María Guadalupe Adame Grijalva (Lupita) is HTHCV’s Spanish teacher. She was born in San Diego but raised in Tijuana, Baja California Norte, Mexico. She is married and has one daughter and son named Liz and Roberto. She likes being a mother and combining her work as an instructor. She tries to be a good example for her children so they can have a choice in life to succeed professionally. Lupita is a graduate of San Diego State University where she received her Bachelors degree with a double major in Spanish and Liberal Arts. She received her Masters degree in Spanish with an emphasis in Linguistics in August, 2001. Her thesis is titled Northern Koines vs. Southern Dialects: Samples of Morphosyntactic Variability in the Mexican Spanish Language. As a result of her contribution in the field of sociolinguistics of Spanish, she was pleased to work in the department of Spanish and Portuguese at San Diego State University. As a part time lecturer, Lupita has been able to combine her teaching abilities with Language and Music. She did a special study entitled: Why use music to teach Spanish to university students? Lupita promotes cultural awareness by introducing students to traditional Latin American events because she believes that language and culture go hand and hand. For example, El día de los muertos is a great celebration that teaches students the positive perspective of understanding death in our daily lives. Furthermore, Lupita has a strong sense of responsibility and understanding of people of diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Lupita believes that the student being emerged in another country’s culture and language creates a bigger view of reality and understanding. Education is a great tool for obtaining success and fighting ignorance. Her obligation is to prepare herself as a teacher to understand her students as she once was. She looks at herself through the eyes of her students, and enjoys seeing the eagerness of people to learn and explore other languages and cultures.

Michelle was born in Minnesota, but grew up and stayed in Chula Vista. She married her high school sweetheart, and together they are raising two wonderful daughters. She received her B.A. in Psychology from San Diego State University, and M.Ed. in Counseling, along with a PPS Credential, from the University of San Diego.

Michelle spent 4 years working for San Diego City Schools first as an Instructional Assistant, and then School Counselor, before making a career change to Human Resources management for two Fortune 500 companies. There she was still able to utilize her counseling skills, and enjoyed developing and training employees most of all. After spending several years working in HR, she decided to come back to her first passion, education. She is currently the Office Manager and Registrar for HTHCV, and is excited to be serving a community and school which she is very passionate about.

Rod grew up in San Diego and attended National University where he received a degree in mathematics. He joined the HTH faculty in the summer of 2000 when he helped to start the original school in Pt. Loma. In the summer of 2002, he married his best friend, Jen. They have an incredible son, Joshua, who was born on New Year's Eve, 2004. They are currently expecting expecting the next addition to their family. Rod is thrilled to bring his experience and energy to HTH Chula Vista.

Ted Cuevas is a devoted father of Sophia and Diego and husband to his wife Jill. Ted enjoys spending time with his family whenever possible. He loves to spend time creating stories and exploring the imagination of his two children.

Ted has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Philosophy from UC San Diego. After graduating, Ted spent three years as a Mechanical Engineer. His previous experiences traveling and hitchhiking through Central America and living at an orphanage in Tecate, Mexico (as an evening Director) led him to consider a field in education. He has never looked back. Ted has taught in various levels (middle school, high school and adult school) starting with Science and eventually focusing on Math education. Ted loves Physics and has been a proponent of project based learning since the beginning of his teaching career.

Ted will be teaching 9th Grade Physics and Mathematics. Some of his passions in this field are projects in alternative energy, Engineering and Design. Ted hopes to incorporate many of his experiences as an Engineer and a teacher of Engineering within the classroom projects he will facilitate in the 9th grade.

Andy grew up in Sarasota, Florida and learned to love Physics while attending Pine View School. After high school, he went to the University of Florida, home to the national football and basketball champions—the Gators. After obtaining a degree in Electrical Engineering, he decided to take a two-year detour on his way to law school by joining Teach for America. Andy started teaching 9th grade Physical Science in Washington, DC and loved it so much that he decided to pursue a career in teaching. During his four years in DC, he also taught 11th and 12th grade Mathematics, Digital Electronics, and Advanced Placement Computer Science. Along the way Andy earned a Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary Science at the American University. Looking to escape the bitter, cold winters, he moved to San Diego to continue his teaching career at High Tech High Chula Vista. In his spare time, Andy enjoys spending time with his girlfriend, watching football, hacking/modding electronics, and embracing his inner geekness.

