About Your Instructor
NIKITA GANATRA
Instructor Ganatra received her Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential from California State University Fullerton after graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Studies. Upon graduation, she was offered to teach at Walter F.Dexter Middle School in Whittier.
During her tenure, she taught 7th and 8th grade classes, both regular and Gifted and Talented sessions. She also served on Leadership and Assessment Team, which made school-wide decisions to improve academic performance of low-performing students. To further her knowledge base, Instructor Ganatra returned to her Alma mater to obtain a Masters degree in Secondary Education while simultaneously obtaining a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English.
In addition to full-time classroom teaching, Instructor Ganatra has also worked as a Substitute Teacher in Orange County Department of Education’s ACCESS program using Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English strategies to make content accessible to English learners, at-risk, delinquent, and truant youth. She routinely developed tailored lesson plans to student needs and utilized effective classroom management strategies to improve comprehension and student engagement.
Before becoming a Kumon Instructor, Ms.Ganatra took a short detour to New Jersey to support her husband’s career in Pharmaceuticals. While on the east coast, she served as a Job Developer for a nonprofit in Trenton, NJ coordinating career counseling, evaluation, skills training, job readiness training and other activities related to employment transition using role-play, videos, career exploration websites, and guest speakers. She collaborated with key local stakeholders as a member of Youth Investment Council (YIC) of Mercer County Workforce Investment Board in the development of ACES, Access to Career and Employment Services, a summer youth employment program for nearly 300 disadvantaged youth.
Technology Projects: Co-Author - Edupad's Itouch Application for IOS and Android for Grades 6th, 7th and 8th -Language Arts
Community Contributions and Leadership
1. Annual Family Garba Night - Organizer and Sponsor 2016, 2017, 2019
2. Soroptimist International Saddleback Valley Chapter - Public Awareness Chair 2018, 2019
3. Orange County Early Childhood Policy Framework Task force- Member 2018
4. Early Childhood Orange County - Resource Development Committee - Member 2018, 2019
5. Boys and Girls Club - Lake Forest Programs Planning Committee Member for 4th Annual Fundraiser Gala - A Night Under the Stars 2018, 2019
6. General Plan Advisory Committee - GPAC, City of Lake Forest 2018-19
Instructor Ganatra loves spending time with her son Sahil and husband Sanjeev, cooking, dancing, reading, and listening to music. She enjoys learning new languages and speaks Hindi and Gujarati.
Instructor Ganatra was nominated to share her personal story on Voyagela's Inspiring Stories from OC.