US Grade Team Leaders & Deans

Aviel Valenzuela

Melinda Ching

Joe Robinson

For most of my life I lived in Northwest Ohio, but coming to Boston has been a great change in my life. I attended a small Jesuit high school that helped to shape my views of serving others and committing my life to addressing issues of social justice in my community. After high school I attended the University of Michigan and attained a degree in Education with concentrations in Mathematics and History.

Upon graduation I started my teaching career back in Ohio at the very school I graduated from. I felt it was important to not only teach my academic content, but to also have the opportunity to help educate students as a whole individual. I fully enjoyed my experience there, but I felt a higher calling to attain my master’s degree from Boston College. My time in school has taught me the importance of becoming a well-rounded individual that continues to learn throughout my lifetime.

On a lighter note, in my spare time I enjoy playing soccer, listening to music, and hiking/camping in the outdoors.

Tom Manning

Thomas grew up in Jamaica Plain and went to high school at Catholic Memorial in West Roxbury. After graduating from Tufts with a major in English, he stayed at Tufts to coach in the men’s basketball program. Thomas also enrolled in the Education Department and started working toward a master’s degree. A year of coaching, graduate school work, and student teaching in the Medford and Somerville schools convinced him that he wanted to teach and coach at the high school level. The following fall he started teaching, coaching, and running a dormitory at an independent boarding school in southeastern Massachusetts. After nine years, the Mannings decided to move back to the Boston area to try day-school life, and he happily landed at Beaver in the fall of 1990 as an English teacher and basketball coach. It has been exciting to be part of Beaver’s growth and development over the years, and he continues to enjoy his work with Beaver students and their families.

Beaver Country Day School admits qualified students of any race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, creed, handicap status, national origin or ethnicity to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, creed, handicap status, national origin or ethinicity in the administration of its educational, admission, financial aid, athletic or other school-administered programs or policies.