Hello, I am Olga Alvarado and I am a career Social Worker and one of the Wellness Counselors. I bleed "Orange", I received both my undergrad and grad degrees from UT!! Go Horns!! Unfortunately, my three children did not have the same passion I did about UT and went to other universities, but that's OKAY... they found their own place and are so HAPPY! Which makes me HAPPY!!! I absolutely love anything crafting, from quilting to embroidery to making T-shirts on my Cricut. This summer I spent my time wrangling Rattlesnakes, well, my husband caught them, I ran screaming the other way... We needed to get the snakes under control since one had already bitten our puppy boxer, Lulu. No worries, Lulu is okay since she has had her Rattlesnake shots...whew! This year I am proud to be LASA's FIRST EVER CHEER COACH! Yeah! I am so excited to be a part of the program! The team has been working really hard and I can't wait to share and spread some LASA RAPTOR SPIRIT!

Ms. Cardinale has taught at LASA since 2011. She has taught Pre-AP English II, Great Ideas, Contemporary Fiction, Hitchcock, and PALS throughout her years at LASA. She previously coached the swim team for eight years (2011-2019) and has been coaching the girls' soccer team for the last eight seasons.

I started at LASA in 2020 coaching Football and Softball. I was the Head Choir Director and Head Band Director at Dobie Middle School from 2016 to 2023. I am excited to be at LASA starting the 2023-24 school year to support Special Education and Athletics! I received my Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi, Pursued a Master's Degree in Theology from Franciscan University - Steubenville and I am currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Athletic Administration and Coaching from Concordia University - Irving.

Sarah Davis has been teaching high school physics since 2016. At LASA Ms. Davis teaches AP Physics, AP Physics C, and Modern Physics and coaches LASA Cross Country. Prior to teaching Ms. Davis worked in labs on multiple projects including helping to develop high energy density capacitors, carrying out comparative phylogeny using bird vocalizations, and exploring saline resistance in certain species of plants.

Ms. Davis grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended LSU. During her college years she explored such subjects as musical performance, architectural design, and classical literature before committing to a future in science. During her time working in labs Ms. Davis found her passion for scientific discovery and for physics specifically. Physics describes the world around us at its most fundamental levels. This powerful knowledge makes Ms. Davis’s classroom one filled with excitement and awe for the subject she teaches.

When Ms. Davis is not teaching she enjoys running, competing in triathlons, hiking, reading, and cooking. Ms. Davis lives north of Austin with her husband Noah, her children Penelope and Ravi, and her pets.

In Houston, TX, Ms. Edwards began her dance education around the age of five at APAC Studio with a focus on ballet, tap, jazz, and lyrical. Some of her favorite adolescent memories were during her Drill Team days as a Jersey Village Gold Duster where she helped lead the team each year.

In 2013, she graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor's in Business Administration and a Dance Minor. While attending A&M, she performed and taught with student organizations such as Fade to Black and Dance Arts Society. In the summer of 2014, she completed a dance & business internship through Performing Arts Abroad in Barcelona, Spain with Varium Espai de Moviment.

After a few years of teaching dance instruction to various studios in Austin, she began her journey into Public School Education by completing her EC-12 Physical Education and 9-12 Dance Certification. She always hoped to lead a team of her own, and although the journey was not direct, she is thankful for all of the various roles she held prior. In the Fall of 2018, she became the Dance Teacher and Drill Team Director for LASA/LBJ. She is cultivating a strong LASA Dance program and hopes to for years to come. Dance, is a beautiful source of creativity, health, friendship, and a way to connect with your community, and she loves to inspire these joys within her students.

Most recently, Ms. Edwards obtained her 200 hour RYT Certification through Wanderlust's Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training. She incorporates many Yogic practices such as meditation, movement, and overall health and wellness into her teachings too.

In addition to teaching and practicing dance and yoga, she loves spending time with her cats and puppy, exploring the outdoors, seeing live music, gardening, quality family and friend time, and continually learning new things!

