With the new school year comes new faces! On behalf of the entire Northgate community, the Sentinel Staff would like to introduce choir teacher Georgia Friend, math teacher Shelley Gillett, English teachers Audrey Wertz and Lillian Humphrey, and Academic Success teacher Almira McGrath. Take a moment to get to know them, and welcome them when you see them on campus.
Georgia Friend
1. What courses do you teach?
I currently teach choir, so both more beginning intermediate level choirs, and then the advanced levels, and then I also teach beginning guitar and advanced guitar.
2. What is your past experience before coming to Northgate?
Before I taught at Northgate, I taught for three years at Deer Valley, where I also taught choir and music production. And before that, I worked with the Oakland Youth Chorus, and I taught K-8 choirs and music classes there.
3. What made you want to be a part of the Northgate staff?
I want to be a part of the Northgate staff because I really enjoyed meeting people during my interviews; The students seemed really passionate about music and really seemed to be driven. I also already was friends with Mr. Garcia-Leiva, so I knew that if I worked here, I’d have a friend to work with.
4. Describe your experience so far.
So far, I’ve really enjoyed it here. The students are really nice, they are very talented, and they’ve been super excited to just kind of learn whatever I’ve thrown at them. I’ve also really enjoyed teaching guitar – that’s new for me, and it’s still a little bit of a challenge, but I’m excited to keep doing it and keep learning.
5. What goals do you hope to achieve this year?
This year, I hope to be able to take the choirs to perform in more places. I’d like to perform at some competitions and maybe work with other choir directors. Most of all, I’m really excited to get to just learn all about the choir culture here. I’m super excited for Musical America.
6. What is something interesting about you or your background you would like to share?
I’m really obsessed with my dog, I guess. She’s very friendly, she’s very cuddly. Her name is Cupcake and she’s a big 70-pound lap dog. She’s a big dog, but she just wants to sit in my lap and cuddle all the time. She’s really cute.
7. How did you know Mr. Garcia-Leiva?
I’ve known him since I was seven. We went to the same high school and elementary school and we ended up also just coincidentally going to the same college, so it’s funny that now here we are and we work together.
(interview by Zhen Hui Huang)
Shelley Gillett
1. What courses do you teach?
I currently teach Algebra 1 and Geometry, both freshmen and sophomores. I have experience in all levels, including calculus.
2. What is your past educational or professional experience before coming to Northgate?
I actually used to teach Algebra 1, Algebra 2, and Calculus at Las Lomas, so it’s interesting to be a part of my former rival school. I also taught for several years down in Orange County, so I’ve spent a lot of my career all over California!
3. What made you want to be a part of the Northgate staff?
I’ve always known that Northgate had an amazing school environment with great students and I was so excited when I heard that I had got the job here! I had never actually been to the school before I got the job, but I am so glad that I am here now.
4. Describe your experience so far.
Northgate was such a welcoming community from the start with very nice and helpful staff members. The students are also very ambitious and kind. As a teacher, it’s inspiring to see them work hard and put in the effort.
5. What goals do you hope to achieve this year?
My main priority is for my students to leave my class learning and mastering the math courses I teach. A personal goal is to continue to assimilate into the Northgate community and to make more connections with other teachers.
6. What is something interesting about you or your background you would like to share?
I really enjoy baking- chocolate chip cookies are my expertise. I also have a dog named Darcy that I like to dress up for the holidays. Most of all, I love spending time with my kids, who are off in college.
(interview by Erin Kim)
Audrey Wertz
1. What courses do you teach?
I teach English 1 (freshmen) and English 3 (juniors).
2. What is your past educational or professional experience before coming to Northgate?
I started my teaching at a school in Southern California that was a lot like Northgate. When I moved up here for the last six years I’ve been working as the academic program coordinator at a private school called Orion Academy which is for students who have high-functioning autism. It’s a college prep school, and I managed all the curriculum for all the classes. I always taught something, sometimes I taught research classes, and sometimes I taught English, composition, or art depending on the year.
3. What made you want to be a part of the Northgate staff?
I love this school community. I’m part of it, too, and I like that it’s where I live. I really like this school community because it focuses so much on student well-being. I think that’s an important part of school in today’s world.
4. Describe your experience so far.
Overall welcoming. I just like how welcoming and fun the staff is here.
5. What goals do you hope to achieve this year?
I hope to improve my students’ critical thinking skills, make them stronger writers, and help them become better at collaborating to come up with new ideas based on other people’s opinions.
6. What is something interesting about you or your background you would like to share?
I was on the speech and debate team in high school and I taught speech and debate for four years. When I was on speech and debate I went to the state championship and was in the top 16
debaters in the state.
(interview by Emma Fox)
Almira McGrath
1. What courses do you teach? I teach Academic Success – all of my classes are Academic Success
2. What is your past educational or professional experience before coming to Northgate?
I started my career 30 years ago as a Portuguese teacher in Brazil. Portuguese is the main language there like English is here, so I spent a lot of time teaching linguistics and grammar. I then moved to Massachusetts and taught Portuguese as a foreign language in night school for adults. Eventually, I became a Special Ed teacher’s assistant and later gained my credentials to become a Special Ed teacher. And now here I am, as a resource teacher here at Northgate.
3. What made you want to be a part of the Northgate staff?
Since I am a part of a Special Ed program, I was sent here.
4. Describe your experience so far.
My experience so far has been good. One of the things I love the most about Northgate is how respectful the kids are and throughout all my classes, everyone has been kind and hardworking, especially compared to past schools I have worked at. The teachers are all very kind and the staff administration are extremely supportive.
5. What goals do you hope to achieve this year?
I love what I do, so for me, my main priority is to always be the best Academic Success teacher I can be. My job now is a lot different from my initial expertise in language acquisition and usage, so I hope that I continue to improve my performance for academic specificity.
6. What is something interesting about you or your background you would like to share?
I really enjoy doing yoga after teaching at school. Attending my classes is an essential part of my life and well-being, as it helps me sort out my thoughts and emotions. If I end up missing a class during the school week due to my schedule with meetings, I try to make it on the weekends.
(interview by Erin Kim)
Lillian Humphrey
1. What courses do you teach?
I teach English 1 (freshmen) and English 2 (sophomores).
2. What is your past educational or professional experience before coming to Northgate?
Before Northgate, I spent time teaching at Sequoia High School in Redwood City. I also taught at a public middle school in South Korea for two years.
3. What made you want to be a part of the Northgate staff?
During my interview at Northgate with Mrs. Jenkins and Mrs. O’Neil, they asked me incredibly interesting and thought-provoking questions about my favorite literature. This became one of the few interviews that had asked me creative questions of that nature, and it made me become really interested and excited to work at Northgate, and to help contribute to Northgate’s curriculum.
4. Describe your experience so far.
I have had a really positive experience here at Northgate so far. I am learning a lot about both the community, as well as the curriculum. I enjoy learning about projects such as the freshman I-Search and the sophomore Rhetorical Unit.
5. What goals do you hope to achieve this year?
This year, I hope to continue building relationships with their students! I would also like to further decorate my classroom and become a more integral part of the Northgate community.
6. What is something interesting about you or your background you would like to share?
I have been to 11 countries outside of the United States and hope to travel to more! The Netherlands and Japan are my two favorite countries.
(interview by Panteha Bazyar)
