Board of Directors

Kim Aitken-Young, Board Chair

Kim comes from a long line of women who taught or volunteered in schools in southern and northern California. As her three children grew, she coached their teams in a variety of sports and began engaging with their K-12 schools in everything from chairing auctions and running snack bars to serving as a board member and officer. Over time, Kim found her board work to be by far the most rewarding and relevant because it utilized key skills from her long business career including strategic planning, marketing and fund development. After hearing about Ravenswood Classroom Partners from a friend, Kim was hooked, and has been volunteering at Costaño School in East Palo Alto since 2017.  Kim believes in giving back to her community and wants to bring what she's learned, and who she's had the good fortune to meet along the way, into a common space that can enable RCP to grow as it partners with the Ravenswood School District for greater educational equity.

Thuyen Nguyen, Secretary

For a competition in 7th grade Thuyen wrote a speech about helping schools. From a young age she believed learning should be fun and wanted all children to experience that joy. Thuyen started tutoring for a school organization in college and then volunteered for San Francisco School Volunteers and the Boys and Girls Club before a neighbor told her about RCP in 2014. Since then, every year she has loved reading with the Ravenswood kids. Shy or talkative, calm or firecrackers, she adores them all. Thuyen believes when the students start remembering the letter sounds or begin seeing patterns—it’s a gift to witness. In her professional life she is a manager for a university biology lab, getting to help graduate students try out new ideas. Thuyen is grateful for the opportunity to serve on the board to honor RCP’s mission—every student deserves a chance to learn to read and succeed.

Jeanette Kennedy, Treasurer

Jeanette believes education has the power to transform lives and working with young, elementary school students will have the biggest impact. After a successful career in consulting and then high tech at Sun Microsystems, she decided to invest her time strengthening the educational experiences of students in the community. Jeanette ran programs for after-school classes as well as fundraising at several local schools. She joined RCP in 2011 with a focus on recruiting volunteers and realized that she could use her business management, program development and fundraising skills to help grow the organization and better support the work all the volunteers are doing every day in classrooms in Ravenswood. Jeanette served as RCP's Director of Marketing & Strategic Planning for many years before taking on the role of Chairman of the Board for over 5 years. She is now serving as Treasurer and remains on the leadership team as Director of Marketing. A highlight of her week is volunteering in a second grade classroom in the Ravenswood District.

Clara Dye

Clara believes every person should have the foundational skills to support their educational success. After graduating college, she started tutoring adults studying for the GED and found it rewarding. As a parent, she volunteered in her children's elementary school classrooms and in several PTA leadership roles. Clara joined RCP in 2014 and her favorite things about volunteering are building relationships with the students and teachers and watching the students grow throughout each year. In her professional life, Clara was an engineer, medical device product manager, and program development director at Stanford GSB in Executive Education. She is now a co-Executive Director for the Common Ground Speaker Series, bringing parent education to independent schools on the Peninsula. Clara is looking forward to serving on the RCP Board and working with the dedicated volunteers to benefit the students of Ravenswood.

Susan Hornbeek

Susan has long had a passion for helping children and adults to achieve their full potential through education. She has leveraged her years of experience in marketing and communications to have an impact in several local nonprofit organizations including Palo Alto Partners In Education and Upward Scholars. Susan believes that education and equity in education can be the difference in a person's life. She has been a tutor, mentor and board member with Upwards Scholars where she enjoys working with adult students learning English. Susan recently joined the RCP board of directors and will be volunteering in an RCP classroom with the start of the 2020-21 school year. She is looking forward to supporting an elementary school teacher in the Ravenswood district as well as tutoring and providing social-emotional support for the students.

Grayson Lane

Grayson has long believed in the importance of education for everyone. With an advanced degree in art history and a career in museum work, her professional focus was educating others about art and culture. After learning about RCP in 2014, she decided to try literacy tutoring with young students. She loved the experience so much that she became a Site Director for 8 years, first for Brentwood Academy, then Belle Haven School. She thoroughly enjoyed her role as a liaison between the RCP tutors and the Ravenswood teachers and getting to know the many talented RCP volunteers. Grayson has been involved with many non-profits including Stanford's Cantor Arts Center Membership Board, the Menlo-Atherton Education Foundation Board and Menlo-Atherton High Schools Foundation for the Future. She has mentored high school students and served as a volunteer art teacher for the Redwood City School District. As an RCP board member, Grayson is planning to apply her expertise to benefit RCP and its valuable work to improve literacy in the Ravenswood community.

Tenley Stephenson

Tenley has had a lifelong passion for social justice and believes equity in education is a fundamental step in providing people with economic stability and opportunities in life. She wants to work towards leveling the playing field for teachers and children in less-resourced school districts. Tenley began volunteering with RCP in 2021 at Belle Haven School and was a lead classroom volunteer for the past 2 years. In addition, she has provided homework support for elementary school students at the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula for over 10 years. In other volunteer roles, Tenley serves on the board of directors of the non-profit Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative and held several volunteer positions at Castilleja School. In a previous life, she worked as an attorney in private practice and as a state prosecutor. Tenley has loved working with her RCP students, laughing, learning and cultivating strong relationships with them. She is very excited to be joining the RCP board and working to extend its reach on the membership committee.