christina.aries @cwcsilverlake.org

Ms. Aries was born to a family of educators.  Her father funneled the passion from a photography career into a revolutionary arts classroom.  Her grandfather was a professor at Eastern State Connecticut University and the founder of Curbstone Press.  Raised in upstate New York, she was liberated from conventional schooling early by a love of Beat poetry and a sixth grade teacher who fueled her aspiration to write.  Education, for Ms. Aries, was never limited to school. Her education took place in classrooms, but also at the kitchen table of a publishing house, beneath the forest trees of the Adirondack Mountains, and on the mercurial waters of Lake George.

Ms. Aries attended the University of Chicago on a full scholarship and dabbled in the French, photography, and English departments before eventually earning a degree in Political Science.  She loved political theory and sociology and spent equal amounts of time engaging in lively debate as she did people watching in Hyde Park. Her first job in education was at the University of Chicago Lab School where she ran the 4th grade after-school program, where she watched the benefits of experiential education on her students. 

After college, Ms. Aries joined Teach for America as a corps member and began teaching at a middle school in the Bronx.  While earning her Master’s degree in Childhood Education, Ms. Aries fell in love with the middle school classroom and the unique perspective that it afforded her students.  She has since been a founding educator at two progressive schools in New York City.  She taught for over a decade in New York City before taking a position as the Humanities Department Chair at City School of the Arts in Manhattan.

Ms. Aries is passionate about inquiry-driven curriculum that fuses critical thinking and student-led investigation.  She is a certified yoga instructor and has held education fellowships in New York, Paris and Madrid. In her leisure time, she enjoys traveling and hiking with her family, reading, and teaching her young son to love the water.

sergio.garcia@cwcsilverlake.org

A native Angeleno, Mr. Sergio has been involved in education for over 10 years. While holding multiple odd jobs, he consistently tutored students throughout high school and college. Upon earning his TESOL certification, Mr. Sergio taught Spanish at a preschool in Pasadena before becoming an intervention teacher at a charter school in Mid-City, Los Angeles. While there he had the opportunity to lead his own 3rd grade classroom. Mr. Sergio quickly realized that he enjoyed working within education and helping students grow academically and socio-emotionally.

Mr. Sergio joined CWC Silver Lake as a Teacher’s Associate, working with various grade levels, and serving as Lead TA. He joined the Leadership Team as the interim Director of Social Emotional Learning and Latino Projects Coordinator before becoming Director of School Culture and Social Emotional Learning. Currently, he oversees the Teacher Associate team and works with the rest of the leadership team to establish and maintain a positive school culture for all.

Mr. Sergio is passionate about student’s personal growth and making sure that they are learning in an environment that fosters connections. He actively engages students through play to teach social emotional skills and strives to create an inclusive environment where students welcome others different from them. He also empowers students to be leaders by helping them reflect on their actions and their role within the community. In his free time, Mr. Sergio enjoys watching movies, reading classic literature and comic books, and finding new places to eat around LA. 

Learn more about Mr. Sergio’s favorite things here!

Email coming soon!

My name is Allan Laird and I am so happy to be joining the team at Citizens of the World Silver Lake, as the Director of Special Education. I would like students to call me Mr. Allan. I began my professional career in the paper industry, but was unable to find value and meaning in that work, so I returned to school in 1999 to complete my bachelor’s degree. At that point, all I knew is that I wanted to help people move forward. It was during a psychology class titled Theories of Learning that I realized a connection between psychology and education. I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology and Education from Ottawa University in 2002, and then graduated with a Master’s of Arts in Education from National Louis University in 2004. During the next few years, I obtained my licenses to teach Regular Education: grades 1-6, and Special Education: ages 6-21. 

Throughout my teaching career, I began working as a special education teacher with elementary and middle-school school students. Eventually, I joined the team at The Alliance School of Milwaukee, as a high school special education teacher. Additionally, I returned to Ottawa University as an adjunct instructor, for close to a decade. While at Ottawa, I taught psychology and adult education courses to non-traditional adult students. Eventually, I was asked to take the position of Teacher-in-Charge at Alliance. During my first year as the school leader at Alliance, the superintendent asked me to obtain my administrative license, so I enrolled in an administrative and leadership program at Alverno College in Milwaukee, where I graduated with a Master’s of Arts in Administrative Leadership in 2019. At Alverno, I also obtained my Principal and Director of Instruction licenses. 

I believe that a successful classroom consists of clear expectations and goals, and the appropriate methods to meet those goals. Careful preparation for instruction is essential, as is the flexibility to meet the unique needs of each of our students. I also strongly believe that applying restorative principles throughout the school community can help prevent and mitigate harm, thereby purposefully creating a direct focus on education.

indira.cruz@cwcsilverlake.org

Bio coming soon!

trenton.graham@cwcsilverlake.org

maira.ayala@cwcsilverlake.org

Ms. Maira’s Favorite Things