Priscilla Hexter has tutored students at McKinley Middle School in our Book Club program for over four years and served on the Ayudantes Board for over three years. Having attained undergraduate and graduate degrees in Art History, she worked for 20 years as Director and Curator of Stanford University’s Art Spaces. Proficient in Spanish, French and Italian, Priscilla also spent many years as both coordinator and a volunteer with Stanford’s English-in-Action Program, which helps Stanford students from around the world gain English conversation skills.
Priscilla says: “I have many friends in Mexico and Spain and I am particularly interested in helping young students whose primary language is Spanish.”
John Hickson has tutored students at McKinley Middle School and Fair Oaks Elementary School as part of our Book Club program for over four years. During his 37 years as a Sales Manager for a large food manufacturer in England, he ran many training courses, so he has considerable experience as a teacher, though he had never worked with children prior to joining Los Ayudantes.
John says: “I have always been involved in community service through my church and the Lions Club, both in England and the USA, so Ayudantes offered me the chance to try something new and the opportunity to help young children and teenagers have a better chance in life.”
Ann Latta helped to found Los Ayudantes in 2002 and has tutored with Ayudantes both at McKinley Middle and Fair Oaks Elementary in our Book Club and Poetry Club programs ever since. Ann spent her professional life working as a research librarian in the Stanford University Libraries, serving as the Assistant Head of the Cubberley Library at Stanford’s School of Education.
Beyond her professional life, Ann helped create the CAL Aggie Camp for underprivileged children. And under the auspices of the Jr. League of Palo Alto, she helped create the Child Advocacy Council, providing child abuse education. She also served with a citizens group to overhaul the foster-care system in San Mateo County, California. Currently, she serves on the boards of the Cleo Eulau Center and Trinity School, Menlo Park, Ca. in addition to Los Ayudantes.
Ann says: “I strongly believe we are responsible for providing these children with a quality education focused on English language skills in order to promote their competency and future life success.”
Catherine Card Marquardt has served for two years on the Ayudantes Board and has just begun serving as a tutor in the McKinley Middle Book Club program. With a Masters in Education from Bank Street College, Catherine has spent 16 years working as an elementary school teacher—at The Lenox School of New York City, the International School of Amsterdam, Netherlands and at Trinity School of Menlo Park, Ca. During this time, she not only taught in the classroom, but also served as a Curriculum Coordinator, Lower School Librarian, Teacher Mentor and spent 2 years on the Board of Trinity School.
Catherine says: “I was drawn to the good work of Los Ayudantes when I noticed how close we are to our Latino neighbors in physical terms but how far apart our children’s educational experiences can sometimes be. And I thought: How might we lessen that disparity? How might we encourage the integration of our community by offering more opportunities for those Latino students in Redwood City to improve their educational experience? Los Ayudantes has made earnest and creative efforts in that direction and I am pleased to join their team.”
Jim Stocker has served as a tutor with Los Ayudantes’ Book Club programs for the past three years, first at McKinley Middle and more recently at Fair Oaks Elementary. With a Bachelors from Cornell and an MBA from Harvard, Jim worked for 27 years in marketing and management for a major American paper company. He also taught “Internation Marketing” classes for 8 years at the University of California-Berkeley extension school. Besides his volunteer work for Los Ayudantes, Jim has also spent three years working with “Project Read,” a Menlo Park (Ca.) Library program.
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