News at Buckley

New Faces at Buckley

We are thrilled to announce that we have made two new hires this week: Don Smith (pictured left), our new head of Middle School, and Erwin Wong (pictured right), our new director of enrollment management.
About Don
Don Smith will join Buckley on July 1 as our new head of Middle School. Don comes to Buckley with 17 years of experience in education, having taught as a lower school assistant teacher at The Oaks, a seventh and eighth grade humanities teacher and advisory coordinator at Wildwood, and, most recently, the assistant director of middle school at Brentwood. Don is excited to join Buckley’s efforts to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community where students are known and recognized, and where teachers are passionate about incorporating innovative, project-based teaching practices into their classrooms. 
 
After taking into consideration the community feedback, their own experiences with the candidates, and deep reference checks, the search committee unanimously recommended Don as Buckley’s next Middle School head. Even over Zoom, Don exudes warmth and joy. His passion for educating Middle School students in particular is palpable and contagious. With experience overseeing advisory, creating faculty professional development to support the transition to remote learning, and developing systems for curricular audits, Don brings rich leadership experience to our community. The Middle School faculty and senior administrative team are excited about partnering with him to help students to, in the words of our mission, find joy and meaning in life. 

Welcome to Don and his family!

About Erwin
Erwin is coming to Buckley with over twenty years of experience in admissions and advancement work. He currently serves as director of admissions, enrollment and financial aid at Convent & Stuart Hall: Schools in the Sacred Heart tradition, in San Francisco. Erwin was drawn to Buckley for its mission, and in particular our school’s commitment to educating the whole child in the context of a diverse, equitable and inclusive community. 
 
We appreciate Erwin’s natural warmth, his deep desire to meaningfully connect with everyone he encounters, and his passion for helping families find the right school community for their children. We have discovered over several months of conversation with him that Erwin also possesses a keen understanding of data and analytics and an ability to build strategic partnerships with community leaders, organizations, and peer schools and preschools. At Convent & Stuart Hall, Calvary Christian School in Pacific Palisades and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, where he also served as director of admission, Erwin successfully built a strong network of relationships and as a result, expanded the diversity of each school’s applicant pool. Our admissions team at Buckley is excited to partner with Erwin in order to achieve this goal.
 
We are eager to help Erwin and his family feel at home at Buckley!
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