Faculty and Staff
Kim Morcate, Middle School Principal
Kimberly A. Morcate, the Founding Principal of Girls Prep Middle School has been an educator for the past fifteen years. She believes that adolescence is a unique phase of life, in which a girl's sense of self, resiliency and agency must be developed and nurtured, in order for her to fully realize her academic and personal potential.
Prior to launching Girls Prep Middle School, Mrs. Morcate spent eight years as the Principal of Connelly Middle School of the Holy Child, an independent, Catholic, all-girls school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In her tenure at Connelly Middle School, Mrs. Morcate is credited for dramatically improving student performance on New York State assessments and crafting programs which addressed the needs of the whole child.
Mrs. Morcate learned the importance of teaching to the whole child while serving as the Director of Education at Interfaith Neighbors, an after-school, social work agency for adolescents from the East Harlem Community. In her years at Interfaith Neighbors, Mrs. Morcate saw first-hand the direct relationship between a child's psycho-emotional health and their academic performance; students who were struggling academically began to improve once the stressors in their lives were being addressed.
It is her philosophy that high performing schools begin with excellent teachers who also see themselves as educators of the whole child; students who believe they can achieve and are supported in their efforts to do so; and parents who place the highest value on education, and are willing to partner with the school to ensure their child's success.
Mrs. Morcate was born on the island of St. Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She began her teaching career on St. Croix, after graduating from Oberlin College, with a B.A. in Sociology. Her love of teaching later led her to attain an ED.M. in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Mrs. Morcate is first and foremost a teacher. She has served as a consultant and staff developer to numerous schools around the country and can be found teaching classes when not wearing the hat of Principal.
Mrs. Morcate is married to her high school sweetheart, Richard Morcate, and lives in New Jersey with her husband, two dogs and a cat.
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Woodlene Adeyemo, 5th Grade Lead Teacher
Upon graduating with a BA in Media Studies, Woodlene was accepted into the Assistants en France Program with the French Ministry of Education, where she tutored the proper command of the English Language to high school students in the Creteil suburbs of Paris. This experience facilitated the realization of just how much Woodlene enjoyed furnishing students with stimulating educational instructions, whilst being a "Jane-of-all-trades" in the classroom for her students. Woodlene later decided to apply to the rigorous New York City Teaching Fellows Program to help close the achievement gap. She went on to successfully earn her Masters of Arts in Education. Today, she can be found in the classroom exuberantly assisting students to acknowledge their gifts, carefully guiding them towards achieving nothing but their personal best. Woodlene is excited at the opportunity to work with a refreshing culture at Girls Prep and aspires to inspire all students.
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Karen Embraza, 5th Grade Lead Teacher
Karen joined the Middle School in 2009 as a Founding and Lead Teacher for ELA and History, and is thrilled to be returning as a Lead Teacher in 5th Grade this year.
A native New Yorker from Queens, Karen attended Stuyvesant High School and graduated from Smith College with a B.A. in Sociology and Women's Studies. Later, she earned a Master's in Gender and Cultural Studies from Simmons College.
Having worked during and after college in the fields of education and social justice, Karen joined the NYC Teaching Fellows to contribute to reforming education in the city's public schools. She taught in Maspeth, Queens, and earned a Master's in Education from St. John's University. Karen left the classroom to join staff at Teach For America, where she spent two years supporting corps members who teach middle and high school ELA and history, before coming to Girls Prep.
Karen loves to cook and enjoys hiking and kayaking every chance she gets. She hopes to share her passion for literature, American history, and girl power with the fifth grade students this year!
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Ramona Kilkenny, 5th Grade Lead Teacher
Ramona Kilkenny is thrilled to join Girls Prep this year as a 5th grade Lead Teacher with Ms. Indursky! She is excited to be part of a team that wants to teach the whole child and instill life-long love of learning.
Born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in New Jersey, Ramona is thrilled to be back in her beloved city. She graduated from Mt. Olive High School in Flanders, New Jersey, and earned her Bachelor of Science in Finance and International Business from University of Maryland. After working in pharmaceutical business for a year, Ramona felt drawn to teaching after volunteering at a Saturday Jump Start program for inner city children. With this new passion, Ramona earned her Master’s in Education at University of Pennsylvania for Elementary Education with a focus on Urban Education. After earning her Masters, she taught 5th grade in New Jersey Public Schools for three years, before joining Girls Prep this year.
Ramona loves to read, walk her dog Carby, cook, and travel as much as she can. She hopes to share her love for reading and passion for learning about new cultures with the girls this year!
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Melissa Fonseca, 6th Grade Lead Teacher
Melissa comes to Girls Prep with seven years teaching experience. Six out of those seven years she worked at a private school in the Lower East Side, where she was a 5th and 6th grade English Language Arts and Math teacher. Prior to working at Girls Prep, she was hired as a substitute at a public school on the Upper West Side.
Melissa graduated from City College of New York with a B.S. in Elementary Education and later earned a Masters in Middle School Mathematics from Walden University. She is very passionate in educating children. Melissa loves sports and is a huge Yankee’s fan. She also loves spending as much time as she can with her family. Melissa has a passion for math and is so excited to join the Girls Prep team this year.
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Leslie Keller, 6th Grade Lead Teacher
This is Leslie Keller’s first year at Girls Prep and she is overjoyed to be teaching Language Arts, Reading, and Social Studies to the first 6th grade class ever at Girls Prep! Leslie believes that Middle School marks the most important time in a child’s life where they learn the skills to be productive citizens and lifelong learners. She encourages students to understand that education is not external, it changes people and how they view themselves and the world around them.
