The Grade 5-6 STEM Team
For Grades 5-6, the STEM program is led by Kirsten Matsumoto (Science), Topher Mueller (Technology), and Tom Schmottlach (Math).
Kirsten Matsumoto
Kirsten joined Stevenson in 1997 to teach Spanish to grades 1-6 after spending three years managing a multilingual health education initiative in South Australia. From 1999 to 2008, she taught Spanish to seventh and eighth graders. In September 2008, she returned to the fifth grade where she began her career 20 years ago. In 2012, an opportunity for cross-curricular STEM education opened up, and she jumped at the chance.
Other teaching experiences include: K-5 Spanish at the former Waldorf School of the Monterey Peninsula; English, math and science in fifth and sixth grade at St. John's Episcopal School in Puerto Cortes, Honduras, and adult English classes in Sweden. In Honduras, she was on staff at Our Little Roses home for girls for two years. For the past several years, has continued to travel to Honduras to volunteer at Our Little Roses. She lives in Monterey with her husband George and children Daniel and Kevin. Contact info: [email protected] cell: 601-4132 |
Education:
1993 Monterey Institute of International Studies, MA 1986 University of California, Berkeley, BA (Go Bears!) 1984-1985 University of Uppsala, Sweden 1981 Piedmont High School, Piedmont, CA |
Topher Mueller
After well over a decade of teaching experience in Elementary classrooms and adult training as an instructional designer and consultant, then web designer and programmer, Topher joined Stevenson School in 2008 as the Laptop Coordinator for the Carmel Campus. He now acts as the Education Technology Director for the campus - enabling the entire school community to use technology with efficiency, innovation, and responsibility, in and out of the classroom.
Topher is particularly interested in expanding the STEM program throughout the curricula at Stevenson, through all grades and in the afterschool and Jr. Camp programs - from robotics to programming, gamemaking, and multimedia tinkering and more. He currently works aside parent Dr. John McEachen to coach the First Lego League Robotics Team. He also serves locally on the board of Loaves, Fishes & Computers, an organization dedicated to closing the digital divide in Monterey County by refurbishing donated computers (that would otherwise retire as ewaste) and making them available to low-income individuals and families. Contact info: [email protected] 831-626-5214 Note: For details on technology at Stevenson School, click here for our school website. |
Education:
2003 Southern Illinois University M.S. Instructional Design & Technology 1998 Northern Illinois University B.S. Curriculum & Instruction, PK-8 1995 Waubonsee Community College A.A.S. Operations Management / Information Systems |
Tom SchmottlachTom is starting his second year here at Stevenson. He will be teaching 5th and 6th grade math as well as writing curriculum for the new and exciting STEM program. He recently moved back to Monterey from Alexandria, Virginia where he was teaching 7th and 8th grade science.
Tom's journey westward began in 1990 when he drove his little red truck out to California and started working as an ocean engineer at the Naval Postgraduate School. His love for the ocean found him scuba diving all over the bay as well as volunteering as a feeding show diver at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. His career to become a classroom teacher was a circuitous journey. He was involved with marine education in the Philippines as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1996-1998, and then taught at several outdoor education schools in southern California. His love for hands-on science and math as well as the desire to bring this style of teaching into the classroom, drove Tom to get his Teaching Credential at Humboldt State University. He has taught math and science at the Santa Catalina School in Monterey and even traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal to teach at the Lincoln International School from 2007-2009. It was here that he met his lovely wife, Namrata Shrestha, and they can be found riding around Monterey on their tandem bicycle. Contact Info: [email protected] cell: 233-2239 |
The Schmottlach Family
Education:
1985 University of New Hampshire, BS 1987 University of New Hampshire, MS 2003 Humboldt State Univ, CA Teaching Credential |