Diversity and Belonging

Allison (Ali) Snell first joined Avenues in 2017 as a learning specialist and later as an associate division head for the Upper Division at the New York campus. From 2020, she served as an assistant principal at Edwin Markham Intermediate School in Staten Island, before returning to Avenues New York in 2022 as director of student wellbeing. To this role, she brings a deep understanding of how to promote the wellbeing of young people and a passionate commitment to helping students find their purpose in the world.

Ali has an extensive background in education, including as a founding assistant principal at PS/MS 8 in Brooklyn and as a literacy coach for the NYC Department of Education. She has 12 years of experience as a middle school teacher and also served as an adjunct instructor at Bank Street College of Education. Ali holds a bachelor’s degree from Haverford College, a master’s degree in learning disabilities from Teachers College at Columbia University, and a master of education in leadership for educational change from Bank Street College of Education.

Becca Howlett brings a lifelong commitment to education and more than a decade of talent experience to her role as the director of people and culture at Avenues New York. Becca started her career as a social studies teacher in New York City public schools. After six years of teaching, she joined Achievement First, a high-performing charter school network. During her 11-year tenure, she advanced from the organization’s first teacher recruiter to vice president of recruitment, while the organization expanded from five schools to 31 and from 50 to 1300 colleagues. Becca is also the founder of a non-profit organization, Literacy for Incarcerated Teens, aimed at building libraries for incarcerated youth. She earned a B.A. in history at the University of Connecticut and an M.S.Ed from Bank Street College.

Chris Mizell joined Avenues as an Associate Division Head in the Upper Division this fall. In his decade in the classroom as an English and Humanities teacher, his practice focused on teaching for equity, project and game based learning, and social emotional development. He began his career as a sixth grade English teacher at George Jackson Academy, a boys middle school on the Lower East Side. He then became the fifth grade Humanities Teacher at Town School for Boys in San Francisco. Most recently, he served as Humanities Coordinator, sixth grade English Teacher, and Middle School DEI Coordinator at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry.

Chris earned his BA at the University of Pennsylvania, and his MA and M.Ed at Teachers College of Columbia University. Outside of work, Chris is an avid reader, athlete, and musician. He plays drums, guitar, and enjoys reading about human behavior and the works of James Baldwin.

Growing up between Taiwan and the United States, Janie was inspired by her mother, a Spanish-language educator, to pursue a B.A. in Spanish at Fu Jen University in Taiwan. After working as an early childhood educator in Taipei, Janie received an M.A. from Teachers College at Columbia University, followed by two years of teaching at an international school in Moscow, Russia. When Janie first learned of Avenues, with its global focus and emphasis on Chinese and Spanish language immersion, she knew this was the school and community for her. Janie started her Avenues career as a Chinese kindergarten teacher in 2013 and subsequently joined the admissions team in 2015. She's also a proud Avenues parent on the Chinese track.

An experienced educator and school leader with a career spanning three decades, Kim Lewis joined Avenues as the head of Lower Division (grades 1–5). Kim brings more than ten years of experience as a lower division head—the past seven at Dwight-Englewood (NJ) and prior to that eight at Germantown Friends School (PA), where she also served as the lower division dean of faculty before being promoted to division head. Kim's experience also includes 16 years in the classroom as a 5th and 6th-grade math teacher, curriculum specialist and instructional lead. As a leader, Kim focuses on building and maintaining a nurturing community among students, faculty, parents and colleagues; while also striving to strengthen professional learning and create an atmosphere conducive to excellent educational outcomes.

Melody Meade is head of the Early Learning Center.

Melody is a highly experienced and innovative school leader whose rich career has included a mix of leadership roles overseas and in the United States. She has focused on successfully implementing dual language and immersion programs, in the US, Brazil, France and Belgium, in nursery through grade 12 independent schools. Before joining Avenues, she served as principal of the Early Childhood division at Cayman International School in the Cayman Islands. Prior to this, Melody spent 17 years at Washington International School, including over 10 years as the primary school principal, covering early childhood through grade 5, in a trilingual environment.

Melody earned her B.A. from the University of Rhode Island and her M.A. from the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership at Columbia University Teachers College.

Morgan joined Avenues New York in 2019. Morgan's daughter attends Avenues and is on the Chinese track. Morgan holds an MBA from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, a BA in Chinese Language & Culture Studies at Middlebury College, and a graduate certificate from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and Nanjing University. Morgan was born and raised in New York City and lived in China for six years.

Ted Ogden joined Avenues as an associate division head in the Upper Division for seven years before stepping into his current role as Director of Teaching and Learning in 2024.

Prior to Avenues, Ted spent fifteen years working at the middle and high school levels, first at Brunswick School in Greenwich, CT, and later at Landon School in Bethesda, MD. During these years he designed courses ranging from middle school English and non-Western history to advanced electives in American Studies and Creative Nonfiction; coached five sports; and served as an advisor and 6th-grade dean.

Ted earned a B.A. in English Literature from Middlebury College; M.A. degrees in the humanities from The University of Chicago and educational leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University; and an M.B.A from Columbia Business School. He has also completed graduate work in film, storytelling, and theater through Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English.

Todd Shy joined Avenues in 2012, the school’s first year of operation, as a humanities instructor for the middle grades. He went on to become the director of the Mastery Program and the program director of High Intensity Practice in writing. During the 2017–18 school year, Todd served as an upper school head at Town School for Boys in San Francisco, California. Avenues had the pleasure of welcoming Todd back in Fall 2018 to assume the role of head of Upper Division.

Prior to Avenues, Todd taught social studies at Cary Academy in Cary, North Carolina; philosophy at North Carolina Governor’s School in Raleigh; and history at Rocky Mount Academy in Rocky Mount, NC.

Todd received a B.A. from the University of Virginia, completed graduate coursework at King’s College London and obtained a master of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary.