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Spanish Instructor Sally Sefami Says “Adios” After Two Decades at Sage Hill
Sally Sefami comes from a family of teachers.
Her mother, Serene Stokes, worked as a reading specialist before breaking barriers in the 1970s as one of the first woman elementary school principals in Santa Ana. Her father, Sid, is a retired assistant superintendent of business for the Covina-Valley Unified School District. Sefami’s sister, Susan, currently teaches at Newport Coast Elementary and husband, Jacobo, is a UC Irvine professor of Spanish and Portuguese.
Traveling abroad and learning new languages are among her first loves though. At 15 years old, she traveled to the Netherlands as part of a foreign student exchange program. She would later live and work in Ecuador for a year.
It wasn’t until she studied for her master’s degree in linguistics at the University of Texas, Austin, that she saw herself becoming a teacher.
“I grew up in Southern California so Spanish has always been part of the soundscape of my life,” Sefami said.
After teaching Spanish for 12 years as an adjunct professor at NYU and Barnard in New York City, UC Irvine, Orange Coast College and Middlebury College’s Summer Spanish School, Sefami sought the stability of a high school position. She was hired by University High School within days of applying and spent two years there before learning a new small independent school had opened just up the road.
“In Orange County we really did not have a tradition of independent schools. I came to Sage Hill and I was wowed. There’s this small class size, the people I met were just amazing, there was this social justice piece that’s now called diversity, equity and inclusion. Back then, social justice was really on the agenda and surface here. I thought, ‘wow that this is so amazing.’”
Sefami joined Sage Hill School in 2002. The school had about 200 students enrolled, less than half of its current student body. Town Meeting convened in the Johnson Family Library or D. Diane Anderson Family Humanities Building Room 106/107.
On June 2, Sefami will join the faculty procession at graduation for the final time. It will be the capstone of nearly 20 years of service to the Sage Hill community. She officially retires June 30.
She’ll fall shy of two decades employment with the school due to a two-year sabbatical in Spain.
In addition to being a faculty member, she is the parent of Carlos Sefami, Asher Sefami ‘11 and Maru Sefami ’16.
“I’ve raised three kids. They’re all launched. My youngest is going to turn 25 this year. I’ve worked my entire life and I just feel like right now I’m healthy. There’s a lot of things I want to do. I am so happy to end my teaching career on a very positive note,” Sefami said.
Sefami’s contributions to Sage Hill are diverse and long-lasting, her colleagues said. She was the World Language Department Chair for eight years and also served as the Interim Dean of Faculty.
She is the co-advisor for the New Faculty Mentor's program and chaired the campus spaces improvement committee that recommended shade coverings and outdoor furniture to create comfortable outdoor spaces.
“Regardless of the hat that Sally wore, she always made an impact on campus among her colleagues and her students. She will truly be missed and will always be remembered as a beloved member of the Sage Hill community,” Head of School Patricia Merz said.
In 2016, Sefami received the Fiona Fraser Award for Excellence in Teaching from the School.
Mathematics teacher Cece Angotti has partnered with Sefami during Spring at Sage at least three times, including “Eat Pray Shop” and “Nail it or Fail it” seminars and Sage Hill’s inaugural Costa Rica trip before Spring at Sage officially existed.
“As a colleague, she’s wonderful. She gets stuff done. When we work together, we can have a meeting and knock stuff out. We laugh about it because it’s so efficient,” Angotti said. “I’m going to miss working with her. We enjoy hanging out together and it’s so fun to work with her.”
Sefami is also the faculty mom who cooks dinner for her colleagues, Angotti added.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent pivots to distance learning and then hybrid learning was a turning point for Sefami both professionally and personally.
“What was really incredible and what was really different was we were in this crisis together and I didn’t have all the answers and it was OK for me to show that vulnerability to my students,” Sefami said. “They were vulnerable. I saw them sitting in their bedrooms and in their raw selves. But they were also in my home at that time. It leveled the educational playing field for us as people.”
Sefami strongly believes she needed her students as much as they needed her to weather the pandemic’s uncertainty. She’s proud of how Sage Hill faculty members supported their students and each other while quarantining.
“I will always cherish what they gave me, and I hope what I gave to them also resonated,” Sefami said.
After retiring, Sefami plans to dive headfirst into her passion for exploration with scheduled trips to Colombia and Ecuador this summer. Her bucket list trip is hiking through Patagonia in Argentina and Chile. She also expects to travel back to Madrid and Mexico City, two cities where she has deep ties. Eventually, she wants to adopt a dog to replace Nacho, her recently passed, beloved pup.
