Mrs. Barnett transplanted to the AV in 1994. She attended USC (Fight on!!!) and CSU Bakersfield. She's been with the district for 23 years. She has 8 kids and describes herself as the "crazy sports mom." Mrs. Barnett is thankful that her favorite sport it is football because she spends most of her weekends watching her sons play football!  In the little spare time she has away from kids sports she loves to design shirts for her friends and family and loves to do anything crafty.  She says that she hates to cook but I love to bake. In the future Mrs. Barnett looks forward to moving to Colorado when her son graduates from high school.  

Ms. Beach was born and raised here in the Antelope Valley.  She graduated from Palmdale High School in 2000 and went to Antelope Valley College where she completed most of her AA and then took a break to raise her daughter and help her husband with his business.  After her father passed away unexpectedly she decided to go back to school to finish her degree.  She was accepted to UC Santa Cruz and her family moved to Northern California.  She graduated in 2009 right in the middle of the recession.  No one was hiring and colleges weren't accepting students, so she and her husband got creative with an old hobby of his and became professional falconers.  For the next 5 years they worked with vineyards and landfills to keep pest bird species away from the grapes and trash.  Her job was to take care of the hawks and falcons, feed them, administer medications and clean their enclosures.  Ms. Beach hopes to bring her love of birds to our students in the form of an assembly later this school year! Eventually Ms. Beach returned to the Antelope Valley with her kids and began working as a tutor for Learn4Life.  Her Learn 4 Life coworkers encouraged her to become a teacher so she entered the Teacher Prep Program at Brandman University and is currently working on completing her internship as a Science Teacher.  In the future she would love to train other teachers and develop curriculum that is engaging for the 21st century learners in schools today.

Mrs. Cole graduated from Highland High School in 2003 and got her Bachelor's degree in English Education in 2007. Her husband is also a teacher (9th grade Biology) and basketball coach at Knight High. Mrs. Cole has 3.5 kids, Madison, Christopher, Dominic, and a semi-adopted grown son named DaJour. Her free time is completely full of sports: Maddie and CJ both play club soccer, she loves going to Pete Knight's Basketball games, and DaJour will soon be playing basketball at AVC. Mrs. Cole is also a student and is working on her Master's degree in Curriculum & Instruction through Grand Canyon University. Her favorite pastimes are dressing up like a crazy person when they go to LA Galaxy games with the family every 4th of July and getting new shoes from her husband for every holiday.   

Ms. Finks comes to us from small town Iowa where she grew up as a mortician's daughter (which probably explains her love for science and the human body)! She graduated with her Bachelor's degree from Drake University and her Master's in Business Administration from Creighton University. Ms. Finks has two beautiful, kind, successful kids (who are now adulting) and enjoys traveling the world with them! She has been to a variety of countries doing missionary work and aspires to make it to every country someday. 

Mr. Henzie lives in the Santa Clarita Valley, is married and has three children in grades 7, 8, and 9.  He played a lot of sports growing up and ended up playing collegiate baseball. This is his 22nd year teaching, his second year teaching History and his first year teaching GTT / HCA.  He loves spending time with his family, going on family vacations, watching his sons play baseball & swimming and his daughter acting in plays.  Mr. Henzie enjoys playing sports and being creative. Something you may not know about Mr. Henzie is that he has invented two sports, one of which is being sold in PE catalogs called "Tugball" and the other is in development called "Ricochet."

Mrs. Ojeda has a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Cal State University, Bakersfield and has been teaching for 12 years (this is year 13). She loves her kids (students) and teaching! In her free time, she enjoys running, spending time with her husband Cris, bonus child Arianna, friends, and family. AND... she is a proud auntie! One of Mrs. O's favorite pastimes is going to concerts as she loves live music! In addition she is a self-proclaimed sports enthusiast and has coached cross country, track and field, and basketball. She loves watching football (Go Chiefs!) and NASCAR (Jimmie Johnson is her favorite driver). Mrs. O admits that she watches too much TV and doesn't go outside enough, so she is working on that! Mrs. O says that she is a constant work in progress and is continually aiming to be a better person and that she is happy and blessed with her life and everyone in it!  

