Meet The YSEL Staff

  The YSEL Camp staff is made up of experienced American Councils staff, Peace Corps Volunteers, and members of the U.S. Embassy’s Youth Council. Together they make up a strong team dedicated to making this camp a success. Here’s a little information on them.

Tom Toomey (YSEL Camp Director) has been working for American Councils for twenty years.  He first got started in Ekaterinburg, Russia where he recruited students for the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program.  Since 2004, he has been involved in youth programs in Afghanistan, the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) and YSEL programs.  Besides these programs, Tom has done teacher trainings and curriculum development and English language programs in various countries in the Former Soviet Union.  He is very excited to add Ethiopia to his list of countries and work with Ethiopian youth. 

Endalkachew Tesera (YSEL Assistant Camp Director) is excited to be involved with the YSEL program.  “This is a unique opportunity for young people from all over Ethiopia and I’m very happy to be working with them,” says Endalkachew.  As Assistant Director, he helped interview 120 semi-finalists, traveling around the country with Tom to select this group of motivated students.  When he is not working on the YSEL program, you can find him at Addis Ababa University where he is a professor of psychology.

Kyle Kastler (YSEL Program Coordinator) was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kyrgyzstan for two years before joining American Councils in Washington DC. It was in Kyrgyzstan that Kyle developed a real love for helping students to discover the English language in non-traditional ways. He loves to teach using songs, stories, poetry, creative writing, television shows, and speeches. This is not Kyle’s first opportunity to work with the YSEL program. Last winter, he was part of the YSEL-Afghanistan teaching team in India and had a great time.  He is ecstatic about joining the YSEL-Ethiopia team and working with young people from this diverse country.