Christopher Keck – Executive Director and Founder
Chris founded Palo Alto Prep in 1987 and has been the director of the school since its founding. His goal was to create a school where learning would be fun for kids. The philosophy is that great teachers and a positive environment hook kids on learning for life. This philosophy, combined with a focus on outdoor experiential learning has created a productive and enjoyable environment conducive to learning.
There is nothing more critical than the link between student and teacher; it is the teacher’s relationship with the student rather than the subject matter that gets a student to stretch out of his comfort zone and take the risk to learn new concepts, ideas and skills.
Chris taught chemistry and biology at PAP from 1986 to 1998 while developing and leading all outdoor education programs. As a former EMT he maintains current emergency medical training certificates, research diving and advanced scuba diving certificates and holds a current pilot’s license. Chris uses the outdoors as a classroom and believes that Mother Nature is truly the best teacher of all.
Dylan Rich – Director
Dylan took over as the new Director of Palo Alto Preparatory in Fall of 2021, and has been a student, a teacher, and a Vice Principal in his more than 20 years as part of the PAP community. Dylan gradauted from Palo Alto Preparatory in 1999. After completing his bachelor’s in Mathematics at San Jose State Univerity, Dylan returned to work at PAP as a Math and Science teacher. Dylan has taught Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and math from Algebra 1 to Calculus. His time as both a PAP student and a PAP teacher gives him significant insight into the needs of our students and staff.
Dylan believes that every student has the desire to be successful, and he enjoys helping students find the inner resources they need in order to master their own learning. He currently heads our Aviation elective and aids students in developing executive functioning and other skills on our day trips and international trips. Students identify with Dylan’s youthful perspective. His hobbies include surfing, golfing, cooking, guitar, and flying planes.
Lisa O’Hearn-Keck – Dean of Students/Director of Community Outreach
As Dean of Students, Lisa’s goal is to assure that Palo Alto Preparatory supports students and families any way we can. For almost 20 years, she has been part of each student’s educational process from the interview and enrollment, to keeping track with course selection, to helping students transition from senior year and graduation on to college or career.
Lisa relishes the time spent with students and is constantly amazed at how much she learns from them each day. She also works as a liasion with our NPS Districts, alumni, and the community and is board chair for Sky’s the Limit Fund.
A graduate of University of Santa Clara, Lisa treasures time with her family and will jump at any chance to travel. She loves to water-ski, snow ski and scuba dive and rarely will you find her far from Rio, the school’s German Shepard.
Brittney Keck – Vice Principal
Brittney was only four weeks old when she attended her first Palo Alto Prep graduation, it is only natural that her life has lead her to working here. Brittney worked at PAP as an Administrative Assistant for many years before moving to the role of Vice Principal.
Brittney has always been passionate about education and mental health. She attended the University of Santa Cruz, where she earned a BA in Psychology. She recently graduated a Master in Special Education from Notre Dame de Namur University. In her free time she enjoys traveling, going to the beach, and spending time with her dogs Taki and Harley.
Andrew Fryer – History/Social Studies
Andrew has two important goals (1) Help students to live in the moment and (2) help students connect history to events that define who they are. He feels it is important that when a student leaves Palo Alto Prep they can comfortably move from their primary discourse to a secondary or college discourse. Andrew’s satisfaction in teaching is derived from bringing the subject matter to life in such a way that students are excited by it.
His leisure activities include bowling, guitar playing, surfing and motorcycles, but his highest priority is his family and spending time with his two daughters. Andrew earned his BA degree and teaching credential from San Francisco State University.
Lisa DiMarino – Therapist
Lisa is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist with over 16 years of clinical experience working with adolescents and their families. She earned a BA in Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and her MA in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University in Santa Barbara. During the course of her career, she has worked with various school systems and community agencies developing and providing comprehensive support services in the areas of mental illness, adolescent substance abuse, trauma, conflict resolution and mediation. Some of the agencies she has worked with include Palo Alto Unified School District’s Department of Special Education at both Gunn and Palo Alto High Schools, The Santa Barbara Department of County Education, and The Santa Barbara Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse. In addition to her work at Palo Alto Prep, Lisa also sees clients through The Pacific Wellness Center, a private mental health clinic that she founded in 2006. When she is not running back and forth between Palo Alto Prep and her office downtown Palo Alto, Lisa is probably driving a carpool or spending time on a sports field somewhere with one of her two children.
James Donald – Special Education, Photography
James, a Palo Alto native, holds a bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly in Art and Design, and received his education specialist credential and a Master in Special Education from Notre Dame de Namur University. Among James’ various past careers, including being a graphic designer for NASA, he states that “…teaching is by far, the most rewarding of professions. To be a firsthand witness to the educational, social, and emotional growth of our youth brings me feelings of immense pride to have played an important part in those transformations.” He looks forward to hearing back from his students after they graduate and learning where life has taken them. Outside of work, James enjoys several hobbies and activities. Camping, foreign travel, woodworking, running, gardening, cooking his signature dish for friends (paella), and raising hens (yes, hens) currently top the list.
Joe Cannon – Behavior Support/Project Learning Specialist
Joe grew up struggling with his ADHD. He was a creative, adventurous comedian who never seemed to get anything right. As a teacher, Joe tries to help his students understand exactly what he learned through his own diagnosis – you are different, which means you have something special that you and no one else can offer to the world. In addition to behavior support, Joe also teaches Creative Writing and ASL and head’s the school’s Praxis program.
