

Ben Ramage

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES

Ben Ramage joined Overlake’s Facilities team after most recently working as a facilities manager in Seattle for Grand Central Bakery. Ramage brings his decades worth of experience working in warehouse and food manufacturing environments to the team at Overlake.

Elena Sellers

Front Office Manager

Elena Sellers joined Overlake in October of 2021, jumping into a school year already underway. As a neighbor to the school, her commute rivals only that of Head Owl Matt Horvat with a 6-minute walking commute. Sellers brings an enthusiasm and warm joy to the front office and a desire to help everyone find what they are looking for. If you’ve been in the front office this past year you know what a pleasure it is to talk to her.

Strickland BUS DRIVER

Samantha is joining the Transportation team. She previously had been driving for Federal Way and Auburn schools.

Rachel Vale US MATH TEACHER/MATH DEPARTMENT CHAIR

Kristina Rey

ARTS FACULTY

A round of applause for Kristina Rey, Overlake’s newest Arts faculty. Holding her MA in Music Education from NYU, she has led musicals, taught music theory, and conducted choirs of all ages. She even spent a few years as a Performing Arts Director at The Disneyland Resort. Recently, she was a presenter at the Creative Arts Conference where she spoke on Music Education in an Innovating World: Tech Strategies for Young Learners.

Marcus Ricci

VISUAL CONTENT CREATOR

Marcus Ricci joined Overlake in December 2021 and has been helping capture the excitement on campus since then. He spends most of his time working with our co-curricular programs after school. You might find him at a baseball game or robotics competition on any given day. Ricci is a content creator who has done work for Zillow, Business Insider, and Obama for America, just to name a few places. Say hi next time you see him at an event!

Rachel stepped into the Overlake community not only as an US Math Teacher but is also filling the role of Math Department Chair, all while learning a brand-new community. With a PhD in Mathematics from Dartmouth and 15 years in the high school classroom, she has even taught at the collegiate level at Portland State University for the last few years. She is excited to return to the independent high school environment where she loves the engagement and deep connections formed in that context.

Flavia Vidal DIRECTOR OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

Journeying all the way from the East Coast is Flavia Vidal. She has spent 20 years at Phillips Academy in Massachusetts, most recently serving as the Director for the Brace Center for Gender Studies. In the year before joining Overlake, Vidal was a visiting scholar at the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, digging deeper into research on how schools around the country and world teach gender studies in and outside the classroom. She is excited to bring her research knowledge to Overlake’s programs.

Chrissy Wakeling (’02)

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Of Experiential Education

A familiar face has joined the Experiential Education team. Our very own Chrissy Wakeling makes her debut as the Assistant Director of Experiential Education. Over the last year and a half Wakeling had been serving as the Middle and Upper School Coordinator expertly and calmly planning events and juggling a seemingly endless number of tasks, all with her signature smile and cool demeanor.

Djimon Wulah SUPPORT LEAD

Djimon Wulah is returning to his eastside roots, after recently graduating with a business degree from the University of Redlands. Wulah, a native of Bellevue, graduated from Bellevue High School and played football for the Wolverines. When not leading the technology support team, Wulah is studying at UW earning an MBA in Information Systems.