School / Work Affiliation
Skyline High School / Oakland Unified School District
About Me
This is Mr. Orphal's fourth year as a Skyline Titan in Oakland, California. After graduating from Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California in 1989, Mr. Orphal left the East Bay suburbs for the redwood forest and Humboldt State University. After receiving his BA and Teaching Credential at HSU, Mr. Orphal began a ten-year career at Zoe Barnum High School in Eureka CA. Mr. Orphal has also lectured at Humboldt State University for the Education Department. In 1997, he won a Fulbright-memorial Teacher Scholarship to travel to Japan for three weeks talking with teachers about the future of education. In 2003, Mr. Orphal took a year's leave from his teaching duties to make documentary films for the non-profit Tostan organization in Senegal, West Africa. Mr. Orphal and his partner, Wendy Bliss, live in El Cerrito, California.