Team

Vanessa Bertelli
Executive Director and co-founder

Linsey Silver
Director of Teaching and Learning

Johanna Barrantes
Director of Operations

Thi Nguyen
Research & Development Specialist Intern
Thi is a Master’s candidate in International Education Management at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. She holds 2 Bachelor’s degrees, International Relations and Communication, from the University of California – San Diego. Thi was born and raised in Hanoi, Vietnam, but calls San Jose, California her home. She is bilingual in English and Vietnamese, and currently learning Spanish at the advanced level. During her undergraduate study, she served as a research fellow in a biliteracy program for school-age youth in northern Baja California, Mexico, where she developed an interest in the intersection between language education and migration. Thi’s background also includes tutoring college students in first-year writing courses and designing social and cultural support programs for international students on US college campuses. thi@dcimmersion.org.

Jacob VanderZwaag
Intern
Jacob is a junior at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he is majoring in Global Business with minors in Spanish and Journalism. Since starting to learn Spanish in middle school, he has fallen in love with the language-learning process. Jacob spent six weeks studying abroad in Quito, Ecuador during the summer of 2018. He recently completed a virtual internship with an Atlanta-based nonprofit focused on community engagement and social entrepreneurship. Jacob is excited to combine his interests in languages and the nonprofit sector while helping to further DC Immersion’s mission. jacob@dcimmersion.org

Katie Strine
Intern
Katie is a recent graduate of American University with a passion for international education and language immersion. She was a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in 2013 in Auvergne, France. Since then, she has been motivated to increase accessibility for immersion education. She recently returned from her last year of undergrad in São Paulo, Brazil. In the future, she hopes to learn Spanish and teach English in France! katie@dcimmersion.org

Lucia Diaz Bartolome
Intern
Multilingual Ambassadors Program

Ali Ami
Intern

Diego Bolaños
Intern
Hello my name is Diego Bolaños, I’m from El Salvador. I’m studying at Roosevelt High School, I’m on the 12th grade. One of my goals is to become an electric engineer. I m not good at sports but I’m interested in boxing, and also I’m interested to learn English and Japanese.

Raul Edenilson Rosales Rivas
Intern
Hello my name is Raul Edenilson Rosales Rivas tengo 18 años soy originario de El Salvador pero vivo en los Estados Unidos distrito de Columbia tengo casi 4 años viviendo en la usa. Soy un estudiante de la escuela Roosevelt es mi último año por lo cual quiero prepararme para alguna carrera ya sea como médico forense o ya sea como un ingeniero electricista me gusta mucho el baseball hablo dos idiomas y me gustaría aprender francés estoy muy emocionado por mi futuro y quiero hacer lo mejor para ello.
Hello my name is Raul Edenilson Rosales Rivas. I am 18 years old. I am originally from El Salvador but I live in the District of Columbia, United States. I have lived for almost 4 years in the USA. I am a student at Roosevelt school, it is my last year, so I want to prepare for a career either as a forensic scientist or as an electrical engineer. I really like baseball. I speak two languages and I would like to learn French. I am very excited for my future and I want to do my best for it.

Rony Chavarria-Rodriguez
Intern
Hi my name is Rony. I’m from El Salvador. I am a senior of Roosevelt High School. I’ve been in the US for 4 years and I’m still learning English. I enjoy wrestling and would like to practice more. I like to help other students that do not know much English. I am still trying to figure out what job I want to have in the future and look forward to learning more about career where multilingualism is key.

Julio E. Argueta
Intern

Heriberto Silvano Delgado
Intern

Erick Arguello
Intern
Hello my name is Erick Arguello I’m a senior from Roosevelt high school. My goal is finish high school and go to college and study business and management. I am from Nicaragua a country rich of flora y fauna. I would like to learn new languages like French and someday travel to Paris. I’ve been at Roosevelt for three years and all these three years I played in the soccer teams. We won the Petworth cup twice and now as a senior I have with me all those beautiful memories. Thanks to the school I have the opportunity to participate as a member of the organization, DC inmersión and to be a multilingual ambassador.

Steven Rodríguez
Intern