Staff+Profiles

Foundation Staff - Personal Profiles



Alex Montalto was born and raised in the North Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. He attended Parade College before entering La Trobe University. While at La Trobe he enrolled in a double degree, Bachelor of Science/ Bachelor of Education and is now in his final year. While studying, Alex's desire to be a teacher was affirmed by his experiences working with young people in a variety of environments, such as; providing private tuition to a small group of Year 11 and 12 Chemistry students and working as a mentor to a primary school aged group at his Taekwondo classes.

Alex's ambition to pursue a career in teaching was shaped by his experiences as a student, where, apart from being encouraged by his teachers, he observed that the majority of them seemed quite happy with their chosen vocation, seeing how happy they were in their day to day life. He hopes to emulate their passion for teaching. Alex expects to bring principles of cooperation and mutual respect to his teaching and avoid the strict, dogmatic approach sometimes used in the past. He feels he can do this competently because he can relate to the students as the generation gap is not that significant. Also, if he shows he is competent with his content knowledge and forward this knowledge effectively, he can gain the respect of his pupils. He also recognizes some the challenges facing him as a teacher. They mainly stem from the current generation’s reliance on technology, which can lead to a lower attention span, a need for instant gratification and a weaker work ethic.

Although quite young, Alex is a mature and well grounded individual who adopts a common sense approach to everything he does. He would like to make teaching a life long profession. Alex has a passion for travelling and hopes to teach overseas one day.

**__Nick Gonis__**
Nick Gonis commends close family and friends, his local community, and past experiences for making him the fun loving, respectful, and well-rounded individual he is today. Nick was raised in a household where common courtesy and consideration were encouraged and hopes to incorporate these values into his classroom. A Melbourne native, Nick grew up in the suburbs and attended La Trobe University for his undergraduate degree in science. Throughout his education, Nick gained great admiration for his previous mentors such as his honours supervisor, Dr. James, and his year 12 Chemistry teacher Mr Charlie Garcia, who each demonstrated a life long passion for learning. Nick's path to teaching has been unconventional and enriched by his experiences in other fields. Whilst studying he managed to run his own retail business then after graduation he spent the next 6 years working for a manufacturing company. Although he gained much practical knowledge and experience at his job, he decided to venture onward. Nick became a franchisee of Gloria Jeans, where he worked for another 6 years. But again, he sought something new.

For various reasons, Nick believed that teaching would be the most rewarding next step in his life. Because he appreciates the aspect of teamwork and enjoys working with young people, Nick has both played and coached soccer since he was 20. Nick also volunteered for the African Pathways Project and found it the most gratifying work thus far. Now he has continued on a similar course but with a greater focus on maths and science. He finds maths and science most appealing because he enjoys learning with and assisting others with fun ways to apply the knowledge to real world experiences. Nick is also a competent and confident leader who enjoys organizing a classroom and directing groups of children. Nick is excited about his new position as a teacher and values the support and encouragement he receives from close friends and colleagues.



A founding member, Jarad is passionate about both English and Humanities. Specializing in English and History, he enjoys teaching both to the senior school and junior school students. Jarad's motivation for being a teacher was borne out of his experiences as a high school student, where, as a teenager he received great support and direction from his own teachers. Jarad's decision was reinforced by his great desire to share his passion for his chosen subjects with future generations. Jarad himself has an incredible thrust for knowledge; initially enrolling into a science undergraduate course, however later transferring into a more arts focused course as he felt the requirements would better enable him to help people and assist students in their future endeavors.

As a student himself Jarad was immensely dedicated to many types of genera’s of books, however the common factor linking all of these was the worlds that these books opened up to him. It was this desire that is the clenching factor in his drive to become a teacher: He wants to share these worlds with others and allow them to experience the possibilities for themselves.

When not focusing on the classroom environment, Jarad frequently participates in a wide variety of physical sports. These include martial arts specifically as they have strong links to both the community and personal development. Such activities often involve both physical and mental components that result in him drawing on all aspects of his life. He enjoys these challenges as they provide him with a focus and sense of grounding to his life. As result he actively seeks to employ lessons from his personal life and bring them into his classroom.

Anna Trexler is a passionate biology and science teacher here at "Apocrypha Secondary College". Anna brings to her classes a genuine desire to inspire her students to develop an inquisitive attitude towards the subjects she teaches. She draws on her own educational experiences as a student lucky enough to have science teachers who displayed an infectious enthusiasm. They were committed to drawing out what was interesting and relevant to their students and Anna endeavours to do the same herself.

A long association with children as a gymnastics coach has placed Anna in a good position to continue such excellent standards of teaching. Her time spent working with young people has enabled her to develop valuable skills such as rapport building and a knack for explanation that are applicable to any learning environment. In fact, it was through her experiences in gymnastics and the fitness industry that Anna realised teaching was her calling. While studying physiology at university Anna worked with individuals doing volunteer physiotherapy as well as personal training and found that she wasn't quite getting the satisfaction and enjoyment she expected from a lifelong career. Anna's gymnastics coaching had led her to really relish the excitements and challenges that came from working with groups of people with diverse and unique personalities and abilities. Her fascination with science and interest in keeping up with the latest scientific developments combined with her enthusiasm for teaching and inspiring people has brought her to where she is now: that is, to the role of an enthusiastic, dedicated and innovative teacher who is glad to have the opportunity to continually challenge herself while making a worthwhile difference to people's lives.

David has successfully completed a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Science education at La Trobe University. He has a major in chemistry and has also completed his honours in the same area.

David has chosen teaching as his profession for one main reason; to encourage and instil enthusiasm for his chosen subjects. David has completed his studies successfully and now he wants to share his experiences with a whole new generation of people. Sharing knowledge he has obtained over the years is a passion, and he feels that knowledge is no good unless there is someone he can pass it on to.

David likes to employ such tactics as group work and fun activities to supplement learning. He feels that in science, there is much to be gained by implementing appropriate experiments. In his time as a student, David gained a more intrinsic feel for concepts and theories, and he hopes to use experiments and activities to actively engage his students

David has a very intuitive disciplinary method that he brings with him into the class. Instead of usual discipline techniques, David chooses a softer approach with students, where they come to realize their wrongdoings through a talk with the teacher. This is in contrast to traditional discipline techniques where students don’t repeat bad behaviour in fear of more discipline. David relates behaviour in school to behaviour in the workplace. Students in David's classes will gain an appreciation of acceptable behaviour in the classroom, which will be related to acceptable behaviour in the workplace.

David is an integral part of our inaugural staff, and he hopes to be here for many years to come. 