Michael Peña
Introduction to Multimedia (9th grade)

Debbie Dehlinger
Communication Applications, Media Criticism (9th grade)

Jill Barton
Multimedia (10th grade)

Stephen Villela
Video Technology (11th grade)

Heidi Whitus
Communications Electives: Media Literacy (Film Studies), Yearbook, Art 4 Electronic Media (Advanced Video Production), Computer Multimedia (Advanced Multimedia)

Shellie Malik
Independent Study Mentorship, Yearbook

Michael Peña
Introduction to Multimedia
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Michael Peña is in his first year at CAHS. Born and raised in San Antonio, he graduated from John Jay High School. In 1999 he received his BA in Marketing from the University of Texas in San Antonio, where he was also a member of The American Marketing Association. In 2006 he earned a MEd in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Technology from Texas State University in San Marcos.

Before coming to CAHS, Mr. Peña spent the previous three years teaching at Harlandale High School, where he coached freshman football and JV and Varsity Soccer.

Mr. Peña will also serve as class sponsor for the class of 2011. Besides teaching and coaching, he enjoys fishing, hunting, golfing and on-line poker. But most of his time is spent with his two sons Seth and Ethan and his wife Jessica.

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Debbie Dehlinger
Communication Applications, Media Criticism
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Ms. Debbie Dehlinger's childhood was spent as an Army brat living all over the United States and world attending approximately 17 schools including three high schools. She has over twenty years teaching experience; eighteen were at Thomas Jefferson High School, San Antonio, as Director of Forensics and Director of Theatre. She was most privileged to have had wonderful students who enriched her life greatly. During those years her students won 17 UIL One-Act Play District Championships, 2nd place in the nation in Dramatic Interpretation, places at UIL State in Prose, Poetry, and Extemporaneous Speaking, and a number of Texas Forensic tournament honors.

She was also fortunate to have served as a president of the two state speech organizations, Texas Speech Communication Association and Texas Forensic Association, and has received several teaching awards.

She is very honored to be in her twelfth year at Communications Arts and to have the opportunity to work with the great students in this year's freshman class.

Her degrees include a B.A. in English with a minor in Speech, Southwest Texas State University, and a M.A. in Educational Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio.

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Jill Barton
Multimedia
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In December of 1993, Jill Barton earned her B.B.A. and a teaching certification from Baylor University. She began her teaching career at Coolidge ISD, a small 1A school district 35 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. During her 3 and a half years at Coolidge, she was the Technology Coordinator for the district and taught classes in Computer Literacy, Business Computer Applications, Personal Business Management, and Business Communications. Her husband Terry is a teacher/coach at Reagan High School in Northside ISD. They have a son named Kristopher and a daughter named Kathleen.

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Stephen Villela
Video Technology

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Stephen Villela is one of the newest additions to CAHS. He was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School and went on to graduate from The University of The Incarnate Word with a B.A. in Music/Communication Arts. His major concentrations were in Musical Composition & Performance and Audio/Video Production.

While at Incarnate Word, Mr. Villela was very involved with on-campus organizations such as the UIW Jazz Ensemble, KUIW Internet Radio (where he served as Sports Director), Rec Sports Campus Intramurals, and Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.

Mr. Villela sits on the Board of Directors of local film company CineVeliz, Inc. He has had the privilege to be a part of several film productions, most notably La Tragedia de Marcario (Official selection of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival). He continues to work as a freelance producer/editor for various productions and events.

Mr. Villela is a local musician and plays with several Latin, Jazz, Country and Rock groups around San Antonio. In his spare time he enjoys riding motorcycles and going to various sporting events, especially UT football games and Spurs games.

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Heidi Klein Whitus was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has a B.F.A. in Cinema from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, an M.F.A. in Video Research from the Art Media Studies Department at Syracuse University, and an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in Foreign Language Education. Her work in photography and video has been shown in exhibits and festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Prior to teaching, she worked in various sectors of the film and video industry in New York. There she met her husband, Dean, who is a Theater Arts teacher at MacArthur High School in Northeast ISD. They have a daughter named Miranda, born in 1996, and a son named Simon, born in 2003.

Ms. Whitus is active in the field of media literacy. In 2001 she served on a Media Literacy Guidelines Panel for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. She has also worked for the Texas Education Agency writing a statewide media literacy curriculum for Language Arts teachers. She is a proud member of the National Association for Media Literacy Education and gives workshops and presentations on media literacy topics at district, state and national levels. She serves on the editorial board of the online Journal of Media Literacy.

Ms. Whitus also teaches at San Antonio College in the Radio Television Film Department. She loves to travel, and has visited Southeast Asia, Morocco, Central America, and Europe, in addition to her family's annual trips to Mexico for Christmas and road trips to most of the continental United States.

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Shellie Malik
Independent Study Mentorship, Yearbook

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Shellie Malik is a native of South Texas and graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Speech Communications and a Master of Arts degree in Speech Communications. Before moving to CAHS in 2006, she taught at H.B. Zachry Middle School where she taught English, theater arts, keyboarding and creative writing. As a Gifted and Enrichment Specialist, she chaired district-wide GT events, presented GT staff development and was involved with the state’s GT Performance Standards Projects.

Mrs. Malik and her husband, James, have two children, Darren and Lauren, who are both graduates of Communications Arts High School. As a family, they enjoy traveling and being outdoors and have traveled to all 50 states. In 2007, James made a career change and began teaching at Taft High School. They now plan to spend summers traveling abroad and took their first trip to China in 2008. She and James are very involved with the local youth soccer program, spending many hours at the soccer fields. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family.

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