Dana is a San Diego native passionate about education, school psychology, and the arts. With a little over 5 years of experience working with children in public and private school settings, after-school programs, and non-profits, Dana's experience includes working as a Paraprofessional Teacher, Behavior Therapist, and, most significantly, as a Field Instructor and Arabic Translator with Earth Discovery Institute (EDI) for 3 years.
While pursuing her A.A. in Psychology at SWC and B.S. in Psychology at UCSD, she had the opportunity to lead supplementary science and environmental curriculum at the middle school level, including mixed media art workshops. Dana is a strong proponent of fostering student engagement through inference-based learning, encouraging students to explore their innate curiosities through scientific and critical reasoning about their environment.
Dana received her B.S. in Psychology in 2026 and aims to pursue her masters in Psychology to become an art therapist. She is committed to advancing accessibility and inclusivity in environmental education, climate advocacy, and students’ overall sense of belonging. Dana's work at EDI has allowed her to be the representation she desperately wanted to see in the sciences when she was younger, and has helped her envision herself as a 2nd-generation immigrant and Syrian-American in STEM spaces. It is this opportunity to foster youths’ creative expression that initially attracted Dana to EDI, and why she is back!