Prior to coming to Girls Prep, Leslie lived in Vermont for 7 years. During this time she went to the University of Vermont for her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Speech and Debate and her Masters in Middle Level Curriculum and Instruction. She also taught for 2 years at a public Middle School.
Leslie loves to cook and would secretly like to be on the show Top Chef. She also enjoys reading, swimming, spending time with her family, walking her dog Truman, and exploring the city.
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Amy Indursky, Fifth Grade CTT Teacher
Amy was raised in New York City and Long Island. She attended American University in Washington DC. Amy returned to New York and received a Masters in Special Education and Literacy from New York University. Amy was a SETSS teacher for the last three years. She is excited to return back to the classroom and teach fifth grade with Ms. Kilkenny. She enjoys helping all kinds of learners.
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Ranjani Natarajan, 6th Grade CTT Teacher
Ranjani’s interest in education began at the young age of 5, after receiving her first chalkboard as a present. For the rest of her childhood, she was known for teaching her stuffed animals basic reading, writing, and math skills. This love of teaching and learning resonated with Ranjani throughout her academic career and was the inspiration behind her commitment to public service as an undergraduate student at SUNY Binghamton, where she served as a mentor and tutor to at-risk high school students. After completing her Bachelors degree, Ranjani joined Teach for America as a special education teacher in South Phoenix and earned her Masters of Education degree in Cross Categorical Special Education from Arizona State University. Most recently, Ranjani served as a special education teacher and 6th grade Child Study Team liaison at Kings Collegiate Charter School in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Ranjani has lived in various states, but primarily grew up in Long Island and considers herself a true New Yorker at heart. Outside of teaching, Ranjani enjoys trying new foods and experiencing new cultures (she is an avid traveler), and reading. Most of all, Ranjani loves cheering on the New York Yankees and New York Giants!
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Joy Tan, 5th Grade Associate Fellow
Joy Tan taught 5th and 6th graders in Singapore for thirteen years before she came to New York to pursue her Master’s in Curriculum and Teaching. She graduated from the National University of Singapore and took a postgraduate course in education at the National Institute of Education, Singapore, before beginning her teaching career.
Joy loves the excitement that Science brings to her students. She marvels at the creative and thought-provoking questions which her students are constantly bombarding her with everyday and hopes that Science would in one way or another, play a significant role in the lives of her students. Joy also teaches Singapore Math in the Middle School.
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Charllie Bongolan, 6th Grade Fellow
From the golden coast, Ms. Bongolan was born and raised in Southern California. She is a product of both the private and the public school system. One of which was very nurturing and the other which pushed for independence. She is excited to be working at Girls Prep, which she believes is the best of both worlds, providing our community with private school quality education through a public school.
Ms. Bongolan graduated from the University of California Riverside with a B.A. in Sociology. Soon thereafter found herself flying clear across the country to follow her dreams to become an effective educator. Ms. Bongolan spent two years teaching 5th, 6th and 8th grade at Holy Child Middle School in the LES. There she taught an array of classes from P.E. to Math and Social Studies. Although she loves to teach and learn, she also doesn’t mind a little recess!
Ms. Bongolan loves to dance, listen to music and design. When she isn’t doing any of these three things you can find her searching for the best hot sauce!
Ms. Bongolan is so excited for this new school year and can’t wait to begin teaching the young ladies of Girls Prep!
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Michelle Kohut, Director of Student and Family Affairs
Michelle Kohut is joining the Girls Prep Middle School team as the Director of Student and Family Affairs (DSFA). Michelle is a Social Worker and has spent the past thirteen years working with middle school students in NYC around the many social and emotional issues that go along with transitioning from childhood to the pre-teen and teenager years.
Michelle received her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from Boston College and has attended CUNY Graduate Center to pursue a PhD in Social Welfare.
Ms. Kohut credits much of her professional expertise to her tenure at Interfaith Neighbors, Inc. and Wediko Children’s Services. Through a variety of positions at these two agencies, Michelle honed skills as a therapist, a group worker, a community organizer, a trainer and a teacher.
At Girls Prep, Michelle will provide practical supports and strategies for students, teachers and parents toward maximizing the learning potential of each individual student and of the GP community as a whole.
On a personal note, Ms. Kohut is a proud first-time parent of a 2 year-old girl and plans to share with the Girls Prep students her love of yoga, physical activity and sports.
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Emily E. Glod, Counselor
Emily is looking forward to her first full year at Girl’s Prep Middle School, working as the school’s counselor. She earned her undergraduate degree at Villanova University, outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from college, Emily was a middle school teacher at an all-girl’s school in the Lower East Side for several years. She received a master’s degree in social work at Fordham University. Emily is very excited to work with the middle school students and their families in the upcoming year.
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Emilee Christopher, Operations Associate
Emilee Christopher is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a Masters degree in Education Policy and Management. She attended Harvard after receiving her B.S. in Child Development & Family Studies from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. She has a commitment to high-quality education and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporate.
Before coming to Girls Prep, Emilee worked in various fields throughout public service including public school districts, universities, non-profit organizations, and community centers. She spends her free time exercising, watching movies, spending time with friends and thoroughly enjoys reading, traveling, and spoiling her nephews and niece.
Emilee is excited to work with the faculty, staff, students and families at Girls Prep and is proud to be apart of such an outstanding organization!
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Raisa Capellan, Administrative Assistant
Raisa Capellan graduated from Utica College in May 2010 with a BS in Accounting and a minor in Management. While at Utica College she remained extremely active and served as the Treasurer for the Latin American Student Union, a member of the Finance Committee for Student Government, and an active member of the Accounting Society.
In her spare time she loves to make fondant cakes with her mother, and discover new restaurants in New York City. Raisa joined Girls Prep in July 2010, and loves the support and positivity the girls at the school receive!
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