Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

A:  I grew up in Redwood City, Bay Area peninsula, and I’ve taught and kind of worked in a few different areas. I was living in the Central Valley and Merced for 10 years, and then back to the Bay Area for about seven. And now the last five up here in Placer County. 

Q: What made you want to work at Granite Bay?

A:  So I was teaching and head football coaching at Oakmont, and I decided to retire from head coaching after 15 years. And Coach Cattolico is a good friend of mine here, and they had an opening so it was an easy transition.

Q: What are you bringing to the football team this year?

A: I mean, I’ve got 30 years of experience, and I had a lot of success on my own as a head football coach and as an assistant. I coached in some pretty good programs. I’m old enough that I coached against Coach Cattolico’s dad actually, who’s now my co- worker so that’s kind of neat. So I jump in and help out where I can.

Q: What do you like most about coaching?

A: The day to day interactions with the students and, especially with the younger kids, being able to help them kind of navigate life a little bit, figure things out. 

Q: What do you like most about Granite Bay so far?

A: The students are really courteous and friendly. I’ve worked in lots of different places, and some places are not always that way. And so far, the staff and the students have been really inviting and welcoming.

Q: Is there anything else you would like students to know?

A: I’m a first generation American, so, you know, we have a lot of kids that are here from kind of different parts of the world. I had to learn English kind of as I went along. So I have a lot of empathy for their situation.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

A: I am a mom of three kids, ages 11 to 15. This is my community. I was working part time with elderly before this job, and now I’m here working with all the students, and it’s been about five months.

Q: Do you like it so far?

A: I absolutely love it. I love the energy. Every day is different. There’s some days that are slow, some days that are busy, and I seem to be learning something new every single day. 

Is there anything specific that you like about Granite Bay?

A: That’s really hard to say, maybe the fact that every day is different, and there’s always a little bit of a challenge every day.

Q: Is there any reason you chose to work in athletics?

A: I really love sports, and there’s some sports I feel like I know well, and others I don’t, and I want to learn about all of them, and I love the people, and I love like the teenagers journey with sports or what their experience is, and everyone seems to have a different experience and different reasons why they love it. And I love being a part of that. 

Q: Do you have a favorite sport to watch or be involved in?

A: I love football because I love the energy of the people, and I love fall season. But I love baseball because I love the game of baseball and how it all works. I also have a special love for the swim team because my kids did swim team when they were younger for a really long time. So I like them all. 

Q: What made you want to come to Granite Bay specifically?

A: Well, it is close to home. I have a kid who goes here. I know a lot of people in the community and a lot of people here, but then there’s also so many people I don’t know. So the fact that it’s close to home, makes it nice and closer to the heart a little.

Q: Is there anything else students should know about you?

A:  I mean, I feel like I’m a friendly person and I feel like if any of the students have questions about the athletics or in general, they can always come to me. And if I don’t know the answer I will try to help them find the answer. And I hope that I could just be one of the friendly faces in the office, and part of their four year journey.

Q: Can you tell me a little about yourself?

A: Chris Bonnie, and I teach all CCIM 2 right now, and I teach CCIM 1, one class next semester.

Q: Why did you decide to teach math? 

A: Math is a very, very difficult subject, and it was difficult for me. I wanted to make the subject easier for students, because I know they’re always like,’ I hate math’, and I want to make it easier. I want to present it in a way where they find it easy and they build confidence, confidence in themselves, where they can understand math and grow and learn and find it actually pretty easy. 

Q: What’s your favorite part about teaching math?

A: Building their confidence. It’s like, if they get an F in CCIM1, and then they retake it, and they get an A. And let’s say they both have me, they failed my class, and they take me again. They got an A. It’s the growth there. It’s them to see that like, ‘You know what? I understand it now.’ I changed my mistakes. I learned from my mistakes last time I grew from it. It’s the growing, it’s the learning. That’s what I like.

Q: Is there a unit in particular that you like to teach?

A: This is my first year teaching [here], since I was at a Heritage High School [for] 15 years, so I don’t know. I’m not going to go off on CCIM because I don’t know. I really like teaching trigonometry, which is in geometry.

Q: In your free time, do you have any hobbies or interests that you like to do outside of school?

A: Running sports, escape rooms, hanging with friends, traveling, being active, listening to music, rapping, creating raps.

Q: How do you like the Granite Bay environment and campus so far? 

A: Since I graduated from here in 2005, I like the vibe. I’ve always liked the vibe, and that’s why I came back. I do like the kids, the co-workers, the environment. Since I graduated from here, I loved it and now I’m back.