Faculty & Staff
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Jay Anderson - Video Arts
Jay Anderson is teaching all levels of AQ Video Arts and brings a wealth of teaching and video experience to the position. He began his education in video/film right after high school at SRJC with the one and only Jim Helmer, our just-retired AQ Video teacher! He then continued his education at San Francisco State University in Filmmaking and upon graduation, pursued a career in video production working at length for Sonoma Video Productions, one of the earliest premiere video production companies in the area. Anderson later taught at the elementary and middle school levels in Forestville schools, introducing several popular courses, including “Maker”, Alternative Physical Education and Video Production, as well as teaching Social Studies. Anderson is an avid surfer and his wife, Wendy Anderson, is also involved in the Arts, teaching Visual Art at Slater Middle School. Mr. Anderson is thrilled to be teaching at ArtQuest and his energetic approach to learning, his warmth and community orientation seem a perfect fit for AQ Video Arts! |
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Jereme Anglin, AQ Theatre Arts, Intermediate, Advanced
Biographical Information Pending |
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Kira Bombace - Music
Mrs. Kira Bombace was a student at Santa Rosa High School when the ArtQuest program began! Inspired by her high school choral experience with long-time SRHS director Dan Earl, she continued her musical pursuits at Santa Rosa Junior College with Dr. Curtis Sprenger, and then at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ, where she majored in Choral Music Education under the direction of Drs. Edith A. Copley and Alan J. Rieck. She began her teaching career here in Santa Rosa, at Rincon Valley Middle School, where she taught 7th-8th grade performing arts classes for one year with Jennifer Brown, another Santa Rosa High alumnus! Before taking the reins of the Choral Program at SRHS, she taught choir, band and guitar at Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park. Mrs. Bombace currently directs four outstanding SRHS choral ensembles: ACappella, Las Choralistas, Concert Choir, and Chamber Singers. Over the past 30 or so years, these choirs have received many awards from the Western Division of the American Choral Directors’ Association (ACDA) and the California Music Educators’ Association (CMEA). The Concert Choir has also performed multiple times locally with the Santa Rosa Symphony, and last year toured to Mexico City, Taxco… and Disneyland (yes, in the same week!). |
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Regina Brennan - World History
Regina Brennan received her MA in History with a concentration in Modern European History at Sonoma State University and her BA with a concentration in Modern European and Latin American History at California State University, Long Beach. She has taught the Social Sciences in California since 1991 and during the 1992-1993 school year, she was awarded Teacher of the Year at George Washington Middle School in Long Beach. She joined Santa Rosa City School District in 1994 and is currently teaching World History at Santa Rosa High School. |
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Danielle Cain, AQ Theatre Arts, Beginning
Danielle Cain has been a working theatre artist in the North Bay for over 20 years. She is on the theatre faculties at Sonoma State University and Napa Valley College, and works as a voice, text and dialect coach. She's coached for productions at SSU, Shakespeare Napa Valley, Sebastopol Shakespeare Festival, NVC, Actors Theatre and 6th Street Playhouse. Danielle has done private speech, text analysis and audition coaching since graduating from college, and was an Associate Artistic Director at Actors Theatre and Managing/Casting Director at 6th Street Playhouse. As an actor, favorite shows include Angels in America, Arcadia, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Skylight, The Real Thing, Enchanted April, Boston Marriage, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest and most recently Top Girls at Shotgun Players. She trained at the British American Drama Academy, American Conservatory Theatre and received her BFA in acting from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Danielle recently led a Shakespeare in London tour for SSU theatre students. |
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Stacey Candela, AQ Digital Arts, Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced
Biographic information coming soon |
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Brooke Delello - Visual Fine Arts
Biographical Information Pending |
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Casey Elsa - English Language Arts
Biographical Information Coming Soon |
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Hollis Fennen - English Language Arts
Hollis Fennen has been teaching English Language Arts for nine years. She teaches sophomore ArtQuest and Honors English. For the past three years, she and fellow English instructor Darlene Pullen have edited the ArtQuest Anthology, a published collection of student artwork and poetry, and coordinated the ArtQuest Poetry Slam. She graduated with Honors from Pacific Union College and received her teaching credential from Sonoma State University. In addition to teaching, Hollis is a professional harpist and enjoys playing for events in the North Bay. She lives with her husband and two sons in the Napa Valley. |
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Jonathan Gregory- English Language Arts
