Upper School welcomes eight new teachers to campus

New teachers share high hopes and expectations for coming school year

by Eric Fang, News Editor

David Hart – Orchestra, AP Music Theory, Study of Music and Performance Practice

 

Goal for next year: “This is my ninth year at Harker and it is cool that a lot of students have worked with me in the past. I think my focus will be on creativity and improvisation and how those play a role in the learning process.”

Fun Fact: Fifth generation Californian

Hobbies: Travel, gardening and yoga

Favorite TV Show: Curb your Enthusiasm

 

Rosalyn Schreimann – Counseling

 

Goal for next year: “I hope that I can be there to help students out and find some ways for them to sort of cope on their own when they are feeling stressed out or worried because I know that there is a lot of anxiety that goes on in high school.”

Favorite Movie: Forrest Gump

Favorite Books: We Were the Lucky Ones, The Help

 

 

 

 

 

Lyndsey Nelson – Counseling

 

Goal for next year: “I hope to become more familiar with the staff and kids. Overall I really want to make friendships and be supportive to everyone on campus”

Hobbies: Watching theater and ballet, non-profit work and going to the beach

Fun Fact: Huge Disney fan

Favorite Movie: The Sound of Music

Favorite Food: Mexican

 

 

Bhaswati Ganguli – Honors Precalculus

 

Goal for next year: “I hope to make my students confident learners and to teach them that math is not just a bunch of numbers. Instead, I hope they find that math stays with them their entire lives and will help to make them more self sufficient.”

Hobbies: Travel, reading and badminton

Favorite Movies: Amadeus and Nebraska

 

 

 

Dean Lizardo – AP Economics, AP Statistics and Behavioral Economics

 

Goal for next year: “I know that everyone here is a really high quality teacher, so I want to live up to those expectations by having all my kids be engaged in class, love what they are learning and hopefully find their new area of interest.”

Fun Fact: Owns 200 board games

Favorite Movie: Apollo 13

Favorite Book: Freakonomics

 

 

 

Dr. Jonathon Sammartino – AP Psychology

 

Goal for next year: “My hope is to get a lot of students as excited about psychology as I am. I also hope to learn more about Harker and to get to know the community.”

Hobbies: Tennis, board games, choir and watching sports

Fun Fact: Wrote a textbook

Hobbies: Reading, photography, and hiking

Favorite TV Shows: In Treatment and The Wire

 

 

Dr. Thomas Artiss – Honors Biology

 

Goal for next year: “My hope is to get my students excited or enthusiastic at some point about something we do, even if they are not a “science” person or self described biology person.”

Hobbies: Bee Keeping, Bird Watching, and kayaking

Fun Fact: Lived in India for 3 years

Favorite TV Shows: Big Bang Theory and Nova Science

 

 

 

 

 

Nikolai Slivka – English

 

 

Goal for next year: “My hopes are to prepare my students as best I can for tenth grade and to get to know as many of my colleagues as possible.”

Hobbies: Watching movies and running and hiking in the foothills

Favorite TV Show: The Sopranos

Favorite Movies: Ride the High Country, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, and Back to the Future

 

 

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on Aug. 31, 2018.

Correction: Sept. 3, 2018

A previous version of this article incorrectly labeled Nikolai Slivka’s favorite movies as favorite books. The article has been edited to correct this error.