Ms. Hayne graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor of Science in Biology along with a Certification in Secondary Education. During her teaching career, Ms. Hayne has been the recipient of SMART Classroom and Flipped Classroom grants, and was chosen as a Siemens/Discovery Channel STEM Institute Fellow. Along with teaching, Ms. Hayne has had the opportunity to write both school and state curriculum and develop school-wide programs. Ms. Hayne completed her master’s degree in education with a concentration in Integrated Curriculum and Instructional Leadership. She is excited to continue building innovative Middle School and High School experiences and a well rounded K-12 curriculum at APIS. Outside the classroom, Ms. Hayne enjoys traveling, outdoor activities, dance classes, and running races.

Mrs. Rehfield-Pelles was most recently a superintendent for 12 years for the New York City Department of Education, where she was responsible for 47 Pre-K to 12th Grade schools and 18,000 students. Before she was appointed superintendent, she was a principal for 10 years at School of the Future, a rigorous college-preparatory middle and high school in New York City. She began her career teaching math and computer science in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Rome, Italy. Mrs. Rehfield-Pelles majored in Mathematics at Yale University and received her master’s degree in Education from Harvard Graduate School. For high school, Mrs. Rehfield-Pelles attended the United Nations International School (UNIS), a flagship international school in New York City. During her free time, Mrs. Rehfield-Pelles enjoys reading, traveling, and meeting new people. She is looking forward to exploring Seoul with her husband, Matt.

Mr. Ris joins the APIS Seoul team after spending four years on the administration team in our sister school in Hawaii. Before that, he worked for five years at an international boarding school in Shanghai, China. He has earned a master’s degree in International Education Administration from Endicott College and a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Pittsburgh. Coming from a family of educators, Mr. Ris feels most at home in a school environment and especially appreciates the strong relational focus at APIS. He’s very excited to learn more about Korea’s rich cultural history and natural beauty, along with his wife and young daughter.

Mrs. Park’s 23 years of teaching in both public and private school systems are only a portion of more than 28 years of experience working with children in church settings, inner-city programs, and summer camps. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in teaching from Seattle University. Mrs. Park has also completed her degree from the American College of Education receiving a master’s degree in educational leadership. She hopes to make a difference in the lives of students both at a personal level as well as at a school level. Helping others through teaching and ministry has remained Mrs. Park’s desire and passion. She believes that all students can learn and it is important to instill a love of learning and help find and develop what students are passionate about. Mrs. Park has been with the school since the first year of APIS. She feels blessed to be a part of a talented faculty and a supportive Christian community. Outside of school, Mrs. Park enjoys taking road trips with her husband, and her lovely daughter, Claire.

After graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University, Ms. Meyer began her career in connecting youth with science as a Project Lead at the Science Museum of Minnesota. This early, project-based experience still continues to influence how she approaches science education today. She earned a master’s degree in education from the University of St. Thomas and has taught a variety of science classes, including Biology, Ecology, Anatomy and Physiology, and AP Biology. Her teaching philosophy embraces the idea that science is not just a set of facts to be memorized, but a manner of inquiring about and interacting with the world. Technology is woven throughout Mrs. Meyer’s classes to support learning, increase collaboration, and encourage creative problem-solving. Along with teaching biology classes, she was also the District Technology Integrationist at her previous school, helping students and teachers with digital tools in the classroom. She served as the Biology Discipline Representative on the Minnesota Science Teachers Association board and has won various teaching awards including the KEYC Golden Apple Award, WEM Outstanding Educator Award, the Medtronic Foundation Science Teaching Award, and the Fox 9 Super Scientist Award. In her free time, Ms. Meyer enjoys cooking, reading, playing board games, and traveling with her two sons.

Ms. Allen holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications and a Master of Arts in Teaching. She was born and raised in Texas, U.S. She spent over 20 years in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Ms. Allen has over 20 years of experience working in corporate America as a writer, editor, and project manager, before transitioning to education. Her first teaching job was at an international school in China, where she taught middle and high school English core and elective courses, including AP Language and Composition, AP Literature, AP Seminar, and AP Research. Ms. Allen also ran summer English enrichment camps and led the Student Services team. She came to APIS to seek new challenges and is excited that life has brought her to APIS.

Mr. Angleton attended Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Education. While attending Wichita State, his graduating class was selected to partner with Buck Institute of Education to undergo Project-based Learning (PBL) training and how to integrate it into the classroom. Mr. Angleton has a strong focus on 21st century learning. He has coached a state champion debate team. He enjoys seeing productive struggle from his students at all levels.

Ms. Anno earned her Bachelor of Arts from Shiga University and a Master of Education from Hiroshima University. She was a lecturer at Iwakuni Nursing College, teaching social psychology. After marrying a Chilean citizen, she moved to Chile and taught at a Japanese school in Santiago. During that time, she became aware of the importance of language as a tool of communication and started to teach at a Japanese language institute organized by the Chilean Japanese Association. To gain her formal qualification as a Japanese teacher, she completed the Japanese Teachers Training course in Tokyo. Ms. Anno is an excellent Koto (Japanese traditional string instrument) player, and she enjoys Japanese cultural activities such as Ikebana (flower arrangement) and Sadou (Japanese tea ceremony). She is also interested in art and has learned and taught Medup (Korean traditional knot). While her native language is Japanese, she also speaks English, Spanish, and Korean.

Ms. Beavers has taught musicians ages two to adult through her experiences at Perry Hall High School in Baltimore County and the International School of Busan in South Korea. She also spent two years as a cultural ambassador on a Fulbright Grant teaching at Masan Guam High School in Masan, South Korea, and Shinseong Girls’ High School in Jeju City, South Korea.

Ms. Beavers holds degrees in both Vocal Performance and Music Education with a piano concentration from the University of Maryland, College Park. Ms. Beavers has also taken additional coursework in activating student voice, blended classrooms, and digital portfolios and is PYP and ESL certified. Ms. Beavers has participated in and led excellent choirs in both the East and West, sung with professional ensembles such as the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Singers. She has also toured around the world with her alma mater choir. One such trip brought her to South Korea in the first place for the 10th World Symposium on Choral Music. Outside of music-making, Ms. Beavers enjoys nature, cooking, listening to audiobooks and podcasts, and spreading joy through her blog, ‘Vegan in Korea.’

Ms. Choi earned her bachelor’s degree in English and tourism management from China Agricultural University (CAU). Upon graduation, she taught foreign people Chinese at the Beijing New Century Foreign Language Agency for three years. Afterward, she taught Chinese, English, and Tourism Management at the Shanxi Technical Secondary School for six years. Ms. Choi likes traveling and learning foreign languages in her spare time.