Ms. Perich – Secondary Principal
Fun Fact: My dream job is to be the mascot for the Phillies, the Phillie Phanatic. After that, it’s teaching middle school!
Quote: “So, I guess we are who we are for a lot reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.” —Charlie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Ms. Kinoshita – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I did the splits for the first time when I was 36.
Quote: “When you connect with your breath, you connect with the present.”
Ms. Salinas – Secondary Staff
Fun Fact: I am actually a professional face painter on the weekends! My picture is me as a bunny at Easter time.
Quote: “We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Ms. Kumar – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I have acted in an Indian Feature film
Quote: “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.” -Confucius
Ms. Labree – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I once flew in a T-38 fighter jet and broke the sound barrier flying 670 miles per hour.
Quote: “You’re supposed to feel different from the rest because you are; and there’s nothing wrong with that!”
Ms. Lance – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I spent over a decade working as a naturalist at an area nature preserve and I can identify hundreds of species of birds and quite a few reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and plants.
Quote: “Whatever you are, be a good one.” –attributed to Abraham Lincoln
Mr. Lujan – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I used to have long hair as a toddler. Mom would get complements on her beautiful daughter.
Quote: “He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” ― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
Mr. Stoddard – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I work at EKA!
Quote: “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” Aristotle
Ms. K. Mattson – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I am a boring person. 🙁
Quote: “The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” -Tom Bodett
Ms. McIver – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: “Besides education, my other favorite activity is working on my family’s cattle ranch.”
Quote: “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” -George Bernard Shaw”
Mr. Keyer – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I have coached 7 different boys & girls sports at the high school & middle school levels.
Quote: “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” – Thomas Edison
Mr. Quinn – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I love video games and playing pranks on people. I hate clean desks and books.
Quote: “I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid.”
Ms. Foy – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I studied abroad for six months in England at Oxford University, which was the most intense academic experience I ever had the privilege of going through. It was amazing to learn the Oxonian style of independent research and presentation. Also, I got to walk through Christ Church College’s dining hall every morning on my way to the library, which was the dining hall used to film the Harry Potter movies!
Quote: “Go confidently in the direction. Life the life you imagined.”-Henry David Thoreau
Ms. Smith – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: Science has been my favorite subject since fourth grade.
Quote: “We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.” -Lloyd Alexander
Ms. Twardzik – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I love art. I love traveling. Most of all, I love giggles and whimsy.
Quote: “Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions.” -Tom Robbins
Mr. Webster – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I once trapped 6 feral cats in individual cages……Got them all spayed and neutered……Then, took care of them all until they passed ( up to about 15 years)……..They were much fun………
Quote: “Find good in everyone!!!”
Mr. Salas Villela – Music Teacher
Fun Fact: I play basketball.
Quote: “Life is beautiful.”
Ms. Berto – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I am a Disney fanatic. Since I was 4 years old, I have annually visited Disneyworld, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, Disneyland, California Adventure and Downtown Disney. I have ownership in the Disney Vacation Club as well as a Disney stock owner. I have grown up loving Disney and its magic.
Quote: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” -Ferris Bueller
Ms. B. Mattson – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I have a bionic ankle.
Quote: “Just keep swimming.”
Mr. Hamilton – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I work at EKA!
Quote: “Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” Anthony J. D’Angelo
Ms. Mendez – Secondary Teacher
Fun Fact: I have been to 9 islands, all in the Pacific Ocean. I also had the opportunity to do science in 3 of these islands.
Quote: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -Benjamin Franklin
Ms. Chapman – Secondary Staff
Fun Fact: It is a fact that I own over 40 sewing machines (most of them are operable).
Quote: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life” -Pablo Picasso.
Ms. Keyer – School Counselor
Fun Fact: I have 8 siblings.
Quote: “If you would have ran when you were talking about, you would have been back by now.”
Ms. Hay – Secondary Staff
Fun Fact: I’m addicted to sweet tea!
Quote: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me….” -Erma Bombeck
Ms. Lesniak – Secondary Staff
Fun Fact: I played college softball for 4 years.
Quote: “We rise by lifting others.”
