Visionary Change Agent Educator Institute
Curriculum Writing Retreat
Spanish & English Language Immersion Summer Camps
PARTNER, Teachers, and Consultants
Building bridges between people of different backgrounds and inspiring transformational change take time, coalition- building, collaboration, and partnerships. The educators and speakers listed below will be joining us to lead and facilitate two exciting programs taking place in Medellin, Colombia the week of June 23-27, 2025. One is the Spanish Immersion Summer Day Camp, taught by Profe Erick Linares and Sra. Margarita Medina, and the second is the SEL/DEI Curriculum Writing Retreat, led by Dr. Tameka Hobbs, Cassie Koscianski and Lily Medina.
Profe Erick Linares
Erick Linares is a dedicated Spanish teacher with nearly two decades of experience. He is currently the Spanish teacher for grades Kindergarten through 3rd grades at Seattle Country Day School. Erick is passionate about language education and always tells his students that mistakes are a good indication that they are trying their best, especially when learning a new language, which can be challenging. His goal is to inspire and engage his students by making Spanish learning enjoyable and accessible. Outside the classroom, he loves futbol and traveling, which helps him bring a global perspective to his teaching. Originally from Guatemala, Erick first started to learn English by watching Karate Kid and the Terminator!
Cassie Koscianski
Cassie Koscianski is a third-grade teacher at Seattle Country Day School, where she also serves as the Synapse program coordinator, collaborating with teachers to create engaging, student-centered curriculum. She brings experience from several years at an international school in Brazil, where she held positions as primary school assistant principal, IB coordinator, and elementary school teacher. She is dedicated to developing students as thinkers, inquirers, and compassionate change-makers. Her extensive experience with the IB Primary Years Program (PYP), inquiry-based learning, and curriculum development drives her commitment to fostering systems and routines that create a positive learning culture and accelerate student achievement. In her free time, Cassie loves hiking and trail running, enjoying all the ways nature offers inspiration and renewal.
Sra. Margarita Medina
Margarita Medina is a graphic designer and illustrator with more than 15 years of experience as an educator. Her professional career began supporting business ventures in their early years. She then began to work in the community, promoting inclusion for students and young entrepreneurs. She helped them meet their goals based on their dreams and abilities.
Working with different types of populations has allowed her to explore talent through culture and art. Currently, she is a teacher at a public educational institution in Medellín, where she teaches art classes to 6th and 7th grade students, and graphic design to 10th and 11th grade students.
She says,"art is a way to discover talents through sensitivity to materials and the exploration of techniques that allow students to be, more than do." She encourages them to discover how valuable they are and to value their origins, exploring who they are, and finding out what they can offer.
Lily Medina, Ed.S.
Lily Medina is the Founder and Director of Visionary Change Agent, Consulting, and the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Seattle Country Day School where she works with parents, faculty, and students, developing effective programming that integrates social emotional learning with diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Spanish, recipient of a Master of Education in Counseling Psychology and secondary education from Loyola University of Chicago, and she also has a Specialist degree in Educational Leadership from Florida International University. Prior to joining Seattle Country Day, she was the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Village Community School in NYC and the Director of Counseling at St. Thomas Episcopal School in Miami, Florida. She has several years of international school experience as a counselor at the International School of Amsterdam and Atlanta International School. Her background in counseling directly impacts her approach to transformational practices in education and leadership.
Tameka Bradley Hobbs, Ph.D.
Tameka Bradley Hobbs is the Library Regional Manager of Broward Public Library’s African American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She has also worked as a researcher, writer, consultant, and director for several public and oral history projects. She earned her undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University, and her doctoral degree in United States History and Historical Administration and Public History from Florida State University. Her book, Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home: Racial Violence in Florida, was published by the University Press of Florida and has been awarded bronze medal for the 2015 Florida Book Award for Florida Nonfiction, and the 2016 Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Award from the Florida Historical Society.
Hobbs has appeared in several award-winning documentaries including Liberty Burning, You Belong to Me: Sex, Race, and Murder in the South, Crossing Overtown, and George Stephanopoulos’s Grand Knighthawk: Infiltrating the KKK.
In 2024, Hobbs was recognized as one of 50 Movers & Shakers in the nation by Library Journal magazine. Additionally, the Black History Saturday School Series that she conceptualized has received commendations from both the National Association of Counties and the Urban Libraries Council.
South Florida People of Color
One of the things our Unity360 in schools program does well is helping with a culture shift. For most of the schools we have worked creatively with faculty, diversity councils, parent associations, and youth. The multi-pronged approach moves the needle more quickly, and roots out particularly problematic policies and individuals in the process. Additionally, the we-are-all-in-this-work- together sensibility of this approach often works as a balm, creating some patience, as problem areas are worked out.
We utilize experiential education and deep dialogue, as well as sharing key terminology, to explore aspects of identity, implicit bias, and structural and institutional oppression that affect all people.