Select the next SVCUE Board Directors!
Thank you for reading the biographies and statements of intent for our newest candidates for the SVCUE Board of Directors.
Board elections will open up at the SVCUE Annual Event #TEFKAT on March 7, 2020 and will stay open for two weeks, as required by the bylaws.
Board elections will open up at the SVCUE Annual Event #TEFKAT on March 7, 2020 and will stay open for two weeks, as required by the bylaws.
Biographies & Statements of Intent
Click on each name to expand (and collapse) and see the candidate's biography and statement of purpose.
Brooke Carey Ahrens
Biography
Brooke Carey Ahrens is currently the Director of Educational Innovation at Notre Dame High School, San Jose and previously served as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for 6 years. She has worked with faculty and students to support their transition to a BYOD environment, a Google for Education school, and the adoption and transition of two learning management systems.
Brooke completed the KCI CIO program in 2019, and has a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University in 2010, with a focus on Youth Librarianship. Brooke has been a credentialed classroom teacher since 1999, working with students in grades 6-college level. She holds single subject credentials in Social Studies, English and a Reading Specialist Credential. Before becoming an Instructional Technology Coordinator, she worked as an English and Social Studies teacher at the middle and high school level for over 10 years.
Brooke obtained a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Critical Literacy in 2004. Her research on the efficacy of reading intervention program, “Finding a New Way: Reinventing a Sixth-Grade Reading Program” was published in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy in 2005.
Brooke has served on the SVCUE board for the past 2 years, working as the communications committee lead for 2 years, and secretary for 1 year. She has been a Google Certified Innovator since 2009, blogged weekly for the American Association of School Librarians, and served as a section representative for the California Library Association. She has presented at numerous conferences including ISTE, CUE, CLSA, CLA and Internet Librarian.
Statement of Purpose
I’ve been a librarian and technologist for 11 years, a teacher educator for 21 years, and an avid reader my entire life. I am passionate about the intersection of technology and critical literacy skills, and the role that information availability plays in the world of today. I believe technology can be used as a tool to inspire and increase traditional literacy skills among students. But, I also believe that being critically literate in today’s society means having the ability to navigate, access, and assess the massive amounts of information students now have available within seconds.
Technology is a driving force in how information is gathered, curated and retrieved, and how social and business interactions now occur. Discourse regarding how technology negatively impacts student learning, or is less valuable to more traditional forms of learning or information gathering is not productive. Instead, we must encourage educators to embrace the reality that faces our students, they will be required to interact meaningfully with technology in the world around them, they will not have a choice. Our opinions and ideas about how learning best occurs must be carefully balanced against the omni-present nature of technology in our society, and our instruction must focus on preparing students for what is, not what we would prefer it to be.
I’m a collector of information and ideas. I love learning about new ideas, methods, cultures, ways of doing and thinking. As an educator, I’m enthralled by the ability of technology to expand student learning and exploration beyond the skill set of the teacher, the textbook, or the classroom. Technology has the amazing ability to connect experts, ideas and information to students in the process of learning. The integration of technology in education provides opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of different formats, push their personal limits of creativity and innovation, and enhance communication.
Serving on the SVCUE Board would provide me the opportunity to connect with other educators passionate about the role of technology in education. To be effective educators of technology, we must create opportunities to work in collaboration with one another. When we connect new ideas with educational problem-solvers it results in innovation and creativity that is not possible when a traditional classroom teacher works in isolation.
As a team player, I believe a collaborative work-process results in a better end product. I have enjoyed working collectively with fellow SVCUE board members to plan events, meet-ups and learning experiences. This year, working with 2 other board members, we’re hoping to implement SVCUE hosted online learning opportunities in 2020. In my role helping to create monthly SVCUE mailings, we’ve focused on showcasing and documenting how educators are using technology in their educational environments to inspire each other as educators. I’ve greatly enjoyed the opportunity to work with fellow educators, celebrate educational progress, and find time to build community.
Brooke Carey Ahrens is currently the Director of Educational Innovation at Notre Dame High School, San Jose and previously served as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for 6 years. She has worked with faculty and students to support their transition to a BYOD environment, a Google for Education school, and the adoption and transition of two learning management systems.
Brooke completed the KCI CIO program in 2019, and has a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University in 2010, with a focus on Youth Librarianship. Brooke has been a credentialed classroom teacher since 1999, working with students in grades 6-college level. She holds single subject credentials in Social Studies, English and a Reading Specialist Credential. Before becoming an Instructional Technology Coordinator, she worked as an English and Social Studies teacher at the middle and high school level for over 10 years.
