After teaching English at Mountain View High School for one year, Rachel Cassar joined MVHS’ English Department to teach Literature and Writing and American Literature to freshmen and juniors, respectively. 

Cassar grew up in Southern California and studied creative writing, education, psychology and songwriting at USC. She discovered her path to teaching after working with students in creative writing, something she hadn’t gotten a lot of support for as a kid.

“This generation is brilliant, and they are not getting equipped in the way that they need to go out in the world and be informed and be able to express their opinions in profound and important ways,” Cassar said. “So I was like, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do.’”

After Cassar got her master’s in education, she spent some time working at a therapeutic boarding school. Her time there offered a different lens on the connection between education and student wellness, something Cassar now highly values in a classroom setting.

“A huge part for me is listening to you all, what you need, what’s going on for you and trying to be as flexible and accommodating as I can be,” Cassar said. “I went to a really competitive, intense high school and felt a lot of that pressure, and tried to live up to that. And then I went to college and was like, ‘Wow, I feel like I’m only half a human,’ and I’m maybe really good at the school thing.’ But then I’m like, ‘How do I be a person in other meaningful ways too?’”

In order to mitigate such feelings in her own students, Cassar tries to make students connect what they are learning to their own lives. When deciding where she wanted to implement this teaching style, she contemplated going back to Southern California, but eventually decided on MVHS and Northern California because of the innovative environment and the cultural and linguistic diversity in the community.

“MVHS, to me, seemed like it had a really supportive community and they were really intentionally trying to move towards supporting student wellness, so I wanted to be a part of that,” Cassar said.

After leaving Saratoga High School due to declining enrollment in the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, Claudia Zambon saw a job opening at MVHS and immediately applied. Starting this school year, Zambon will be teaching Spanish 1 at MVHS. Before arriving, Zambon had heard about a positive environment surrounding the school and that students were particularly respectful and motivated to learn new things. 

Since joining, Zambon has found the World Language department teachers to be welcoming. 

“I really love the atmosphere here and my colleagues are very professional,” Zambon said. “They’ve been very generous and helpful.”

Zambon has been especially grateful for fellow Spanish teacher Joyce Fortune, citing when Fortune shared an organized USB drive with Zambon filled with all of the Spanish 1 materials she uses.

In the classroom, Zambon draws from her wealth of experience with Spanish that includes fourteen years of living and attending school in Argentina. 

Zambon hopes to get more involved with the student body while on staff by participating in spirit events such as various leadership held teacher competitions. In the classroom, Zambon hopes to employ a variety of teaching strategies that can support all students.

“There’s always room for growth, learning and making a difference in my students’ lives, somehow,” Zambon said.

*correction: Zambon only teaches Spanish 1 and lived in Argentina for 14 years.

Speech-Language Pathologist Kristi Iwami joined the special education team at MVHS after a position opened following a major administration change from the 2023-2024 school year. As a Lynbrook High School alum and Cupertino local, Iwami was motivated to apply for the position after hearing positive feedback about the school’s student body from her friends who previously attended MVHS.

Iwami first chose to pursue speech-language pathology as a career because of their desire to help students in special education succeed. Especially at the high school level, Iwami noticed an easier environment for growth and learning.

“Particularly in high school, you can have real conversations and you can see improvement right away,” Iwami said. “If we’re with the younger ones, it takes a bit of time to see improvement. A lot more patience, too.”

Working as a speech-language pathologist means having close relationships with students and working with their Individualized Education Plans (IEP), an education plan for students enrolled in special education programs. Compared to a larger classroom setting, Iwami believes smaller classes allow students to feel more comfortable sharing their feelings throughout the school year.

“We have conversations and are all working with each other,” Iwami said. “I get to see them a little more intimately, because it’s more of a small group or one-on-one.”

Iwami is satisfied with her first impressions of MVHS’ student environment in the first few weeks of school. She is pleased with support from administration as she eases into her new position.

“Entering our third week, it’s been great. The staff here is very supportive,” Iwami said. “Administration has been very accommodating and welcoming as well.”

After fourteen years of teaching math and Mandarin in both Taiwan and the U.S., Ashton Chen made the move to MVHS to begin teaching Algebra 2 and Geometry. Chen made the decision to come to MVHS in search of a new teaching environment, and to be closer to his family in the Bay Area.

Chen’s extensive experience with students in both Taiwan and Texas has exposed him to a series of cultures and languages, which he hopes will help him more effectively mentor students from different backgrounds in the classroom.

“Some students are English learners because they just came from Asia, and I can speak Mandarin, so I think it’s a good idea to help them develop math skills in both English and Mandarin,” Chen said. “I also had a different background when I was learning math, so I want to share this with my students.”

Chen feels supported by his fellow staff members, who he says have helped and motivated him when teaching. He is impressed with the work ethic of his students, which has stood out to him in the first weeks of school.

