TEAM

Kim Mesa, MBA, President of Alliance for Youth Achievement and Program Director
Instructor/Arts Educator
Kim is a former Alum Rock School District Board Trustee and has been on the AYA Board since 2002. She is excited about engaging youth and sharing their journeys as an instructor this summer. “We continue to be excited about providing students with the opportunity to experience art in a very engaging, dynamic, and innovative way. The camp introduces technology tools that further expand the creativity of students, while also providing opportunities for youth to express themselves through personalized visual arts projects. We will also provide our Youth Leaders the opportunity to support the summer program and gain valuable employment skills as paid Summer Interns. We are proud to bring this innovative art and technology driven program to the Alum Rock community.”

Dennis Chan, Instructor/ Toy Industry Model Maker
Dennis Chan studied sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design, earning his BFA in Illustration in 2012. He currently is employed as a freelance sculptor, most regularly with Rhode-Island based toy company Hasbro. His work includes both traditional and digital sculpture. In his spare time, Dennis also coaches the wrestling team at his alma mater, Gunn High School. Dennis works out of his home in Sunnyvale, California. He has also been a guest speaker in the camp and a vital part of the end of week showcase critiques. Dennis is a returning instructor from previous years and is returning to co-instruct during the STEAM Smorgasbord week.

Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo, Instructor/Artist
Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo is a poet, visual artist, and facilitator whose work
reflects her Indigenous ancestry and perspectives as a Mexican Chicana woman. Her
work has been exhibited across the country, including in solo shows in the SF Bay
Area, as well as at Centro de Artes Gallery in Texas. She earned a BFA in Pictorial Art
and a BA in French from San José State University and served as 2021 Creative
Ambassador of the San José Office of Cultural Affairs. Her artwork has received
Honorable Mentions and is represented in the collection of the City and County of San
Francisco. She is the founder of La Raíz Magazine.

PJ Hein, Instructor/Artist
PJ is a youth recreation educator that loves all forms of art and writing! He has been working with children and teens since 2019 and creating for twice as long, and eager to share whatever he can.

Josue Cruz, Instructor/Cartoonist
Josue (pronounced ho-sweh) Cruz is a San Francisco-based cartoonist, currently
working on their second all-ages book, Puppy Knights: Quest for the Golden
Bones. Their work is heavily inspired by a colorful mixture of Super Nintendo games,
late-90’s to late-aught’s Cartoon Network programming, and humor mags like
Mad and Cracked. Josue hopes to bring the reader straight into the imagination of the artist,
projecting the worlds with lush and lively environments. Josue is influenced by
the works of Sergio Aragones (Groo), Albert Urdezo (Asterix), and Bill
Watterson (you know who that is).

Amy Hibbs, Instructor/Artist
Amy Hibbs is a San Jose artist who finds inspiration outdoors both in wild spaces and on the streets of her town. She works with photography, compost, paint, and collage, creating work that draws attention to how we relate to our surroundings. She wants her work to inspire people to compost and to see the potential for making new stuff out of “garbage.”
She studied at Mills College, receiving both her BA and her MFA from this beautiful school. She was a 2022 Creative Ambassador with the city of San Jose and in 2023 she received a California Arts Council Individual Artist grant.
Her two teenagers keep her on her toes but in her free time she loves mountain biking and gardening, and baking.

Amy Brown, Instructor/Artist and Sewist
Amy Brown wants to teach the world to sew- we all benefit from the joy and utility of fabric arts. She is a self-taught artist and sewist, with 15 years of experience in learning by doing. Sewing, pattern-making, surface design, embroidery, needle-felting, manufacturing and materials sourcing are a few skills she brings to the table. Speaking of tables, her current hobby is beginning woodworking!

When she's not teaching, Amy is designing new plush for her Jumbo Jibbles business or creating fabric sculptures, quilts and 3D paintings in her studio at a defunct skating rink in San Jose. Amy has taught sewing to all ages since 2011 and is always interested in learning something new from her students.

Eliane Bauer, Program Coordinator and Instructor
Eliane received her Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology with a minor in Energy Policy and Green Buildings from San Jose State University and is interested in environmental and social science education. Eliane likes to spend time outside and explore the outdoors. In her free time she likes to do arts and crafts projects and values the intersection of different disciplines in learning. Eliane will be responsible for providing instructional support, staff supervision, classroom & camper support, and overall documentation and reporting in addition to teaching 2 camp days this year.

Adam Fay, Administrative Program Assistant
Adam Fay is a student and an artist that has been working with and attending (when he was but a wee tot) the AYA program for many, many years. His favorite parts of the STEAM acronym are the A, T and E, as his past-times are churning out digital art, typing away at the computer and making something fun out of whatever junk he can find lying around his house.

Alyssa Alaiafune, Program Assistant
Alyssa is studying Computer Science and Studio Art at Cornell College. She grew up in the Bay Area and has moved back for the summer to be part of the camp. She has an interest in video game design and in her free time she makes art.

Theo Almira, Classroom Program Assistant
Theo was a former camper who feels like the camp was an important outlet for him to express his creativity and learn new skills. He will be studying anthropology at SJSU in the fall, with the goal of becoming a librarian.

Youth Leader Summer Interns

TBD