4th Grade Faculty

Head of Primary School

Sagrario Argüelles

Sagrario is a passionate professional with more than 20 years of experience in a wide variety of educational settings. She is a lifelong learner that believes that students learn best when they are empowered and feel ownership of their learning. Sagrario has a BA in Education from the Pedagogical University in Mexico and has taken different undergraduate courses from Stanford and Harvard University. She is bilingual in Spanish and English and has a deep understanding of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program.

Sagrario was born and raised in México City. During her journey in education she worked in different schools in México such as Alexander Bain and the American School Foundation, where she held different teacher and administrative roles such as, lower school teacher, Primary Years Programme (PYP) coordinator and dean of students. She began her career in the United States in 2008 at Escuela Bilingüe Internacional in Oakland, California where she came to implement the Primary Years Programme (PYP). She held the roles of Assistant Head, PYP Coordinator and Director of Curriculum and Learning for Pre-kinder to 8th grade and oversaw the Middle Years Programme (MYP) implementation.

Her passion for education has also allowed her to do significant work for the IB as a workshop leader, consultant, school evaluation and accreditation leader and IB field representative in charge of the quality of the workshops given in The Americas. Sagrario has also been instrumental in the implementation of new IB services for schools at a global level, to develop a quality curriculum in schools.

Sagrario has sought to share best practices wherever she has taught, presenting at educational conferences such as the IB Regional Conference and the California Association of Independent School Conference.

Sagrario describes herself as an inquirer and is a true believer that as educators we need to nurture each child’s love of learning by cultivating academic excellence, emotional intelligence, and social engagement.

Lead Teacher

Marisell Torres

Originally from Puerto Rico, Marisell graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a degree in Elementary Education and has over 18 years of experience as a primary school educator. A native Spanish speaker, Marisell taught Spanish at Antilles School in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and all subjects in Spanish as a primary school educator at Guamani Private School in Puerto Rico. In 2014, Marisell moved to Austin, Texas with her family and brought her passion for inspiring students to become lifelong learners to her work as a bilingual educator.

Lead Teacher

Paulina Tello

Paulina Tello joins us as a 4th grade teacher. She is from Quito, Ecuador and has been a teacher since 2009. Paulina has an undergraduate degree in Education from the University of Loja and a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Barcelona. She has taught multiple grade levels in Primary and most recently served as a PYP Coordinator at Colegio Terranova. Paulina is also part of the IB Educator Network (IBEN) and facilitates IB workshops for educators throughout the Americas. She is married and has two children.

English Teacher

Patrick Self

Patrick Self grew up in Illinois. After graduating from a small liberal arts school in Missouri, he moved to Houston to teach ESL. While living in Houston, Patrick worked at both public and private international schools. Along the way, he has helped coordinate bilingual and ESL programs, while teaching both native speakers and English learners in grades K-5. In 2011, Patrick earned a master’s degree in TESOL. Since moving to Austin, he has taught English in Grades 3 & 5 and also supported English learners in Grades 1-5.

In his free time Patrick enjoys traveling, especially to Mexico where he studied abroad as a student. He collects folk art from his travels and loves exploring new cultures. When he is home in Austin, you can find him eating tacos, meditating and reading.

PYP and MYP Art Teacher

Paula Trejos

Paula Trejos was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Upon graduation from high school, she attended the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University, where she received a degree in Fine Arts. While at university in Colombia, Paula was fortunate to play volleyball at the highest level. Not only did Paula play for her university, but also for the Colombian National team four times. She had the privilege of traveling throughout South America, the Caribbean and Central America. In 2008, she received an offer to play volleyball at Pratt Community College and to attend school in the United States.

After two first team All-American years at Pratt, where she set the school record in aces, she received a full scholarship to play volleyball at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas. Before leaving Pratt, she was inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame. In her two years at Wayland, she set numerous records while being named first team All-Conference twice and receiving Team MVP her senior season. Paula also excelled in art, her area of study. She finished 20 original pieces and was published in the local newspaper. In addition, she won the Plains Art Association Scholarship award, which judged two original art pieces from their gallery.

In 2012 she received her degree in Graphic Design from Wayland Baptist University. At Wayland, Paula participated in youth coaching and assistant coaching at Plainview Christian Academy High School. She began to coach the 14’s and under team with the Max High Performance volleyball club in Austin, while substituting for AISD. After five successful years as a preschool PYP Lead Teacher, Paula Trejos (Lacey) will move to the art department this year. She is excited to share her passion for art with both PYP and MYP students. Paula has a BA in Fine Arts from Jorge Tadeo Lozano University in Colombia and a BA in Graphic Design from Wayland Baptist University. She holds teaching certifications in art, bilingual education and Spanish.

Learning Specialist

Carolina Gavilanes

Carolina Gavilanes is a Bilingual Learning Specialist. She believes that maintaining a sense of inquiry and constant curiosity drives a lifelong learning approach. She believes in guiding learners to develop a habit of self-inquiry and metacognitive behavior to achieve greater academic success. 

