Andy

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Andy has more than 35 years of experience in education. He earned a degree from The Evergreen State College and a Master’s in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College, and he holds a Washington State K–12 teaching certificate with special education endorsements. He founded the Puget Sound Community School and now serves as principal at Spring Academy, where he leads one-to-one, personalized programs that prioritize kindness, student agency, and practical support for neurodiverse learners, including gifted and twice-exceptional students. His kindness curriculum and related projects, collected at Kind Living, have been featured in The Seattle Times and other outlets, and he has consulted for national initiatives such as the Compassion Games and appeared on education podcasts. Families find him calm, thoughtful, and deeply committed to helping each child feel seen and able to learn. He lives in Seattle with his family and enjoys creative projects like turning old poems into songs and the odd early-morning radio adventure from his past.

Monday No availability
Tuesday No availability
Wednesday No availability
Thursday No availability
Friday 11am-6pm Eastern Standard Time
Saturday 11am-12pm Eastern Standard Time
Sunday: No availability

I believe that everyone carries their own inner wisdom and is their best guide. My role as a teacher is to help young people access that wisdom and bring it to life. I work to create a safe, respectful space where students feel seen, supported, and encouraged to be authentic. My teaching is highly personalized, adapting to each student’s interests, strengths, and learning style rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all approach.

Kindness, compassion, and thoughtfulness are woven into everything I do, since I see them as essential to building self-awareness and confidence. Ultimately, I want to help students move toward their goals and passions with energy and purpose, while also learning to recognize the sense of awe that exists both within themselves and in the world around them.

My formal education includes a degree from The Evergreen State College, a Master’s in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College, and a Washington State K-12 teaching certificate with Special Education endorsements.

That said, my most meaningful learning has come through real-life experiences. A tough 3rd-grade year gave me deep empathy, and working with neurodiverse students taught me the value of honoring each child’s unique way of learning. These experiences, along with my graduate work on student empowerment, led me to start the Puget Sound Community School (PSCS), built on intrinsic motivation and kindness. Today, I’m grateful to carry those same values into my role as Principal at Spring Academy.

I've been lucky to spend over 35 years in education in many different roles — classroom teacher, founding director of the Puget Sound Community School, online mentor, and now principal at Spring Academy. What's guided me throughout is a simple goal: making every student feel seen, valued, and empowered to follow their own path.

From being named Big Brother of the Year at 21 to receiving hundreds of 5-star reviews as an online teacher, my work has always centered on kindness, respect, and helping young people trust their inner wisdom. Whether in the classroom or one-on-one, I aim to create safe, supportive spaces where curiosity thrives and students can grow into their best selves.

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Andy
$120.00 USD

Subject Expertise

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Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Parenting
Parenting
Social-Emotional Learning
Social-Emotional Learning

My mission

My core purpose is to empower individuals, particularly young people, to connect with their inherent wisdom and recognize their authentic selves, fostering positive contributions to their communities and the world.

My Story

My journey into education, and really, into understanding people, began with a deeply personal struggle: night terrors that started in third grade and lasted for two years. Every single night, I'd wake up terrified. Knowing I was the only one in the house awake, I would scream to wake up others. The only thing that brought me serenity and peace was when my mom would come and lay down beside me. Though doctors tried charts and rewards, when an eight-year-old is scared out of their mind, all they want is that comforting presence. I even spent a week hospitalized in fourth grade, wired with electrodes, which just felt "stupid" because at least there, someone was always awake. It took years to connect this deep shame to my third-grade teacher, who, to a scared child, felt like the "Wicked Witch of the West" and would humiliatingly pull students by the ear. This painful experience, which I didn't talk about until my twenties, was where I believe I developed a profound empathy for kids, a knack for seeing past their hurt to the amazing person they could be.

Cognitive Diversity

How I adapt to students with diverse intellectual needs.

With over 35 years of experience and K-12 Special Education endorsements in Washington State, I’ve dedicated my career to supporting neurodiverse learners—including gifted students, those with ADHD, learning differences, and students on the Autism spectrum—in discovering and developing their potential. This work is guided by both my professional background and my own life experiences.

As Principal of Spring Academy in Seattle, I lead a community built on one-to-one instruction, where we personalize schedules, curriculum, pacing, and teaching methods to fit each student’s strengths, interests, and goals.

My own childhood challenges, including night terrors during a difficult 3rd-grade year, gave me deep empathy for the inner lives of students. Later, working closely with neurodiverse children reinforced my belief that education should meet each learner where they are—and that every child is already whole and worthy just as they are.

During the pandemic when I was working with learners exclusively online, quite a number of the students with whom I worked met the 2e definition. I have a thoughtful way of helping these students slow down to embrace their strengths in a way that helps them feel good about themselves.

A key when working with gifted kids is to help honor the pace at which they can absorb academic material while remembering their developmental age.

A key to working with children with ADHD is to create an environment that allows their strengths to shine. I believe that a lot of what causes problems for ADHD kids isn't as much their unique neurodiversity as it is the environments in which they are placed not matching their needs.

One of my most significant experiences as a young educator was being hired by a school district to help provide mentoring services to a profoundly autistic, non-verbal 18 -year-old. That experience opened a soft spot in my heart for people on the autism spectrum, believing they are a widely misunderstood population.

A comment from a college professor shifted my view of education, encouraging me to see dyslexia and other learning differences as forms of ability rather than disability. This philosophy guided my work as a teacher, including supporting a profoundly dyslexic fifth-grader by focusing on skill development while preserving his self-esteem.

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Customer Reviews

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Christine

Andy has been a transformative presence in my son's life over the years, guiding him with wisdom and heart in the areas of compassion, kindness, and leadership. Andy doesn’t just teach values. He lives them, consistently reinforcing the importance of treating others and oneself with respect. His gentle yet powerful approach has helped shape my son into a thoughtful, empathetic young leader. We are deeply grateful for Andy’s enduring influence and the meaningful lessons he continues to impart.

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Shruthi

My son attended a personal growth session with Andy on the Propinquity Effect to teach him how the dynamics of forming and maintaining friendships work. I felt it was a great session and Andy was very warm and welcoming, and made the really abstract topic more tangible and applicable to my child. I highly recommend Andy and hope to have him mentor my kid more often in the future! His welcoming demeanor & overall warm attitude, as well as his wealth of knowledge and experience in this subject area.

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Nicole

Our goal was to increase our son's confidence and social pragmatic skills and Andy greatly exceeded our expectations. Andy is extraordinarily brilliant, kind, and compassionate. He has taught our son how to pay full and careful attention to other people and how to relate to people on a deeper level.

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Lilia

I hoped Andy would guide my children through a life transition and to widen their perspectives and way of thinking about things and he was extremely successful in doing that. Andy's teaching style is driven by empathy, kindness, and adapting to each child to make them feel seen and heard.

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