The Nominating Committee is pleased to present the following nominations for the Arlington SEPTA Board of Directors for the 2018-19 season. Membership will vote on this slate Thursday, May 10 at 7:00 pm before the start of the Awards and Recognition Ceremony at HB Woodlawn. You must be present to vote.
President Janna Dressel
Treasurer Adam Mann
Secretary Clarette Yen
VP Communications Alison Cassels
VP Events Hannah Grieco & Melissa Craig
VP Fundraising Minerva Trudo
VP Membership Melissa Wadman
Parent Liaison Coordinator Cristina Camacho-Yacobucci
Janna Dressel has served on the SEPTA Board as Parent Liaison Coordinator for two years and as President-Elect for one. She has served as a parent liaison for two years for The Integration Station Program at Reed and two year as a co-liaison for Jamestown Elementary School. Janna received her Masters of Special Education from the University of Virginia and is an enthusiastic UVA Cavalier – wahoowa! Teaching most recently in Fairfax County, she has also worked with children with a wide variety of developmental, behavioral, and medical needs in Charlottesville City, Albemarle County, Chesterfield County, and Eustis, FL. Along with her many years teaching in public school systems, Janna co-coordinated the art program at The Boggy Creek Gang Camp, the ropes course at Camp Holiday Trails (both specialized camps for children living with chronic and life-threatening illnesses), the art program for The Greater Richmond ARC’s Camp Baker, and the teen travel program at Congressional Camp in Falls Church, VA.
Janna is especially passionate about the importance of inclusion for all students and is a member of the Arlington Inclusion Task Force. Other special interests include: autism advocacy; AAC access and spelling to communicate; as well as, helping families who are living with significant allergies and chronic/life-threatening illnesses.
As a special educator and special needs mom, Janna understands the importance of collaboration and open communication. She hopes to bring families and school communities in APS together in authentic partnerships toward a shared goal for the success of all students.
Adam Mann has served as SEPTA treasurer for two years. He is the proud father of three pre-school children. This year he will graduate as a newly-minted Registered Nurse from Marymount University and will work next fall at the Cardiac ICU at Children’s National Medical Center. In his free time, he dreams of having free time and cheers on the Fighting Irish!
Clarette Yen is an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Disability Rights Section. She has a 3rd grader at Long Branch and her 5th grader will graduate from ATS this spring and attend HB Woodlawn in the fall.
Alison Cassels has served as a Parent Liaison for two years and as VP Communications for one, creating SEPTA’s fabulous flyers this year, She is a proud mom to a museum and science-loving 8 year old and entertaining, Lego-loving 5 year old. Since leaving the world of full-time museum fundraising and events, Alison has enjoyed exploring digital and web design in addition to volunteering at her kids’ school and with Arlington SEPTA.
Hannah Grieco is a former elementary school teacher at Drew Model School, and a current mom to three kids. Her background and strong belief in both inclusion and collaborative gifted instruction was put to the test this past year, when one of her children required a specialized school placement due to his educational needs. The world of special education opened up in a new way, and her journey led her to SEPTA. She is a determined advocate for parents, and a proponent for teacher and staff training regarding mental health in children and adolescents.
Melissa Craig is the mom of a 5-year old boy with Down syndrome who is in his 4th year of pre-K at Reed and will be at McKinley in the fall. Melissa is also an Account Executive with UnitedHealthcare and manages a non-profit with her husband called Eli’s Heart. The family is active in the DS community. Melissa is excited to co-chair the Events Committee and take a more involved role in SEPTA. She and her husband are also avid Caps fans.
Minerva Trudo has served two years as a Parent Liaison for Jamestown Elementary and one year as VP Fundraising. She is a DC native and long time Arlington resident with her husband, son, stepson, and stepdaughter. Most of her life has been revolved around education, children and/or fundraising, starting as a Registration Assistant and Associate for the University of Maryland to Conference Services Assistant and Membership Director for Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Minerva also helped raise funds for Make-A-Wish Foundation DC Chapter and was the Vice President of Ways and Means for Child Help USA – former DC region. She enjoys reading, horse back riding and traveling the world though time really limits the last two.
Melissa Wadman is the Manager of Program Evaluation at the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access. Her work at the Smithsonian includes overseeing various evaluation projects related to educational programming and facilitating a culture of evaluation institution-wide. She has worked on a variety of educational evaluation projects involving school-museum partnership programs and was the PI for a grant project in collaboration with the University of Maryland on what supports students need for self-directed learning with Smithsonian digital assets. She has extensive experience in informal learning evaluation working with a variety of museums including children’s museums, science centers, art museums and history museums. She is now interested in looking into how digital museum resources can be made more accessible, especially to those with vision impairment. Melissa is the mother to two children who attend Campbell Elementary.
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