Brooke obtained a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Critical Literacy in 2004. Her research on the efficacy of reading intervention program, “Finding a New Way: Reinventing a Sixth-Grade Reading Program” was published in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy in 2005.
Brooke has served on the SVCUE board for the past 2 years, working as the communications committee lead for 2 years, and secretary for 1 year. She has been a Google Certified Innovator since 2009, blogged weekly for the American Association of School Librarians, and served as a section representative for the California Library Association. She has presented at numerous conferences including ISTE, CUE, CLSA, CLA and Internet Librarian.
Statement of Purpose
I’ve been a librarian and technologist for 11 years, a teacher educator for 21 years, and an avid reader my entire life. I am passionate about the intersection of technology and critical literacy skills, and the role that information availability plays in the world of today. I believe technology can be used as a tool to inspire and increase traditional literacy skills among students. But, I also believe that being critically literate in today’s society means having the ability to navigate, access, and assess the massive amounts of information students now have available within seconds.
Technology is a driving force in how information is gathered, curated and retrieved, and how social and business interactions now occur. Discourse regarding how technology negatively impacts student learning, or is less valuable to more traditional forms of learning or information gathering is not productive. Instead, we must encourage educators to embrace the reality that faces our students, they will be required to interact meaningfully with technology in the world around them, they will not have a choice. Our opinions and ideas about how learning best occurs must be carefully balanced against the omni-present nature of technology in our society, and our instruction must focus on preparing students for what is, not what we would prefer it to be.
I’m a collector of information and ideas. I love learning about new ideas, methods, cultures, ways of doing and thinking. As an educator, I’m enthralled by the ability of technology to expand student learning and exploration beyond the skill set of the teacher, the textbook, or the classroom. Technology has the amazing ability to connect experts, ideas and information to students in the process of learning. The integration of technology in education provides opportunity for students to demonstrate knowledge in a variety of different formats, push their personal limits of creativity and innovation, and enhance communication.
Serving on the SVCUE Board would provide me the opportunity to connect with other educators passionate about the role of technology in education. To be effective educators of technology, we must create opportunities to work in collaboration with one another. When we connect new ideas with educational problem-solvers it results in innovation and creativity that is not possible when a traditional classroom teacher works in isolation.
As a team player, I believe a collaborative work-process results in a better end product. I have enjoyed working collectively with fellow SVCUE board members to plan events, meet-ups and learning experiences. This year, working with 2 other board members, we’re hoping to implement SVCUE hosted online learning opportunities in 2020. In my role helping to create monthly SVCUE mailings, we’ve focused on showcasing and documenting how educators are using technology in their educational environments to inspire each other as educators. I’ve greatly enjoyed the opportunity to work with fellow educators, celebrate educational progress, and find time to build community.
Doreen Bonde
Biography
I have spent the last twenty years supporting adults & students with diverse backgrounds, gender identities and disabilities seek balance, voice, and inclusion in the workplace and in schools.
Statement of Purpose
I am interested in serving on the Silicon Valley CUE board because I want to be of service to help teachers innovate in the classroom and support them in serving their students and in their own personal and professional development. I value engaging adult learners knowing that their excitement about learning will be passed along to so many more kids. CUE by its sheer existence offers opportunities to teachers to evolve their craft. I am committed to furthering this mission.
I have extensive experience in planning and managing events, as well as creating systems and organizing. I also believe I would be a good fit because I offer a unique lens in my role as classified staff. I played a critical part in overseeing targeted marketing campaigns to professionals as well as managing social media pages and believe my skills could improve your membership’s experience.
My statement of purpose? Teachers are my favorite people in the world. In every work decision I make, I always ask myself, “Is this good for kids?” I am passionate about the value of social emotional learning for our students. I am also making every effort professionally to find ways to support teachers in their self-care. If they are not paying attention to their own needs, they will not be able to support themselves, their families, or their students. I am also deeply committed to seeking out and championing the needs and goals of our diverse communities of students and the teachers who serve them.
I have spent the last twenty years supporting adults & students with diverse backgrounds, gender identities and disabilities seek balance, voice, and inclusion in the workplace and in schools.
Statement of Purpose
I am interested in serving on the Silicon Valley CUE board because I want to be of service to help teachers innovate in the classroom and support them in serving their students and in their own personal and professional development. I value engaging adult learners knowing that their excitement about learning will be passed along to so many more kids. CUE by its sheer existence offers opportunities to teachers to evolve their craft. I am committed to furthering this mission.
I have extensive experience in planning and managing events, as well as creating systems and organizing. I also believe I would be a good fit because I offer a unique lens in my role as classified staff. I played a critical part in overseeing targeted marketing campaigns to professionals as well as managing social media pages and believe my skills could improve your membership’s experience.