Coach González is in his 8th year of teaching Physical Education at Palm Elementary and has over a decade of soccer coaching experience. He worked as the freshman soccer coach at Bowie HS where his team was undefeated and won the district championship for 2019-2020. Prior to that, he coached at Northeast High School for 3 years. Coach González also worked with several club teams in his hometown of El Paso, Texas. He coached the Clint High School club team into winning the Del Valle Soccer League in 2013. Coach González started playing soccer at a young age. Growing up in a border city gave him the ability to play in two countries – Mexico and the United States. He walked on for the University of Texas Permian Basin in 2007 (UTPB). He then transferred to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) the following year and continued to play soccer. In addition, Coach González presently plays for ATX United at AMSA Premier League.

Coach González holds National U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) coaching licenses and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from UTEP in 2010.

His vision for the LASA High School soccer program is to develop responsible student athletes, advance their soccer abilities, and apply modern techniques to support players in pursuing their soccer potential.

Coach Gary Howard was born and raised in Kansas City, MO. He is a disabled veteran of the US Army, where he served in the Desert Storm War. He began his coaching career as a volunteer baseball coach with the YMCA. He coached his youngest son in baseball and soccer for 3 years. He enjoyed coaching so much that he decided to leave corporate America and become a coach full-time. He served five years as a middle school football and soccer coach, 3 of them as the Head Football Coach and Athletic Coordinator at Jane Long Academy in Houston ISD. During his time at Jane Long Academy, he successfully revamped and developed the athletic program, which had been defunct for over 10 years.

Coach Howard made the transition to high school in 2016 at Scarborough High School as a O-Line coach. Shortly after arriving on campus, he was promoted to Athletic Coordinator and Head Coach for Football, he also served as the Special Education Department Chair. He held both positions for 4 years, during which time was able to improve on the record of the football team, create a Tennis program, and develop the softball program, winning 3 district championships in the process. He has also served as a 6A Defensive Coordinator and Head Softball Coach at Sam Houston MSTC, and 6A Offensive Coordinator and Head Softball Coach at Northbrook High School in Houston.

Though he is proud of his accomplishments so far as a coach, his most important starring role is husband, and as a father to his three incredible children. Coach Howard says, he is looking forward and is very excited about the future of his career as the new Athletic Coordinator and Head Football Coach at LASA High School

Ms. Kossa is a first generation college graduate. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Texas A&M University, and a Master’s degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from San Francisco State University. She previously taught science courses at the high school, undergraduate, and community college levels, and joined LASA in the Spring of 2022 to teach Advanced Magnet Biology and co-teach AP Psychology.

Ms. Kossa is especially passionate about making science courses equitable, inclusive, and accessible, for all her students. She’s really looking forward to getting to know everyone, and helping provide whatever support her students need to succeed!

Ms. Kossa lives in Austin with her partner and two (very mischievous) cats, named Big Cat and Small Cat. In her free time, she enjoys playing video games and board games, reading, playing basketball, painting, singing in choir, and constantly trying out new hobbies.

I’m Eric Martanovic, teacher of AP Government, AP Macroeconomics and baseball coach.
I have been a coach, mentor, and teacher for many years. Prior to teaching, I was a store executive for Target. I have a BS in Criminal Justice from Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, where I was a scholarship athlete and graduated in four years. I still appear in some of the single season and career top-10’s for baseball statistics at the school. After a two-season stint in professional baseball, I went on to earn my MS in Criminal Justice from Texas State University in 2005, where I focused my interest in the topics of constitutional law and Supreme Court cases. In 2012, I earned my MA in Teaching from Northwestern State University in Louisiana.
I’m an active volunteer in youth sports. I serve as Vice President for Oak Hill Youth Sports Association, coach 9u baseball and flag football. I love to bake a variety of breads and sweets around the holidays and host gatherings around my backyard barbecue.
Running, hiking, golfing, and mountain biking are some of my favorite outdoor activities… other than baseball of course!
I have two amazing children, a son Callen (9) and a daughter Carley (8), along with two delinquent dogs and one well-behaved cat… that sometimes knocks things off counter tops. This summer I watched countless baseball games, went to Lake Tahoe and swam in 55 degree water and hiked a black diamond mountain slope, taught the kids how to surf at South Padre Island, had a weekend stay at the Commodore Perry Estate, and coached the 8u Raptors to two championships.

