Danielle Ancin
Danielle grew up in the Bay Area, studied Political Science at UCLA, and researched African immigration in Spain as a Fulbright Scholar. Inspired by the people she worked with, she pursued a career in international development. Danielle volunteered and studied in Latin America and Africa before returning to California to earn her Masters in International Nonprofit Management (MPA) from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Along the way Danielle discovered meditation and yoga, practices that have helped her immensely in her own growth. She became a certified yoga teacher in 2003 and obtained further certification in teaching yoga to homeless and at-risk youth. While completing her final internship for her Masters in Bogotá, Colombia, Danielle had the chance to combine her passions, integrating therapeutic yoga into youth development and humanitarian assistance programs for a major international agency. Eager to continue this work, Danielle returned to the Bay Area and began working with the Niroga Institute as Program Manager and Yoga Instructor for youth in schools and juvenile detention centers. Besides doing yoga in her bedroom, Danielle loves learning languages, playing soccer, dancing, traveling, and running around Lake Merritt with her sweetheart. Contact Ms. Ancin at danielle@niroga.org

 

Tirso Gonzalez Araiza, Art, 9th Grade
Tirso G. Araiza was born in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. He began his professional education there in the field of economics, but inspired by the social movements in the United States, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area where he became a community organizer and political cartoonist. He was a contributor to the vibrant Latino arts movement as a printmaker and instructor at the Mission Cultural Center’s Mission Gráfica, and to El Tecolote Newspaper as an illustrator while attending San Francisco City College. On frequent stays in Yucatan, Mexico, he taught art in indigenous communities and in 1991 he won the Yucatan Biennial in Printmaking. He developed his art teaching skills while working at Young Audiences of the Bay Area and ALICE as an artist in residence. He completed his BA in Visual Art at San Francisco State University in 2002, his Masters in Education in 2009, and now holds two teaching credentials, in Art and in Spanish language. After completing his student teaching at Berkeley High School in 2010, he has continued to work in Berkeley as a substitute teacher. Contact Mr. Araiza at taraiza@realmcharterschool.org

 

Michael Bakal
Michael has been working as an educator, mentor, and coach since 2006.  A bay area native, Michael’s passion for working with youth was sparked by his Downtown Oakland YMCA basketball coach, who taught him to believe in himself and to never give up. While pursing a degree in Biology and Education and playing varsity basketball at UC San Diego, he would return home over summer breaks to the YMCA to coach and mentor youth. In his senior year of college, Michael founded Voces y Manos por el Derecho a la Salud, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering youth in Guatemala to promote health and human rights.  He comes to REALM from Locke High School in Los Angeles, where he taught biology for two years. Michael holds a Master’s Degree in Education and a Bilingual teaching certificate from UCLA. In his free time, Michael enjoys playing the conga drums and basketball. Even though students tell him that he’s “over the hill”, he retains hope that he will one day be able to dunk. Contact Mr. Bakal at mbakal@realmcharterschool.org

 

Peter Hargreaves, Music, 6th Grade
Peter grew up in Oakland and was first hooked on music at age 11 at the Feather River Jazz Camp. At Berkeley High School, he played saxophone in the Jazz Ensemble and Combos and also began learning bass. Following high school, he took a year off to work as a lab assistant at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and record a CD of original jazz compositions. Peter then went back to school classical music composition at UCLA. There he also worked as a guide for the Outdoor Adventures program and began to play kayak polo. After graduation in 2009, Peter volunteered for a summer in Guatemala with Voces y Manos por el Derecho a la Salud, helping to organize health fairs in rural villages and develop youth leadership through community projects. Peter then returned to the Bay Area and trained for the Kayak Polo National Team, traveling to Milan in 2010 for the World Championships. That fall, he founded a youth kayaking program in the Bay Area, which he continues to coach. Peter also plays regularly in the Erika Oba Jazz Quartet in Berkeley and the greater Bay Area. Contact Mr. Hargreaves at phargreaves@realmcharterschool.org

