Spanish
maria.torron-gomez@intergenerational.school‍ ‍

Maria Torrón-Gómez graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a degree in Literature and Humanities. After moving to Miami, she completed a Master’s in Modern Languages Education from Florida International University. She is a member of the Foreign Language Teachers Association and the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, and has been a certified AP Spanish teacher and exam reader with the College Board since 2006.

Mrs. Torrón has been a teacher and mentor for over 30 years. She worked with Miami-Dade County Public Schools for over 15 years, teaching all levels of Spanish from kindergarten to high school. These teaching assignments provided a great opportunity to use her skills as a strong language teacher. Mrs. Torrón also includes her knowledge of history, literature, and the humanities in her practice.

She started and expanded an International Baccalaureate program at John A. Ferguson HS and became IB certified, later training and supervising 16 teachers in 8 different languages offered at the school. Mrs. Torrón taught and led an ESL department in Boston, MA for two years, where she also got an active certification in Spanish k-12.

She published a short, bilingual story dedicated to her late father in June 2012. She now lives in Bellingham with her husband Jose and continues her passion for teaching.

English Language Arts
austin.johnson@intergenerational.school

Austin was born and raised in Washington state and feels a strong connection to the area. He completed his BA in Literature with a minor in Anthropology before earning his teaching certificate at Western Washington University. As a language arts teacher, it is important to him to share the significance and necessity of stories in all of our lives. He is very excited to prepare his students to better understand the world around them through critical literacy. Outside of school, Austin loves to read comic books, train Pokémon, and play games at his local game store

Math
kit.catwell@intergenerational.school

Kit is excited to make math more accessible for students at WIHS. So many students are put off by math, but math is just a language like any other. She wants to help break down the barriers WIHS students are facing in mathematics and build up their understanding and confidence in themselves.

In her free time, Kit loves to work on creative writing projects, build Lego models, play video games and board games, watch anime, read, draw, swim… the list goes on! She also plays three different musical instruments: the ukulele, the banjolele, and the kalimba!

Kit is so excited to be a part of WIHS! She loves being able to work with a passionate and energetic group of educators and help positively impact the students. Kit loves the independence WIHS fosters in its students, and how it challenges them to think about problems critically and creatively to come up with novel solutions.

Art and English Language Arts
beth.elfattal@intergenerational.school

Beth El Fattal is thrilled to be joining WIHS as the elective teacher this year! She earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Western Washington University in 2019 and went on to complete her Master’s in Teaching at the secondary level in 2022.

Beth loves that this role brings together so many of her passions, including reading, writing, theater, photography, and the arts. She grew up immersed in both community and professional theater, training in a variety of dance styles, acting, and stage combat, while also exploring theater design behind the scenes. Her love of photography began early, inspired by spending time alongside her mother’s work as a professional photographer.

At the heart of Beth’s teaching is a deep commitment to her students. She is passionate about creating meaningful opportunities for student leadership and encouraging students to approach challenges with curiosity and imagination. She strives to create a classroom environment where students feel supported as they try new things, make mistakes, and reflect on their work to keep learning and improving.

Social Studies
noah.davis@intergenerational.school

Mr. Davis is a Social Studies teacher here at WIHS. He believes in challenging every student to go above and beyond, and strives to create a classroom space where every student feels a sense of belonging. He believes in the importance of truth- and pushes his students to seek evidence-based answers to all the questions life has to offer.

Mr. Davis grew up in the Panhandle of Florida and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Political Science from Florida State University. This is his 5th year teaching High School Social Studies. In that time, he has taught students all over the country- in Florida, North Carolina, and Washington. Mr. Davis has taught a wide range of Social Studies topics, including American History, World History, AP Human Geography, Personal Finance, and Economics. 

For fun, Mr. Davis spends a lot of time outdoors hiking and camping, loves reading, playing video games, playing golf, and working on his guitar skills. He lives in Bellingham with his wife and two cats, Beans and Bug.