The task that remains is to cope with our interdependence to see ourselves reflected in every other human being, and to respect and honor our differences
- Melba Patillo Beals (Member of the Little Rock Nine)

I believe passionately in the importance of this interdependence. It is my life’s goal to teach in a way that inspires students to see themselves reflected in every human being, while inspiring them to see the possibilities that lie within themselves. Before coming to HTMMA I received my BA and my Teaching Credential from the University of San Diego. I then went on to receive my Masters in Teaching and Learning and my Special Education Credential from Point Loma Nazarene University. During this time I had a blast teaching middle school literature, and language arts. I also had the opportunity to serve students with special needs as an inclusion coordinator. I am thrilled and honored to be continuing in this capacity here at HTMMA as an inclusion specialist. When I am not teaching I love to, read "Owen and Mzee," run in OB with my German Sheppard, practice Bikram yoga, and eat Asai bowls from 976!

Wes Davis graduated in May 2000 from California State University, Chico with a degree in Biological Sciences. Mr. Davis has worked in various areas of biology including recombinant protein expression, wildlife monitoring and wine making. These jobs have taken him to some of the most beautiful places in California, such as Lake Tahoe and the Napa Valley. Mr. Davis enjoys spending time outdoors and can often be found surfing, walking his dog, Sara the Dog, and climbing rocks.

I am fortunate to have a wonderful family. My parents, 2 brothers, wife, and 2 sons are the love of my life. Some favorite family activities include wrestling and soccer with Francisco(7) and Carlos(5). We also spend lots of time skateboarding, riding bikes, and just cruising around Mission and Pacific Beach.

After growing up in Sacramento, I moved to San Diego in 1989 to attend UCSD. After graduating in ’93, I worked for a couple of years as a counselor at a group home facility. Later, I spent a year traveling, surfing, camping, and hitchhiking down the Pacific Coast of Mexico. I met many kind people, and learned a lot about the culture and language of the country. I also read the best book of my life, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman.

Upon returning to San Diego, I met my wife Luisa, and instantly fell in love. This also seemed like the time to cut the hair, buy a suit a get a “real job”. I had always known that I wanted to teach, and was ecstatic when I was offered a job at Chollas/Mead Elementary School for the ’96-’97 school year. After teaching for 2 years, I got married, and Luisa and I embarked on a year-long South American honeymoon (we saved $ and took leaves of absence from our jobs). Some of our trip highlights include surfing and playing on the beaches of Brazil, an 8 day trip through the Bolivian Amazon, camping throughout the Argentinian/Chilean Patagonia, and countless high altitude treks through the Andes. We also visited the beautiful cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador(birthplace of capoeira), Buenos Aires, La Paz, Santiago and Lima. (5 extra credit points to the first 10 students who approach me on their own, and show me, on the classroom map, at least 5 of the places that we visited---just tell me you want the extra credit honeymoon points---I expect you to already know where the places are!)

Upon returning to San Diego (again), I resumed teaching at Chollas/Mead, and before long, my wife and I were blessed with the birth of our beautiful Francisco. Two years later, we were again blessed with the arrival of Carlos.

After 8 years of teaching 5th grade bilingual education at Chollas/Mead, I decided to leave in order to be able to focus on my teaching passions: reading, writing and history. I am currently in my third year at High Tech Middle Media Arts, and am thoroughly enjoying it. See you soon!

Ryan Ethington's emphasis is multimedia art and multicultural educational. Ryan has worked as an Art Director in graphic design, an assistant Curator of Art Education at The Museum of Art History in Santa Cruz, CA and an advanced level high school art teacher. Ryan comes to us from Westmont High School in Campbell, CA. In Campbell he taught all beginning and advanced levels of 2-D Design, and developed their first Graphic Design class. Ryan has a depth of technical skills in art and education that is hard to match with a Graphic Communications Major from Point Loma Nazarene University and Masters in Cross-cultural Teaching from National University. Ryan is also finishing an MFA in realistic oil painting from the Academy of Art University. Ryan also has technical advanced experience photography, printmaking, silkscreen, mixed media, and a successful record in art exhibits as a 2-D Designer. In his free time Ryan enjoys hiking, surfing, taking artistic photographs and traveling. With Ryan's background he is great at making students artwork meaningful, culturally relevant and public.

