Nadia Shyshova
Nadia Shyshova was born in Russia. She began studying music at the age of six. After graduating from a Music College, Nadia continued her studies at the Moscow Choral Academy, named after the famous chorus conductor Victor Popov. Later Nadia joined the Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Chorus as a soloist and the State Symphony Capella of Russia.
In the United States Nadia has continued her music career as a music teacher and gives occasional performances. She has been teaching music at Russian daycare centers for many years and has an extensive experience in early childhood music development.
Maxim Klepikov
Maxim Klepikov, PhD graduated from Yaroslavl State University, majoring in biology and specializing as a biology and chemistry teacher. Maxim is an author of more than 70 scientific and 100 popular-science articles published in “GEO”, “Vokrug Sveta”, “Yunyi Naturalist” as well as other magazines. He has received several awards and certificates for participating in different competitions in the sphere of education and ecological journalism.
Olga Sushchik
My name is Olga Sushchik and I am a photographer and an artist. Painting has been my hobby and my passion for all my life.
I learned how to draw and watercolor at the age of 14 in art school for young children in Nizhny Novgorod, my native city. After that, I took different art classes and attended schools in two countries. Among them are the Vocational School of Fashion and Modeling, Nizhny Novgorod State Pedagogical University, majoring in art education, and Las Positas College, Livermore.
I work with acrylic and mixed media, using different textures. This technique gives me more opportunities to express new ideas and to use my imagination. Right now my favorite subjects are still life and flowers.
I prefer painting in a naïve style which lets me paint in a new and interesting way. I think this style allows students to show more than just a reality, it can turn on their imagination and help them to express their ideas.
Dmitriy Voronov
For many years Dmitriy Voronov has successfully been working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a Staff Scientist. His research includes material science, nanofabrication, and x-ray optics.
In 2017 Dmitriy received the Klaus Halbach Award for Innovative Instrumentation and “for pioneering work in the area of advanced x-ray diffraction gratings.” The research that led up to Voronov’s award began about 10 years ago when he started at the Advanced Light Source in the Experimental Systems Group. Dmitriy is an author of more than 100 scientific publications in leading scientific journals.
Curiosity is the main driving force of great scientific discoveries, outstanding cultural achievements and brilliant accomplishments. Our goal is to inspire curiosity in our children and spark their interest in science. The main goal of the lesson is not only to acquaint students with the simplest laws of physics, but also to show that any science can be interesting and fun.
And at that point you might not be too far from great discoveries!
Nadezhda Serebrennikova
My name is Nadezhda. I graduated from Saint Petersburg State Pedagogical University in 2000, majoring in elementary school teaching. But life had a different plan for me. I worked not only in elementary school as a teacher but also as a journalist in the newspapers “Saint Petersburg Vedomosti” and “Komsomolskaya Pravda”.
Having gotten tired of chasing news all the time I began writing novels and stories both for adults and for children.
My books “Born against all odds” and “Curious Things” were awarded certificates at the Berlin International “Book of the Year” Competition for Russian Speaking Authors.
I like working at the Russian Program because I can realize my creative potential there. I try to teach in an interesting and interactive manner that appeals to every child. Children are always open for creativity and they are fountains of interesting ideas. Each child is a creator. The main task of a teacher is to prevent the child’s fountain of creativity from drying out.
“Guardians of the World,” is a cartoon which was designed and produced by the children in the Russian school’s 2016 “Cartoon Academy” class and will be an entry in the San Diego International Kids Films Festival.
Anna Vorobyeva Anya is an active and creative person. She has a broad spectrum of interests beyond elementary education that she is passion about. Anya is actively involved in school organization and extra-curricular activities, such as New Year Celebrations, Puppet Shows and Concerts that became very popular in our educational community. Anya was born and grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia. She graduated from Gertzen State Pedagogical University with a degree in pedagogy and psychology in preschools. Anya worked in kindergartens in St. Petersburg, Russia and in the Bay Area, USA. She has a lot of experience working with children, she is the mother of 3. Kids should keep speaking and studying Russian even though they live in an English-speaking environment. Anna’s goal is to help children maintain their Russian language skills.
