Photo Credit: Kaylee Miu
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February 8, 2010
Photo Credit: Paolo Bonaccorsi
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October 14, 2009
Amanda Nava
There are new student faces, but there are also some new faces among the teachers. David Anaya is the newest addition to the physical education department.
“I’m excited for this year,” Anaya said. “I recognize a lot of my old students from Maloney. I see them all around.”
Anaya taught P.E. for 12 years at Maloney Elementary School before joining Washington, but his teaching resume isn’t all just about P.E. He was also a driver’s education instructor and a health teacher in the past.
Even though he has taught multiple subjects, his personal favorite is P.E. It all started when he was a TA for a P.E. class during his senior year of high school. From there, his love for the subject blossomed.
Photo Credit: Simrundeep Kaur
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October 14, 2009
Bach Phan
Before history teacher Alphonso Thompson came to Washington, he worked at numerous other schools, including Logan High School, Patterson Elementary, Grimmer Elementary and Durham Elementary.
He went to Logan High School as a teenager and rivaled with Washington when he played football as a young man. At first, he was disgusted to be teaching at his rival school, but he also felt optimistic because he already knew that Washington was a good school.
Thompson believes that the student body to be nice and responsible, the parents supportive, and the social studies department also very supportive.
“It’s laid back,” Thompson said.
In the classroom, he tries to impact his students’ lives. Thompson believes that he, too, learns new things each day.
“It made me a better person, and it has made me more responsible and an example for the youth,” Thompson said.
Thompson wants to do more than just teach.
“The measure of a good teacher isn’t measured in a classroom, it is measured by the impact [they have] in the students’ lives,” Thompson said.
Thompson began to realize his desire to teach during high school. His visual and performing arts teacher, Tommy Lindsay, inspired him. Thompson used to be a class clown, and Lindsay focused all of that negative energy into something positive in speech.
Thompson joined the Forensics Speech Team and was a two-time state champion in California, and a one-time national champion in duo interpretation, which is summarizing and acting out a play with two people. He also got second place in state his sophomore and junior year and was ranked number one as a freshman.
In school, Thompson did not have a favorite subject. He tried to find something good in every subject, whether it was math, science or history. He thought of himself as optimistic and easily pleased. However, he went on to study history in college, such as California history, African-American history, and political science. He eventually chose to pursue history because he thought history was the subject that could invoke the most change and have the most impact in the lives of his students.
When Thompson is not in the classroom, he still tries to be involved in the field that helped to change his life around. He helps to produce and develop young talent, mainly high school students. He hopes that some day one of these pupils that he has can get a record deal and he can be their manager.
In the future, he wishes to improve himself as a teacher and continue to learn in his subject of history. One day, he wants to be able to know almost everything there is to know about history.
Photo Credit: Raphael Ghieuw Sien
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October 14, 2009
Judy Wu
The best Halloween moment U.S. history teacher Eric Shawn had was seeing the band Polyphonic Spree two to three years ago. He was dressed up as a pink robot based on The Flaming Lips’ album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. His friend, on the other hand, dressed as Yoshimi, the Korean girl. Shawn believed that it was one of the funniest costumes he had. Another funny costume was when he was a blueberry; he placed purple balloons around his body.
“When I walked, the balloons would shake and my friends and I would yell ‘Boo!’ whenever someone randomly popped a balloon. We had a good laugh about it,” Shawn said.
During high school, Shawn and his friends would hang out at each other’s houses and scare young kids.
Although it has been years since he trick-or-treated, Shawn can still recall trick-or-treating as a kid.
“I lived on top of a hill so my friends would all meet up at my house. We would walk from the top to the bottom of the hill and come back on the opposite side of the hill. We had so many candies, it was a blast,” Shawn said.
Halloween is still the same to Shawn; to him it is still a fun holiday that allows kids to have fun getting candy, and teenagers can have fun just hang out .
Photo Credit: Paolo Bonaccorsi
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October 14, 2009
Sarah deLanda
Art teacher Robin Downey is among the newest members of the WHS staff. Last year, she was an art teacher at Centerville Junior High School. The transition between two age groups is virtually unnoticeable to her. No matter how old her students are, she recognizes that they are capable of producing high-quality work when given the right tools.
Having been a teenager herself when she discovered her passion for art, she understands the importance of encouragement and challenge for her students.
I’m hoping that [this art class] is going to bring their skill level out… That’s the beauty of being a teacher,” Downey said.
To her, it is an extremely rewarding profession; being able to foster the skills of students and watch them grow as artists is important to her. This year, her students will create self portraits, learn different art elements and designs, and better develop their thought process behind creating art, among other things.
The students are going to be working with quite a few mediums, and she seems pretty enthusiastic about it. She partially attributes this to the environment of Washington High School itself.
“I think the kids here just seem like they’re really good kids. I feel really safe here,” Downey said.
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