 

Elliot Hu-Au, Math/Science, 9th Grade
Elliot is a 7th year teacher with experience in public high schools in both Berkeley and Oakland. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 2003 with a degree in Astrophysics and a minor in Education. For his teaching credential he attended CSU East Bay. In the past, he has taught Earth Science, Algebra, and all levels of Physics, from beginning to AP. He is dedicated to making his classes enjoyable and hands-on, while keeping a high academic standard for his students. He grew up going to Catholic schools in Fremont and San Jose before moving to Berkeley for college. He, his wife, and 1 year-old daughter currently live in West Berkeley. For fun, he loves the outdoors, playing sports (especially ice hockey), working on cars, and eating sweets. Contact Mr. Hu-Au at ehu-au@realmcharterschool.org

 

 

 

Fahim J. Johnson, Humanities/Language Arts, 9th Grade
Fahim is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in San Francisco and raised in Marin, Justin realized his passion as an educator during his years as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley while majoring in African American Studies after his career in football came to an end. What began with facilitating discussions after class with fellow classmates to deepen understanding of the course content later turned into the co-creation and teaching of a two-semester course centered around African American relationships, specifically those issues that faced the Black community on campus. Justin was also heavily involved with social activism and justice on Berkeley’s campus. He spearheaded efforts that bridged the divide between African American athletes and the African American student body and as a result of his dedication to prepare incoming freshman for their undergraduate experience, his work lead to the creation of the Black Student Union at UC Berkeley. Since 2006, Justin has taught in the Summer Bridge program at UC Berkeley. His work focuses on incoming student-athletes and deconstructing notions of entitlement and privilege. As a secondary educator, Justin’s work focuses on facilitating students to be critical of the space in which they participate, both imagined and realized, through Government and History while constructing systems to elicit positive and healthy change. He also facilitates discussions of Economics centered around food justice and the food industrial complex with respect to racism and classism. He is an avid runner, rides fixies, enjoys hiking and camping, cooking, writing, volunteering, meditating, and studies eastern philosophy on his spare time. Justin earned his Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies from University of California, Berkeley. He lives in the Land of Oaks. Contact Mr. Johnson at jjohnson@realmcharterschool.org

 

José Manuel Martinez, Humanities/Language Arts, 6th Grade
Manny is originally from New York City. He grew up between the Washington Heights area of Manhattan, The South Bronx and the island of Puerto Rico where he graduated from high school.  He relocated to the Bay Area in the late 80’s. After being a professional musician for nearly twenty years, José went back to school with the intent of becoming a novelist. Upon reading Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed during his first semester, José quickly realized his new calling. He graduated as Valedictorian/Student Speaker from Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, acquired his BA in English from San Jose State, and was accepted to Stanford University’s Teacher Education program where he received his Masters in Education in 2010. Jose has been working with middle school and high school students for the past seven years. He comes to us from Downtown College Prep, a renowned charter school in San Jose catering to historically underperforming inner city students. Contact Mr. Martinez at mmartinez@realmcharterschool.org

 

 

Kate Moody, Math, 9th Grade
Kate decided to be a math teacher in high school, and she has steadily worked toward that goal ever since. Kate studied math as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley. After earning her bachelors in applied mathematics, she continued her studies at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education where she earned a masters in math education. Kate is passionate about interacting with young people, and she is fascinated by mathematics.  She is especially interested in creating a classroom environment with her students in which everyone has a voice and where everyone supports one another. Through engaging activities, Kate hopes to motivate her students to analyze problems and use mathematics as a tool for understanding the world. She enjoys baking, cooking, hiking, Yosemite, Disneyland, and being with family. Contact Ms. Moody at kmoody@realmcharterschool.org

 

 