Mr. Pratt graduated from Antelope Valley High School in 1991. From there he went to The Master’s College at the age of 38 where he completed his Bachelor's degree. Mr. Pratt has been teaching Physical Education for the past 5 years. He loves his students and teaching them to develop lifetime habits and leadership qualities through the program "Leadership Development Through Physical Education (L.D.T.P.E)." In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife Rhonda, daughters Tia and Georgia, friends, playing golf, playing music and serving at his church. Some of Coach Pratt's favorite pastimes are being the Varsity Golf Coach at Quartz Hill High School and playing music with his dad.

Ms Finch has lived in Los Angeles her entire life. She attended both LA District & Santa Monica District schools. Ms Finch graduated from Azusa Pacific in 2007 with a bachelors in sociology (with a minor in Spanish). She graduated from Loyola Marymount in 2010 with a masters & credential in School Counseling. She later attended Point Loma Nazarene University to obtain a credential in Child Welfare & Attendance. 

It’s a family thing- Ms Finch’s parents have worked as teachers, school counselors, & social workers, & her younger brother currently works for the University of Virginia as a career counselor. The 2019-2020 school year is Ms Finch’s 7th year of being a school counselor, but her 1st year with AVUHSD. 

Ms Finch worked as an assistant teacher & as a social worker before becoming a school counselor. She also currently volunteers for a non profit where she does counseling for teenage parents. Ms Finch loves spending her free time at the beach or traveling - one of her goals is to travel to every country in Latin America... So far she’s only made it to Mexico & Peru, so there’s a lot more to explore!

Miss Orosco is 25 years old and a mother of 3! She has an 11 year old, a 5 year old and a 5.5 month old!

This is her 3rd year serving as a Pupil Services Technician and she loves her job! She has worked for the Antelope Valley Union High School District for 8 years and is very good at what she does.  In addition to serving the students and families within our community, she loves cooking (Fat Fridays), dancing and being the reason someone smiles  She looks forward to watching her kids grow up, get married and becoming a grandma (someday)! 

Miss Kat has been with the district for 2 years now. She is currently attending CSUB to earn her Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. She loves to travel with her sisters and go to Disneyland as often as she can! She’s very grateful for her family and her friends in her life! Miss Kat looks forward to continuing to work with our students and employees and is thankful for getting the opportunity to work at Palmdale Prep.

Mr. Zeke Dorado has always envisioned himself working with kids. This is his third year as an AVID tutor for Palmdale prep.  Recently he graduated from College of the Canyons with an AA in psychology and is currently attending CSUN where he is working towards his B.A in psychology. In the future he plans to obtain his Masters in counseling so he can become a school counselor. He is the first member of his family to earn a college degree and hopes to be an example for his nieces and nephews so that they find inspiration from their uncle to achieve something greater! Zeke loves to play basketball (you will often see him on the court playing with the kids) and can give anyone buckets! He also loves watching basketball and knows his Lakers will take the championship this year!   

Krista Hawkins is a licensed clinical Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Art Therapist. She has over 10 years of professional experience working with youth and adults with co-occurring mental health challenges.  Krista graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy with a specialization in Clinical Art Therapy.  Krista is employed as one of four Educational Social Worker's for the Antelope Valley Union High School District. She currently supports Antelope Valley High School, Knight Preparatory Academy, Lancaster High School, Palmdale Preparatory Academy, SOAR Preparatory Academy, and the Virtual Academy.  Additionally, as an Educational Social Worker she assists with student referrals and linkage to community mental health services, mental health referral management, short-term individual therapy, Psychiatric Mobile Response Team (PMFT) follow up, assistance with the ongoing school management and monitoring of students identified by the School Threat Assessment and Response Team (START), and she collaborates with community attendance workers (CAW), school counselors, school psychologist, PBIS, At-Risk Coordinators, and teachers to identify and support students who could benefit from these services. 

Katherine Hernandez has been working in education for 2 years as a tutor. First at College of the Canyons and now at Palmdale prep academy. She currently attends UCR and College of the Canyons. She is also a choreographer and dancer in the AV. She is Majoring in English and Biological science with a minor in Dance. She hopes to become a High school English teacher. Her favorite sport is Basketball (Los Angeles Lakers) and she loves to cook on her free time.   