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Her mother, Serene Stokes, worked as a reading specialist before breaking barriers in the 1970s as one of the first woman elementary school principals in Santa Ana. Her father, Sid, is a retired assistant superintendent of business for the Covina-Valley Unified School District. Sefami’s sister, Susan, currently teaches at Newport Coast Elementary and husband, Jacobo, is a UC Irvine professor of Spanish and Portuguese.
Traveling abroad and learning new languages are among her first loves though. At 15 years old, she traveled to the Netherlands as part of a foreign student exchange program. She would later live and work in Ecuador for a year.
It wasn’t until she studied for her master’s degree in linguistics at the University of Texas, Austin, that she saw herself becoming a teacher.
“I grew up in Southern California so Spanish has always been part of the soundscape of my life,” Sefami said.
After teaching Spanish for 12 years as an adjunct professor at NYU and Barnard in New York City, UC Irvine, Orange Coast College and Middlebury College’s Summer Spanish School, Sefami sought the stability of a high school position. She was hired by University High School within days of applying and spent two years there before learning a new small independent school had opened just up the road.
“In Orange County we really did not have a tradition of independent schools. I came to Sage Hill and I was wowed. There’s this small class size, the people I met were just amazing, there was this social justice piece that’s now called diversity, equity and inclusion. Back then, social justice was really on the agenda and surface here. I thought, ‘wow that this is so amazing.’”
Sefami joined Sage Hill School in 2002. The school had about 200 students enrolled, less than half of its current student body. Town Meeting convened in the Johnson Family Library or D. Diane Anderson Family Humanities Building Room 106/107.
On June 2, Sefami will join the faculty procession at graduation for the final time. It will be the capstone of nearly 20 years of service to the Sage Hill community. She officially retires June 30.
She’ll fall shy of two decades employment with the school due to a two-year sabbatical in Spain.
In addition to being a faculty member, she is the parent of Carlos Sefami, Asher Sefami ‘11 and Maru Sefami ’16.
“I’ve raised three kids. They’re all launched. My youngest is going to turn 25 this year. I’ve worked my entire life and I just feel like right now I’m healthy. There’s a lot of things I want to do. I am so happy to end my teaching career on a very positive note,” Sefami said.
Sefami’s contributions to Sage Hill are diverse and long-lasting, her colleagues said. She was the World Language Department Chair for eight years and also served as the Interim Dean of Faculty.
She is the co-advisor for the New Faculty Mentor's program and chaired the campus spaces improvement committee that recommended shade coverings and outdoor furniture to create comfortable outdoor spaces.
“Regardless of the hat that Sally wore, she always made an impact on campus among her colleagues and her students. She will truly be missed and will always be remembered as a beloved member of the Sage Hill community,” Head of School Patricia Merz said.
In 2016, Sefami received the Fiona Fraser Award for Excellence in Teaching from the School.
Mathematics teacher Cece Angotti has partnered with Sefami during Spring at Sage at least three times, including “Eat Pray Shop” and “Nail it or Fail it” seminars and Sage Hill’s inaugural Costa Rica trip before Spring at Sage officially existed.
“As a colleague, she’s wonderful. She gets stuff done. When we work together, we can have a meeting and knock stuff out. We laugh about it because it’s so efficient,” Angotti said. “I’m going to miss working with her. We enjoy hanging out together and it’s so fun to work with her.”
Sefami is also the faculty mom who cooks dinner for her colleagues, Angotti added.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent pivots to distance learning and then hybrid learning was a turning point for Sefami both professionally and personally.
“What was really incredible and what was really different was we were in this crisis together and I didn’t have all the answers and it was OK for me to show that vulnerability to my students,” Sefami said. “They were vulnerable. I saw them sitting in their bedrooms and in their raw selves. But they were also in my home at that time. It leveled the educational playing field for us as people.”
Sefami strongly believes she needed her students as much as they needed her to weather the pandemic’s uncertainty. She’s proud of how Sage Hill faculty members supported their students and each other while quarantining.
“I will always cherish what they gave me, and I hope what I gave to them also resonated,” Sefami said.
After retiring, Sefami plans to dive headfirst into her passion for exploration with scheduled trips to Colombia and Ecuador this summer. Her bucket list trip is hiking through Patagonia in Argentina and Chile. She also expects to travel back to Madrid and Mexico City, two cities where she has deep ties. Eventually, she wants to adopt a dog to replace Nacho, her recently passed, beloved pup.
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