Educators and Professionals
Dr. Traci Korhonen
Founder
Dr. Traci Korhonen has pursued her dreams of positively impacting education in a variety of ways through public, private, and non-profit programs. In 2013, she started Dream AcadeME Summer Camp. Since then Traci has expanded Dream AcadeME with Homeschool, Tutoring, Afterschool classes, and consulting services. The next adventure will be opening Charter Schools with a unique structure and Reggio-Inspired curriculum.
Dr. Korhonen received her Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) in K-12 Education Leadership at USC in 2015. With over twenty years of teaching experience, her most memorable experiences have been teaching Pre-K at Harvard University and working with parents to open micro-schools. Traci weaves Reggio and Constructivism philosophies to create a curriculum that meets the needs of 21st century learners with personalized Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math project-based experiences. She incorporates the latest research and consistently evolves the curriculum to meet the students’ interests and needs.
Teaching children literacy and math skills is one of the most rewarding experiences for Dr. Korhonen as an educator. She facilitates a blended program of whole language, invented spelling, phonics, social constructivism, and process drama to maintain motivation for reading and writing. In mathematics she derives lessons from cognitively guided instruction (CGI) incorporated with math fluency and manipulatives, as well as real world experiences and projects. By incorporating the child's interests and moving at a pace that maintains the child's confidence, Traci has observed numerous children make leaps and bounds in their academic development. With a strong foundation in reading, writing, and math, students are better able to research, document, and experiment with STEAM learning projects.
Most importantly, Dr. Korhonen respects and highly values the parent-teacher partnership and works closely in regular communication with parents about their children’s experiences. In addition to her credentials in education, Traci is also a certified pilates, yoga, and fitness instructor. Many elements of yoga, movement, dance, meditation, and mindfulness are integrated into daily practices at Dream AcadeME.
To her fullest ability, Dr. Korhonen creates an authentic and honest approach to education to prepare children to navigate today’s challenging world, while evolving her understanding of best practices along the way. Traci hopes you will join her endeavor in education reform and expresses her gratitude for sharing in these dreams.
Nancy Fleming
Assistant Director and Educator
Nancy has a lifelong passion for working with children. After teaching dance and summer camp throughout high school and college, she graduated from Cal State University Long Beach with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Mathematics. During her program at CSULB, she volunteered over 180 hours at an inner city public school where she gained experience teaching in a Japanese immersion Kindergarten classroom. Nancy worked as a program coordinator for a public school summer camp program in Orange County at SVUSD overseeing nine school sites, hiring staff, coordinating events, and organizing school activities.
When she moved to LA Nancy taught at a private school in Culver City called, Turning Point School. Here she taught preschool through middle-school grades and specialized classes in gardening and the arts for the enrichment program. After giving the better part of a decade to Turning Point, she took on a new role at the Reggio inspired PeaPods Schoolhouse as Associate Director working closely with parents and guiding preschoolers through STEAM and Reggio-inspired explorations. Nancy became a mother in 2019, which influenced her to take extended courses in ECE studying infant, toddler, and preschool child development. Nancy’s education and background give her experience understanding the development of children of all ages.
One of Nancy’s fondest memories of a child was making mud pies with loose materials her mother gave her in the backyard. She enjoyed the creative and open-ended, messy play. Nancy also loved dance classes, performing and competing in all genres as early as five years old, and by high school she was teaching jazz, hip-hop, and ballet to all ages. After moving to LA, Nancy took her dance to the next level appearing and choreographing for numerous music videos. Today she remains active in dance as a way of releasing her creativity.
With her background, education, and passions, Nancy teaches math, literacy, dance, art, cooking, and gardening to children. Nancy’s personal teaching philosophy is to not tell children the answers, and instead guide them to learn the answers through their experiences, surrounding environments, and interests. Nancy is thrilled to be a part of Dream AcadeME since it’s early days in 2016 and has worked closely with Dr. Korhonen in various roles since 2012. She’s exhilarated to bring her experiences in the garden and with pollinators to Dream AcadeME students. Nancy will be sharing her passion and creativity of dance along with her love for cooking and baking. She’s a firm believer that the memories that children create in their young minds are the ones that mold and shape who they become.
