Meet our
Faculty Members
Welcome to our School
Ad Astra! To the Stars
School Director
David Miller
Working together with students, clubs, parents, teachers, and others each year we seem to set the standard higher each time. We are quite honored to have in our midst such resourceful and sensitive teachers working in close collaboration with our polite, collaborative, and creative students. All this planning and action coheres into a very special family-oriented environment that makes Yangon Academy; an extraordinary place to study.
Secondary Principal
Mike Gordon
Mingalabar! It is a privilege to work at a school with such dedicated, caring teachers and wonderful, kind students. Together, our school community strives every day to live out our Mission:
Yangon Academy is a dynamic international school…which prepares students for excellence in university and life. Our community inspires students to love learning and to contribute positively within a diverse and ever-changing world.
Under the leadership of our School Director, Mr. David Miller, Yangon Academy has flourished over these many years and continues to grow, with purpose-driven, schoolwide improvement as our constant goal and beacon. With our American-curriculum framework, Yangon Academy is College Board-approved as both an AP Exam Center and an SAT Testing Site.
In all areas of school life, our students excel and live out our Schoolwide Learning Outcomes. Students take care of one another with kindness, empathy, and honesty, and our teachers, and parents often note these attributes, and visitors alike: At Yangon Academy, our greatest strength is our outstanding students.
Assistant Secondary Principal
Michael T. Schneller
I’m honored to join Yangon Academy International School this year as the assistant secondary principal. I received by Bachelor’s in electrical engineering in 2000 from the University of Scranton in Scranton Pennsylvania and a Master's in education in 2006 from Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, the state where I earned both my teaching and administrative licenses. I bring with me seventeen years of physics teaching and six years of international administrative experience in secondary education. I directed secondary international schools in China where I focused on integrating traditional Chinese culture into contemporary pedagogical and curricular programs with a focus on competitive matriculation. I believe that involving the support of an entire community of stakeholders in a child’s education is essential and I look forward to becoming a part of it here.
Although I have spent 13 years in China and Southeast Asia, this will be my first experience in Myanmar, and I’m very excited to continue my love of learning about people and their culture, customs, and history. I come to Yangon Academy International School not only as an educator, but also as a life-long and eager learner.
Elementary School Principal
Johannes Jacobus Dippenaar
I feel privileged to begin my journey at Yangon Academy as the new Elementary School Principal, my wife and I cannot wait to start our new journey in Yangon! A citizen of South Africa, I have been a Math and Science teacher, and I am proud to be a role model for parents, teachers, and students. Since 2009 I developed my skills and abilities to work in management positions in different schools, and therefore, I feel that I am well qualified for this position. From 2021 I started my international career at SABIS Sun International School in Baku, Azerbaijan as the Academic Quality Controller.
I bring a comprehensive set of skills that I believe will be valuable to Yangon Academy International School. A Passion for students and working daily with parents and staff members is definitely one of my assets and is a crucial part of my development for this position. I really enjoy working with all the stakeholders in a school environment and have a good sense of humor and, therefore, I have been loved in all my positions since I started as an educator. Teaching Science and ESL while I was a Principal kept me in touch with the students and helped them develop to their utmost, and teaching is still a burning enjoyment inside me to work with and teach children. During my teaching experience in South Africa, I was also in charge of all the extra-curricular activities and coaching cricket, tennis, and rugby until I left South Africa.
I have been always supported by my wife and together we believe that we can make a huge difference in the Community of Yangon.
I look forward to working in the Yangon Academy School environment and assisting all the stakeholders of the school.
ECC Coordinator
Tr. Khin Khin
I always love the first day of school better than the last day of school. The firsts are the best because they are beginnings. “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults.” Frederick Douglas perhaps understood the value and relevance of early childhood education.
Early childhood education is focused on the critical developmental milestones, skills, and concepts that children attain during this period of their lives, from social-emotional skills to the beginnings of literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking. More research shows that young children’s emotional, social, cognitive, & physical development greatly affects their overall development as an adult.
On behalf of the teachers and myself, we extend a warm welcome to all our preschool families. I believe your child’s first school experience is critical in determining his or her desire to learn; therefore, impacting their academic success later in life. We work diligently and passionately to create a positive learning environment that sets a strong foundation for the future.
