Wendy is one of the founders of Presidio Knolls School, and is actively involved in the school's operation. Wendy's vision was to send her daughter to a nurturing preschool that incorporated a quality multilingual curriculum. After much research, she was unable to find such a preschool that did not have a seemingly endless waitlist. Instead of giving up on her dream or moving to another city, Wendy decided to take matters into her own hands. As a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, with a bachelors' degree in Neuroscience, and a former Vice President of a large financial advising company, she was no stranger to taking on big projects, and with the help of a group of similarly committed parents, the founding parents, Presidio Knolls School was created.

Ruth is our administrator in charge of everything from admissions to scheduling to fieldtrip coordination. In addition, as a certified teacher, Ruth spends time in the classroom to provide support to our faculty. Ruth finished her Bachelor's Degree in Child Adolescent Development at San Francisco State University. Although she has served as a lead Mandarin teacher at a Mandarin after school program and as a lead English teacher at Marin Day School, she is no stranger to administration. When she is not at Presidio Knolls School, she is the Dean of Administration at a Mandarin weekend program. Ruth is always delighted to help our parents and teachers.

Pei Pei brings a wealth of experience and expertise. She has a Bachelor of the Arts in Early Childhood Education from National Taitung University (Taiwan) and holds a Master’s Degree in Science in Education in Psychological Services from University Pennsylvania. Together with her excellent Mandarin, she brings her lessons learned and skills developed from five years of experience as a preschool teacher in Taiwan. She knows how to tread that careful balance that encourages order and creativity, exploration and structure. Pei Pei enjoys learning and growing with the children as she expertly weaves her knowledge and previous experiences with continued research and practice.

Wen Jian’s background allows students to truly delve into integration and immersion. She is fluent in both Mandarin and English but she speaks the language of music as well. She earned a B.A. in Music Education at the Shandong Normal University and an M.A. in Musicology at Capital Normal University (Beijing). She has been a lecturer at Lu Dong University (Shandong, China) for Vocal Performance and Italian phonetics for Opera. She has been recognized for her talent in Beijing’s first international singing competition and the Shandong Province University faculty vocal competition. Whether singing a lesson or teaching a vocabulary, Wen Jian makes it easy to join as she conducts the voices of the class.

Although Elaine is our newest teacher, she is no stranger to Presidio Knolls School. Last year, Elaine spent her summer internship at Presidio Knolls School, and both our children and teachers truly enjoyed working with her. Elaine has a caring, nurturing presence in the classroom, and the children are naturally drawn to her. Elaine recently received her Masters of Science in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, and just days afterward moved all of her belongings to San Francisco. Previously, she earned a Bachelors of Science from Hsuan Chuang University in Taiwan and was a kindergarten teacher in Taipei, Taiwan for two years.

Matthew is a living example of why we want our children to learn Mandarin and how this language ability can positively effect their lives. Matthew was raised in a bilingual household (Spanish and English), and learned Mandarin on his own. His has Jamaican, West Indian and Columbian heritage. Matthew's family recently relocated to San Francisco from Panama. His trilingual skills have given him access to extraordinary life experiences as he worked at a bank in Taiwan, taught in Central America and traveled the world. His mastery of the Mandarin language has had such a positive impact on his life that he now strives to speak to his 3-year old son in Mandarin. Matthew hopes that his son will also be trilingual, speaking English, Mandarin, and Spanish (Matthew's wife speaks Spanish and English). Matthew's experiences in the field of education include serving as a ESL (English as a second language) coach for Spanish speakers, and as a paraprofessional in the California School District. Matthew earned his bachelor's degree from St. Petersburg University in Burnaby, Canada. Matthew will be working with the Panda Group.