Our Team
Ben Pineda is going into his 38th year of teaching. It will be his 35th year at Haslett Middle School, where he has taught mostly 8th grade social studies. He is the advisor for three clubs at HMS… Sexuality And Gender Alliance, Fishing, and Pickleball. Ben also serves as the mentor teacher and instructor in a unique program for MSU Teacher Education juniors.
Outside of Haslett Middle School, Ben is involved in other areas of education. Ben serves on Governor Whitmer’s Governor’s Educator Advisory Council, as well as on a national council known as the Middle School Advisory Network. When needed, Ben also works with the Michigan Department of Education to evaluate and write standardized test items for social studies and language arts, as well as creating tutorial videos to help teachers navigate McGraw Hill textbooks.
Ben’s interests include the great outdoors, being active in the community, Pickleball, and most of all, spending time with his children. “Life is busy… and life is good!”
Carlie Smiley graduated from Wayne State University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and a concentration in Mathematics Education. She is a 5th year Kindergarten teacher at University Prep Academy Mark Murray Elementary School in downtown Detroit where she also holds the role of Title I Afterschool Coordinator overseeing Mark Murray’s tutoring and enrichment programs. She is also in the first year of her fellowship in the Early Career Educators program with Teach For America. In just her 3rd year of teaching, Carlie earned a rating as a Highly Effective Educator in the state of Michigan. Outside of teaching, Carlie enjoys reading, cooking new recipes, and spending time with her family, many of whom are also educators.
Caroline Semrau is a dedicated teacher of 26 years, with 10 of those years being at A2STEAM @ Northside. Throughout her career, she has taught preschool, first grade, third grade, fifth grade and sixth grade in Ann Arbor, Whitmore Lake and Dexter, as well as Los Angeles, CA. She plays an active role in developing project based learning lesson plans that integrate academic content with community and school resources. Caroline has facilitated professional development within her school, district and as a presenter at the Michigan Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference. She has also served as a mentor teacher to aspiring educators from the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. A lifelong learner, Caroline is constantly pursuing professional development opportunities to strengthen and expand her expertise.
When not trying to figure out how to change the world within her school environment, Caroline enjoys staying active through swimming, walking, hiking, playing pickleball,yoga and other exercises that foster joy and community. She participates in Filipino folkloric dance through PACE-MI and is involved in APISAA, an Asian American Pacific Islander/South Asian Parent Advocacy group in Ann Arbor. Most importantly, Caroline values spending quality time with family and friends.
Katherine Dudzik is an experienced early childhood educator with over twenty years teaching at-risk preschoolers. Her work is grounded in equity-based education, early childhood advocacy, and a deep appreciation for multicultural children's literature. Drawing inspiration from her own biracial upbringing—spending time with both her Polish and Japanese relatives—she brings a rich, personal perspective to her teaching and advocacy, fostering inclusive and culturally responsive learning environments for young children.
Richard Mui currently works at Canton High, where his present course load includes AP U.S. History, AAPI History, Issues and Culture, and Civics. Furthermore, Richard is engaged in the school community through his longtime tenure as the head freshman football coach, advisor for the Asian Pacific American Club, and the co-advisor for Canton Congress. Richard is also the instructor for Wayne State’s ASN 2500, Introduction to Asian American Studies.
Outside the classroom, Richard currently serves as the Board president of the Association of Chinese Americans. Other free time is spent gardening, cooking, and learning new things. His current project is collecting an absurd number of houseplants, particularly succulents.
Jungmin Kwon is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. Her research centers on immigrant children and families, bilingualism and biliteracy, and transnational migration. Using ethnographic, child-centered, and community-engaged approaches, she documents the lives and literacies of immigrant children and families. Her research is shaped by her own experiences navigating bilingualism, raising two Asian American children, and living and teaching in Korea and across multiple U.S. states. Outside of her research, she enjoys spending time with her daughters making stories, playing Roblox, and exploring fun places in their local community.
Roland was born in the Philippines, raised in California, and has lived in the Midwest (Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan) since 2000. He started as a pre-med in college, but fell in love with literature and history and changed majors. Prior to becoming a professor, he was a high school English teacher, a university student affairs professional, and a community organizer in the Los Angeles area. A wanna-be foodie, Roland enjoys traveling, playing volleyball, and watching Korean dramas and zombie shows. Unlike many Filipinos, he cannot sing and avoids karaokes.
Min Yu is an Associate Professor of Comparative and International Education and Social Studies Education at Wayne State University. Her research explores the relationships between home, school, and community which built upon her experiences as a teacher and as a community activist working with grassroots organizations both in China and the US. She uses ethnographic research, along with archival research and policy analysis, to develop critical understandings of how social structures impact experiences of students and teachers and the ways in which communities mobilize for educational equity. She shares the love of anime and biking with her family.
Wenyang grew up in China and came to the U.S. for graduate school. She originally majored in economics but fell in love with working with kids and switched to education, eventually landing at the University of Utah where she studies issues of language and power. She is particularly interested in Asian immigrant families navigating bilingual education. When not teaching, Wenyang enjoys traveling, cooking, trying new restaurants, and staying connected with her transnational community of friends. She loves spending time with her 5-year-old daughter, whom she is raising bilingually, and recently became a passionate but not very successful gardener.
Pyeongeun Kim is a doctoral student in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. She is a transnational motherscholar raising two emergent bilingual boys. Originally from South Korea, Pyeongeun brings a decade of experience from the early childhood field, having worked as a preschool teacher and professional developer in Los Angeles, California. Her research investigates language and literacy in bilingual and transnational contexts with a particular focus on early childhood education. When she’s not researching and chasing after her two children, she loves to stay active through workouts and hikes, taking peaceful walks, and playing piano to unwind.
Seungwoo was born and raised in Yeosu, her father’s coastal hometown, and carries Busan—her mother’s—as another homeland. She enjoys archiving everyday moments through photos and videos, especially meals, places, and time with loved ones. Building on her studies in Educational Studies and Psychology in South Korea, she is committed to supporting im/migrant, multilingual, and other communities marginalized by systemic inequities. As a transnational, bilingual scholar-educator, her work engages border-crossing perspectives to explore the intersections of migration, race, language, and literacy in education, as well as the potential of arts and multimodality in this inquiry.
Born and raised in Southeast Michigan, Fiona was born to her parents, who immigrated from the Cebu region in the Philippines to the United States in 2003. Over the years, she fell in love with math, and mixed with her love for working with youth, she developed a passion for teaching. Now she majors in secondary education with a concentration in mathematics at Wayne State University. In her free time, she loves to engage in her passion for music, whether it be through her ukulele or karaoke machine. Otherwise, Fiona enjoys playing recreational volleyball, watching various dramas, and building puzzles.
