This school year, 21 new staff members will be joining the ranks of the LAHS faculty. New teachers will be joining every academic department. Here’s your chance to meet some of them:
Administration
Suzanne Woolfolk
Growing up near her grandfather’s second-hand bookstore in his autoshop, Woolfolk always had a knack for literature and education. The aspiring educator participated in ASB, the newspaper and yearbook in high school, which provided a place for her to work towards her dreams amidst her turbulent community. Woolfolk was one of ten people in her class to graduate high school and entered Stanford University on scholarship.
After college, Woolfolk worked as a literacy educator both locally and internationally. She has taught and been an administrator at Hillsdale High School, Burlingame High and San Mateo High. Woolfolk plans to use her near decade of administrative experience to help LAHS grow as a school and a community.
Psychologist
Chad Ablang
Formerly from Sequoia High School, Chad Ablang is taking over as the new school psychologist. His door (located in the Tutorial Center) is always open for any student who wants to chat with him about anything from their interests to friendship troubles to college anxiety. When he is not working on his goal to connect with as many students as possible, he likes to spend his time traveling, attending concerts and eating good food.
History
Sarah Alavardo
Sarah Alavardo will be helming World History and CWI classes this year after previously working with middle schoolers. Her passion for both teaching and history started in middle school when she was inspired by her teachers to follow their career path. She hopes to become involved within the LAHS community and also spread her love of crafts and photography.
Megan Blach
Formerly a student teacher at Yerba Buena High School, Megan Blach was drawn to Los Altos High School by the passion students and teachers here share for learning. She will be teaching US History and World Studies and is excited to meet all of her new students. In her spare time, Blach likes to read historical romance novels and travel. She’s visited 17 countries and has even lived in Madrid.
Chelsea Doiguchi
Originally a Mountain View High School graduate, Chelsea Doiguchi came to Los Altos from a teaching post at Del Mar High School in Campbell in order to be closer to her family. She will be teaching World Studies and Contemporary World Issues. Doiguchi says she will have to get used to being an Eagle instead of a Spartan but is looking forward to being involved at LAHS.
English
Lauren Amoros
A Pennsylvania native, Lauren Amoros moved to California two years ago and worked in a San Jose charter school before ultimately deciding she wanted to work in a public school with a more diverse demographic like LAHS. Amoros’ first priority is to adjust to the LAHS curriculum of the World Literature and Survey Comp./ Lit. classes that she is teaching. She hopes to incorporate more creative writing into the curriculum of these two classes. As a first generation college student herself, she knows how difficult is it to navigate the college waters, so she hopes to be a mentor to her students in the same way her own teachers were to her.
Amy Schlueter
Amy Schlueter just received her masters degree from Stanford University and will join the LAHS staff as a Survey Comp./Lit. and American Litera- ture teacher. Schlueter loves soccer and before attending Stanford, she was a student at Middlebury Col- lege in Vermont where she played collegiate soccer. She was a student teacher at Mountain View High School last year and loved the expe- rience, so she decided to apply for a job within the MVLA district. She hopes not only to teach but also to learn from her students and build great relationships and communities within her classroom.
Science
Freedom Cheteni
Freedom Cheteni will be teaching both Biol- ogy and Algebra II this year as part of a new pro- gram for teachers with dual credentials. He pre- viously taught at a Native American reservation where he helped the Ipakammi tribe graduate its first five students from high school. While at Los Altos, he looks forward to the challenge of helping students explore their interests. Outside of school, Cheteni is passionate about helping exotic animals such as snow leopards and lions.
Stephen Hine
As a Los Altos alum, Stephen Hine ‘09 fits right into the LAHS community. Hine will be teaching AP Physics I and II. He is excited to be working in the same community that he grew up in as a student. The UCSB graduate enjoys spending his free time playing ultimate frisbee and disc golf.
Trina Lee
Trina Lee will be joining the Chemistry regular and Environmental Science regular classes this year. She previously taught at Summit San Jose and is excited about the history of strong academics and the unique student population here at LAHS. She looks forward to imparting her passion for science onto students. When not in the classroom, Lee loves to be outdoors either hiking or biking.
