Meet Our APASS Staff

 Lilia Celhay, APASS Director

Lilia Celhay, APASS Director

Lilia Celhay holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications, and a master’s degree in educational technology from the California State University East Bay. In addition, she holds two TESOL certificates from CSUEB and the UC Berkeley Extension.

At present, Ms. Celhay is the Director of the Asian Pacific American Student Success (APASS) program at Laney College. In 2009, she joined Laney as the Founding Director of the Gateway to College program. As the director and principal, she worked with students who had dropped out of high school, motivating them to take advantage of a “real second chance” at Laney, where they have the opportunity to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. Later, as a dean at Laney, she led the East Bay Career Advancement Academy, a multi-college and district project, and worked on developing grant initiatives to increase alternative funding sources for the college. At College of Alameda, she was one of the instructors who piloted the Digital Bridge Academy, a learning community for at-risk students. Prior to working in Peralta, Ms. Celhay worked at Cal State East Bay as an enrollment counselor, and at Geoworks, a wireless technology company, as a project manager.

Her commitment to student success and her experience in teaching, workforce development, marketing and outreach, and technology has been valuable in developing innovative programs to increase the number of students who graduate and transfer to four-year universities. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, dancing, traveling to foreign locales, and sailing in the Bay Area.

Gabriela Discua, APASS Counselor

Gabriela Discua, APASS Counselor

Gabriela is a native of Oakland. She attended Skyline High School, Merritt College, and transferred to CSU East Bay where she completed a B.A. degree in human development in 2001.

After graduating and exploring her career interests, she began working at the Mill’s College Children’s School. Later moving on to Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center as a case manager, working with teen parents, providing parenting education awareness, encouraging and assisting moms to strengthen their relationships, and achieving their academic aspirations. She provided counseling, assisted in finding community resources and lead student groups at Tennyson High School.

In 2006, Gabi began her graduate program at San Francisco State University and graduated with her M.S. in counseling, with an emphasis in career and college counseling. During her M.S. program, she enjoyed interning with the Puente Program at Chabot College, and the One-Stop Career Center at College of Alameda.  Gabriela has been working in the Peralta Community College District as a counselor, providing academic, career and personal counseling since the fall of 2008. Her experience ranges from general counseling to learning communities such as Centro Latino, Fruitvale Center, Gateway to College and TRiO. She is excited to be on board with the APASS Learning Community starting this Fall 2011 semester. Gabi enjoys spending time with her two year old son, loves sushi, and taking pictures & scrapbooking on her spare time.

Edwin Towle, APASS Counselor

Edwin Towle, APASS Counselor

Edwin Towle was born in San Francisco, and later grew up in the Contra Costa County community. His love for education surprisingly didn’t begin until he started attending community college as a high school dropout. While a student at Contra Costa College (CCC), he became very interested in the process to attain a degree and applying to transfer to a four-year institution, so to educate himself, he begun reading the college catalog. In addition, Edwin spoke with his teachers and counselors in order to gain a better understanding for each subject matter and discipline. As a result of the knowledge he acquired, Edwin was able to assist friends and classmates on selecting courses to take to meet the requirements to transfer to the California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC), and the importance of receiving an education. Through those experiences, he discovered his passion and commitment for education and for serving others.

At Contra Costa College, he received three associate degrees in psychology, sociology, and liberal studies in 2006. Edwin then transferred to San Francisco State University (SFSU) where he received his bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor counseling in 2008. After receiving his bachelor’s in psychology, he went on to pursue his master’s degree in counseling with specializations in both college and career counseling from SFSU in 2011.

Professionally, Edwin has worked at SFSU’s Undergraduate Advising Center from 2009-2010, where he was a counselor intern, facilitating workshops for freshmen students. Later, he went on to work at CCC from 2010-2011 where he was a counselor intern, co-instructor, and mentor coordinator for the Puente Project. While at CCC, he co-taught three courses. Recently, he worked at Merritt College as a counselor intern, and outreach and retention specialist for the Centro Latino in 2011.

Presently, he is a new counselor at Laney College for the APASS Program and is excited to be a part of the APASS team.

 Tomoko Roudebush, APASS Program Specialist

Tomoko Roudebush, APASS Program Specialist

Tomoko Roudebush was born in Japan and grew up in the Bay Area. She majored in History and International Relations at Chico State University and is currently studying at John F. Kennedy University in the evenings to get her Master’s in Business Administration.

She is very involved in the API (Asian and Pacific Islander) community so families can lead healthier, safer lives. Tomoko serves on the local board of directors for the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and as Planning Committee member for Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE) conference each year.Tomoko is also involved in the Oakland community and serves as Membership Chair for the Alameda County Teen Dating Violence Task Force.

Tomoko has worked with several high schools in Oakland teaching leadership, trained many professionals on teen dating/domestic violence and ran programs helping local youth succeed and graduate from high school. Tomoko enjoys letting people know about community events, volunteer/career opportunities and free workshops.  If you have questions, please ask!