On campus, NDB has students from all over the world led by the Director of International Student Program Raena Mullan who directs all international programs and immerses them in the NDB culture with an after-school study group, peer tutoring and access to all NDB counselors and support systems. In addition to NDB, Mullan worked for Mercy B and Serra HS in 2013, where she worked for all three schools as a foreign exchange student.
From there, she was quickly brought on to NDB staff as the Director of International Student Program and primarily works with students originating from Asian and European countries. After working here for over ten years, she has met many amazing students and watched them grow confident in another country.
“The most rewarding part of my job would have to be just watching the growth of the students … from the first time they get here and then how much they have changed,” says Mullan. “[I’m] like a proud parent, you know? So, it’s just, I think it is the most rewarding to watch their growth and their success.”
She described watching these students grow up has been a fantastic experience and she has traveled to different places and met people who have now come and studied at NDB.
Off-campus, she is one of the leaders for the Los Angeles Intersession college trip, where she and Mr. Rojas take students, some of whom are her own foreign exchange students, to visit colleges located in southern California.
Mullan has built the foreign exchange program from the ground up and has guided students to graduate high school and commit to four-year universities. Her work has pushed students from all around the world to experience an NDB education.