New to California, Sara comes to High Tech Middle Media Arts from West Palm Beach, Florida. After graduating from the University of Florida in 2001 (just missed the recent, exciting years on campus) with a BA in Speech, Language and Hearing. She moved home to pursue a career in in education, starting as a Elementary School Sign Language Interpreter. After a year, got in touch with her roots, Math, and continued to her old Alma Mater, Lake Worth High School, teahing Geometry and Algebra. In the High School arena, Sara also served as a Soccer Coach, Track Coach and a Student Government Advisor. She is very excited to be here in Sunny California, enjoying the beautiful weather, beaches and happy faces. Most of all, Sara is thrilled to be joining such an incredible team and philosophy here at HTH!!!

Cara was born and raised in Rhode Island where she lived with her parents, her brother and sister, and her beloved grandmother. After graduating from high school, she grew a little tired of the tiny state and decided to go to Pennsylvania for college where she attended Millersville University. She graduated in 2000 with a degree in Biology, a concentration in Marine Biology, and a minor in Chemistry. Now missing the small state life, she moved back to Rhode Island where she worked as a technical writer and marine biologist for an environmental consulting firm. In 2005, Cara and her husband moved to San Diego where she accepted a teaching position at the Harborside School. Cara was responsible for creating an inquiry-based science curriculum for students in grades four through nine. It was this teaching job that showed her the importance of hands-on learning. At the conclusion of the 2006 – 2007 school year, Cara accepted a position at HTMMA. She is extremely excited to meet the students and to get their hands dirty!

New to California, James comes to High Tech Middle Media Arts all the way from Texas. With over ten years experience and a graduate degree in education, he has worked in the private school sector in a variety of roles. Most recently, he was the Upper School Dean of Students for three years at an independent school in San Antonio, Texas. Most memorably though, was his time teaching, administrating at a middle school in El Paso where he taught math, directed an Outdoor Education Program, coached and ran an athletic program. From hiking, fly-fishing, playing golf, James enjoys the outdoors and being active. Most of all, he spends his time with his wife and son as they together look forward to the new addition to their family due in August. The energy of the classroom and the adventure of working with kids is what makes teaching so much fun for James. Learning by doing and experiencing is the hallmark of his teaching philosophy and is inherent in the project-based approach to learning.

Darrick Hwang is from the San Francisco Bay Area. He moved down to San Diego in 1997 to attend college at the University of California San Diego. While in school Darrick started working at a local startup called Collegeclub.com providing systems administration. Upon graduating UCSD with a Bachelors in Visual Arts with a Computing Emphasis Darrick went to work at General Atomics where he provided technical support for their electromagnetics division. More recently Darrick did graphic design for a local classic car restoration facility. In his free time he enjoys working on cars, mountain biking, playing basketball, graphic arts, and being with friends.

As an arts educator, Linda has worked with students from fifth graders to working professional actors. Locally, Linda has been a teaching artist for Playwrights Project, San Diego Junior Theatre, and the Academy of Performing Arts. She is a founder of the San Diego Actors Alliance, a service organization for San Diego performing artists for almost 20 years. She taught all levels of theatre courses at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Maryville College, and Pellissippi State College. Linda trained at the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts and earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree from Temple University. Linda is a regular on San Diego stages. Her primary role has been as an actress but she has also produced, directed, written, and designed numerous productions. Because of her extensive professional experience Linda recently earned her teaching credential as a person of eminence; one of 27 such credentials issued since 1979. Last summer Linda played Mrs. Potts in “Beauty & the Beast” at Startlight. Recent world premiers include “Five Cups of Coffee” for Lambs Players Theatre and “The Adoption Project” for Mo’olelo. Awards include a Craig Noel San Diego Critics Circle Award for her performance in "Cabaret" at North Coast Repertory, a KPBS Patte Award for “In Arabia We’d All Be Kings,” a K.A.T. award for “The Glass Menagerie,” and two Dramalogue Awards for "Six Women with Brain Death or Expiring Minds Want to Know." Other San Diego credits include: San Diego Repertory, Lambs Players, Starlight, North Coast Repertory, Lynx Performance, Cygnet Theatre, and Mo'olelo. Internationally, Linda has toured to Far East Russia, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, and Toronto, Ontario. Her regional theatre work includes: Arizona Theatre Company, Clarence Brown Theatre, and Barter Theatre. Linda is also a musician - enjoying singing, guitar, piano and an occasional bout with a banjo. She loves to travel. She is most proud of her life-long role as "Mom" to her daughter, Elizabeth.

