From attending a SRVUSD school in the past to graduating from college to finally working at Dougherty Valley High School, many DV staff members attended nearby schools like Monte Vista High School, Cal High School, San Ramon Valley High School or Dougherty Valley High School in their youth. Their experiences at SRVUSD schools have helped them understand what it would be like to be in their students’ shoes.
Kelsey Wengel
Kelsey Wengel, one of DV’s art teachers, attended Monte Vista High School in the past, graduating in 2002. She went on to attend Las Positas College, transferring to UC Santa Barbara afterwards, and finally getting her teaching credentials at Sonoma State University. Wengel decided to come back to the San Ramon area because her parents still live around here.
“I wanted to settle down close to my mom and dad, as they were getting older and I knew that I would need to be near them. The timing was also perfect and [DV] was a brand new school [that needed teachers] so it was a great opportunity to get hired,” Wengel explained.
After deciding to work at DV as an art teacher, Wengel knew what she wanted to create for students.
“I wanted to recreate a space that I knew would be good and healthy [for students],” Wengel said.
Multiple people have inspired Wengel to pursue a career in education.
“I think that my parents have inspired me a lot. My dad always kind of pushed us. And then my elementary school teachers gave me the comfort of being in a classroom and around a safe, nurturing person,” she recalled.
She mentioned how her two high school art teachers also inspired her.
“I loved my high school art teachers both, and [they] were both pretty phenomenal. But also, you can be uninspired in the same way when you are around someone that is so awful, where you wish [you] had a better teacher. It lights your fire in that kind of inspiring way, because you know what you should have gotten and what you deserve and what students deserve.”
Rather then focusing on the future or the past, Wengel suggests to students to “pay attention to the shifting priorities because things are changing really fast. As a new teacher, I felt like I was in such a tumultuous time, but it’s no more tumultuous than it is now.”
Kasey Addiego
Kasey Addiego, the women’s soccer team coach and another freshman PE teacher was part of California High School’s class of 2008. Addiego attended college at Sonoma State University and came to DV in 2014.
“When I graduated with my credentials, I moved back home because I didn’t have a job yet, and then I saw that this job had been posted, [so I applied]. I still live here now, so getting to teach in my hometown and still be close to family was a big reason for staying in the area,” Addiego said.
When asked what changes had happened since Addiego was a student, he explains how Dougherty Valley was still being built during his high school years.
“My senior year was Dougherty’s first year open, and when I was growing up, [the town] was just what I call Old San Ramon and new construction was happening. When I went away to college and came back, it had changed so much because of the amount of houses [built] and people who had then come to this area,” Addiego mentioned.
Another major change was dances such as prom and homecoming. During Addiego’s high school years, prom was simply just a dance where they had snacks.
“Now, you are at California Academy of Sciences, and you have all these activities you can go do, so it is more of a full event now than just a dance,” he explained.
Addiego added that the students at DV are different from his Cal High classmates in the 2000s.
“I would say with this population, you have to approach teaching differently. It’s more about getting [the students] to enjoy physical activity versus pushing to try and have big tournaments and competitions,” he said.
Addiego was inspired by his grandfather, who was a PE teacher and coach at various schools including Galileo High School in San Francisco, City College of San Francisco and others.
“Once I started to go down [the teacher path], my grandfather and I actually got closer, and I got a lot of info and feedback,” he said.
Addiego shares a piece of advice for any students who might want to work at DV in the future.
“Figure out why you want to work in the school district. Because in general, teaching has changed and is continuing to change,” he said. “If you’re in it for the right reasons, and you can stay to that, and remember them [then you should become a teacher here].”
Melanie Grossheider
Melanie Grossheider, one of DV’s AP Psychology teachers, graduated from San Ramon Valley High School in 1999 and attended UC Santa Barbara. She started teaching at DV in 2009.
Feeling lucky to have been given supplemental opportunities in high school like taking a woodshop class and living skills class, Grossheider explains how she had a positive experience attending SRV as it prepared her well academically.
“When I went to UC Santa Barbara, honestly, I thought that was easier than San Ramon High had been, and I was not an all AP student, I picked and chose a couple favorite courses to take as an AP class, but otherwise I took the on-level classes and I felt very well prepared for UC Santa Barbara. So I think I’ve always recognized that my academic preparation was really good,” Grossheider said.
