Executive Director
Rehema Clarken, PhD
Rehema was born in Tanzania, raised in the Caribbean, and educated in Michigan. She received her Bachelor’s in International Studies and her Master’s in English from Northern Michigan University; then, she graduated from Michigan Technological University with a Ph.D. in Rhetoric. While working abroad she taught high school students in AP, A Level and IB schools. From 2018-2021, she was the academic principal for the Beijing Foreign Studies University’s International Curriculum Center—an A Level high school for students aspiring to attend top universities in the world.

Academic Director
Jeffrey Thornton, MPA
Jeff was born and raised in Dollar Bay, Michigan and received his Bachelor’s and Master’s from Northern Michigan University. For twenty years he managed local businesses in the Marquette area before finding himself as a teacher in Beijing, China. There, he studied for the Post Graduate Certificate of Education in from the University of Nottingham. Upon returning to the U.S. it was converted to a Michigan teaching certificate. His passion is teaching history and research writing projects in STEAM topics. He has taught AP U.S. History and AP American Government since 2014.
