Lai Saeteurn, School Director

Welcome to Mare Island Technology Academy (MITA MS)! What inspires me to lead MITA MS is the opportunity to provide a voice and choice for students and families seeking an educational experience to maximize career and college success. I am awed and inspired by every student and caregiver's trust and conscientious choice to be a member of the MITA MS family. The strength and unity of the MITA MS family are our collective experiences that have shaped the person we are. As such I invite you to get to know me as a person. 

First and foremost, I am a mother of four. I was born in Laos and lived in several refugee camps in Thailand before my family immigrated to America in the early 1980s as part of the Vietnam War humanitarian resettlement program offered by participating nations. As a student, I am acutely aware of the challenges of learning a new language while trying to make sense of a new culture and a new country. Starting formal education in the fourth grade was a profoundly transformative experience. It amplified the indomitable human spirit and the plasticity of the brain to learn and grow.

I have held various roles in public education. My educational career started as a high school English teacher. I also taught mathematics at both the middle and high school levels. I earned my administrative credential while serving as a curriculum and instructional coach and quickly transitioned into administration. After taking time off to be a mother, I returned as a classroom teacher. Before coming to GTA, I taught mathematics at a Marin middle school for five years. I’ve had the opportunity to learn and work with different communities across the state of California. It has strengthened my resolve to serve a community through the lens of its people. 

Education is a means to close the opportunity gap. I am passionate about curating an educational experience that will provide a pathway for all students to achieve long-term economic success.  What is exciting about MITA MS is that as a small school, our limited resources beckon us to be extremely intentional in our mission to prepare students to access higher education so that each student will have the opportunity to build generational wealth. It takes all of us working together. 

Lai Saeteurn

School Director

(707) 552- 6482 ext. 3001

lsaeteurn@mitacademy.org

Jerwyn Carriger-Sendaydiego, Assistant Director

Throughout my entire life, I learned to embrace diversity and sensitivity having experienced living in Vallejo and working throughout the region.  For over 35 years, I continue to call Vallejo (Valle-YO) my home.  I immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts from Baguio City, Philippines, with my parents and 3 older brothers at an early age of 7.  Months later, we moved to Vallejo to be closer to extended family and first handedly experienced the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake weeks upon arrival.   As memorable as the earthquake was for many, this was the same day I received my immunization shots and enrolled at Dan Mini to begin my journey as a student with Vallejo City Unified School District.    With only a few months at Dan Mini, we moved across the city and I transferred to Cave Elementary School.   I spent most of my grade school years at Cave and was a part of the last 6th grade class of the school.   Going into Springstowne Junior High School, I was also a part of the last class of 9th graders prior to the school transitioning to a middle school.  From there, I completed my secondary education at Jesse Bethel High School–graduating with the first senior class.  I suppose the changes I experienced within VCUSD prepared me for what was to come next in the road I decided to take.

I completed my undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University, with a Bachelors of Psychology and a minor in Asian American Studies.   Hoping to pursue a focus on serving at-risk communities through mental health, I obtained my Master of Arts degree in Counseling emphasizing in Marriage and Family Therapy from Saint Mary’s College of CA.  I also included a secondary “just in case” credential in School Counseling in the event that providing therapy was not for me someday.   While the roles I held and furthered education into a doctoral program in psychology came to a shift, I noticed my interests alway fell within education.  As a mental health clinician, therapist, you name it, I always worked in school-based services–specifically in Special Education. 

When I had the opportunity to join GTA as a school counselor and to finally work in my hometown, the active role I partnered with our administration and CMO increased my interest in a greater level of servitude to the school community.  I made the most challenging decision to pivot my career, similar to a midlife crisis, but without the breakdowns and heartaches.   This change into leadership, first as a Dean of Students, has brought significant value and a higher level of appreciation for the dynamic work that falls on the laps of administrators, teachers, and all of our support staff.   The most important value I find in my role are the relationships I build with our students and their families.   Seeing our students thrive in a safe and trusting environment that welcomes their diversity, life experiences, and everything in between are focuses for the work I continue to develop at MITA MS and within GTA. 

Jerwyn Carriger-Sendaydiego

Assistant Director