Sea Crest Appoints New Head of School

After an extensive national search, Sea Crest School announced this week that Tekakwitha M. Pernambuco-Wise, Ed. D., has been appointed as Head of School. 

Dr. Pernambuco-Wise will officially begin her tenure at Sea Crest on July 1, 2013, when she will replace current Interim Head of School, Dr. Tom Walters. 

A collaborative and innovative leader, Dr. Pernambuco-Wise currently serves as Middle School Head at St. Andrew's Episcopal School, a Pre-K ­– 8 independent school in Saratoga, CA.

“Our entire extended community welcomes Dr. Pernambuco-Wise to Sea Crest,” said Pamela Izzo, President of the School’s Board of Trustees.  “Tekakwitha received the unanimous and enthusiastic support of parents, educators and the Board of Trustees.  As both an educator and leader, she has demonstrated a gift for inspiring faculty and staff and energizing students in the continued pursuit of lifelong learning.  Her impressive track record as a talented educator and administrator, as well as her alignment with Sea Crest’s mission and goals, made her the ideal candidate to lead the school into its next chapter.  We are also deeply grateful to Dr. Walters for his adept leadership as our head of school during this time of transition. Dr. Walters’ familiarity and experience with our community, as well as his unwavering support for Sea Crest have been crucial to our success over the last year,” Izzo said.

As Middle School Head at St. Andrews, Dr. Pernambuco-Wise has been responsible for leadership and supervision of Middle School and enrichment faculty and high school placement, a program she has enhanced since joining the school in 2007.  Tekakwitha will bring a global perspective and educational excellence to the Coastside.  She was raised in British Guyana and has studied in the US, Canada, and England. While an undergraduate at Brown University, she spent her junior year abroad at the University of Sussex (UK) and spent summers teaching in Tijuana, Mexico; New York; and on a Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona. During her time in Philadelphia, she studied in the graduate education department at University of Pennsylvania. At that time, Tekakwitha taught mathematics at Agnes Irwin, an all-girls independent day school in Bryn Mawr.  As a former Judo National Champion for her home country, Tekakwitha launched Agnes Irwin’s first Judo program, winning the PA State Championship in 1988. She then earned her Masters degree from The University of Toronto. Over the course of her career in education, Tekakwitha has lived and worked in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Hawaii before settling in California in 2005. In 2007, she enrolled at St. Mary's College of California, earning her Doctorate in Education, with honors, in 2011.

“I am eager to begin my adventure with Sea Crest,” said Dr. Pernambuco-Wise.  “The school’s mission resonates so closely with my personal philosophy of intellectual rigor, arts appreciation, physical activity and character development. I am looking forward to meeting all of the constituents and becoming an integral part of the Coastside community.”