Stacey is excited to begin her 4th year teaching in the High Tech Village. Though she grew up in northern California, she moved to San Diego in 1998 to attend college at UCSD. She graduated with her Bachelor¹s degree in Human Development and was particularly interested in the study of Biology and Environmental Science. Following her time in San Diego, she joined Teach for America and moved to New Orleans for two years where she taught both 5th and 6th grade. While it was a life-changing experience, she is happy to be back in San Diego (though misses the amazing culture and cuisine from New Orleans) and could not be happier about working at HTMMA. She also enjoys traveling, yoga, kickboxing, hiking, ceramics, cooking, reading, and just being outdoors.

Zoë is so excited to be a part of the High Tech Middle Media Arts family as the Multimedia Teacher. She loves working with creative individuals, continuing learning about the world, and sharing what she finds out with others. She especially can’t wait to share her passion for film, video, and photography with her students and watch her students’ creativity soar!

Zoë received her B.A. in Visual Arts- Media from the University of California, San Diego. After her studies, she taught English in Bordeaux, France through an assistantship with the French Embassy; she then taught Marine Science and worked in the Exhibits department at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps in San Diego. She has many interests, and she’d love to talk your ear off about food, travel, hiking, nature, environmentalism, ocean-related activities, animals in general, and the arts. Je parle francais aussi, si on voulait parler avec moi! (I speak French too, if you want to speak with me!) She looks forward to meeting all of you throughout the year!

This is Marc’s 2nd year at HTMMA, but his 7th year as a teacher. He has been teaching on the east coast in Maryland and Washington, D.C and has brought his art and skill of teaching to San Diego. We are all so lucky to have him here in the High Tech system. His smile and laughter is contagious you can see his students smiling a mile away. He is learning to surf and is still awful at it and could use some help. He loves living in San Diego and according to him never plans on leaving.

Pedro J Solórzano was born in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico but considers himself a San Diego native. He comes from a family of teachers and swore as a child that he would never work at a school or have anything to do with education, clearly he did not know how wrong he would be. While he had to leave many friends and family behind in the Imperial Valley when his family moved to San Diego while he was in 6th grade he is glad he doesn’t have to deal with the horrible desert heat ever since. History and Art were two subjects that fascinated him through school and he was stoked to find a major that combined both his favorite subjects. Pedro attended San Diego State University and made some great memories and incredible friends during his years as an Aztec; while in college Pedro worked as a tutor and after school program staff member for 4 years at Montgomery Middle School. During those years he realized how much he enjoyed working with students, and he decided to pursue his newly found passion. On May 2007, Pedro graduated from SDSU with a degree in Art History; soon after graduating he was given an amazing opportunity to become a part of the High Tech Village family and he loves every second of it. In his spare time he enjoys being with his friends and family, playing video games, and just having fun around town.

Cady Staff loves kids and loves interacting with people. She also has a passion for literature, writing, U.S. history, soccer, surfing, and running around outdoors. She feels like every day of teaching is exhausting and challenging, but so amazingly rewarding. She can't imagine anything else more fulfilling and meaningful. She learns so much when she teaches and feels honored to be there to watch and support her students as they continue to develop into brilliant young men and women at HTMMA. She earned her undergraduate degree in Literature/Writing, her teaching credential, and M.Ed. at UCSD.

