YAIL Founder
Andrea V. Lee-Nguyen (Academic & Curriculum Director): A lifelong learner, Andrea Lee-Nguyen graduated from the University of Irvine in 2001 in Economics and Criminology and went on to complete the rigorous Court Translation and Interpretation program at UCLA. In preparation for the law school admission test, LSAT, she got a part-time job as an educational assistant at Mountain Elementary School in La Crescenta. Working with kids, she discovered her passion for teaching and inspiring them to learn. For the next 18 years, she founded YAIL Academy, YAIL Preparatory and YAIL Extension, three separate after-school programs that focus on the three early stages of education, lower and upper elementary and middle school.
“Kids are amazing creatures. Their brains are like sponges and can absorb a vast amount of information. The key is to know how to deliver that information in a way that would allow them to unlock their minds to absorb it. The challenge lies in the students' diversity and it has been a pleasure working with thousands of students over the past two decades.”
At the start of the pandemic, she collaborated with different professionals to bring about YAIL Live. It was always her dream to reach out to many students as possible and to share her passion and love for learning."