Name: Nicolaj Imhof
Education: Master in Environmental Ed. Teaching license in Germany & Oregon.
Subjects Taught: German, Science (Forensics), Biology, general Science.
Why did I become a teacher? : Inspired during my career in the German military.
How long have I been teaching? : Since 2001
Favorite quote: “I am looking for opportunities within each day not expectations.”
Other info: I love exposing students to the real world experience, field trips, connections with SOU, and outdoor education.
Name: Kathie Zodrow
Education: UCLA, University of Arkansas, SOU. Masters Degree in Math Education
Subjects Taught: Math, Some History, and Mathematical art.
Why did I become a teacher? : Teaching makes me happy. I hope it makes my students happy too.
How long have I been teaching? : All my life (I’m almost 60) I’ve been a student that long too.
Favorite quote: Most of my favorite quotes come from song lyrics and they change a lot – many from Bob Dylan. But this one has stuck with me a long time “Black is the color of a strangled rainbow” Elvis Perkin’s song.
Name: Kim De Costa
Education: A.A Graphic Design, BFA art therapy, MA, Career Development.
Subjects Taught: Graphic Design, PowerPoint, Photoshop, Personal Finance, Strategic games, Career Development, and P.E.
Why did I become a teacher? : I became a teacher because I enjoy helping people discover the power of knowledge.
How long have I been teaching? : I’ve been teaching for 18 Years
Favorite quote: “The most powerful force in the universe is the compound interest” Albert Einstein
Other info: I am also known as Piranha in roller derby Southern Oregon Roller Girls.
Name: Michele Kirk
Education: B.S. Psychology
Subjects Taught: Educational assistant/ GED
Why did I become a teacher? : I always knew that I wanted to work with kids but it wasn’t until I finished my degree in psychology and started doing some substituting for extra money that I realized I wanted to be a teacher, not a counselor.
How long have I been teaching? : September 2010
Favorite quote: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind” Dr. Seuss
Name: Jeffrey Johnson
Education: Masters degree in Secondary Education, Art/Special Education.
Subjects taught: Reading strategies, Math.
Why did I become a teacher? : I went into teaching for two reasons, one was to karmicly pay back the
teachers that worked with me when I was struggling;
Two, because I thought that I could do a better job than some that I had.
How long have you been teaching? : I have been teaching for 21 years… Wow, that’s a long time.
Favorite Quote: Recently my favorite quote is: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my
father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man
around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much
the old man had learned in seven years. “- Mark Twain
Name: Saul Harper
Education: B.A. University of Oregon 1996. Major: Philosophy, Minor: Women's Studies
Currently at SOU in Masters Program for Social Studies, Spanish, and
E.S.O.L. (English as a Second Language)
Why did I become a teacher? : I want to become a teacher because I have faith in young people. I
want to learn as much as I can from them.
How long have I been teaching? : I've been working in public schools since 2001.
Favorite quotes: "Our survival as a species depends on our ability to recognize that
our well-being and the well-being of others are, in fact, one and the same thing."
-Marshall Rosenberg
"There was a man who sat each day looking out through a narrow vertical opening where a single board had been removed from a tall wooden fence. Each day a wild ass of the desert passed outside the fence and across the narrow opening--first the nose, then the head, the forelegs, the long brown back, the hind legs, and lastly the tail. One day, the man leaped to his feet with the light of discovery in his eyes and he shouted for all who could hear him: "It is obvious! The nose causes the tail!"
-Frank Herbert: from Stories of the Hidden Wisdom, the Oral History of Rakis
Name: Ellen Marks
Education: B A in literature, UC Santa Cruz,
Subjects Taught: Publications, senior project, and GED.
Why did I become a teacher? : I enjoy learning and helping students learn.
How long have I been teaching? : 24 years
Favorite Quotes: While there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal
element I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
Eugene Debs
"Fate gives all of us three teachers, three friends, three enemies,
and three great loves in our lives. But these twelve are always
disguised, and we can never know which one is which until we’ve loved
them, left them, or fought them."
— Gregory David Roberts (Shantaram)
Name: Michael Warner
Education: BS from Portland State University
Subjects taught: Language Arts and Social Studies
Why did you become a teacher?: Originally because I wanted to coach, but, over time, I became fascinated with the challenge of developing curriculum and working with students for whom school was not easy. I found I enjoyed their company and the variety that each day brought. I loved watching students make "the connection" and become increasingly independent in their learning. While I always knew I wanted to teach something, I now can't imagine what else I would have done, and I certainly never imagined I'd be part of a team running a public charter school that I helped build from nothing.
How long have you been teaching?: 29 years
Favorite quote: "Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time." Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.
Name: E. Allison Gilligan
Education: BS in Communication / Convergent Media, Southern Oregon University
Subjects Taught: Technology, Video Production, Health
Why did I become a teacher? : I took a year off from my job as a television producer to teach at Lithia Springs School and was coaxed into starting a charter school with Mike and Kathie.
How long have I been teaching? : Since 1998
Favorite quote: “Yes, yes… without the Oops.” David Levinson, Independence Day
Other info: Occasionally sneaks back to moonlight in the television industry.