Sanjev deSilva

Sanjev brings 25 years of expe­ri­ence in education, youth devel­op­ment, and com­mu­nity ser­vice to his current role as Head of School for Northern Light School in Oakland, California. His life’s mis­sion is to empower young peo­ple to be lead­ers and to cre­ate pro­gres­sive change in their com­mu­ni­ties.

 

Sanjev is coming to Northern Light from The Athenian School where he was Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Social Justice and also had served as a Humanities teacher, Dorm Head, basketball coach and more for almost a decade. He spent 2012 living and working in his familial homeland of Sri Lanka doing post-civil war reconciliation work. Prior to that, Sanjev worked for 15 years in Oakland public schools from Sequoia Elementary to Dewey Academy & more in various roles. He was granted the Mayor’s Award from the city of Oakland for violence prevention in 2009 and the Hero’s Award from A Better Chance in 2018.

 

Sanjev currently sits on the Board of Directors for Nor-Cal POCIS (People of Color in Independent Schools). He also brings three decades of work in the music industry as a recording/performing artist in the genres of Hip-Hop and Reggae. Both his music & education work reflects the positive outlook and empowerment that he strives to bring to his communities.  He has described becoming the Head of Northern Light School as a “dream come true & the culmination of 25 years of working with young people.