Gabriel was born in Northern California and raised on a commune. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a double major in Community Studies and Fine Arts, with an emphasis in Photography and Printmaking. During his junior year he studied on a kibbutz in Israel for 5 months on a Community Studies field study, photographing and writing about the experience, milking cows and studying Hebrew. Gabriel prides himself that he speaks Spanish and Hebrew, some days better than others.

He has been a photographer since high school, thanks to the help of Bill Brazill, an outstanding art teacher at Mendocino High School. He hopes to continue to inspire students in the visual arts, and especially photography. Gabriel
currently is finishing his Masters in Education at Mills College.

Besides teaching or photographing he can be found spending time with his
lovely wife, Laila, being a quasi-carpenter, playing frisbee golf, travelling, or
playing soccer.

You can view his photographs at: gabrielberent.com

Allen Boltz teaches chemistry to CAS 11th graders.

Amy Crawford has a Masters in Education from Mills College and a B.A. in Italian Language and Literature from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a major emphasis in African American Studies and a minor in Women's Studies. She spent her junior year in Bologna, Italy, learning Italian and eating well. At Berkeley High since 1997, she joined the CAS team in 1998. In her free time she enjoys time with her sons, playing softball, reading and writing. She is a Teacher Consultant with the Bay Area Writing Project, co-authored a book with Rick Ayers called Great Books for High School Kids, and is perpetually awaiting publication of the latest book by Sherman Alexie.

Phil Halpern was born and raised on the East Coast. He earned a bachelor's degree in English at Georgetown University and a Master's in English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. In 1992, he moved to the Bay Area and began his teaching career at Berkeley High. From the fall of 2001 until spring, 2005, he taught at Berkeley Alternative High School. In September, 2005, he returned to BHS to teach communications and English in the CAS program. Since 2006, he has been Lead Teacher of CAS. For the first two years as co-lead with Amy Crawford and more recently, alone. He lives in Berkeley with his beloved wife Mary Patterson and their three kids, Julian, Elias and Mara. His hobbies include cycling, travel and media production.

Leah grew up outside of Chicago and attended Kenyon College in Ohio. She is the Education Specials for CAS.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela and raised in New York City, Ingrid came to the Bay Area and CAS nine years ago. She earned her Master's from New York University and has a credential to teach English. She has also taught Spanish and Spanish-language literature, but prefers teaching English literature and writing. Her favorite book to teach is The Great Gatsby in part because of the complex (and surprising!) subtext, but also because the language used in it is a thing of beauty.

Ingrid feels her teaching is a revolutionary act, as she works to equip students with the critical thinking skills they'll need in order to think for themselves and create a just society they will want to live in.

Ingrid's vegetarian household is comprised of two young children, a spouse, an elderly parent, two kitties, and four chickens that live in Berkeley. She is enthusiastic about gardening, reading, and dancing salsa. Her favorite drink is coffee ;).

I love my job. It makes me feel like I am standing on the pulse of our planet. Each day that I enter my classroom, I have information to share and curiosity to inject. Each day I leave with new gems of wisdom, fresh perspectives on decades past, and a boost of energy that helps me wake up and do it all over again!! I came to teaching out of a desire to combine two of my passions: working with young people and the social sciences. I studied Political Science and Ethnic Studies at UC San Diego, with a year abroad in Grenoble, France at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques. I completed my Masters in Education from Mills College and applied to teach at the only school where I wanted to be: Berkeley High. Almost a decade later, I remain here in awe of the fluidity and challenges we face in education.
I was born in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the last of four girls to two brave parents escaping civil war in Beirut. In an effort to raise their children in a more peaceful world, my parents uprooted everything they knew and moved to Fullerton, CA (a suburb in Orange County) where I grew up. The only two reasons they moved there were the family connections we had and the excellent educational opportunities available to us. These are two values which remain with me in my daily life. I live in the neighborhood with my wife, also a teacher at Berkeley High, and our rapidly growing kids!! If we're not inside lesson planning, grading, reading, or cooking-then you can find us outside in nature, surrounded by the tall redwoods or overcome by the vast and expansive ocean. If not in any of those places, you can find me at a Peets Coffee in Berkeley!!
I am ever grateful for the opportunity to be in the enlightening company of our world's beautiful tomorrow.

