Here is some information about the great teachers at FKCP3
Kim Guy is the fifth grade at Price and she enjoys teaching fifth grade “because the students are right in the middle––not too young and not too old, and they are like a sponge ––more teachable.”
Guy also said that in the fifth grade, parents still think their children are babies, and holding onto that belief, she says, handicaps their children, making it hard in the classroom.
The fifth grade level is a “transition year,” Guy said, where kids have to grow up quickly. To help them develop, Guy uses cooperative learning with small groups, along with lectures. Guy is an eight-year veteran at Price. She attended Cal State Northridge and earned a bachelor of arts in English. Past teaching stints include Sylmar High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Vena Gross teaches computer science at Price. Students learn keyboarding and Microsoft Office software --- Word, Excel, and Power Point.
Gross says that what students learn in computer science is critical to success in today’s rapidly changing digital world; how to navigate on the Internet and basic writing techniques, for instance.
Gross originally taught adult computer classes at Crenshaw Christian Center, working for the church’s IT department, before accepting a position at Price to teach computer skills to young people.
Gross received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from California State University, Northridge, and currently is pursuing a master’s degree in education.
Gharah Degeddingseze is the Price drum line instructor, marching to the beat of his own drummers––all twenty-five of them.
Drum line may be the most popular class at Frederick K.C. Price III Schools, and Degeddingseze, arguably, the school’s most popular teacher on campus.
Degeddingseze attended Gahr High School, Cerritos College, and the Musician’s Institute, where he learned to write music and play music by ear. He is proficient on piano, keyboards and drums.
Degeddingseze said drum line is not merely beating the drums. “It’s teaching students music appreciation and military discipline too,” he said.
Eric Dunn teaches Spanish and social studies. Dunn earned an associate of arts degree in sociology from El Camino Community College in Torrance, before going on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in the same field at the University of Oregon, were he played basketball and was selected to First Team All Pac-10.
Dunn says foreign language and culture is important for African Americans. “Foreign language––Spanish in particular––and social studies or culture are important for African Americans because of the major influence of Spanish in this country––especially in the Western states. Culture is important, because a strong sense of history can never be cultivated without our forebears or ancestors, and their impact on our lives.”
Jennifer Degeddingseze, the school’s performing arts director, developed a love for writing for the theater in elementary school, and perfected her gift at Howard University in Washington, D,C., where she majored in music with a minor in theater arts.
After college, Degeddingseze taught music and drama at several local Christian schools. Prior to her current position at Price, Degeddingseze taught music, drama, history, and health at First Church of God Christian School before its closure in 2006. Affectionately known as “Ms. D”–– Degeddingseze accepted a position at Frederick K.C. Price III Schools, where she has taught drama for four years.
Like all of the other schools where she has taught, Degeddingseze showcases her skills in the production of Christmas and Black History programs, and Price’s annual Spring Production.
A classically trained pianist, Degeddingseze is also the author of 25 chapel skits and 15 theatrical productions.
Dr. Diana Johnson has loved teaching since her debut as a Sunday school teacher at age 12. She excelled at the craft, and soon was elevated to Sunday school superintendent.
A Monroe, La. native, Johnson served as a substitute teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, before finding her way to FKCP III Schools, where she has now taught for 14 years. A native of Monroe, La., Johnson did her undergraduate work in education at Northwest Louisiana State, and California State University at Dominguez Hills, before earning a master’s and doctorate degrees in biblical counseling at National University.
Kindergarten teacher Judith Ward attended the University of Michigan, where she majored in music. Before she started teaching at FKCP III Schools, Ward taught at public schools in Michigan and California.
A native of Detroit, MI, Ward said she became a teacher because she desired to help children learn. What she likes best about teaching, she said, “is seeing the children’s’ achievements, and their enthusiasm when they master something.” Ward describes her teaching style as “strict, but loving.”
Ward has also been a cashier, a piano player for a Russian School, and has really taught all her life. In her spare time, she is a movie buff, and sings in the CCC church choir.
Frederick K.C. Price III School math teacher Pedro Diaz, attended California State University, Dominguez, Hills, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in accounting, and an MBA in business administration. Diaz also earned a teaching credential from National University.
Diaz has taught math for several years and also tutors in his spare time. He said he decided to teach math because he always liked it. “I found different methods of doing math; and short cuts” to mastering it, Diaz said. He has taught at FKCP for two years.
Diaz said being at a Christian school gives him the opportunity to be in a “different environment, and I get to pray in class,” he said. “Math is a lot of fun, (and is involved) in everything we do. It is not a difficult subject. People only perceive it as being scary.
“The challenges in math is understanding it, grasping it, and not being afraid of it,” Diaz said.
Art teacher Kenny Quarles was a blue chip baseball star back in the day at Serra high school in Gardena. He was drafted by the Chicago Red Sox, and entered their farm club.
But injuries plagued Quarles and ended his playing career. But all was not lost for him. He went back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in physical education from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
Quarles started drawing when he was in the fifth grade. He would draw during class instead of focusing on his work. He conceded, and fell in love with art at 12 years of age, sketching everything he saw––images on billboards, posters, and pictures in magazines.
Quarles says art is important because “it enhances a person’s perception of life and allows them to see things from an abstract point of view. And it invites a host of careers,” he added, “from police work sketching criminal suspects, to newspaper editorial cartoons, to freelance work in education.”
“Anyone can learn to draw,” said Quarles, who has taught art for 16 years. “First you need to learn basic technique,” he added.
Price students have learned basic drawing with charcoal, painting, sculpting, lettering, and graphic art, under Quarles’ tutelage.
History teacher Rah Romero, a California State University, Los Angeles graduate in political science, has taught at Frederick K.C. Price III Schools for four years. Romero says she enjoys teaching history because it is always changing.
Before becoming an educator, Romero worked as a restaurant waitress, call center operator, model, and database manager.
“Teaching is a labor of love,” she said. “The best thing about it, is knowing that “I am making a difference in young people’s lives.”
Jennifer Lewis matriculated at Frederick K.C Price III School from the fifth grade on. She was one of the first graduates of Price, going on to California State University, Long Beach, to earn a B.A. in art education.
Lewis is the second grade elementary teacher at Frederick K.C. Price III School. She returned to her alma mater to teach, she said because she “loves the school, and working with (children).”
Teaching the younger students presents its own unique challenges, Lewis noted.. “The younger students do not already have a basis for understanding, so I have to explain (learning concepts) more,” Lewis said. “They are similar to middle and high school students with their attitudes––they’re like little people,” she said.