Lynbrook welcomes six new staff members for the 2021-22 school year, and they are prepared to kickstart a new school year after remote learning during the 2020-21 school year. Ranging from History to Chinese, their individual passions have all brought them to Lynbrook. Teachers are enjoying learning about their students and are excited to be a part of the Viking community.

Steven Hsu, History

History teacher Steven Hsu attended Cupertino High School and returned to FUHSD to teach. He studied both modern and historic Chinese history and culture in college with an emphasis on international relations. Hsu believes historical thinking skills are very important and can be applied to student lives, but he doesn’t want to impose an attachment to history on the students. 

Hsu was inspired by his uncle, who had a huge drive and passion to have a career in something he loved: pottery.

Regretting not participating in many extracurricular activities during high school, Hsu is trying to be more involved at Lynbrook to connect with students outside the classroom; he currently advises one club. Some of Hsu’s hobbies include rock climbing, playing video games and reading. Additionally, he is caring for his fiancé’s 16-year-old dog, Cutos. 

“The reflection it takes to forgive, move on, and in spite of hardships, continue persevering, was hopeful for me,” Hsu said.

Rather than overwhelming his students with assignments, he only assigns homework that is important to their learning so they can relax and explore their own passions. 

Ligia Salcedo, Spanish

Growing up in Mexico City, Spanish teacher Ligia Salcedo’s passion for teaching was sparked after she realized her love for kids and decided to go into the education field.  When she moved to the U.S. without a green card, she volunteered to help students in various schools with math and Spanish. After earning a degree at San Jose State, Salcedo contemplated for a while on what she wanted to teach between Physics, math and Spanish, but she finally settled on Spanish because she wanted to share a part of her culture with others. 

“Something that is important is learning about different cultures. It is so amazing and interesting to learn about different parts of the world,” Salcedo said.

She feels it is important that students take time to learn about different cultures, and she is also trying to learn many different languages and cultures. She worked as a teacher for eight years prior to Lynbrook.

“I just love teaching,” Salcedo said. “If I get the opportunity to teach toddlers, I will. If I get the opportunity to teach adults, I will. I like teaching high schoolers because they have some self control. They have a basic understanding of the world and have interesting opinions and views on what I ask them.” 

She is currently an adviser for Neuroscience Club on campus and is excited to be a part of the Viking community. Apart from teaching, Salcedo dances and does taekwondo with her daughter. She hopes to immerse her students in learning and help them feel a sense of community and belonging in her classroom.

“Absorb as much knowledge as you can,” Salcedo said, as high school is where she learned much of what has shaped her.

Mei Zhou, Chinese

Chinese teacher Mei Zhou grew up in Beijing and moved to the U.S. about eighteen years ago for work. Following her daughter’s birth, she realized how much creativity could be put into education, inspiring her to become a teacher. 

During middle and high school, she excelled in Chinese and language arts. She earned a single subject credential in Mandarin Chinese, reviewing Chinese literature and Chinese history at San Jose State University. 

“Studying this just reignited that passion for Chinese culture,” Zhou said. 

Zhou taught for three years before joining Lynbrook. She looks forward to becoming an adviser of the Chinese National Honor Society in the coming years. Her interests outside of teaching include tennis, which she plays every Friday with her friends at the Cupertino Sports Center. 

Despite math not being one of her strong subjects in school, Zhou incorporates some methods her high school math teacher used. Zhou’s teacher encouraged her to never give up, and Zhou tells her students to do the same. Zhou considers herself a successful teacher if she and her students create a safe community and are able to share their thoughts in Chinese. 

“Be flexible because it is really important to be able to bounce back and adapt yourself. We have to live our lives to the fullest,” Zhou said.

Daniel Bulone, English

During the 2021-22 school year, Bulone will be teaching 10th grade World Literature and 11th grade U.S. Literature. Prior to teaching at Lynbrook, Bulone had many other teaching experiences. Bulone’s teaching career began in 2008 when he taught at a tutoring center at his college, Chapman University, for four years. Later, Bulone taught history and science at an outdoor science camp. Most recently, Bulone taught at a middle school for four years. He has learned a lot so far from his teaching career, but he mainly hopes to implement knowledge from what he learned in his masters degree program at Chapman University. Bulone completed his masters in Creative Writing and he is excited to use the skills he learned to help and educate his students.

“No matter where a student is, they can always grow, they can always do things they couldn’t do before,” Bulone said.

Growing up in Orange County, Bulone is new to the Bay Area, having only lived here for four years. Bulone chose Lynbrook due to its reputation and its welcoming staff. Now, as a part of the staff, he is excited to immerse himself in high school culture such as spirit weeks, rallies and Homecoming. He is especially excited to see how these events will play out this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Bulone’s passion for teaching was sparked during his tutoring job at Chapman University. Watching the students struggle and learn, ultimately developing confidence and growing as students, inspired Bulone to continue teaching.

“I want to help students grow as readers and writers,” Bulone said.

Bulone’s hobbies include hiking and trying out new restaurants. He realized that the Bay Area is the perfect place to discover new restaurants because one can find different cuisines with a variety of cultures across the street from each other.

“I love that I can be a food tourist in my own city,” Bulone said.

One of his past hobbies was playing the trombone, as he was a part of his middle school and high school band. Bulone also enjoys spending time with his wife, a kindergarten teacher, as they share a similar interest in teaching. Bulone says his wife is his inspiration because she conquered the difficulty of teaching kindergarteners over Zoom last year through creating an amazing program and never giving up on her students.

Anna Kirsch, Language Arts

Anna Kirsch begins her eighth year of teaching at Lynbrook during the 2021-22 school year. Initially torn between teaching history or English, Kirsch eventually decided on teaching 10th grade World Literature.

“I chose English because it would be fun to teach students the meaning behind different literature,” Kirsch said. 

Although Kirsch felt that becoming a teacher was generationally bound to happen because both her mom and grandmother were teachers, Kirsch’s passion for teaching only started after college.  Kirsch studied law for a short period of time at UC Santa Cruz, but found it to be very boring. She decided to try teaching at a pre-school, and it was there where she fell in love with teaching. Kirsch has taught pre-school, kindergarten, middle school and now high school.

“I want my students to know that I’m always there for them,” Kirsch said. “If they need anything they can just walk in and ask me anything.”

Teaching at Lynbrook has brought Kirsch back to her high school years, when her favorite subjects were history and drama, which is why Kirsch decided to advise Lynbrook’s Studio 74. 

Outside of school, Kirsch enjoys reading, traveling and spending time with her dog. Recently, she got into boxing over quarantine. 

Judy Schultze, Art

Judy Schultze, Lynbrook’s new art teacher, is thrilled to learn about Lynbrook’s culture after a year of distance learning. She has wanted to be an artist from a very young age and loved being around people, so she decided to teach art. Schultze hopes to give her students the high school art experience she wanted during high school. 

“I want them to innovate and try things, and I want them to come up with their own ideas,” Shultze said. “It’s exciting just to be able to produce something original, but I also want to encourage students to take it a step further and develop their own ideas.”