Admissions & Advancement

Mikhal Bouganim | 柏美溪, Director of Advancement

Mikhal brings to PKS a 20+ year career in strategic and financial communications, working primarily with non-US companies. She (re)joined the staff in 2024, having served as Director of Communications from 2017-2019 during a key inflection point in the school’s growth: the launch of the Middle School, and the $25MM capital campaign for construction of the main campus building. She has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations focused on educational access, workforce development, and civil rights, as well on the PKS Board of Trustees where she led the Development and DEI committees.

Born in Canada and raised in Israel, she has lived, worked, and studied on three continents, resulting in Hebrew fluency, Spanish proficiency, and an appreciation for the diversity of the human experience. She runs half marathons occasionally, but Spelling Bee is her real competitive sport, aiming to hit genius level every day. She is the parent of two PKS graduates (pioneer class of 2021, and class of 2023), so it can be hard to distinguish between her personal and professional passion for the PKS mission!

November Carey, Associate Director of Communications
[FORTHCOMING]

Anna Huang | 黃健芬, Associate Director of Admissions
[FORTHCOMING]

Jenefer Johnson, Director of Admissions

Jenefer grew up in a small town in central Illinois where there were few, if any, opportunities to interact with cultures or languages outside of her own. As a result, she has spent most of her adult life looking for ways to be immersed in language and culture.

Jenefer has an MA in Applied Linguistics and Teaching ESL and spent much of her career focused on supporting English language acquisition for adult non-native speakers of English - as a teacher and curriculum developer; through textbook sales, publishing, and teacher training; and as the director of an English school for international students in San Francisco. She was thrilled to join PKS as the Director of Admissions in 2019, to continue to help others be immersed in language and culture, from an earlier age.

Jenefer is thrilled that her daughter, who has been at PKS since P1, has the language and culture opportunities she didn’t get. Despite many years of her efforts to teach mom Mandarin, Jenefer missed the critical window for retaining or repeating tones. She’d love to chat with you in Italian, though!

Jenny Luo | 罗家茜, Advancement & Community Engagement Associate
[FORTHCOMING]