A note from Chief of Schools, Christine Nelson:

I hope this email finds you rested and ready for a great start to 2022. I am writing with an exciting update regarding the leadership of Aurora Science & Tech High School for the upcoming school year. Today, I am proud to announce Kryszelda Mendoza as the founding School Director for AST High School. 

Before joining DSST in 2017, Kryszelda spent six years teaching science for Chicago Public Schools. She then relocated to Denver to join DSST, and has, in her five years with the organization, held leadership roles of increasing responsibility at three of our campuses. She honed her instructional coaching chops as a DCI at CGMS, then later flexed her culture muscles as an ASD at Henry MS. She joined the AST MS team in 2020, first serving as an ASD and now an SDIT, and has built deep ties to the AST community despite her short time there. Regardless of role, Kryszelda’s leadership is always marked by an unparalleled example of excellence and a deep commitment to STEM. For these reasons and so many more, I am thrilled that Kryszelda’s leadership will drive and guide the founding of AST High School. 

A colleague’s Core Value Award nomination of Kryszelda stood out to me, and I think it truly embodies her approach to leadership:

“Kryszelda demands a high degree of excellence from everyone she coaches and works with, but especially from herself. She leads with honesty, transparency, and strong rationale, which helps garner others' investment into whatever initiative she leads. She has been instrumental in my development thanks to her deep commitment to helping me achieve my goals, and that profound sense of responsibility has greatly impacted me.”

Kryszelda is excited to engage our students in real-life science through AST’s continued partnership with the Anschutz Campus through exposure, side-by-side learning, research and mentorship. She is thrilled to have this opportunity to build a unique one-of-a-kind open-enrollment health sciences high school that will be a national model. Kryszelda’s unrelenting dedication to our students, our mission, and our DSST community will only continue to amplify these successes, and I look forward to many more great things at AST High School in the years ahead. Please join me in congratulating Kryszelda on this new and exciting role!