New educators enter mid-year
March 20, 2018
Having said farewell to staff members Anastasia Glasheen, Mary Gaxiola and Brianna Woods, Diamond Bar High School welcomed new teachers into the Brahma family. The new staff includes choir teacher Vincent O’Connell, economics teacher Melissa Wilson and English teacher Ces’Ari Delmuro.
O’Connell is joining the DBHS staff to take over the choir department in place of Glasheen. Prior to coming to DBHS, he was an assistant director at Los Alamitos High School and at Oak Middle School, where he directed dance rehearsals, singing rehearsals and conducted during show choir competitions.
“I’m looking forward to growing our program and getting more students involved in singing and dancing because it is incredibly fun,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in music education. He came to DBHS due to its solid show choir foundation.
“When I was in high school, I actually hosted Diamond Bar in show choir competitions, so I always loved the program, and I’m very happy to be here,” O’Connell said.
With the recent departure of Gaxiola, DBHS class of 2010 alumna Wilson has stepped in as the new AP economics teacher. Before teaching at DBHS, Wilson taught human geography, world history, and government economics at Lutheran High School.
She said that biggest difference between DBHS and Lutheran is that the classes were smaller at her previous school, with her smallest class having only seven students, while the classes at DBHS are much larger.
“I definitely like it better here because I am able to do more group work here especially with my government class,” Wilson said.
Wilson graduated from Concordia University Irvine with a B.A. in history and political thought and with a minor in classical languages before going on to UCLA for a year to get her post baccalaureate degree in classical languages.
Although she hopes to teach about ancient Greece and Rome in the future, she stated that she wants to remain a teacher in the high school environment for the time being.
“[DBHS teachers] impacted me in wanting to become a teacher and pursuing history, so to come back and do that for other students is definitely what I wanted to do,” Wilson said.
Delmuro is joining the staff as Woods’ replacement and is currently teaching English I, English III and ELD. Delmuro obtained her undergraduate degree at UCI, her masters at Arizona State University and is currently at UCLA for her doctorate in educational leadership.
Delmuro previously taught seventh grade science in Arizona. Later, after moving to Los Angeles, Delmuro was an administrator for one year at Camino Nuevo Charter Academy and an English teacher for three years, teaching 6th and 7th grade at Magnolia Science Academy-8 in Bell.
“I’m looking forward to not only being able to do awesome things in the classroom, but being able to share experiences outside of the classroom,” Delmuro said.
She stated that the reason she switched from teaching middle school to high school was because she wanted to challenge herself.
“The change that I wish to see in the world, I felt that I could accomplish that through teaching,” Delmuro said.