My statement of purpose? Teachers are my favorite people in the world. In every work decision I make, I always ask myself, “Is this good for kids?” I am passionate about the value of social emotional learning for our students. I am also making every effort professionally to find ways to support teachers in their self-care. If they are not paying attention to their own needs, they will not be able to support themselves, their families, or their students. I am also deeply committed to seeking out and championing the needs and goals of our diverse communities of students and the teachers who serve them.
Sandra Velásquez
Biography
Sandra Velásquez is currently the Innovative Learning & Technology Integration Coordinator for the STEAM Center at the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE). She co-facilitates SMCOE’s Making Spaces Regional Hub, the development of sustainable active learning spaces, and is working towards her Maker-Coordinator Certification with the Krause Center for Innovation. In addition, she collaborates with Stanford’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching as a co-facilitator for computational thinking courses for pre-service and in-service teachers. To further support SMCOE in their vision of Excellence and Equity–Every Student, Every Teacher, Every School, Sandra leads strategic planning around research-based approaches for technology initiatives, professional learning experiences and policy in San Mateo County’s Court and Community Schools. Prior to her work in the county office, Sandra worked in the San José Unified School District for 14 years as an elementary educator and district instructional technology coach where she supported curriculum development, professional learning, and instructional coaching around early literacy and English language development in a student-centered technology rich environment.
In 2019, Sandra received a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Scholarship sponsored by the U.S. Department of State where she worked alongside a variety of research groups to design grade level assessments in reading and mathematics, align and develop STEAM curricula, and facilitated the development of a professional learning implementation plan for the Ministry of Public Education in Uzbekistan. She is a Software Engineering Education Leader (SEEL) of the award-winning Tech Academies Fellowship program which supports a diverse network of STEM leaders in Silicon Valley to build collective knowledge in cross-curricular engineering instruction. Sandra has presented at a variety of conferences including Silicon Valley Leadership Group: Ethics & Equity in AI, Stanford CSET: Equity in Education 2020, the 2019 California STEAM Symposium and is an active member of California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators (CALSA).
Statement of Purpose
Although I have known about CUE for many years, it wasn’t until 2019 that I was fortunate enough to attend my first Spring CUE conference. This inaugural experience was filled with many emotions – excitement, confusion, and of course, BOOM! There was a point in time, while walking shoulder to shoulder through the sea of hungry and tired educators, that I did feel a bit out of place; Fortunately, there were many Silicon Valley CUE members within the crowd welcoming me with smiles and navigating me through the amazingly insane schedule of experiences. Later that evening, I joined my CALSA familia for dinner, musica and an opportunity to connect with several CUE Rockstars. It was here that I was introduced to the executive director of CUE, learning more about the newly developed partnership with CALSA, and gaining insight into what was up-and-coming for CUE regional affiliates.
Over the years, I have had several opportunities like this to interact with various CUE members, discussing and sharing our values around equitable practices for students, families and teachers here in Silicon Valley. I feel connected to the values that the members of organization represent and it is with great honor for the commitment the organization has to equity that I would like to run for the SVCUE board.
As an educational leader, I center my work around equitable instructional practices that promote student agency and innovation. I am dedicated to establishing relationships with diverse stakeholders and seek opportunities to partner with the community in ways that enhance the teaching and learning experience. In my current role at the county office of education, I have the ability to leverage my connections throughout San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to broaden the participation of Computer Using Educators to reflect the diverse community of the students we serve. I would build on the current efforts of the CUE Executive Director and the partnership with CALSA in providing a necessary sense of belonging for underrepresented groups in our local region; to be willing and able to engage in the learning experiences that SVCUE has to offer.
I am passionate about improving the instructional experience for all students and wish to expand on our collective efforts to empowering educators and supporting their professional growth as leaders alongside the experienced members of SVCUE. #SomosCUE #WeAreCUE
Sandra Velásquez is currently the Innovative Learning & Technology Integration Coordinator for the STEAM Center at the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE). She co-facilitates SMCOE’s Making Spaces Regional Hub, the development of sustainable active learning spaces, and is working towards her Maker-Coordinator Certification with the Krause Center for Innovation. In addition, she collaborates with Stanford’s Center to Support Excellence in Teaching as a co-facilitator for computational thinking courses for pre-service and in-service teachers. To further support SMCOE in their vision of Excellence and Equity–Every Student, Every Teacher, Every School, Sandra leads strategic planning around research-based approaches for technology initiatives, professional learning experiences and policy in San Mateo County’s Court and Community Schools. Prior to her work in the county office, Sandra worked in the San José Unified School District for 14 years as an elementary educator and district instructional technology coach where she supported curriculum development, professional learning, and instructional coaching around early literacy and English language development in a student-centered technology rich environment.
