Welcome our new founding faculty member: Stephen Lessard

We're delighted to announce the hire of our first faculty member, Stephen Lessard. Stephen has taught in various settings, from kindergarten to college, for the past two decades, most recently at The Nueva School where he fell in love with teaching middle school students in the humanities. During his 13-year tenure at Nueva, Stephen brought to the classroom an empathic global vision and focus on real-world experiences, launching Nueva's international summer service program, leading students to Model United Nations conferences around the globe, and envisioning 21st-century learning within and beyond the middle school years.

Since 2012, Stephen has co-facilitated an intensive summer retreat for educators through the Bay Area Teacher Development Collaborative, which recognizes the importance of a teacher's soul work to the psychological health of a school and its students. He has a keen interest in social-emotional learning and the crucial role silence can play in our lives. Trained in music and anthropology, Stephen received an advanced degree from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as undergraduate degrees from the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music.

Stephen joins Millennium this spring, more than a year in advance of launch, to support curriculum development, hiring, and other projects, before shifting to a primarily teaching role in Fall 2016. He brings a depth of experience in social-emotional learning, project-based learning, and other innovative learning strategies for middle school students. We're thrilled to welcome such a talented colleague to our team!