Ariel Raz

Two days before launching a falafel truck with his best friend, Ariel joined Teach for America and left his life in the Bay Area for adventures in the Bayou State. With dreams of working in the food industry put on pause, he turned his attention to teaching math to a rambunctious crew of middle schoolers in St. Bernard Parish. They taught him Zydeco dance moves and how to eat crawfish; he taught them fractions and algebra using a game or two.

The Bayou adventure led Ariel to Chicago, where he helped open a Southside charter school. Equipped with more chromebooks and iPads than hands to carry them, Ariel was curious to come up with ways to get the most out of the latest and greatest technological tools. That led him to the Stanford School of Education, where he studied Learning, Design & Technology. That led to an internship with the d.school which eventually became a job. As a Learning Experience Designer, Ariel now spends countless hours dreaming up ways to inspire new teachers.