More About Missy Yavasile.....
After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree (Kinesiology and Psychology), Missy got her Primary and Secondary teaching credentials and started her teaching career in Pleasanton, California, where she spent 2 years teaching dance and PE. She and her husband moved to Visalia in 1975 where they began serving the students and community of Visalia. Missy taught grades 4-6 at Mineral King and Willow Glen and then moved to Green Acres Middle School where she spent the next 13 years. Having a strong desire to work as a counselor with students, she received her school counseling credential (Pupil Personnel Services-PPS) and her Masters Degree in Counseling and Administration from Fresno Pacific University in 1989. She spent 5 years as a counselor at Redwood High School and Divisadero Middle School.
In addition to being a school counselor, she spent 10 years teaching Biology, Life Science, Health, among other things, and acted as the Science Department Chairman at Redwood High School. It was at this time that she fell in love with high school students. In 2004, she wrote the charter petition and founded Visalia Charter Independent Study. As the principal/counselor there, she was able to build the school to over 400 high school students in 5 years. The school is WASC accredited and University of California A-G approved. In 2009, Missy was selected as Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators and was also inducted into Visalia Unified School District’s PTA Hall of Fame.
Missy retired from VUSD in 2009. After she retired, she spent two and a half years helping with the development of a new charter school, Valley Life Charter School. Her long career in education has provided Missy with many experiences and tools to assist her SOAR students in their college quest.
Missy has a strong desire to assist families in the college admissions process. She is anxious to help the young adults and busy parents in our community navigate an overwhelming and constantly changing landscape, juggle the myriad of decisions about location and opportunities, and cut through the noise to manage application deadlines. She looks forward to helping students identify their perfect college fit and reach their full potential.
Missy stays current on changes to the process, by being an active member in several professional organizations. She attends conferences and webinars to stay up to date. She has developed a dynamic and engaging college planning curriculum which offers students a proven method of discovery to assist in fulfilling their college dreams. She also uses multiple online programs to help students with career and major selection, college selection, and tracking the application and essay progress.
If you want to more about Missy's professional and community life, click here.