Since figuring himself out, Joe has written and performed plays, learned and explored new languages, and recently successfully funded his original board game “Migration” on Kickstarter. Joe enjoys playing games, making people laugh, and tricking kids into learning something important about themselves.
Christopher Howard – English, upper grades
Christopher Howard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from San Francisco State University and a Master of Education from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Chris struggled throughout his education career and didn’t find academic success until college. The biggest single reoccurring challenge in his academic history was overcoming the idea of intelligence being a fixed attribute—establishing a growth mindset proved vital in conquering other learning challenges in the classroom. Chris believes each student possess a variety of skills and intelligences which combine with experience to give each of them a unique worldview and a valuable asset to bring to class.
Chris has proudly held many jobs in an almost fake sounding range of occupational fields including construction, retail, fashion, and law. Teaching is the first job he’s every truly loved and not just because he gets to drink a lot of coffee all the time.
Tiffany Seagrave – Art, Special Education
Tiffany Seagrave grew up in a small town in northern California. Throughout high school and community college she worked with children of various ages in after school programs. Tiffany earned her Bachelor of Art in History of Art and Visual Culture from the University of California, Santa Cruz. During college she worked as an instructional assistant, leading college class sections which focused on the analysis of arts within literature and offering one-on-one writing assistance through the university for other college students. Tiffany started working at Palo Alto Prep in 2015, and has since then completed an Educational Specialist master’s degree with a special education teaching credential.
Jose Costa – Math
Jose believes that every student should have a meaningful learning experience; that the focus on mathematics should focus on developing an understanding of concepts and procedures through problem solving, reasoning and discourse.
Jose Costa was born in the Azores (Portugal), has both Portuguese and American citizenship and studied mostly abroad. Jose attained a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of the Azores, and a credential to teach mathematics from the California State University of Fresno. He worked for San Jose Unified School District before making the decision to join the Palo Alto Prep team in 2017.
Establishing strong trust bonds, and caring and respectful relationships between the students and the teacher are his approaches to achieving a fun and fulfilling educational experience in his classroom. In his free time, Jose loves to cook and spend time with his family and friends.
Haley Keck – History, Psychology, Special Education
Haley is an alumni of Palo Alto Preparatory and has spent the majority of her life around PAP students. She received her bachelor’s degree in History and Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2018. She worked as a special ed intern at PAP while completing her master’s degree in Special Education from Notre Dame De Namur University. Haley loves the Palo Alto Prep community and believes in its mission to provide an excellent education in a safe, supportive, and fun environment, which is why she chose to come back and teach at the school. In her free time, you can find her curled up in a fuzzy blanket with a good book, binge-watching her favorite Netflix show, or engaging in any sort of crafts.
David Kim – English, Creative Writing
David grew up in southern California, but recently moved up north to lend his expertise to Palo Alto Preparatory. He holds a bachelor’s in creative writing from Cal State, Long Beach and a master’s in teaching from the University of California, Irvine. Despite not being a high-achieving student in high school, he grew to fall in love with the act of learning and grew to appreciate how fulfilling it could be. Throughout his educational journey, he also realized how much the right teacher could impact a student, aiding them to realize crucial aspects of themselves that have always been present, but just not made fully aware of. For David, it is helping students achieve this self-realization that makes him happiest. He loves to see students grow and be excited by both their own ideas and the ideas presented in a text.
Apart from teaching, David is obsessed with rock-climbing, hiking and yoga. He climbs outdoors at least once every two weeks (if he can help it). On lazy days he enjoys watching movies or writing sci-fi stories on his laptop.
Melissa Laughery – Sciences
Melissa’s passion for the sciences began in childhood, when she peared into the micoscope in the back offices of her father’s veterinary clinic. Her quest for understanding life at the molecular level fueled her pursuit for her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. However, Melissa’s love of life and fun had her start leading yoga, motorcycle, and pre-school child development and education classes in addition to her usual math and science curriculums.
Melissa’s experience as a research scientist gives her a depth in practical learning that she strives to bring to the classroom. But parenting is Melissa’s greatest joy in life, ensuring she brings the love to the classroom that helps students flourish.
Chris McCreddin – Math
Chris joined the teaching staff at Palo Alto Preparatory in 2021, though he has been teaching since 2019. He was born and raised in the Bay Area. Chris achieved his BA in Mathematics from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, with minors in Computer Science and Economics. Chris says that he loves working at PAP for the individual attention he can provide all of his students. He strives to make math enjoyable and relatable for all.
April Stallone – Support Staff
April earned her bachelor’s in English/Professional Writing and her master’s in Education and Curriculum Development. She worked as a high school English teacher for 11 years, the last four of those at PAP as our English 9th/10th and Yearbook teacher. April has left the classroom to pursue a career as a therapist and is currently working on her MSW at Rutgers University. She plans on working as a licensed clinical social worker with youth and their families and is specializing in affirmative mental health care for autistic and LGBTQIA+ clients.
April loved the PAP community so much that she just couldn’t say goodbye, so she has continued on as support staff, her roles include college advising, social media/advertising, and Yearbook. April completed the University of San Diego’s College Counselor Certification program in 2022.
Are you a current or past PAP student or parent who’d like to help us spread the word about PAP or share your experiences with prospective students and parents? If so, please email April at astallone@paloaltoprep.com and she’ll tell you how to help us change more lives!
Keith Costas – Internet Technology Specialist
If you have any questions about Palo Alto Prep, please give us a call. We look forward to working with you to help provide your child with the education they deserve.
Call: (650) 493-7071
Changing Lives, Redefining Education