Hi! I’m Mary Beth Metcalf, LASA’s new Girls’ and Boys’ Cross Country Coach. Although I am not a teacher at LASA, I have taught in AISD for fifteen years, and I currently teach Dual Language Kindergarten at Maplewood Elementary in East Austin. I am a life-long runner, who has competed at every distance from the 400m to the marathon. I live and breathe and totally geek cross country! This is my first high school coaching position, but I’m been “with” the LBJ/LASA cross country team for the past nine years as an enthused parent of LASA runners.

I grew up in a big noisy house with six brothers and a sister in Buffalo, New York. I graduated from Canisius College in Buffalo where I ran cross country and track. Thirty years ago, I moved to Austin to become a Longhorn, and I’ve never left. I have degrees in Latin American Studies and Social Work from U.T. Hiking, biking, kayaking, reading good books, and running (of course!) are the things I like to do in my free time.

My husband and I live in Central Austin. Our three amazing children—all LASA grads--have flown from our nest, but this summer I’ve been putting my momma energy into doting on my three beautiful new chickens, named Ruth (Bader Ginsberg), Greta (Thunberg), and Wilma (Rudolph).

It is an honor and a privilege to be coaching such an outstanding group of athletes as our LASA runners! Go Raptors!

Cody Moody has been a Social Studies teacher at LASA for years. He has primarily taught Pre-AP World Geography and AP Human Geography. Mr. Moody has sponsored Model UN Club, Academic WorldQuest, Hoops for Troops, and is a National Board Certified Teacher.

Mr. Moody is a graduate from UT Austin where he double majored in American Studies and German. Mr. Moody likes being in nature, running, playing basketball, cooking, aspirational DJing, and he especially loves hanging with his wife and kids.

Hi! I'm John Nelson and I have been teaching and coaching in AISD since 2011. Currently at LASA I am the Head Boys Basketball Coach, Special Education Department Chair and I teach Algebra.

After spending my first 12 years in education at Navarro High School, I recently made the move to LASA, joining forces with my Wife, the esteemed, Dr. Pinkston of the English Department. If she were editing this for me, it might have fewer grammatical errors.  My hope is to become a true power couple, to be feared and respected within the LASA community. 

I live with my wife, whom I have already mentioned, my son Jamie, and our dog Thelma. Jamie is a good boy and Thelma is a good dog and the two of them occupy most of my time away from LASA. That said, when I have the time, I do enjoy playing sports, exercising, fishing, traveling, snowboarding, and really any adventuring I can do. Oh! I also have an identical twin brother who lives in Australia. 

I did not go to a fancy college and I do not have an advanced degree. I did go to Warren Wilson College, which is a tiny, beautiful, liberal arts school in the mountains just outside of Asheville. It was great. I ended up walking onto the basketball team, an experience only possible at a tiny school like WWC. (I am still waiting on my first NIL check). I studied Psychology in college and thought I might go into clinical therapy only to scrap that idea immediately following graduation. After a stop in the service industry, followed by a few years in social work, I ended up getting certified to teach and I haven't looked back. 

I love teaching and I love coaching. In my mind they are more the same than they are different. I am not the most organized person you will meet, but I am kind and thoughtful. I am the type of person that sometimes speaks a little too fast in excitement, but also the type of person who sometimes notices and slows down. I am curious and I a strive to always continue learning.

I has been teaching languages since I graduated from SMU and returned from studies in Berlin in 2006. My passion for German language, literature, and culture grew out of my time spent with my grandmother, who was born in Berlin in 1942. Outside of teaching English, German, and Italian before coming to LASA, I also took classes to improve my Spanish and Dutch, along with some beginner courses in Mandarin Chinese and French. Languages have been a lifelong passion of mine since I first learned German nursery rhymes from my Oma. Alongside my fascination with languages and cultures, I grew up being very active in marching band. I have always loved team sports and have been a member of a championship masters rowing team with the Texas Rowing Center for the past 4 years. I enjoy reading and writing in my free time. All 3 of my brothers live in Austin, including my twin brother.