After graduating from Holtville High School in Holtville, CA (The carrot capitol of the world), I attended Point Loma Nazarene University right here in San Diego where I ran track & field and cross-country for 4 years. After realizing that being a music business major wasn’t helping my rock star career, I graduated with a B.A. in literature and a girl that said she would marry me. I earned a teaching credential at PLNU and finished my student teaching at High Tech High International where I taught 9th grade last semester.

My wife, Sarah, is a 6th grade math/science teacher at High Tech Middle school, and we live in Pacific Beach.

Kheng Tan, a native of sunny San Diego, graduated from UC Irvine in 2003 with a degree in Sociology. After receiving her Bachelors of Arts from UC Irvine, Kheng spent time working for Head Start, a national non-profit agency for over two years before deciding to go back to school to pursue a degree in school counseling. She graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University with a Masters in School Counseling and a PPS Credential. She looks forward to helping students achieve their personal and academic goals at HTHMA and HTMMA. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with loved ones, reading, traveling, cooking, and enjoying San Diego’s wonderful weather.

Azul grew up in Santa Cruz, California the oldest of 5 and the first to go to college. He began his career in education in inner city Los Angeles teaching in a 6th grade bilingual/ESL classroom. He taught Humanities, Reading and U.S. History for five years. He served as assistant principal in a middle school in Los Angeles and in Texas as a high school grade level principal. Azul was the principal of Hopewell Middle School in Round Rock ISD, where he took the school from near unacceptable to Recognized. He served as a consultant for New Technology Foundations before he served as the Associate Program Officer for T-STEM Academies with the Texas High School Project. He is passionate about school climate and worked with several groups nationally with the Boomerang Project and Learning For Living, Inc. training counselors, teachers and principals on how to transform their schools. He has also consulted with several districts on how to build capacity in the schools and He has served as the Curator of Media for the Southwest Museum in Highland Park, California, the Director of the Nosotros Youth Theater in Hollywood, and was the Theatrical Director for Cat skills West in Beverly Hills. He was recently awarded the honor by the Texas Congress of Parents and Teachers, Honorary Life Membership. He completed his Bachelors and Masters degree at the University of California Los Angeles. He was a 6th grade humanities teacher at HTMMA before assuming the role of Director. He is proud to have is son Josiah (10) and daughter Skylar (9) be a part of the High Tech High Village; both children will be attending Explorer Elementary school.

Kyle Wagner has been teaching Middle School students for the past three years. His first teaching job began at Oak Grove Middle School where he taught Social Studies at both the 6th and 7th grade level. Kyle also helped lead and develop the After School Tennis Program and School Plays during those years. In addition, Kyle has experience with teaching music, drama and after school sports. An undergraduate of California Polytechnic University with a degree in History and a graduate of San Diego State University with a Single Subject Teaching Credential, Kyle is always seeking to learn new things. He has applied this curiosity to his hobbies which include tennis, soccer, singing, playing music, traveling, and writing. Kyle cannot wait to begin teaching at High Tech Middle Media Arts where he hopes to continue his growth as an educator while inspiring curious minds.

Katie has spent the past two years working for the High Tech High Charter Management Organization in a variety of different capacities, from grant writing/reporting to student outreach and admissions. Prior to joining the High Tech High family Katie completed coursework toward her Master's degree in Education at UC San Diego. The most rewarding and exciting part of this program for Katie was the opportunity to work in bilingual dual-immersion programs, where she taught in both English and in Spanish. Katie has also taught analytical and expository writing classes at a private institute in San Diego. Katie can't wait to go into the classroom at HTMMA to share her passion for literature, writing, and history with a fantastic group of sixth graders!

Some of Katie’s passions include dancing, reading, writing, singing, baking cookies, cooking gourmet meals, swimming, running, hiking, going to the beach, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.