GOVERNING BOARD
Niti Madan, President
Laura Stuchinsky, Secretary
Mayuri Vemuri, Treasurer
Shannon Heidemann
​Alexandra Zdravkovic

​FOUNDING FAMILIES

Spark Charter School was born out of the common vision and tireless work of about 30 Sunnyvale families.  Our founders' pool is extremely diverse, comprised of families from all over the world and from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds.  What we all share in common is the desire to provide a rich, enjoyable academic experience for our children.  In addition to deep, exploratory, hands-on learning, we value community, social-emotional growth, physical well-being, and cultural awareness in the hopes of fostering successful, happy, socially responsible young adults.


 

FOUNDING CURRICULUM ARCHITECT

                                        Gigi Carunungan, M.A.
                                 

Gigi Carunungan has over 25 years of experience as an educator, and is driven by her passion for improving teaching environments.  Gigi co-founded Synapse School in Menlo Park, a successful independent school for gifted/talented learners. There she developed the Helical Model™, an innovative constructivist learning system anchored in neuroscience, the framework of which she has adapted for Spark Charter School. Ms. Carunungan is founder and CEO of Young Outliers, a learning enrichment company focusing on design entrepreneurship, based in the Silicon Valley. In addition, she is the founder of InvolveMinds, a curriculum design company which brings alive the new core standards with a transformational and inventive approach to the K-5 curriculum. 

Prior to Synapse, she taught ESL and Special Education at Menlo Atherton High School. She was also CEO of PowerPlay Interactive, a multimedia production company. She is the author of a teacher's lesson book, "Digital Media in the Classroom" and "Save the Corals," an interactive storybook app for children. Ms. Carunungan holds a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Highlands University.

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