Jonathan Gregory teaches AQ English classes. He received his Master of Arts in English Literature from San Francisco State University, his Juris Doctor from UCLA School of Law (where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Entertainment Law Review), his English teaching credential from Sonoma State University, and his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (with high distinction) from Indiana University-Bloomington, with minors in Psychology and Economics. Because of his avid interest in the Arts, Mr. Gregory interned at California Lawyers for the Arts in Santa Monica during law school. Before becoming an English teacher, Jonathan worked for twelve years as a civil litigation attorney in San Francisco and Santa Rosa. He is an enthusiastic songwriter, singer and guitarist with recording and (local) performing experience. He has also been involved in the visual arts since very young and now enjoys painting (oils and acrylics), reading and writing about art, and studying art law. Relatively new to teaching, Mr. Gregory describes himself as a “recovering attorney” and said at his first AQ meeting, “I feel like I have found my place here at ArtQuest.” |
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Joe McDivitt - Visual Fine Arts
Biographic information coming soon |
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Jerie Parks - Program Assistant
Jerie Parks is an alumnus of Oregon State University. She is an accomplished pianist, lyricist, vocalist and published author. Her love for the arts, prior experience as a public relations director and pure enjoyment of the educational environment with creative minds brought her to ArtQuest. She has traveled the world and makes every effort to speak intelligible French and Norwegian. Jerie lives in Sonoma County with her two children. |
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Annie Samuels - English
Annie Samuels has been teaching English Language Arts at Santa Rosa High School for thirty two years. After graduating from SRHS in 1974, she attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where she received her BA. in Liberal Arts, specializing in Performing Arts. She then served for two and a half years in The United States Peace Corps as a math teacher in The Kingdom of Swaziland. After returning to California, she completed the English waiver program at Sonoma State University to obtain her teaching credential. Annie currently teaches 11th and 12th grade ArtQuest English and is especially known for reading aloud to her students daily and maintaining an extensive classroom library of contemporary literature. |
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Jan Sofie - Director of ArtQuest/Visual Fine Arts
Degrees: Sonoma State University—BA in Studio Art with a Minor in Art History, Single Subject Teaching Credential in Visual Arts. Supplementary Credentials: Dance and Literature, Administrative Credential. Currently completing Masters in Educational Leadership with an emphasis on Arts Education. Studied Journalism and Creative Writing at Michigan State University and Humanities at University of London, England with graduate work at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.
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Tanya Tolmasoff - Dance
Tanya Tolmasoff teaches AQ Beginning Dance. She received her Bachelor of Arts from California Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo, in Theatre Arts with Dance and Costume Design emphases. Her MFA, with Honors Distinction, was from the University of London, in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy – Performing Arts. She taught dance in the United Kingdom at Sadler’s Wells and was a coordinator, choreography assistant and performer in BIG DANCE and a leader for BIG Street Dance 2012 on Trafalger Square in London. Tolmasoff has choreographed and performed for Interweave Dance Theatre in Boulder, Colorado and toured California and Russia as a soloist in the original cast of Deyo Dances. She currently teaches modern and other dance at Santa Rosa Junior College and is the co-founder and artistic director of the professional contemporary dance company “UPside Dance” in Healdsburg. She teaches classes at UPside and also choreographs and co-directs the company’s performances. |
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Mark Wardlaw - Instrumental Music
Mark Wardlaw has performed as a clarinetist in the Santa Rosa Symphony since 1984. He also is active as a chamber musician, jazz saxophonist, and flutist and has taught at Sonoma State University and Santa Rosa Junior College. His education includes a Master of Music Degree in clarinet performance and literature from the University of Washington in Seattle and private clarinet study with clarinetist David Glazer in New York City. He has performed with musicians and entertainers such as Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Andre Watts, Jeffrey Kahane, The Turtle Island String Quartet, Fred Hersch, Judy Collins, David Benoit, the rock group Yes, Mel Torme, Steve Allen, Joan Rivers, Olivia Newton John, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Lou Christie. He is the Director of Instrumental Music in the ArtQuest Program at Santa Rosa High School where his award-winning ensembles have received great acclaim in performances throughout the U.S. and British Columbia. His long tenure at SRHS has enabled him to postpone getting a real job. |
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Megan Whyte - English Language Arts
Biographical Information Coming Soon |
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Nzinga Woods - Dance
Nzinga Woods is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, performer, and explorer of movement and embodied knowledge. Nzinga's dance and performance training includes: jazz, modern, Dunham, Afro-Cuban, hip hop, and Afro-Haitian dance, as well as multimedia, theatre and somatic techniques. A native of Sacramento, she has danced with and choreographed for many dance companies and organizations in Northern California. She has traveled around the world from Caribbean, Europe and Asia dancing and also working with school aged youth. Nzinga received her B.A. and M.A. at CSU Sacramento, and completed her M.F.A. in Performance and Choreography at Mills College. She has performed in the works of Ronald K Brown, Sonya Delwaide, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Nicholas Leichter, Brenda Way, Jacinta Vlach, Yvonne Rainer, Linda Goodrich, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Halifu Osumare and Keith Washington. In addition to performance and choreography, Nzinga is also passionate about youth empowerment through the arts and remains an active educator in her community. |
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