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Michaela O'Connor

Latin America Instructor

Middlebury College – Environmental Studies and Creative Arts, Minor in Spanish

BA Middlebury College (magna cum laude) in Environmental Studies and Creative Arts, minor in Spanish

Michaela’s life-long passions for adventure, the outdoors, and connecting with others have propelled her from her home in the Berkshire Hills of New England to work and lead across the Americas.  She took full advantage of her liberal arts education and earned degrees in Environmental Studies, Creative Arts, and Spanish at Middlebury College in Vermont.  As an undergraduate, Michaela also had the opportunity to live, study, and work in the port city of Valparaíso, Chile.  There she gained greater mastery of the Spanish language, and a deeper love for Latin American culture.  Her work with a Chilean environmental outreach organization inspired her to consider a career in education.

Upon graduating, Michaela moved to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and began teaching high school Spanish.  She fell in love with guiding students’ learning… and has been at it ever since!  In addition to her years teaching in a classroom setting, she has spent time instructing experiential programs in Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, and Costa Rica.  Michaela believes that immersive education and hands-on learning are invaluable.  Her roles as an experiential educator and a language teacher both inform and compliment each other.

Michaela currently lives near the ocean just south of San Francisco, and works at Sea Crest School in Half Moon Bay.  There she teaches middle school Spanish, coordinates the school’s Environmental Stewardship program, and instructs various creative courses in the performing arts.  She is also immersed in graduate studies—working towards her M.S. in Ecological Teaching and Learning.  Michaela believes that all time is “free time,” but when she is not doing school-related work, she is busy hiking with friends, camping, surfing, reading, biking, volunteering at the local community resource center, making art, learning to cook, or writing songs on her ukulele.