BIOS

Frona Kahn

President, DesignWorlds for College

Frona L. Kahn, Vice President and co-founder of DesignWorlds, has helped shape and continuously influence the education technology industry for over 20 years. Her work with top Fortune 500 companies and non-profit organizations, including major players like Apple, PBS, Compaq and Fisher-Price, Computer Curriculum Corporation, Microsoft, Grolier, and Gateway Learning Corporation, have made technology desirable, fashionable, marketable, and accessible to schools and families across California.

​In 1981, as a co-founder of The Learning Company (TLC), Mrs. Kahn pioneered innovative, award-winning educational computer software products for young children such as Reader Rabbit. Frona developed the strategy for addressing the entire home market segment for TLC. She also pioneered and directed the Educational Sales and Marketing Division, which became a cornerstone of TLC’s business. With her help, The Learning Company was bought by Mattel for $8 billion.

Frona is also an award-winning author and recipient of the Parents Choice Award, for Play Together, Learn Together, one of the first combination book and software products for parents and children. She was a member of the founding Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley-based Children’s Discovery Museum, a major museum which has since won national and international acclaim. Frona was responsible for spearheading the first introduction of software into bookstores with Simon and Schuster.

Frona has now been in the business of college coaching for over 20 years and has served over 1,300 students in helping them accomplish their goals, find their paths, and get them on track to realizing their dreams.

Ted M. Kahn, Ph.D.

Chairman and Chief Learning Officer

Ted and his DesignWorlds team applied this background in creating the key web content and web educational marketing messages for Apple in 2000 to support their launch of iMovie, and some of this web content still remains on Apple’s digital movies and education web site today. He has recently been the founding director of the Bay Area Science Education Collaboratory. Initially funded by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Family Foundation, this provided  a dynamic web-based resource and learning community for middle school science teachers, students and parents. He is also the founding creative director of the Mindseum, a cross-disciplinary open informal learning resource related to exploring the connections between the mind/brain via cognitive/neuroscience, psychology, STEM, neurotechnology,  and neuroarts and health.

As a member or advisor for numerous museums, government organizations, and public-private collaborations, Ted is actively engaged with contemporary trends in technology, education, artificial and augmented intelligence, and science, media & computational literacies. His current focus is on integrating AI with convergence education and futures thinking  to engage students in collaborative transdisciplinary learning to explore and address complex global challenges and new emerging fields, such as neuroarts. He has also been the keynote speaker at national and international conferences on creative education, technology and learning.

Ted has also been the keynote speaker at national and international conferences on creative education, technology and learning In 2003, the late NMC: New Media Consortium named Ted as its first NMC Fellow, its highest individual honor, for his lifelong work in the development and use of digital media and interactive technologies for learning, teaching and creative expression. H he has also been a Senior Fellow  at the School of Education & Information Studies at UCLA, a Distinguished Visiting Scholar with the MediaX Project at Stanford University and is currently a Senior Visiting Scholar & Director of Special Projects with the Center for Digital Curricula in the College of Engineering, University of Michigan and a Senior Fellow (Center for Global Soundscapes)  & Adjunct Professor in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University. 

Ted‘s current projects and interests include collaborative education projects integrating AI and digital sonification technologies with environmental and climate change awareness through a global Symphony for the Earth, development of  a “Peace Games” design collaboratory and social action research to help combat anti-Semitism, bigotry and hate in K-12 schools and on college campuses.

Ted Kahn’s CV

Sarah Tondreau, Ph.D. 

Essay Coach

Sarah received a B.A. in chemistry from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she was also a member of the women’s tennis team and earned NCAA Division III All-American honors. After college, she attended Cornell University and graduated with a PhD in chemistry and five first-author papers published in high-level, peer-reviewed journals. She then completed a two-year postdoctoral position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland, where she worked with students and researchers from around the world.

Currently, Sarah works from home, loves hiking with her family, and is enjoying helping DWC students craft their admissions essays.

Deneene Bell | M.A. | ERYT/YACEP

Essay Coach

Deneene is a freelance writer, editor, and private writing instructor with an M.A. in Composition and over 25 years of teaching experience. She has worked with students of all ages, levels, backgrounds, and abilities, teaching literacy skills, and creative and expository writing at SFSU—where she helped pioneer new curricula for first-generation freshmen—and at Stanford’s Education Program for Gifted Youth—where she was one of the first to teach synchronous online classes using Centra conferencing software. She has also regularly worked as a book editor, copywriter, ESL instructor, and college essay adviser. In addition to teaching writing, Deneene also teaches yoga, which she discovered alongside her grad school studies as a great leveler of the mind and manifestation of self-wisdom. As a certified and experienced teacher in both writing and yoga, she has thousands of hours of instruction time in classrooms, studios, and Zoom rooms. Her strength is artfully weaving the practices of writing and philosophies of yoga together into individualized forms of embodied expression that help students grow in self-awareness, mental flexibility, and confidence—whether on the page, on the mat, or in life.