Christopher Lucas
Christopher Lucas will be teaching freshman Pre-Biology and Biology classes this year. With a background teaching in Hayward, Fremont and overseas in South Korea, he looks forward to coming back to teach near his alma mater, Stanford University. He is excited to help his students build a strong foundation in science for the rest of high school.
Jake Russo
Jake Russo will be teaching Biology Honors and AP Biology. The California native sees Los Altos High School as a place to improve his teaching while becoming a part of the school’s culture. He hopes to bring more field trips to the science department to enrich students’ educational ex- periences. Russo is also an avid standup paddle-boarder and with the help of GoPro has captured interactions with whales, seals and dolphins.
Math
Adam Anderson
Adam Anderson will be joining LAHS as a first year math teacher teaching Geometry and Algebra I. In the past, he worked as both an environmental field technician and for a toy design and development firm. He taught as a student teacher at UCSB this past year and then applied for a job at LAHS after meeting Principal Wynne Satterwhite at a job fair. Ideally, he’ would like to teach math for the rest of his life. He is interested in sixties era muscle cars and long- distance road biking.
Charles Castleman
Charles Castleman has taught nearly all types of high school math, and will be joining LAHS as an Algebra II and AB Calculus teacher. He is excited to help students reach their fullest potential as learners. He plans on becoming an assistant coach for the cross country team and hopes to help the science and math departments align the physics and calculus curriculums.
Brent Smith
Brent Smith spent five years in Hayward as a math teacher, and will now join LAHS as a Geometry and Trigonometry Math Analysis Honors teacher. After his time at Hayward, Smith was ready for different challenges and felt that LAHS would provide him with new teaching experience. His goal next year is to help students enjoy math. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball and studying Japanese.
Jillian Green
Math teacher Jillian Green came to Los Altos after spendingasummerteaching in Hong Kong. She will be teaching primarily freshmen in her Geometry and Geometry Honors classes this year and looks forward to helping them adjust to being in high school. She hopes to get to know the school community by attending sporting events and school activities outside the classroom. Outside of school, Green is also a yoga teacher.
Special Education
Katie Canales
After spending time at vari- ous high schools and a year teaching the course, English as a Second Language, in Costa Rica, Katie Canales was drawn to the Special Education de- partment in LAHS after hear- ing from several other faculty staff that the LAHS motto was to do what was best for the students. In this upcoming school year, she looks forward to growing as a teacher and getting to know her students on an individual level. Canales also hopes to share her previous learning experiences with new teachers. When she is not fostering positive change in her students, she loves to write and paint in her spare time.
Dan Carter
Dan Carter is a recent transfer from Alta Vista High School and will be part of the Special Education department at LAHS. He is no stranger to this school, having worked here for four years as an instructional aid prior to his position at Alta Vista. His previous positive ex- perience with LAHS is part of the reason why he decided to take a job here; he also wanted to try and learn new things. He hopes to be a positive role mod- el on campus for students who do not necessarily have anyone to look up to in their lives. Out- side of school, Carter likes to spend as much time as possible with his family and cheering on the Giants and 49ers.
Damara Nasca
Damara Nasca will be joining the Special Education department this year as a speech and language specialist. She recently graduated with a Masters degree from San Jose State University, and this job is her first teaching posi- tion. She enjoys playing ten- nis in the moderate Bay Area weather. She appreciates the supportive staff and environment of Los Altos as well as its beautiful campus, and is look- ing forward to working closely with the other special education teachers and getting to know her students.
Amy O’Hayer
Amy O’Hayer came to Los Altos from Cupertino High School. She likes the focus on well-rounded students who are encouraged to pursue arts and sports as well as academics. She will be teaching Reading, English and Study Skills classes for Special Ed, and plans to help students who struggle with reading improve their skills this year. O’Hayer hopes she will bring a lot of energy to campus and looks forward to meeting her new students and settling in. She has four children of her own and also lived in Las Vegas for ten years.
