Esther Hochman 'Woj' Wojcicki is an American journalist, educator,[1][2] and vice chair of the Creative Commons board of directors.[3] Wojcicki has been a pioneer in exploring the interface between education and technology.[1]
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Esther Wojcicki was valedictorian of her high school class,[4] and graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in English and Political Science. She received a secondary teaching credential from UC Berkeley, as well as a graduate degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at Berkeley. She has an advanced degree in French and French History from the Sorbonne, and both a Secondary School Administrative Credential and a M.A. in Educational Technology from San Jose State University.[1][2]
Esther Wojcicki has taught at Palo Alto High School since 1987, where she currently teaches journalism and English. There she began the journalism program which has grown to become one of the largest in the nation.[5] She has worked as a professional journalist for multiple publications and blogs regularly for The Huffington Post.[1]
Esther was the 1990 Northern California Journalism teacher of the year,[1] and was selected as the California Teacher of the Year in 2002 by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.[5] She served on the University of California Office of the President Curriculum Committee where she helped revise the beginning and advanced journalism curriculum for the state of California.[2] In 2009, she was awarded the Gold Key by Columbia Scholastic Press Association in recognition of outstanding devotion to the cause of the school press.[6] Esther also serves as a member on Board of Advisors for two nonprofit organizations, ClassWish.org and Developmental Studies Center.
Esther is the oldest of three children, and was the first in her family to attend college. Both of Wojcicki's parents were Jewish, Russian immigrants who came to New York City in the 1930s. Her family moved to Southern California after she was born.[4]
Her husband is Stanford University professor of physics Stanley Wojcicki. They have three daughters: Janet, Susan (VP Product Management at Google) and Anne (the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin), and seven grandchildren.[5]