Leilani Serafin, Ph.D.

Essay Coach and Lead Editor

Leilani Serafin is an instructional designer and e-learning developer who promotes anti-anxiety and trauma-informed educational experiences in all areas of life. She started her teaching journey as a university writing instructor, working at California State University, Los Angeles, and at the University of California, Davis. After eight years of classroom teaching experience, she transitioned into educational consulting, assessment development and coordination, higher ed operations, and finally, instructional design. Now, she helps her fellow employees develop and advance their knowledge on the job.

She lives with her husband in beautiful Mendocino, California, where they are owned by two rabbits who run the entire household and generally judge their life choices.

Shannah Markow Whithaus

Essay Coach

I am a teacher, writer, and entrepreneur who has appeared on TV and radio talking about her work coaching women entrepreneurs for a business incubator in the New York area. My experience includes creating courses and promotional materials for 1, 2, and 3-day training sessions on a variety of technical and communication topics, teaching people how to communicate their values in high-pressure situations, teaching advanced undergraduates how to communicate in business and scientific settings, and helping individuals talk about themselves in compelling ways.

I have helped MBA candidates at Drexel’s Center for Graduate Studies in Sacramento to communicate clearly when writing, speaking, or developing PowerPoint presentations. I have also taught technical, business, and scientific writing to advanced undergraduates at the University of California, Davis, Old Dominion University, and Thomas Nelson Community College. Previous clients include the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Old Dominion University’s Darden College of Education, Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Baruch College’s Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Hoboken’s Monroe Center for the Arts, and professors and advanced degree candidates in various disciplines, such as sociology, biology, religion, and psychology.

I work with students in one of two ways:

• In group settings in long or short courses focused on specific topics like “Writing for Science Majors” or “Developing the Personal Essay.”
• One-on-one in individual or a series of coaching sessions to develop particular pieces of writing, from college essays to dissertations.

Besides writing, editing, and teaching, I enjoy riding bikes around town, doing yoga with my kids, hiking, reading, and gardening. I look forward to getting to know you.

Erin Lilly-Davison

Tutor

Born and raised mostly in the Bay Area, Erin is the middle child of three. She feels very fortunate that her family hosted many exchange students and traveled to Europe as these experiences helped broaden her view of the world. Her Freshman year of high school she spent with a French family and attended school in Paris, France. She credits this experience with fostering her confidence and independence. In high school she was active in many clubs, ran long-distance track for a season, participated and planned many retreats, and enjoyed service to others. Her favorite classes were English and Philosophy.

After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in English with a French minor from The University of Portland, she continued with her Master of Arts in Teaching from Portland State University. She taught French and Religious Studies at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, California for three years before moving to her husband’s alma mater in Salem, Oregon. She has taught English and French at Sprague High School in Salem, Oregon the last 17 years. This spring, she will instruct a French for Travelers class at the local community college.

She enjoys challenging students to reach their potential. She is always looking for more effective ways to reach her students with engaging curriculum and connections. She can often be found in her room at lunch or late into the afternoon helping students. It is important for her to breakdown the aspects of good writing to demystify the writing process and help students build awareness of their craft.

Summer is a chance for Erin to refresh herself. Once an avid home gardener, she now appreciates the bounty and variety of fruits and vegetables – as well as great camaraderie – she finds while volunteering summers at her friend’s farm. She enjoys jumping waves with her youngest, dancing with her middle child, and sharing good books with her oldest. She would love to travel more, but she doesn’t always get the chance to go very far. Luckily for her, the Oregon Coast and Cascade Mountain Range are both close by, and she sneaks in hikes or camping trips when she can.

Matthew Schmidt

Essay Coach

Veteran communicator in B2B and B2C environments, with deep knowledge in multiple high technology segments and ability to serve as trusted counselor and collaborator with staff, peers, product teams and senior management. Have worked across nearly four decades with an equal mix of start-ups and multinational companies in dozens of industry and technology areas, including wired/wireless communications, authentication and systems security, green engineering and design, extended reality, industrial/operational technology, and the IoT.

Matt’s experience during a 30+ year career in technology marketing included executive coaching and development of brand stories. In the last seven years, he has helped scores of Design Worlds students navigate the college essay process, advising them on how to translate their experiences and aspirations into compelling narratives that help them stand out in the competitive admissions environment of the nation’s leading universities.