Westridge Welcomes New Faculty Members

Most people might not know that Westridge’s new Human Development teacher and Strength and Conditioning Coach, Katie Dockter, is also a passionate powerlifter. She strength trains five times a week, runs twice, and also does yoga. Dockter explained how lifting not only impacts her physical strength but also her mental strength. “The thing that really surprised me about lifting weights was how m...

Last January, Autumn Rogers joined Westridge as a part-time robotics teacher, but this year she began teaching both Upper School robotics and computer science full time. “I never wrote a line of code until college,” she admitted. In fact, Ms. Rogers never planned on going into computer science at all. She started college at the University of Utah as a technical theatre major, where she p...

Jennifer Dague, Westridge’s new Administrative Assistant for Enrollment Management and Student Outcomes and a mother to three is no stranger to juggling a busy schedule.   “I have three kids attending three different schools," she explained--one of whom is a junior at Westridge. "It makes parenting commitments grow exponentially.” Ms. Dague helps manage each of her children’s parent portals, schedule...

Max Duncan sits at the table, anticipation on his face. He takes a breath and focuses, blocking out the shouts from students during lunchtime. He then begins to tell me about his childhood growing up in Berlin, Germany. Duncan grew up the oldest of seven children. “I was like the third parent,” he recalled. While he was growing up, his mother made sure he and his siblings were prepared to take on...

Mr. James Evans is perfectly happy to be known as “That British Guy” on campus. Just don’t call him “That English Guy”—despite his partially American ancestry and upper-crust accent, he identifies as Welsh and proudly displays the nation’s dragon-adorned flag on his office wall. Mainly, though, he’s happy just to be on campus after the COVID shutdown, pursuing his “dream job”...

Vicki Trinh joins Westridge as the new school nurse this fall. She happens to join in an unusual time, where the safety of students and faculty is of utmost importance. Trinh welcomed me into her office on an early Monday morning. She wore a black jacket, blue scrubs, a mask, and clear glasses. Her warm personality immediately struck me, and I instantly felt comfortable engaging in a conversation with...

“I have always been a strong believer in girls’ education and rights. When there was a math opening at Westridge, I thought, oh yeah!” With sparkling clear eyes, Ms. Linton told the story of transitioning from a successful engineer to teaching math at Westridge. Before moving to California, Ms. Linton worked on rapid prototyping systems or 3D printing for DuPont, a company that pursues innovative ...

Singing Mulan’s I’ll Make a Man Out of You, DNA testing his dog, George, and playing ultimate frisbee, Mr. Perahya, or Mr. P., brings his wide array of hobbies and talents to Westridge as the new Middle and Upper School Rocketry and Upper School Math teacher. Mr. P. didn’t always plan on being a teacher. Originally, he was studying to get a PhD in physics at the University of Virginia because he enjoyed ...