Although Kay Flewelling is a 9th grade teacher of Humanities, she still mainly considers herself a student of Life. No matter how old Kay gets (and so far, it's not that old), she realizes that there will always be something new to learn and somewhere new to go. Although this is a daunting reality--that we must consistently learn and grow--Kay loves nothing more than exploration, discovery and trying new things (like Injera--which is Ethiopian bread that is actually spongy. True story.).

Kay graduated with highest honors from San Diego State University in 2007 with a Bachelor's of Arts degree in History and Political Science. She is currently obtaining her teaching credential with High Tech High's credentialing program.
In the field of Humanities, she concentrates on developing senses of self-and global-awareness within her students. She does this by making world cultures accessible to her students by incorporating poetry, artwork, short stories and other cultural products into classroom discussions.

Kay has also coached speech and debate activities for the past six years, and she advises for the Debate Student Interest Group at HTHCV.

The director of High Tech High Chula Vista is Mrs. Colleen Green. Colleen has taught 11th and 12th Humanities at High Tech High. Before coming to High Tech High Colleen taught extensively at the high school and university level in California and throughout the Midwest. Colleen obtained her MA in Literature from Bowling Green State University and is currently working on her Ph.D. dissertation from Purdue University. As a lifelong learner and classroom teacher, Colleen’s work in education reflects her commitment to helping every student achieve personal and academic growth.

Francina was born and raised in a small rural town in North Carolina. Looking for adventure, she joined the Navy and served on active duty for 20 years. During that time, Francina developed of love for teaching and served as mentor in various youth programs including Drug Education for Youth and Campaign Drug Free. She also served a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Juveniles in New Orleans, Louisiana. The love for children she found through community service inspired Francina to pursue a MA and teaching credential in Special Education. Her husband Dan, children (Jasmine, Easter, and Nicholas), Angel the dog, and Sharon the cat, keep Francina very busy and full of life. She also enjoys reading historical romance novels, yoga, and nature walks.

David Hua is a lifelong San Diegan who was born on the Mesa College Drive Freeway overpass on the way to the hospital. He attended UCSD and received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2005. He decided to work in IT because he discovered he actually disliked circuits and enjoyed working with computers and networks during his time with XX Sports. In 2005, he joined the HTH community at HTHI and has been having a great time working with students as a mentor and advisor.

Although sad to leave HTHI, "Dave", as he is known to many students, is excited to embark on a new journey at HTHCV. He hopes to be the "Neighborhood Friendly IT Guy" that can help students with not only tech problems but any other needs that students have (like learning how to play Monopoly or Cards in SIGs). In his free time, he likes to go to the beach, watch Chargers/Padres games, travel, and play poker.

Maureen has freshly arrived to us from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She attended a small private school, Cornerstone University, where she earned her BA in Secondary Education – Physical Education & History. While at Cornerstone, Maureen played on the softball team while concurrently coaching a local travel softball team. During her student teaching experience she was active with many of the athletic teams and the student diversity club – S.T.A.N.D. Maureen recently returned from a six-month teaching stint in Reading, England, where she taught PE to students in grades six through eleven. Reading is located approximately 30 miles west of London. While overseas Maureen, had the opportunity to visit her dream destination, Dublin, Ireland. When not teaching, she enjoys traveling, watching and playing sports, and exploring her new surroundings.

Michelle Perez was born and raised in the Midwest, spending most of her time in suburban Detroit, Michigan. For undergraduate school, she didn’t stray too far from home and attended Northwestern University located just outside of Chicago, Illinois. Go CATS! She received her undergraduate degree in Environmental Engineering and was commissioned in the US Navy upon graduation, which brought her out to San Diego seven years ago. After leaving the Navy, in 2003, she was part of Literacy AmeriCorps in San Diego and worked mostly at Juvenile Hall. Michelle loves the outdoors, and was fortunate enough to spend time teaching English in the hills of Nepal in 2005. Most recently, she spent her summer hiking the Andes in Peru, visiting ancient Incan ruins such as Machu Piccu and Choquequirau. Michelle is really excited to teach engineering with an awesome bunch of freshmen at the new High High Tech High Chula Vista.

Ray Trinidad has been involved in education, enrichment programs and youth development for over 18 years. He most enjoyed working with high-risk youth at the National City Police Department in the Youth Diversion Department. Ray is also a youth program development consultant for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the California Department of Education. He loves football, softball, running, napping and spending time with his wife and three sons.