Meet our faculty and staff!
School Administration Team
Lucy Yan 闫潞霞, Head of School
Lucy Yan has joined Shu Ren with more than 23 years of academic and administrative experience in various IB and other international schools. She has gathered valuable experience as Head of School, Academic Principal, Curriculum Director, and IB Chair of Multi-Program and Synchronized Evaluation Visits. She believes in the core of the PYP, which is to cultivate students' initiative (Agency), allowing students to have their own voice, choice, and leadership. She has designed and run various events and activities to kickstart student agencies. Students participated in the design and organization of these activities under the guidance of teachers, which allowed for rich, open-minded, and multicultural understanding experiences for all those involved and which also cultivated students' initiative to lead their learning and to become creative, collaborative, and life-long learners.
Michelle Peng 彭明瑄, Regional Director of Admissions and Marketing
Michelle started her career in Management Information Systems. She was in the corporate world leading cross functional technical programs and projects for fortune 500 companies. Growing up in Taiwan and the States, she attributed her success to wonderful teachers and mentors. They shaped her into a resourceful, determined, and level-headed global thinker that gets things accomplished no matter what obstacles stand in the way. It’s always been a dream of hers to serve as a catalyst to help educators ignite greatness in others. Michelle joined Shu Ren International School in August of 2020. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys traveling and spending quality time with family and friends.
Chien-Hsuan Chen 陈粁嬛, Early Childhood Berkeley Site Director
Chien-Hsuan was born and raised in Taiwan and received her B.A. degree in Early Childhood Education at the Chia Nan University of Pharmacy & Science before finishing her M.A. degree in Curriculum Design at the Dominican University of California. After graduating, Chien-Hsuan worked at Shu Ren International School as the preschool director and Pre-K3 and Pre-K4 teacher from 2008-2012. She later went to work at a Reggio Emilio/IB school in Tokyo, Japan as a Chinese homeroom teacher for 3-5 years old in order to enrich her understanding of secondary language acquisition. Students in Chien-Hsuan’s class will gain Chinese communication skills in a secure environment through student initiated inquiries and hands-on projects, while also experiencing new media forms that enhance children’s creativity and imagination. During her spare time, Chien-Hsuan likes to get as close to nature as possible.
Lam Tsoi 蔡琳, Chinese Program Coordinator
Lam Tsoi joined Shu Ren International School in December 2010 as a volunteer. Tsoi has been a homeroom teacher for grade 2 to grade 5 since 2013. Besides teaching, Tsoi has also acted as our Chinese curriculum coordinator since 2014. Previous to working at Shu Ren, Tsoi worked in a public high school in Hong Kong for 10 years teaching Chinese, Chinese History, and Mandarin. Tsoi received a B.A. and a Master of Philosophy (Chinese Literature) degree from Hong Kong University. Tsoi holds both Chinese and Mandarin teaching credentials in Hong Kong and has also passed the California Single Subject Test in Chinese. She has completed the certificate program in Teaching Chinese as a Heritage/Foreign Language awarded by UC Berkeley. Tsoi enjoys reading, traveling, and eating.
Evita Flock, Primary Years Programme (PYP) Coordinator
Evita Flock is grateful to work in the field of education in which she can be a lifelong learner and strives to instill this love of learning in her students. She has taught in PreK through eighth grade in independent schools abroad and in California over the past 20 years. Overseas, she was introduced to the IB curriculum, and immediately witnessed its impact on student engagement and learning. While abroad, she took on the role of PYP Coordinator, and in collaboration with her principal, successfully led her school through the PYP authorization process. Evita later deepened her knowledge of inquiry-based instruction and became a Concept-Based Inquiry Trainer through Professional Learning International. Since then, she has written and filmed a series of classroom snapshots illustrating what a concept-based inquiry classroom looks like. Evita earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education Methods from Loyola College and a master’s degree in Child and Adolescent Literacy from Loyola Marymount University. In her freetime, she enjoys hiking, ballet and traveling.
Alson Yeung, Administrative Officer and Student Registrar
Alson was born and raised here in the East Bay, spending many summers abroad in China and Malaysia. He completed his undergraduate at U.C. Santa Cruz, majoring in European History with a minor in Education. Returning to the Bay Area, he continued his education in the Dual Masters in Forensic and Counseling Psychology Program at Holy Names University in Oakland, CA. Beginning in 2016, Alson taught in Oakland as an assistant in the PE and history departments, eventually becoming a middle school Lead Special Education Teacher of writing. Alson has a deep passion in education, accessibility, and understanding each student as a unique individual. In his free time he enjoys archery, hiking, and anything related to history.