Leily Abbassi is from the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to San Diego in 2004. She graduated from the University of California, Davis with a degree in International Relations in 2003. She received her teaching credential from San Diego State University in 2005. She is currently enjoying her second year at HTM teaching 8th grade Humanities. She is also starting a master’s program in political science this fall. In her spare time (hah) she enjoys traveling, the beach, and visiting San Francisco.

Andrea Barrett grew up in Falmouth, MA and ever since fourth grade wanted to be an art teacher. She attended The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University Collaborative program. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts in 2002 and her Master’s Degree in Art Education in 2004. Ms.Barrett moved from Boston to San Diego to get away from the snow and humidity, and continue living by the ocean. This is her fourth year teaching at High Tech Middle School and her second year teaching art. She enjoys traveling, cheering on the Boston Red Sox, and spending time with friends, family, and her dog, Rudy

Miss Costa is originally from Baltimore, Maryland where she studied at the University of Maryland and graduated with a degree in Environmental Science. Before life at High Tech Middle, Miss Costa worked for the Orange County Department of Education Outdoor Science School for two years as a naturalist. Miss Costa enjoys traveling and has spent time studying in Hawaii and living in Australia. When not in the classroom you can find Miss Costa enjoying the outdoors, running, juggling, hula hoping or painting.

Melissa Daniels comes to High Tech Middle from seven years of teaching at international schools in Cairo, Egypt and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While overseas, Ms. Melissa was fortunate enough to travel to many fascinating places. Some of her most memorable experiences include swimming with pink dolphins in the Amazon, cruising down the Nile River, snorkeling in the Red Sea, trekking the hills of Thailand, and horseback riding in the Chilean Andes. Originally from North Carolina, Ms. Melissa earned her B.A. in English Education from UNC-Chapel Hill, and she recently completed her M.Ed in Teaching English as a Second Language. When not in the classroom, Ms. Melissa enjoys traveling, running, reading, hanging out at the beach, and watching basketball games featuring her beloved UNC Tar Heels.

DeAnna Driscoll is honored to have been running the Drama Department at HTM since the day the school opened the doors. Ms. DeAnna grew up in the mountains of Colorado and went on to New York City where she graduated with honors from the National Shakespeare Conservatory. She eventually ended up in San Diego and is proud to be a member of the Actor’s Equity Association and work in the San Diego professional theater scene when not at HTM. Ms. DeAnna loves museums, movies, hiking and camping and most of all spending time with her 9 year old daughter, their dog and two birds.

Ryan Gallagher has been at High Tech Middle since 2003. He graduated with a BS in Biology and BA in Philosophy from UCSD and received his teaching credential from San Diego State. He has taught 7th grade for three years and will be looking forward to the challenges of 8th grade this year. He is a life long Chicago White Sox and Bears fan. His crowning achievement as a fan was willing the Sox to their ‘05 World Series victory. He had a very exciting summer that included getting married!

Janie Griswold graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in biology. She then attended the University of Washington where she earned a master’s degree in teaching. Janie and her husband Ryan have lived in San Diego since 2000 and she began working at High Tech High when it opened its doors in September, 2000. She taught humanities at HTH for three years and then moved to HTM when it opened in 2003. She is excited about her new role of director of High Tech Middle this year. When not at school, Janie enjoys camping in Baja, visiting her family in the Pacific Northwest, going to the beach by her house in OB, reading, cooking, and just spending time with friends

Mrs. Carrie Interlandi (aka Ms. I) is very excited to start her second year at HTM, and hopes it will be even better than the first! Ms. I is a SoCal native, born in Orange, CA, but moved to Reno, NV, for most of her childhood. She earned a BA in English with an emphasis in Teaching and Creative Writing from UC Davis in 1995. She also earned her MA in Education, Secondary Curriculum and Instruction in 2001 from SDSU, and is proud to be a National Board Certified Teacher in Early Adolescent English Language Arts. Ms. I spent 7 years teaching 7th and 8th grade humanities and English at Clark Middle School in San Diego before coming to join the HTH community in 2006. When she's not working, Ms. Interlandi loves hanging out with her family, which includes her husband, her two-year-old son, Joey, and her pitt bull, Diva. She also loves rollerblading, riding her bike (with Joey hooked up to the back, of course!), and hanging out at the beach and the zoo.

