Administration & Staff

 

This is Alfredo Celedón Luján's 45th year as an educator.   He was elected Vice President of the National Council of Teachers of English in Spring 2018.  In a four-year cycle, he will become President-Elect, then President, then Past President.  He is the first person from New Mexico to serve in this distinguished position! He has been a teacher and coach for the Pojoaque Valley Schools and the Native American Prep School.  He has also coached volleyball and basketball at Santa Fe Prep School.  He has been a teacher of English, basketball coach, volleyball coach, and Athletic Coordinator at Monte del Sol. Alfredo is a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, a Golden Apple Fellow, and in 2017 has been named the recipient of the Leadership Award for the Advancement of People of Color by the National Council of Teachers of English.  He has been a writer-in-residence for the Anchorage and Mat-Su School Districts in Alaska and at the Noepe Center for Literary Arts at Martha’s Vineyard.  He is a graduate of New Mexico State University with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and English, the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College (MA English), and is currently working on a Master of Letters Degree.  He enjoys hiking, writing, and camp fires.  He is the proud father of Amanda (teaches at UNM), Mabel (attends Goucher College), and Peter (Monte del Sol class of 2019), and he is colleague Amy Schroth’s partner in life.

alujan@montedelsol.org

Desirae joins us both as the Office Manager and is a mother of two students here at Monte del Sol.  Originally from Arizona, Desirae has had over 15 years experience in several positions managing an office. These include Christus St. Vincent Hospital, as Executive Assistant for Vice Presidents and Assistant to the President of the hospital; Office Assistant for a private Santa Fe elementary school, and assisting in several of her family's business ventures.  Desirae has three children and comes from a large family, in which she is third of nine children.  She enjoys camping, family outings, and attending as much live music as possible.

Giselle Piburn was born and raised in Hollywood, California to Argentine parents that immigrated to the US. She is the director of the Mentorship program at Monte - an innovative education program in New Mexico - which has completed over 2800 mentorships over its 17-year history. She is a graduate of UCLA and spent a year at the Art Academy in Venice, Italy. She enjoys speaking Spanish and Italian. She started teaching in 2001 and ran an experiential learning program at Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in collaboration with UNM for 12 years. Inspired by her students and the generosity of mentors in Santa Fe, Giselle is excited to come to work every day.

Daniel Rock has been involved with education, in various forms, for over ten years. He graduated from Unity College in Maine in 2001, with a Bachelor's degree in Parks and Recreation Management, worked as a Backcountry Ranger at White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, a Trail Builder for the National Parks Service in Colorado and Maine, and for city and state parks in Oregon. The seasonal park jobs led to a career transition. He began teaching adaptive winter sports for the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Colorado, and spent six seasons with this organization, as a Special Olympics Coach, one-on-one Instructor and Coordinator for a weekly Saturday program.  This experience sparked his passion for working with people with exceptionalities.  He moved to New Mexico in 2013, where he spent a year teaching life and work skills to adjudicated youth at Youth Shelters and Family Services. He received his teaching certificates in Science and Special Education, from Santa Fe Community College and taught Science and Special Education for three years with Santa Fe Public Schools before coming to Monte del Sol in 2017. 

Will Rushing joined the faculty in 2016 and has taught numerous subjects in the humanities department over the years. He currently teaches U.S. Government and AP World History and serves as the Instructional Coordinator, focusing on professional development, project-based learning implementation, data analysis and general administrative support. He received a Bachelor’s degree in History from Long Beach State University and a Master’s degree in Early Adolescent Education from Bank Street College of Education. He worked briefly in the advertising industry in the 1990’s before realizing that he had a calling in education. He was a middle school English and History teacher in New York City for ten years prior to moving to Santa Fe in 2012. In addition to his duties at Monte, Will is also an independent consultant who works with a dual language school in Albuquerque to develop a project-based learning model for their middle school. He lives with his wife, daughter and dog near Santa Fe. When not working, he enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, nerding out on Star Wars and watching Tottenham Hotspur play football.