Deborah Park is currently a vice principal at a high performing high school in the South Bay (Southern California).  She recently earned her Ed.D. through UCLA's Educational Leadership Program, where she researched community partnerships for project-based learning. 

In her former role as Curator of Projects & Partnerships for the Círculos at Advanced Learning Academy in Santa Ana, CA, she created connections between community partners and students' learning experiences by coordinating place and project-based learning excursions, facilitating PBL curriculum training and design sessions with a team of teachers, and implementing the four core innovations of small learning communities, flexible learning environments, place x project-based learning, and competency-based learning. As a school leader of one of 18 XQ Super Schools, Deborah has had the opportunity to engage in rethinking high school through an interactive process where new ideas, whether it is student schedules or designing non-traditional learning experiences, can be implemented and improved over time. 

Deborah has also served as a Certificated Learning and Achievement Specialist, supporting various high schools with Speech and Debate in SAUSD. She and several dozen students traveled the country as students competed in national Speech and Debate competitions.

She also served as a Literacy Coach for the Santa Ana Unified School District and has taught 6th and 8th grade English Language Arts, 6th grade math, and 7th grade AVID during her time as a classroom teacher. She strives to encourage student success and facilitate a learning environment where her students can flourish into critical thinkers, creative innovators, and globally-minded individuals.

Deborah graduated from UCLA as a communication studies major with an art history minor. She has had internships at various publicity firms, such as Rogers & Cowan's Film and Fashion publicity departments, as well as the publicity department for the Hammer Museum. She also worked as an editorial assistant at the J. Paul Getty Museum for three years during her time as an eager undergrad. These varied work experiences have taught her essential skills from writing press releases (crisis management and communication to families), to extremely fast proofreading skills (helping students with essays) and warm interpersonal skills (working with diverse teachers and school leaders).  She received her masters degree in Teaching and a single-subject credential in English from UC Irvine, where she learned about the art of teaching kids how to write from Dr. Carol Booth Olson. She adores the artistic and literary works of Joseph Beuys, John Steinbeck, Edouard Manet, Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, and John Keats. Her favorite cities are Berlin, Paris, and Istanbul. She loves art museums, Oscar-worthy films, Emmy-winning television shows, KCRW, Martha Stewart, the stories in the New Yorker, Vogue magazine, Target, and Starbucks Americanos.

Ms. Park's YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/deborahpark8