In 2019, Sandra received a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Scholarship sponsored by the U.S. Department of State where she worked alongside a variety of research groups to design grade level assessments in reading and mathematics, align and develop STEAM curricula, and facilitated the development of a professional learning implementation plan for the Ministry of Public Education in Uzbekistan. She is a Software Engineering Education Leader (SEEL) of the award-winning Tech Academies Fellowship program which supports a diverse network of STEM leaders in Silicon Valley to build collective knowledge in cross-curricular engineering instruction. Sandra has presented at a variety of conferences including Silicon Valley Leadership Group: Ethics & Equity in AI, Stanford CSET: Equity in Education 2020, the 2019 California STEAM Symposium and is an active member of California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators (CALSA).
Statement of Purpose
Although I have known about CUE for many years, it wasn’t until 2019 that I was fortunate enough to attend my first Spring CUE conference. This inaugural experience was filled with many emotions – excitement, confusion, and of course, BOOM! There was a point in time, while walking shoulder to shoulder through the sea of hungry and tired educators, that I did feel a bit out of place; Fortunately, there were many Silicon Valley CUE members within the crowd welcoming me with smiles and navigating me through the amazingly insane schedule of experiences. Later that evening, I joined my CALSA familia for dinner, musica and an opportunity to connect with several CUE Rockstars. It was here that I was introduced to the executive director of CUE, learning more about the newly developed partnership with CALSA, and gaining insight into what was up-and-coming for CUE regional affiliates.
Over the years, I have had several opportunities like this to interact with various CUE members, discussing and sharing our values around equitable practices for students, families and teachers here in Silicon Valley. I feel connected to the values that the members of organization represent and it is with great honor for the commitment the organization has to equity that I would like to run for the SVCUE board.
As an educational leader, I center my work around equitable instructional practices that promote student agency and innovation. I am dedicated to establishing relationships with diverse stakeholders and seek opportunities to partner with the community in ways that enhance the teaching and learning experience. In my current role at the county office of education, I have the ability to leverage my connections throughout San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to broaden the participation of Computer Using Educators to reflect the diverse community of the students we serve. I would build on the current efforts of the CUE Executive Director and the partnership with CALSA in providing a necessary sense of belonging for underrepresented groups in our local region; to be willing and able to engage in the learning experiences that SVCUE has to offer.
I am passionate about improving the instructional experience for all students and wish to expand on our collective efforts to empowering educators and supporting their professional growth as leaders alongside the experienced members of SVCUE. #SomosCUE #WeAreCUE
Important excerpts from the SVCUE By Laws concerning the SVCUE Board of Directors:
Article V, Section 3: Qualifications
Each Director shall
Article V, Section 4: Elections
The Affiliate's Board of Directors shall appoint a Nominating Committee by November 1. The Committee shall manage the annual election of officers.
Article V, Section 5: Term of Office
1. The term of a Directorship shall be for three (3) years, to begin July 1st.
Appendix:
Board Elections:
Each Director shall
- Be an active and current member of the organization in good standing.
- Actively support the purpose of the organization as listed in the preamble.
- Miss no more than two (2) Board meetings in a year, beginning July 1st and ending June 30th. Attendance to Board meetings may be virtual.
- Actively support the annual Affiliate’s event.
- Participate in committee meetings as necessary.
Article V, Section 4: Elections
The Affiliate's Board of Directors shall appoint a Nominating Committee by November 1. The Committee shall manage the annual election of officers.
Article V, Section 5: Term of Office
1. The term of a Directorship shall be for three (3) years, to begin July 1st.
Appendix:
Board Elections:
- Nominations shall be proposed from among the membership at large, and written nominations from members in good standing shall be accepted.
- The nominees shall submit a Bio and Statement of Purpose to the Committee Chair. The Statements shall be published
- at least one month prior to the date after which online survey or email ballots will be accepted and counted.
- at least one month prior to the date after which online survey or email ballots will be accepted and counted.
- Conduct of the election by the Nominating Committee shall be in accordance with this timetable:
- Notice of elections for vacancies on the Board of Directors will be announced no later than November 1. Said announcement may be made via email and on the Affiliate’s web site.
- The nominees shall submit a biography and Statement of Purpose, including a nominees skills and strengths they bring to the Board of Directors, to the Committee Chair. The Statements shall be published at least four (4) weeks prior to the annual membership meeting.
- Ballots will be available on the Affiliate’s web site prior to the annual meeting, and the election will remain open for two weeks following the meeting.