Jeddin White
MAKER & Art EDUCATOR
Jeddin has been working with others sharing his skills as a maker for over a decade. He branched out his teaching from adults to children a few years ago when he started working for Dream AcadeME. Jeddin is an artist and craftsman who moved to Los Angeles in 2015 to share his sense of wonder and beauty with the world. Raised in the meditation hub of Fairfield, Iowa, he is familiar with both rural, small-town America and the introspective spirituality of the Far East. Always enthusiastic about science and technology, he earned his Bachelor of Science in Psychology and ran various studies in perception at the University of Iowa for three years. It was around this time he rekindled a passion for art and began a lifelong self-education of craftsmanship techniques old and new.
Jeddin has spent countless hours on film sets building installations for display and honing his craft in the art department. He has worked on fun projects like when he built hanging beds for the Teen Choice Awards and assembled interactive displays for HyperloopTT. Jeddin continues to build and maintain HyperloopTT's showroom, which serves to make their technology palpable for visitors. He is handy behind many large and dangerous tools, such as woodworking machines, welders, and laser cutters. Jeddin is equally capable with finer tools such as sewing, soldering, and creating art with a variety of mediums. He regularly shows his works at art fairs, festivals, and online. As a maker, Jeddin was featured in the DIY book "Handmade" building a lamp of his own design. He also completed an Instructables DIY Infinity Mirror for Dream AcadeME's submission to the Infy Maker Awards in 2018 where Dream AcadeME made it to the top 25 finalists. With such a wide variety of tools under his belt, he is comfortable bringing just about any concept to reality, and showing others how to do it too!
Jeddin aims to nurture his students' creativity, a quality that is increasingly essential in our automation-driven world. His teaching style is centered around the students’ motivation and goals. He gives them space to lead the way while supporting them with the knowledge and tools they need to make their dream a reality. Jeddin enjoys a good philosophical conversation and always has a new and original, clever joke to break the ice and spark the imaginations of his students.
Emily Potter
Summer Camp & AfterSchool Educator
Emily L. Potter grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire, before moving to Milford, where she is set to graduate from Milford High School in 2025. As a Career and Technical (CT) student, she has explored various business fields, gaining valuable experience working with different people. Through this journey, she discovered a passion for networking, which naturally led her to a love for leadership and working with children.
Emily has a deep appreciation for the culinary world, particularly international cuisine and diverse food groups. Through her experiences in different restaurants, she developed a love for cooking and now aspires to teach children about nutrition, health, and global flavors. She believes that food is a gateway to creativity and cultural appreciation, and she is eager to share this knowledge with young learners.
Beyond her culinary interests, Emily has a strong passion for art. She enjoys teaching children different artistic techniques, such as drawing, and incorporating STEM concepts into creative projects. She strives to create a well-rounded, calming environment where children feel inspired to explore, express themselves, and develop new skills. As a leader and mentor, Emily is dedicated to fostering creativity, curiosity, and confidence in the next generation.
Nathan Kersey Wilson
Music (String, Key, & Wind) and Outdoor EDUCATOR
Nathan holds a BA in Ethnomusicology with a concentration in jazz performance from UCLA. He specializes in piano, saxophone, flute, bass, guitar, and vocals. He aims to teach a technical mastery of the instrument, a deep understanding of harmonic and rhythmic concepts, reading sheet music, the ability to express oneself through improvisation, and how to jam with others.
Nathan aims to achieve these learning objectives by following students’ passions. For example, he practices giving space for a child to choose which song to learn, explore their own songwriting, and follow their curiosity. Nathan is passionate about community building, social justice, and creating a more equitable and sustainable world. These values come across in his lessons, in which he emphasizes patience, self-respect, positive communication, creative expression, and living-in-the-moment, all of which he believes are necessary for a well-rounded life.
Nathan loves working with children, and in addition to tutoring in music, he has been involved with youth summer camps his whole life. Some memorable experiences at camp include sailing, kayaking, windsurfing, rock climbing, and ropes course. He also worked for many years at the UCLA Challenge Course, facilitating high ropes experiential education programs with an emphasis on effective communication, courage, and collaboration.
Nathan has offered his musical talents through directing, composing, performing, and arranging for groups/bands whose styles represent a large musical spectrum - from R&B to big-band to hip-hop to rock to musical theater. Nathan’s career has led him to work with legends such as Kenny Burrell, The Untouchables, Saint Motel, Moses Sumney, KSHMR, and to perform at notable venues such as Coachella, Lollapalooza, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Montreau Jazz Festival, Royce Hall, Pauley Pavilion, and the Berkeley Greek Theater.
Outside of the professional world, Nathan loves spending time with his wife, Sarah, camping, surfing, hiking, and singing with friends. Music has been his teacher, friend, therapist, and gift to others, and he is grateful to be able to share this passion with the next generation.
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