Dana Michiko Moran has her BA from UC Berkeley, in Sociology and Political Science and her M.Ed from UCLA in Curriculum and Instruction. She teaches Government, Economics, Senior Seminar in CAS. (She also teaches SDAIE IES in the ELL Dept.) She has taught 5 years in CAS, 12 years at BHS, 7 years at Los Angeles High School (19 total) She loves helping students understand how the government and the economy function so they can see what needs to be changed and how to change it. She went to Jefferson, Franklin, King and Berkeley High, and graduated from UCB. Other than a few years at UCSB and brief stint in LA, she's thoroughly Berkeley born and raised. Her favorite activity is making popcorn and watching movies or basketball with her family. She worked with the Diversity Project for 6 years (mostly as a Lead Teacher, and one year as a Co-Director).

Molly is in her third year as CAS counselor.

Bill Pratt was born in Chicago and moved with his family to Saratoga, California (near San Jose) when he was 8. After two years at UC Berkeley, he transferred to UC Santa Cruz to complete a BA in American Studies, with an emphasis on political theory and social movements. He earned a credential and master's degree from Stanford, and in 1993 took his first teaching job at BHS. He was a co-founder of CAS in 1997.

With the exception of Economics, he has taught all of the required history courses, as well as several electives and classes for English Language Learners. In CAS, this has included American Government, Senior Seminar, U.S. History and World History. His favorite period to teach is usually the one his classes are currently studying, because he finds history endlessly fascinating and loves learning more every time he teaches a topic.

Bill has been a teacher consultant with the Bay Area Writing Project since 1998, and has worked with the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program since 1997. He is currently the BUSD BTSA Coordinator for grades 9-12.
Without CAS, Bill might not still be teaching. He loves getting to know students over multiple years and building relationships with them that extend beyond the classroom. Highlights of his CAS experiences have included leading the trip that took 75 students to Cuba in 2001, and participating in the Vietnam trip the next year.

If he's not working or spending time with his wife, Beth, and their three young kids (Jonah, Ava and Lucia), Bill is probably riding his bike. Cycling of various types--mountain biking, long tours in the U.S. and abroad, double century rides and races--has been a big part of his life since he rode from Seattle to New York City in 1987.

Dharini Rasiah has been teaching Video & Multimedia classes in CAS since
1997. She is also the Media Coordinator for Berkeley High School and, as
of this year, the BHS Jacket newspaper faculty advisor. She uses and
teaches media as a tool for social change.

Mr. Skowronski is in his rookie year as CAS biology teacher, but is not new to Berkeley HS or Intro Biology. He spent a number of years teaching Bio and Chem at Lowell HS in San Francisco before going to get his Masters in Educational Administration. In 2008-2009 he was a vice principal at Berkeley HS, supervising the math and science departments, amongst others.

He originally hails from Marblehead, MA (20 miles north of Boston). He came out to the Bay Area in 2002 to teach and has been here ever since, currently living in Oakland. When he isn't teaching, you will probably find him playing sports - biking (XC and road), XC skiing, crossfit, yoga, and soccer (he has even dabbled with the squash racket and lacrosse stick) - or in the kitchen or garden, making a big mess.

Vernon grew up in Sacramento where his father raised catfish as a hobby on an acre of land. Always being near water gave Vernon a love for both fishing and the life sciences. He went on to study life science at UC Davis and later got his teaching credential in science and had a 7 year career as a middle school science teacher.
Vernon is balancing his job as an administrator with going out on his boat every chance he can. We at CAS are happy to be working with Vernon Walton and we appreciate the many times he has busted out some ballet moves.