While completing the UTeach-Liberal Arts program through UT Austin, I landed the lucky opportunity to work alongside the faculty here as both a student teacher and long-term substitute in Spring of 2022. I am beyond excited to join LASA and continue being part of such a unique and compassionate campus! I am teaching English I and English II for the 22-23 school year. Some of my interests include reading, poetry, art (including cartoons & anime), hiking, traveling, and playing D&D with friends. My mission is to create a safe space within my classroom where students from diverse backgrounds can comfortably cooperate and express themselves to achieve whatever goals they set their minds to. I hope to develop a passion for reading and writing within my students by showing how integral these forms of expression are to understanding ourselves and each other. 

Hello, My Name is Joseph Saldana and this is my first year at LASA High School and looking forward to creating great memories.

For the 24-25 school year I will be teaching PALS, Special Education, Head girls basketball coach, and Head boys track coach. I received my Bachelor's Degree in kinesiology with a Minor in Education from St. Edward's University.  When I am not busy coaching/ teaching, I enjoy spending time with my beautiful wife Megan and my wonderful son Santiago. I live in San Marcos, Texas. In my free time I enjoy playing video games with my son, playing basketball, football and soccer. We also enjoy hiking and camping.

I am the other athletic trainer at LASA High School. I am from Houston, TX and enjoy playing volleyball (indoor and sand), rock climbing, working out, and trying out different places to eat. I started out as an athletic trainer in 2022 when I graduated from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center with a Master's in Athletic Training. My office is right across from the athletic training room so feel free to pop in and say hi! 

I am the athletic trainer at LASA High School. I have been an AT for over 30 and I take care of injured and ill athletes. You can find me in the athletic training room or on a field, court or in the weight room working with athletes and teams. I am from Northern Illinois. BS in zoology and athletic training from Eastern Illinois University and my MS from Illinois State university in sports medicine. I retired from the US Army Reserves as a Medical Service Corps Major, specializing in patient administration. My family and I live in Pflugerville with our two yellow labs and 4 chickens!

I grew up in New Mexico, and I graduated from New Mexico State University in 1981. That same year, I accepted my first teaching assignment at Dobie Middle School in Austin, and I've remained an educator for almost 40 years.

During my career, I taught math at both the middle and high school levels for 30 years, served as a high school department chair and instructional coach for over ten years, and coached middle and high school tennis for over 25 years. I also earned a Masters in curriculum and instruction at Concordia Lutheran University. I retired from teaching in 2011, but I returned later that year to coach tennis at Pflugerville Connally HS--where I remained until May 2020.

Now I am excited to be a Raptor, and I am looking forward to great things for LASA Tennis.

I was born an raised right here in Austin, and graduated from McCallum Fine Arts Academy in 2009. After that I ran away to Rochester, New York for college and graduate school. I came back to Austin in 2014 because I missed armadillos and scorpions I guess?

Before coming to LASA I spent about 6 years running a math tutoring center. I started at LASA during the 2021-22 school year.

I live with two humans (Kitty and Jasper) and one cat (Coco). When I'm not working I love movie marathons, crossword puzzles, dance marathons, and anything involving water. I always get the Wordle and I make a mean friendship bracelet.

Shontel Willie has been with LASA since 2017 teaching Chemistry and Forensics. Prior to joining the LASA team, Mrs. Willie spent twelve years as an Environmental Chemist with experience in Organic, Inorganic, and Nuclear chemistry.

Mrs. Willie discovered her interest in science began when she attended her first science fair in middle school and spent summers with her 7th grade science teacher watching human anatomy videos on reel-to-reel. Mrs. Willie continued to learn about science as an undergraduate student at the University of Northern Colorado (Go Bears!) where she obtained a B.A. in Chemistry, minoring in Biology. Before establishing her high school teaching career, Mrs. Willie worked as a contractor for the Environmental Protection Agency based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mrs. Willie lives in the woods with her husband, Lamar Scottie/McCallum Knights sons, and rescue pup, Floppy. When she isn't working or at the baseball fields, Mrs. Willie enjoys traveling with her family, cooking, painting, riding dirt bikes and reading (I especially love book suggestions from my students).

I am the Animation and Ezine teacher at LASA. This started teaching at LASA in 2022 and have been teaching since 2014. I have always taught art but Animation has been especially fun to teach! I graduated with a BFA in Media Arts & Animation and I love film, animations and graphic novels. I am originally from San Juan, a city in south Texas but I have been in Austin since 2008. I spend most of my free time with my daughter, watching Films, running or doing something active.