“The students are the most amazing part of my teaching,” Chen said. “Our students work so hard in the classroom and after class. They are responsible and smart.”

After student teaching at Cupertino High School, Allen Riddle decided to take on the role of long-term substitute teacher for Megan Voigt while she is out on maternity leave. He teaches four periods of Mythology and Folklore to seniors and one period of AVID 11 for juniors.

A Sunnyvale native, Riddle graduated from Homestead High School and attended San Jose State University to get his master’s degree in education. Despite not majoring in English, he was a creative writing minor in college since he enjoyed English in high school.

Even though this is Riddle’s first year working a solo teaching job at MVHS, he says he is already very familiar with MVHS and its culture.

“I grew up around here with pretty strict academic-oriented parents,” Riddle said. “So I feel like I understand the kids here and a lot of what you guys are going through.”

Having coached tennis in high school, Riddle realized he had a passion for working with kids. Working remotely over the COVID-19 pandemic made him feel lonely and isolated, so he wanted to change to a more exciting work environment.  

He hopes to change his students’ perspective on academics by believing that they should prioritize themselves over their academic achievements.

“I think it’s important to just be kids sometimes too, to have fun,” Riddle said. “Do extracurriculars, enjoy yourselves, do stuff that isn’t necessarily academically oriented and just take some time for yourself.”

Ultimately, he hopes his students feel comfortable speaking and working with him in the way that they want to.

“A big part of my classroom that I want to be able to keep up is that people should be able to talk to me the way that they want to talk,” Riddle said. “I don’t need to be super formal or anything, because I think that part of teaching English is accepting that English changes all the time.”

MVHS’ new school psychologist Melody Yi has been practicing school psychology for 17 years and has worked with a wide range of students, from preschoolers all the way through college students. Prior to working at MVHS, she worked in the Cupertino Union School District for seven years, and then at Cupertino High School for five years.

Yi only found out about school psychology in college after searching up psychology and education since those were fields she had interest in. This led her to pursue degrees in education and psychosocial behavior at University of California, Irvine. Afterwards, she completed her doctorate program in educational psychology at Chapman University.

“I actually went into my undergrad as a biology major, but it was a course in abnormal child development that really got me interested in wanting to learn more about neurodiversity,” Yi said. “So that was what switched me over to be interested in that psychosocial component.”

Even though Yi wasn’t planning on leaving CHS, MVHS’ previous school psychologist Annie Maness expressed that she wanted Yi to take her position after she left. Ultimately, Yi wanted to experience a different student population and team, so she agreed to switch over.

“She sought me out, thinking that I would be a good fit here at MVHS with my Asian American background and my ability to connect through the Mandarin language,” Yi said. “She felt reassured leaving her team in my hands, which I felt was very honorable and flattering.”

So far, she says she has had a wonderful experience at MVHS, describing everyone as welcoming, polite and respectful. In return, Yi hopes to share her expertise and insights as a psychologist here. 

“I hope to continue to learn, but also be able to reciprocate some of my experiences elsewhere, to the students here who maybe had a different experience with therapists and psychologists before,” Yi said. “Hopefully I bring a different light or a different perspective, a different energy to supplement, but also to complement what’s already existing here.”

Yi says she likes hearing and learning about different perspectives and hopes to provide the same opportunities and experiences to students she encounters.

“I always loved when students would tell me, ‘Oh, I never thought about it that way,’ and that phrase is something I enjoy bringing somebody to because I like to challenge the mind,” Yi said. “Not in a negative way, of course, but to really make people think and expand their perspective.”

Lisa Fernandez, a speech-language pathologist, otherwise known as a speech therapist, has worked with FUHSD for years before arriving at MVHS. Growing up in San Jose as well as going to San Jose State University for her undergraduate and master’s degrees introduced her to the career and made her more familiar with the area she now teaches in. 

“I always knew what I wanted to be growing up,” Fernandez said. “I always wanted to be a teacher or work at a school, and then in college, I just started taking some other classes. And then I realized I really had an interest in working with students with special needs. And then I just kind of fell into speech pathology. I hadn’t really heard about it before, so I ended up taking a class and liked it.”

Since this is Fernandez’s first year at MVHS, she is naturally curious about this school’s culture and the feel of the school.

“I would love to see Homecoming and go to some of the games,” Fernandez said. “Just to kind of get a feel for the campus and the student participation and leadership.”

Fernandez isn’t just looking forward to all the events but also to getting acquainted with the students and staff. 

Helping students is Fernandez’s first priority, and she’s more than willing to help every student she can on campus, including her ACT and special education students. 

“I like how we really include them in a lot of classes. I like how they help out in the cafeteria,” Fernandez said. “They have job sites here, so I really want to be a part of really integrating the students throughout the campus with all different types of other students, and really being included in all the activities on campus.”