Mr. Kevin Herron has been working in education as an Instructional Aide for 3 and a half years now. First starting at Cole Middle School before moving to Palmdale Prep Academy and Soar Prep Academy. He is a father of two daughters ages 1 & 3. He currently works as the Quartz Hill High School Dance Team Coach and a hip hop director at one of our local studios in the AV. He is an Alumni at California State University, Northridge and Antelope Valley College majoring in Liberal Studies and Kinesiology. His favorite sports are basketball (Boston Celtics) and football (Pittsburgh Steelers) and one of his hobbies is graphic design during his free time.

I (Antoune) was born on December 4 1976, in Sun Valley, California. My mother (Darlene) was a teenager in her senior year of high school, while my father (Ralph) was a 25 year old Navy veteran. Both of my parents come from a very diverse background, which allowed me to be exposed to several different cultures. Originally from the valley, (Pacomia to be exact), I spent my early years ripping and running around my neighborhood with my very large extended family. I was very fortunate to grow up with most of my cousins all living in the same area. My mom was a single parent for the most part (my dad skipped out after two years a marriage), but my Uncles played a key role in raising me. Two of my uncles, (Marvin and Wayne), were my first introduction into the world of sports. I grew up playing Basketball and Football, mostly because of them, but also because I needed to stay busy. The area around me was not very good. Gangs were going crazy at the time, and my mom had to work in order to provide, so sports were my calm place. As time went by, my mom went on to marry a few interesting dudes LOL. Stepdaddy 1-was not a good guy. He struggled with substance abuse along with domestic violence issues. Stepdaddy 2- (Larry) was a pretty good guy. He was a hard worker who was also a military vet. He didn't talk much (still doesn't), but he could carry on a decent conversation if took the time to chop it up with him. Through him working at (Loomis Armored Trucks and Tech) my mom, sister, and I began living a decent little life. He heard about the (Antelope Valley) from a friend a work, who told him (Quartz Hill0) was the place to be. Before I knew it, we were in a moving truck headed up the 14 freeway to a weird looking desert. It was late (89-90) and at the time, very few black families lived on the westside of town. To my knowledge, we were only the second black family to ever live in the (Quartz Hill) area. (Quartz Hill HS) was an interesting place in the early 90's. I quickly learned that this new town was not as diverse as the Valley, especially at the school. The transition was a bit tough at first, but like many things, it got better with time. I excelled in sports, Football in particular, making the Junior Varsity as a freshman. This was back when you had an (A&B) frosh team, just saying lol. I also met my future wife (Brandi) during this time. Things were going well, but with every sunshine comes a storm. I began hanging around the wrong crowd (some of them i still hang with today lol), and my behavior was not the best. Between the fights and other stupid problems, it was time for a change. My mom moved me to (AV Christian), a small school near (Ave L and 40th west). At first i hated the place, but of course, it got better with time. I went on to captain two CIF championship teams in both Football and Basketball. I also received several Scholarship offers from 15 different schools. I signed on with SDSU, but did not last long, leaving after the first year. I was  girlfriend sick lol. I went on to marry that girlfriend at the age of 20, and stayed that way for the next 16 years. I eventually divorced, but got two incredible boys (Keenan and Jayden) out of the deal. In 1996 I began my run with the district, (yes im old lol). I was one of the first (Security) to be in charge of (At-Risk-Youth), and gang suppression. It was a perfect fit with my background. To back track a bit, before I got a job with the district, I was a gang counselor at ( Phoenix house- a drug rehab for kids). With the district, I was a member of the emergency response team (Crash), a coordinator of (Project 2000) a school safety committee involving the students. I was a liaison with the gang detectives, identifying suspected gang members and affiliates. (TWEEZY) was born in (2008) when I transferred to (QHHS). I was given the name by one of our student aides, who stated I was as cool as her favorite rapper (Lil Wayne) who goes by (Weezy F baby). So she named me  Tweezy and it stuck. Today, even my family and friends call me Tweezy.  I have enjoyed my time as (Mr. Security man lol), and continue to advise, discipline, and counsel students today. I began coaching football in 1998, at my old school (AVCHS). I started out as a (D-line) coach the first year but quickly became the (Def- coordinator) two years later. I jumped into the Golden League when one of my good friends (James Hardy) asked me to join him over at (AVHS). This would be my first run as a Lope, and things went great. I met another future friend (John Flemming-Head coach at the time), and gained some valuable experience. After two years as a Lope, i was approached by (Jim Root) the Head coach at (HHS), where I was working at the time. Root convinced me to come over and coach at Highland for a spell. (Squad is born) After a couple years of winning as the Freshman (HC) at Highland, I was approached by the new Head coach (Randy Block), who asked if I would be interested in becoming his (Def coordinator).While I was having success on the frosh level, the Varsity was struggling through back to back (3-7) seasons. When I jumped on Var, I already knew most of the kids and how they responded to my style of coaching. It was an easy transition and success followed. I gave my defense the nickname ''Hit Squad'', which became my coaching mantra. The kids would go on to dub me '' Squad'', as a sign of respect for what I stood for. I continue to coach (currently back at AVHS) and I am still Squad lol. To date, I have helped  over 100 kids make it to college through football, a few of them have played in the NFL. Countless others have gone on to become productive citizens. I do it to help the (Antoune's) of the world who need sports to teach them life lessons. In conclusion, I hope you have learned a little bit about me lol. Know that I love what I do, and the kids I deal with (good and bad lol). So next time you see me say what's up to either (Antoune, Tweezy, or Squad) I answer to all 