Elshia Vasquez, Math, 6th Grade
Elshia came to the Bay Area, from Southern California, to attend UC Berkeley as an undergrad in 1994.  After changing her major several times she eventually received her BA in Religious Studies in 1998.  It was during her time as a UC Berkeley student that she began to develop her passion for Social Justice and deconstruct her own childhood educational experiences alongside her family history and ethnic origins.  Through volunteering, traveling, activism, education and constant reflection her concern over the disparities in educational opportunities inspired her to receive her teaching credential at SF State in 2002.  In 2007 she received her MA in Teaching Leadership from St. Mary’s College of California.  She began her first year of teaching in San Francisco Unified before spending the last 7 years as an educator in the city of Richmond.  While she started working as a self-contained classroom teacher at the elementary level she has spent the last three years teaching math to middle school students.  Her interest and passion for teaching math is very personal because she sees herself in many of her students who lack the confidence to perform and succeed as mathematicians–especially for students of color and young girls.  Elshia truly believes that, for these students, mathematics is in their blood yet has been misappropriated through the process of colonization.  Elshia’s main inspiration, as a math teacher, are her students for whom she works to make math relevant to their own lives in order to build their confidence to succeed in this subject.  Aside from teaching math, she enjoys running with her dog, hiking, camping, reading, traveling, Latin American culture and politics, and spending time with her children, close friends and family. Contact Ms. Vasquez at evasquez@realmcharterschool.org

 

Hillary Walker, Humanities/Language Arts, 6th Grade
Hillary is passionate about both studying and teaching history and literature.  Learning from the perspectives of people whose voices have traditionally been excluded is especially important to her, since they reveal a much more complex and interesting world.  She teaches English, U.S. and World History, and has taught Leadership, Social Studies and World Media courses.  Hillary is also the co-founder of Project Aruna, a nonprofit organization that develops youth leaders through travel and service learning projects.  She focuses on creating meaningful, relevant curriculum that cultivates youth agency and solidarity, while strengthening academic skills and knowledge of the world.
Hillary holds a Master’s Degree in Education from the Graduate School of Education at University of California, Berkeley.  She is completing a Master’s Degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from Florida International University.  Hillary also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and African American Studies from University of California, Davis.  Although she has studied Spanish and Haitian Creole, her dream is to be fluent in both, before moving on to Portuguese, French and Arabic (oh my!).  She loves traveling, running, dancing and being a mommy. Contact Ms. Walker at hwalker@realmcharterschool.org

 

Shannon Williams, Humanities/Language Arts, 9th Grade
Shannon has worked in the fields of education and youth advocacy for the last thirteen years.  She sees education as the path toward social justice.  She hopes to be for students what one of her high school teachers was for her: a catalyst.  She hopes to be a spark that helps students discover their own light.  Shannon earned a dual B.A. in English and Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley in 2002.  After college, she attended law school, earned her J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law, and has been a member of the California Bar since 2006.  She earned her teaching credential in English from San Francisco State in 2007 and has been teaching English, Advisory, and Peer Leadership for the past four years.  Shannon is also an artist.  She enjoys making jewelry, writing poetry, painting, and doing anything creative in her spare time. Contact Ms. Williams at swilliams@realmcharterschool.org

 

 

Leon Young, Math/Science, 6th Grade
Leon loves working with youth and inspiring them.  As a young student, Leon struggled in middle school but had caring and supportive teachers that never gave up on him.  In high school Leon achieved high academic success for the first time and went on to UC Berkeley where he studied Computer Science and Education. During his studies, Leon realized the importance of education as social justice and the impact teachers have on students.  Leon started his career as a software engineer, but promised to enter the teaching profession. While working as a programmer, Leon volunteered as a middle and high school mentor in Berkeley and also as an ice hockey coach in Oakland. After six year in the industry, Leon decided it was timed to teach and enrolled in the credentialing program at San Jose State University. Leon has taught both high school and middle school science. He enjoys the challenges of teaching middle school because the students are at an important and formative period of life. He believes the purpose of education is to discover how one’s passion meets the needs of the world. Leon loves drawing, working with computers, and playing ice hockey. Contact Mr. Young at lyoung@realmcharterschool.org