Kara Friedel is in her fourth year as the ESL Secondary Support Specialist for Chesterfield County Public Schools. She taught ESL for 8 years in elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as Adult ESL classes. Kara is a member of VESA and WELV. She is a proud Hokie who is now pursuing her master’s in Administration and Supervision through the University of Virginia. Kara is a proud wife, mom, and dog mom to her golden retriever, Kix. 

Kara looks forward to serving in her role on the VATESOL board as Membership Chair.  

Kathryn Manning currently works at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind as an ELL Teacher. A self-professed language nerd, she taught English in Japan for three years before returning to the U.S. in 2017 to pursue her degree in MAT TESOL Education. While opportunities to use Japanese are rare in her current setting, she enjoys innovating with ASL and Braille to support dually identified English Learners, sometimes even outside the classroom during cross country or blind soccer practice.

Kathryn looks forward to serving in her role on the VATESOL board as K-12 SIG.

This is Max Nikoolkan's fifth year serving as an elementary ESL/ELL teacher for Loudoun County Public school as well as his second year as an ESL/ELL Adult Instructor. Previously, he has served as Asian American Chair of the Equity Committee for Loudoun County Public Schools and continues to serve as co-equity leady for his own school site. Before public school teaching, he previously received a Fulbright to teach English in South Korea and taught English in Japan through the JET Program.

Max looks forward to serving in his role on the VATESOL board as Blog Editor.