James Alvarado (Latin teacher)

With ten years of teaching experience, Alvarado is warmly welcomed into the Warrior family. In high school, he was the only non-Asian member of the badminton team and bowled semi-professionally in college.  

Q: Where did you teach before coming to Woodbridge?

A: I was at JSerra Catholic High for five years. Before that, I was at Cornelia Connelley High in Anaheim for five years.

Q: What did you major in?

A: Double major in Classics and Graphic Design. Master’s in ancient history.

Q: Why teaching?

A: I think I had great teachers growing up and good professors, and they inspired me to be a teacher and originally I wanted to teach college, but I after I finished my master’s I was going to take a break before I got a Ph.D and I started teaching high school. I loved it! I like working with high school aged kids and I enjoy the camaraderie and sharing Roman culture with them because I like getting the reactions out of them. It’s just rewarding to teach something that is unconventional in a way.

Q: Why do you like Latin?

A: I actually took four years of Latin in high school. I actually didn’t like it and I didn’t get it. And then in college, I had really great professors who helped me out and they motivated me.

Q: What do you like about Woodbridge so far?

A: I think the kids and the class are very high level and they want to do the work. They want more work than I give them and they always ask great questions.

Q: Fun facts?

A: In high school, I was the only non-Asian member of the badminton team. I also used to bowl semi-professionally. I like weird sports.

Nuvia Melendrez (Spanish teacher)

Spanish teacher Melendrez is teaching her first year of high school students after teaching at South Lake Middle School last year. Before she became a teacher, she worked in a hair salon.

Q: What subject did you major in?

A: I majored in Spanish literature.

Q: Where else have you taught?

I taught last year at South Lake Middle School and this is my first year teaching high school

A: How do you like high school compared to middle school?

I like it. It’s different. I liked both of them. It’s a little bit different, but still both fun.

Q: Why do like Spanish?

A: I am a native speaker of Spanish. I grew up bilingual and I like the fact that I had this whole other world I knew about and a lot of the other kids at my school didn’t know. So I wanted to share that with other students and expose them to some other world that no one else gets to really see.

Q: What do you like about Woodbridge so far?

A: I like that everybody is nice, and I like everything about it. It has a nice campus and I have a brand new classroom. Everybody is also very helpful to new teachers.

Q: Why do you like teaching?

A: I like to share and I feel like [teaching] is more like sharing a skill that I can teach them or show them. It’s 

a skill they can apply to anything.

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

A: I like to go hiking. I have a big family, so I like to spend time with my family and I like sleeping. If I have nothing else to do, I sleep. I watch a lot of Spanish soap operas, I binge watch soap operas.

Q: Any fun facts?

A: I used to do hair before I was a teacher. I worked in a hair salon for about seven years.