Ms. Komatsubara was born and raised in sunny Honolulu, Hawaii. Being a true island girl, Ms. K grew up surfing, hiking, and walking her dog. After graduating from high school, she ventured to the big city of Los Angeles, where she continued her studies as a USC Trojan. Deciding that she loved California, Ms. K stayed to teach 6th grade math and science in Burbank for three years at Luther Burbank Middle School. She recently moved to San Diego to pursue a master's degree in curriculum design at UCSD. She is excited to bring her experience of research and designing curriculum into the classroom. When she is not enlightening students, Ms. K loves snowboarding, traveling, eating seafood, and reading literature.

Karina Morales is the Spanish teacher at HTM. She was born and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. She moved to San Diego a little over 7 years ago and attended San Diego State University where she received a BA in Spanish as a Single Subject and a Minor in Psychology. She has spent time living and studying in Madrid, Spain. This is her first year at HTM and she is very excited to share her knowledge and passion for Spanish. Some of her biggest passions besides teaching are traveling, exploring other cultures, visiting her family and friends and buying shoes!

In an interesting turn of events, Gabe Ogilvie found himself at High Tech Middle School after attending the Brooks Institue of Film in Ventura, California. He brings his love of film to HTM in conjuncture with tutoring, ASB, Yearbook, and After School Programming. In addition to his day to day events, he also continues with his passion for film as he travels from LA, to Frisco, to Florida pursuing his list of goals in the field of movies.

Heather Riley grew up in a one-stoplight town in the mountains of Colorado but moved to the big city of San Diego in 2003. She graduated from Mesa State College in Grand Junction, CO where she received a BA in English and her teaching credential. This is her third year at HTM, and after working as a tutor, she is now teaching 7th grade Humanities. Heather loves to travel and has spent time teaching, hiking, scuba diving, bungee jumping, and exploring throughout Guatemala, Nicaragua, New Zealand, and a large part of the United States. Apart from teaching and traveling, Heather enjoys running, playing with her puppy, reading, and backpacking.

Paul was born and raised in Northern California, his native town is Fairfield and there he spent 20 years of his life. Paul moved to San Diego to pursue his college degree in Computer Engineering but fell in love with Psychology. Paul graduated from Cal State San Marcos with a BA emphasizing in cognitive and behavioral psychology in 2005. Paul's hobbies include keeping up on new technologies for computers and software, but also has a great appreciation for music. Paul enjoys playing guitar and learning new styles of music—and teaching. In his free time Paul enjoys visiting with friends and family, but never hesitates to grab a good book from time to time.

Lisa has over 19 years of experience in a variety of Education related positions. She most recently worked in Human Resource Services for San Diego Unified School District concentrating on Middle School staffing support. Lisa is a native San Diegan, attended San Diego City Schools, graduating from Madison High. She went on to San Diego State University to pursue a degree in Liberal Studies. In her spare time she enjoys reading, gardening, swimming, traveling, cheering on our hometown football team - GO CHARGERS!!! and most importantly, spending time with her husband, two daughters and extended family and friends.

Casey Salmon graduated from Westmont College in Santa Barbara with her B.A. in Liberal Studies. She is the resource specialist for HTM and spends her day working with both teachers and students to ensure that all students are successful. For fun she enjoys going to the beach, reading, playing with her dog Zephyr, sailing, scuba diving, traveling, and cooking.