During her 20 years in the Education field, Carolina has experienced the area from many perspectives: as a teacher in Early Childhood, as an education specialist in Special Education, as a university faculty member and as a teacher trainer is her Learning Support Center in Quito. She has also worked as an Educational Consultant and Instructional Designer in different educational settings. All these life experiences have given her the capacity to embrace new experiences and differences.

Carolina was born in a small town in Louisiana but was raised in Quito, Ecuador. She grew up in a bilingual, bicultural home, with friends and family from all over the world. She has lived, studied and worked in cold places like Michigan, and hot places, like Tampa; big noisy cities like Mexico City and small quiet towns like the valley of Cumbaya, Ecuador; flat swamplands like in New Orleans, and hilly rises like in San Francisco. She moved to Austin in 2020 from the Bay Area.     

Carolina holds a M.Ed. in Special Education, with a specialization in Educational Diagnostician from the University of New Orleans, and a Master of Elementary Education degree from the University of Alabama. She earned her B.A. in Education with a concentration in Psychology from the Universidad San Francisco de Quito.

Carolina loves to practice yoga, read and travel; and, most of all, to spend time with her husband and daughter.

Primary Innovation & Design Teacher

Sophia Pellegrini

Sophia has more than 20 years of experience in education in both public and private schools. She graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Elementary Education and holds certifications in Special Education and ESL. Her passion is to help students become creative problem solvers and independent thinkers.

Head Librarian

Marion Rocco

Marion Rocco earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education & Child Study from Smith College in Northampton, MA. Her first job after college was working for the acclaimed author and illustrator Eric Carle. It was through this work in his studio that she discovered the magic and power of picture books. Marion returned to school and completed the Master of Science in Information Studies from The University of Texas at Austin. Since graduating, she has worked in school and public libraries and as an Austin ISD Program Specialist focusing on teacher and librarian professional development. She is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at The University of Texas at Austin where she teaches an undergraduate course in Children’s Literature.

Marion’s interest in global and international literature keeps her active in professional organizations including the American Library Association and the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY). She served on the Batchelder Award Committee for best international children’s book in 2014 and co-chaired the USBBY conference that took place in Austin in 2019. Marion has presented on international and bilingual books at the International Board on Books for Young People, International Literacy Association, and Texas Library Association conferences. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Learning Technologies from the University of North Texas.

Nurse, Anderson Lane

Deepa Vinodh

Deepa was raised in Toronto, Canada where she successfully completed her Bachelors
of Science in Nursing degree. She has been a nurse for the last 18 years, 16 of which
were spent in the Emergency department at the University Health Network (UHN), one
of Canada’s top research and teaching hospitals. During her time at UHN, Deepa also
served as the Nurse Educator for the emergency department and has completed a
couple of research fellowship projects to improve patient safety. She pursued her
passion for teaching by becoming a clinical course director for undergrads and
international nursing students at York University.

Deepa enjoys practicing hot yoga, hiking, cooking, baking and travelling. She currently
has a first grader at Magellan and is looking forward to expanding her role
professionally at Magellan International School.

Primary Instructional Coach & Assistant PYP Coordinator

Paola Samaniego

Paola Samaniego is from Quito-Ecuador, and this is her fifteenth year teaching. She has has experience working with children between the ages of two months and eight years old. This is her tenth year teaching Spanish. Paola received a BS in Early Childhood Education and Developmental Psychology from Keene State College in New Hampshire. Paola later earned her Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from Jaen’s University in Spain. Paola loves the PYP program and implementing it in the classroom. In the last year she has been learning more about sensory integration and self regulation. She is a firm believer in differentiation in the classroom, every child learns differently and as a teacher she wants to be able to provide many opportunities in order to acquire the skills needed to become lifelong learners!

She believes the inquiry based program works for children of all ages, but especially with young children who have that natural curiosity and desire to learn how the world around them works. She welcomes all your input and support throughout the school year!

Research Teacher & Associate Librarian

Sandra Noack

Sandra Noack was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She comes from a multicultural family, half Colombian and half German. She was also influenced by British and American cultures as she studied at a bilingual school. At age 12, she realized she was meant to be a teacher when she started teaching her little sister how to read and write. Later on, she continued this practice when she decided to home-school her own kids. She is proud of her three children, who decided to become teachers, thus prolonging the legacy of educators in her family.

Upon graduation, Sandra completed her education as a preschool teacher at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional from Bogotá. Her experience as a PYP teacher for more than 11 years has reinforced her beliefs and values regarding education. Her main purpose is to engage her students and help them become internationally minded, caring, inquisitive, and knowledgeable. She believes education is a never-ending process and teaching gives her the opportunity to learn new things everyday.

She enjoys connecting with her students and learning from them in many ways. Sandra also enjoys art, which has always been part of her life. As a self-taught painter, she believes that persistence and discipline can be more powerful than talent. She enjoys exploring different media and shares her creativity with her students. Sandra is proud to belong to a group of lifelong learners at MIS and will strive to build strong bonds within the community she cares deeply about.