This school year will be Mrs. Krohn's 13th year working for the Antelope Valley HS District. She is originally from the San Fernando Valley, but moved to Palmdale in the early 80's to work for Rockwell International building wiring harnesses for the B1 Bomber program.  She transitioned to working in IT in 1990, back when your hard drive was a floppy disk and not everyone knew what Windows was.  Mrs. Krohn is the proud Mom of 2 grown sons and enjoys spending time with family, gardening, playing video/computer games (of course), and going to the beach as much as possible.

Ms. Marchant graduated high school in 1998, then earned an Associates degree in Business.  She has been working for the district for almost 13 years and has been at AAV since we opened, making her an OG! She loves working at AAV and updates / designs our school website (so go check it out)!  Ms. Marchant enjoys spending most of her free time with her two teenage sons who are 13 and 16 years old. After work and on most weekends her boys keep her busy with sports and school activities.

My name is Karen Neal.  This is my 5^th school year as the Site Data Technician for Academies of the Antelope Valley. Before coming to AAV I was the Library Media Technician at Knight High School.  I was born and raised here in the Antelope Valley and like most of us raised here, I have a love/hate relationship with it.  I love the hot summers but I hate the wind! My family consists of my husband of 37 years, Brett, my son Chris and his wife Nicole, my daughter Kelsey and her husband Chris and our sweet granddaughter Taylor. We are also anxiously awaiting a second granddaughter in February 2020!  In my free time I like to hang out by water, any kind of water.  My husband and I love to visit the beach and all of my family are avid water skiers.  I learned to waterski when I was only 7 years old.  We also love Disneyland and go as often as we can. I love my job and the people I get to work with every day.  

Rachel Riede has been working in education for less than a year as a tutor. Only ever at Palmdale Preparatory Academy . She currently attends Antelope Valley College and is undeclared for a major, but has a lot of interests. She is obsessed with Harry Potter and can beat almost every single quiz shes ever taken #gryffindorgang  #always  Fun Fact: Rachel had Mrs. Cole as an English teacher for 7th and 8th grade!

Mrs. Tucker graduated from Palmdale High in 2005 (go Falcons!) After high school she went to a vocational school to become a dental assistant but after completing her training she landed a job with the district and never looked back. She has worked at several of our high schools and has been with the district for 13 years. At home she has 3 amazing kiddos that she loves with all her heart. She's obsessed with the TV show “This is Us” as well as “The Office” which she binge watches in her spare time. After her kids are grown she hopes to one day become a cowgirl and spend her days trail riding. Fun Facts about Mrs. Tucker: 1. When she was 13, she adopted and trained a wild mustang who she named Reno. 2. She can be extremely competitive. 3. She really enjoys working at Palmdale Prep and loves all of her coworkers.