Mr. Shaddox believes that diversity is the spice of life. If you traced his path to becoming a teacher it would most closely resemble a zigzagging spider's web. He studied art at SDSU and received his B.A. with an emphasis in graphic design in 1998. Shortly thereafter, he worked as an in-house designer at several large companies and also freelanced for an array of clients. Although he spent many long hours staring at a computer screen, Mr. Shaddox found time to play drums with his band, Billy Midnight, and even tour up the coast of California, Oregon, Idaho and Utah. In 2004, he left the world of design to pursue teaching English in Mexico. A year at the University of Guanajuato confirmed that teaching was what he really wanted to do. After traveling and volunteering in Guatemala, Mr. Shaddox returned to San Diego to receive his teaching credential and work at King-Chavez Academies as a music history, social studies, guided reading and English teacher. He is really excited to be joining the HTM team and looks forward to infusing reading and writing with art, design and music with his students.

Sarah Strong is in her second year teaching sixth grade at High Tech Middle. Raised in the SF Bay Area, Mrs. Strong moved to San Diego in 2001 to attend college. She graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2005 with her BS in Mathematics. She went on to get her teaching credential from Point Loma as well. This year she will begin working on her master’s degree in teacher leadership at High Tech’s new Graduate School of Education. Mrs. Strong loves being outdoors and one of her favorite places is Yosemite where she goes every summer. She also loves running and this past year ran two marathons! This summer Mrs. Strong celebrated her one-year anniversary with her husband Mike who teaches seventh grade at HTMMA. They are very happy to be a part of the High Tech Village and can sometimes be seen after school running with the High School Cross Country athletes!

At the ripe old age of 43, Eric Talner is one of the elders of the High Tech Middle School community. As a founding member of the school, he has proven his love of teaching and a rarely found attribute: the ability to tolerate middle-schoolers for more than four years.

Eric was born in Connecticut, but basically grew up in San Diego. It was public school all the way for Eric: he started at Curie Elementary, went on to Standley Junior High and then graduated from Mission Bay High in 1982.

A drummer by nature, Eric started banging away at age 13. While in college at UCSB, he co-founded Common Sense, a surf-rock-reggae band that made it ‘big’, and is still performing today. (check them out: www.commonsenseband.com) . He attended music school in L.A. and since he’s been back in San Diego, he’s played with various musicians and bands. Currently he performs in a popular cover band called, The Hype. (www.thehypemusic.com)

Eric received his teaching credential right in our back yard at Point Loma Nazarene College. He has been employed by San Diego city schools since 1993. It was there that Eric met the beautiful Donna, who is now his wife and the mother of his two red-headed adorable children: Jack (age 11) and Sam (age 8). He has a dog: Chica, and a cat: Shadow.

When he’s not teaching or playing drums, Eric likes to golf (although he says he’s not very good). He also enjoys hanging at home, watching his boys play or watching Sponge Bob with them on his Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed (#35 in case you’re wondering) and by his own admission, sometimes Sponge Bob’s subtle humor is beyond his comprehension).

The sixth grade is certainly lucky to have Mr. Talner, educator of humanities and percussion, in its midst. His sensitive, intuitive disposition make him a natural teacher and his sense of humor reminds us to not take ourselves too seriously.

Dan Thoene joined High Tech Middle in its first year of existence. He graduated from UCSB in 1992 with a major in Communications and a minor in Mathematics. Dan actually started his professional career in broadcasting, working as a sportscaster for 11 years. After winning an Emmy in 2001, Dan decided to switch careers to his true love;teaching. He grabbed his multiple subject credential at SDSU, along with a single subject credential in mathematics. His wife Kira is also a teacher. They've been married for 10 years and have two children; a 4 year old daughter named Courtney, and a 9 month old son named Cooper.

Michael Vasquez escaped the climate extremes of his hometown desert, California City, in order to follow his love of running and biology in San Diego. It was at UCSD where he earned his degree in Biology: Ecology, Behavior and Evolution and where he developed a greater appreciation for nature. The latter was mostly the result of learning and applying Leave No Trace practices while leading kayaking courses in Baja California, Mexico and backpacking courses in the Sierra Nevada. In his free time Michael enjoys taking his dog Larry to the dog park, riding his bike, and finding ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.