Grossheider came to DV because there was an opportunity to teach psychology, as not many schools have psychology or several periods of the subject. However, this was not the only reason that she stayed.
“I have stayed because I like the student body. I really feel like it’s a supportive place, it’s a place that allows its students a lot of different opportunities to excel,” Grossheider said.
Since Grossheider was a student in 1999, a lot has changed, from the school district itself to the students. She mentions how grade inflation occurred and the number of AP programs in the school district have increased. Grossheider also tells us how the competitiveness between students has arisen as a result.
“I just think that the college atmosphere and students [themselves have] become more competitive and as a result. It seems like those academic measures of success [like summer internships and outside tutoring programs] have become more important and are more heavily emphasized then when I went to school [at SRV],” she commented.
Grossheider added that rather than taking the AP test like most students do these days, over half the students in her AP Psychology class back then chose not to.
However, while Grossheider noted an academic shift, she mentioned that events and traditions have stayed similar since her time as a student.
“I would say homecoming week [is still] a big deal. [Back then, we also had] a big theme for homecoming and a dance as well as a rally and a football game. [We also had] dress-up days associated with the individual themes that different classes choose that were related to the big theme,” she described.
Yet, some aspects of these events have evolved as well. For instance, nowadays, each DV class decorates a building for Homecoming, but this wasn’t the case in Grossheider’s youth.
“We used to always do a parade and so each class would decorate a float and then they would get driven around the track on the football field. The homecoming court would then be in convertibles, waving, and then you could kind of follow your float around the track and cheer,” Grossheider recalled.
Though the place has changed since attending the school district, Grossheider believes that her experience working at DV so far has also been positive. She appreciates her students and loves how her students’ always have a positive attitude, looking forward to how students expect to like their teachers.
“It is lovely because that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If students expect to dislike their teachers then that can create antagonism that makes it less pleasant to be a teacher overall,” Grossheider said.
Lauren Nakaso
Lauren Nakaso, DV’s head cross country coach and one of the freshman PE teachers, was a SRVUSD alumnus from the class of 2012. Nakaso attended Dougherty Valley High School and afterwards University of the Pacific for her undergraduate and masters program. She taught at Windemere Ranch Middle School for a bit, but later moved to DV to start teaching freshman in 2020.
The reason Nakaso came back to DV is because of the supportive parents, athletes and students.
“I think having that support is huge, [because for most] of my student teaching [it was really tough and I did not have much of it]. I think it really makes a difference when you have good kids and parents,” Nakaso said.
After deciding that DV was the right place to teach, Nakaso knew that she wanted to teach PE for several reasons.
“I loved my middle school PE teacher, Mrs. Miller. She used to be a teacher here as well. And I don’t know if it was her specifically, but I just loved PE itself as a whole. I guess that may be her, because I had her for middle school and high school PE, but I [also] just loved the class itself,” she said.
Since Nakaso was a student, DV has undergone many changes. For example, unlike Dougherty’s current large class sizes, Nakaso’s was small, with only 300 students graduating in the class of 2012. Now, Nakaso recalls other major structural differences when she was attending DVHS.
“When I [was at DV], it was a brand new school, so everyone knew everybody. I don’t even think the 4000 building was in use before [and none of the] portables were there either,” Nakaso explained.
Another major change that the school had gone through was DV’s school spirit, which has grown since Nakaso was a kid.
“We weren’t very good at football,” Nakaso remembered. “I always went to events [like] Friday night football. But we didn’t really have a student section, only because we only had freshmen, sophomores and maybe juniors [playing on the field].”
Nakaso contrasted this experience with the current state of DV sports.
“I think the school spirit and atmosphere was just starting, but now that I look at it, the school spirit [has grown a lot]. I mean our teams are in the championships for every sport like basketball, soccer, [and others]. I think Dougherty Valley has really made a name for itself,” Nakaso said.
Though everyone’s high school experiences vary, Nakaso shares one piece of advice for students.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff. It may sometimes feel like the end of the world with breakups [and fluctuating friendships]. But, a lot changes when you go to college, so just enjoy highschool,” she recommended.
