Teachers are carefully selected for their expertise in content, experience in distance learning and appreciation for the divergent thinker or differenced learner. We've selected the best teachers from Laurel Springs School to join Laurel Springs Academy for the Gifted and Talented. They all hold advanced degrees, teaching credentials and/or significant professional experience in their fields.

Raja Almukahhal

Raja has been teaching physics, mathematics and astronomy for over 20 years at several colleges and universities around the country. He currently teaches physics (online) at UC Berkeley and also teach various mathematics and physics courses at Laurel Springs. He holds a PhD in theoretical physics with emphasis in cosmology and relativity. He lives in Henderson, Nevada, with his wife and three children.

Chris Dornbush

Chris has been teaching English at all high school levels for the past 15 years. He holds a BA in English from UCLA and a master's in education from Concordia University. Chris has worked to improve all the schools at which he has worked by being an active member of the accreditation process. He has served on both sides of the process evaluating other schools as well as leading his school through the self-study process. Chris has presented for the College Board at the national AP convention in Orlando and Houston, as well as at regional workshops. He believes that English is a great subject to explore through distance learning because reading and writing are processes and distance learning allows time for that process to happen.

Diane Elliott

Diane was born in Okinawa, Japan, but grew up in Texas and lives in Houston. She embraces the concept of teaching according to learning styles and uses it with her own homeschooled children. After college she moved to Washington, DC, where she worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as a congressional staffer. She served in the U.S. Army as a drill sergeant and taught public high school for five years. Diane loves to travel with her three children. She earned her Bachelor's degree from Abilene Christian University and her Master's in Education from the University of Phoenix. She teaches all levels of students K-12.

Melissa Hart

Melissa has been a humanities teacher at Laurel Springs since 1998 and now joins the team at the Laurel Springs Academy for the Gifted and Talented. She also teaches journalism at the University of Oregon. Melissa works as a professional writer, and has published essays and short fiction in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Teacher, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Advocate.

Carole Iverson, JD

Carole is an experienced humanities teacher. She has taught social studies and English for over 10 years. Her teaching has brought her into contact with a diverse group of students and faculty. It has taken her from Cate School in Carpinteria, California, to Seabury Hall in Maui. In addition to her undergraduate degree in history and education, she has a Juris Doctorate from UC Berkeley.

Jayne Selwa, BS

Jayne is a New Jersey native who has also lived in Connecticut and California. She received her BS in Biological Science/Ecosystem Ecology from the University of Connecticut, and her Teaching Credential in Life Sciences from UC Santa Barbara. She passionately believes that the most authentic and meaningful learning is student-directed. She challenges her students to develop their independent problem solving and critical thinking abilities. Jayne is an avid and lifelong student of natural history, and enjoys learning about the edible and medicinal uses of native plants. She spends as much time as she can outdoors, hiking, birdwatching, kayaking, and organic gardening. She volunteers at a wildlife refuge, working with injured and orphaned wild animals. She also paints, draws, plays the fiddle, and studies yoga, herbology, and holistic health.

Christian Tourenne, PhD

Christian received his BS, MS, and Doctorate in Physical Chemistry from the University of Bordeaux, France. He taught biophysics, physical chemistry, physics and mathematics to college and high school students for more than eighteen years. Besides being an outstanding teacher, he has also been product manager and director of business development for a very successful medical imaging and geophysical imaging software company. Christian lives in Iowa with his family and travels to France every year. In addition to teaching and doing research in physics, he also enjoys studying ancient and medieval history. Christian has been teaching with Laurel Springs for five years.

Mona Vartanian

Mona's 30-year teaching experience has been filled with different styles and approaches, largely because of the diversity of subjects she has taught. French, Spanish, English, Arabic and Armenian are languages that she had the opportunity to learn, master and teach. In addition, Mona has organized and prepared a curriculum for a computer lab in Southern California, designed websites and taught her students how to integrate technology into their studies. For the past 7 years she has tutored students who have a different outlook on education. She believes that each child is unique and each child is talented, and that education is the key step to a successful future and, therefore, to a better society. Interacting with her students, guiding and supporting each child's way of learning, is the shortest way to an educated generation. Strengthening students' self-esteem, respecting their ideas, motivating them, encouraging them to thrive for the best, and praising them are all tools to help each and every child to learn. Textbooks, software and technology, field trips, stories, movies, music, toys and games all are tools to initiate the learning process and make it a wonderful, profitable and interesting experience to the learners.