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Chief Executive Officer's Biography |
Cha-Ger Yang is the CEO of Prairie Seeds Academy, a public Academy in Brooklyn Park serving Minneapolis and the smaller surrounding suburbs. Prairie Seeds Academy has about 590 students, K-11 and soon will be expanding to K-12 in this coming year. Prairie Seeds Academy employs 65 full time employees and 15 contracted consultants and temporary employees. Cha-Ger manages an annual budget of over 6 million. His passion is to make a difference in the lives of young children. The CEO's leadership ability sets a positive tone for cooperation, honor and social responsibility across all stakeholders.
Cha-Ger holds an advanced degree in Educational Administrative Licensure from Saint Mary's University, a Master Degree in Educational Curriculum and Instruction for grades K-12 from The University of Saint Thomas, an ESL Certification for grades K-12 from Hamline University, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Technology focusing in facility engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
Prior to his work at Prairie Seeds Academy, Cha-Ger worked at a civil engineering firm for 5 years. He then taught bilingual math and science in Minneapolis School District for 7 years. In 2004, Cha-Ger became the Principal for Prairie Seeds Academy and now the CEO of the school.
Choua Yang is the Principal of Prairie Seeds Academy. She manages all academics starting from Kindergarten to, currently, 11th grade. She started her teaching career in Minneapolis Public Schools in 1996 as a bilingual Social Studies and Hmong Literacy teacher at Folwell Middle School. There she inspired the lives of many young children, which is the root of her passion that brought her into the educational system. In 2004, she was promoted to Jenny Lind Elementary School and worked as a Project Coordinator.
In 2006, she was given the opportunity to become the Principal of St. Paul Family Learning Center.
At the time, St. Paul Family Learning Center had not been making AYP for the past five years. After one year, with Choua's excellent leadership skills and natural ability to drive student achievement, she had pulled the staff and students together and assisted in helping them to succeed. In 2007, St. Paul Family Learning Center made AYP.
She eventually was recruited back into Minneapolis Public School District to fulfill the Assistant Principal position at North High School, and then promoted to ELL Director at the Minneapolis Central Office where she led and managed 90 ELL school sites.
She is now the Principal here at Prairie Seeds Academy.
Choua earned her advanced degree in Educational Administration Licensure K-12 from Saint Mary's University, Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction K-12 at the University of St. Thomas, ESL and Bilingual Education K-12 at Hamline University and a Bachelor of Science Degree at the University of Wisconsin Stout in Marketing/ Vocational 7-12.
My name is Desiree Coon and I am the Curriculum Coordinator here at Prairie Seeds Academy. I have been teaching in California for 13 years. Students that I have taught ranged from 3rd -8th grade. With each group I have enjoyed teaching for various reasons. 3rd graders are like sponges waiting to soak up the knowledge that I have to offer them. 6th graders are in the in-between stages of their development, and they are fun loving. 8th graders are on their way to becoming young adults and striving to discover what they are. I received my degree in Liberal Arts and teaching credential at Cal State Hayward in CA.
I was born and raised in California. I originally came from Southern California, but my family moved to Northern California when I was a senior in high school. This was extremely hard on me, but I survived. I continued to live in the area until my recent move to Minnesota. My family and I moved here in June, 2007. We settled in the Monticello area where my Dad lives. We have enjoyed spending our time with the family. I have four children. Raelyn is 20 and in the Army. She was just deployed to Korea and will spend a year there. Ryan is 16 and a junior in high school. He enjoys playing football for his school. Kyle is 11 and started middle school. Like his brother, he plays football too. Alexis is four and starting preschool. She is so excited to be like her older siblings.
Hobbies that I enjoy doing are camping, reading, and spending time with my children. We enjoy taking out our fifth wheel and seeing the countryside. We drove to Minnesota this summer and went through seven states. We did not get to see much of them, but we enjoyed the landscape. I always try to read a book a month and enjoy reading historical fiction. My family enjoys spending time at sporting events and family gatherings. I am excited about being here at Prairie Seeds Academy and look forward to a great year.
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