Dessa Nockels attended school in Stockton, CA and received her degree at the University of the Pacific. After completing student teaching in Mexico City at the American School Foundation, she moved back to California and taught elementary school in Manteca. She also worked in Incline Village, Nevada as a middle school teacher and a ski instructor before joining One to One in 1998. One to One became Julian Charter School in 2000 and Dessa moved to San Diego to support k-12th grade home study students. 

Educating children has been a lifelong passion that began with teaching her younger sister and brother and all the neighborhood children by offering summer school in her backyard schoolhouse, much to the joy of the parents on the block. She learned of personalized learning during her college years and has always been a proponent of individualized instruction.

She has worked for JCS as an Educational Facilitator since 1999 and has enjoyed serving students in Orange, Riverside and San Diego county’s during that time. She currently enjoys working with TK-12th grade home schooled students at Cedar Cove.