Anna has been working at Mychal's since the fall of 2007. She graduated from Bishop Montgomery High School and is currently attending California State University Long Beach pursuing a degree in Kinesiology with a focus on fitness. Anna also plans to pursue a degree in Biology with a focus on anatomy while at CSULB and has hopes to attend Medical School. Her all time favorite activities are cooking, baking, running, exercising, shopping and playing with her little sister.
Monica has been at Mychal's since January 2011. She is twenty years old and lives in Santa Monica and her family lives in San Bernadino. Monica is attending Santa Monica College for her general education with plans to transfer in a year to Dominguez Hills. Her hobbies include snowboarding and going to the beach to tan.
Pablo Ildefonso
Pablo was born and raised in the South Bay, comes from a Hispanic and Filipino family and is the youngest of three. He graduated from Leuzinger High School and now attends West Los Angeles College. After many jobs at the airport and car dealerships, he found himself at Mychal's and considers it his home away from home. Pablo started at the old Hawthorne site 5 years ago and is now the head teacher in Culver City. His hobbies include playing basketball, drawing and cooking. He and his wife, Pamela, are expecting their first baby (a boy named Joel).
Shay is 20 years old and has been working at Mychal's for about two and a half years. She graduated in 2009 from Culver City High School and is now working on getting her GE while attending Santa Monica College. At Mychal's, Shay teaches Kempo Karate along with helping to teach cooking, cleaning, art and physical training. She loves everything she does with the students at Mychal's and feels that all of the opportunities they have here help them achieve great things in their every day life and it's amazing. Shay's hobbies include art, singing, dancing, karate, camping and traveling. She is also very involved in Demolay and Jobs Daughters.
Janett Palache
Jessica started at Mychal's in March of 2007. She is currently in school majoring in liberal studies with aspirations of being an elementary school teacher. Working at Mychal's has truly been a joy for Jessica and she is grateful that she has been given the opportunity to do something she loves. She enjoys reading, smiling, talking and laughing. She says, "I know I was brought to this program to bring love to the kids and that this is what I plan on doing, spreading my love so each and every one of them know and feel that someone out there does love and care for them!"
Molly started working at Mychal's in 2008 as part of her high school community service hours. She knew about Mychal's because of her brother, Matthew, who was one of the first students to attend the Culver City site after school program. After working for several months, Molly realized that she had an interest in working in this field. After high school, Molly started taking early childhood development and psychology classes at Santa Monica College. She hopes to transfer to Cal State Northridge next year and major in special education. In her spare time, Molly enjoys reading, photography and playing with her 18 1/2 pound cat, Rocko.
David has been with the Mychal's family since 2004. He is working on his business degree so he can start up his own business and hopefully start a program like Mychal's in the near future. He became the site supervisor in Hawthorne last summer and he loves it. He has been very happy being a part of Mychal's family and friends.
Starla has been a part of the Mychal's Learning Place family now since 2006. She left the program for a period of time to complete her B.A. degree in the field of special education and returned to Mychal's this past summer. She is currently completing her mild-moderate and moderate-severe special education teaching credential at Cal State University Los Angeles. It is her pleasure to work at Mychal's and contribute in every way she knows how to this program that benefits our amazing teens. Starla's current hobbies include planning her upcoming wedding, reading, painting and writing.
After working at Mattel for a few years, Ellen took some time off to start a family. The family moved to Colorado for 5 years and has now been back in the South Bay area the last 2 years. Ellen has been Ed's assistant since February 2010 and works part time at Mychal's. She loves being in the new building and having the opportunity to interact with the students. Ellen spends her time off with her husband of 13 years, three young children (ages 6, 8 & 10) and their St. Bernard mix dog. She also volunteers for her daughter's Girl Scout troop as the "Cookie Mom".