electives

Jovan Mays

Poetry

Email: JJMAYS@aurorak12.org

Art

Sunny's name reflects her upbringing in Southern California, where she developed a deep-seated love for boba milk tea and the vastness of the ocean. She graduated from Haverford College with a B.A. in Race and Immigration History and then spent a year living and working in Singapore. After gallivanting around Southeast Asia for a bit, Sunny moved to Denver to pursue a teaching certification and, later, a Masters in Teaching with a CLD endorsement through University of Northern Colorado. At William Smith High School, Sunny teaches different forms of (largely-2D) Visual Arts: watercolor and acrylic painting, calligraphy, observational drawing, portraiture, to name a few. She is passionate about incorporating different non-Western art forms in her classes and seeks to support students in expressing the magnitude of their internal worlds through the visual arts. Outside of teaching, Sunny enjoys singing, playing the piano, watching reruns of the Great British Baking Show and trying different street foods around the world.Email: SNZHENGHERB@aurorak12.org
Sunny Zheng-Herb
Kenny Harris

Art

I couldn’t be more jazzed to be a part of the dynamic and creative William Smith School where I’ll be able to work alongside exceptional educators, families and students that share a similar vision of life, adventure and education. I moved to Colorado from Portland, Maine a handful years ago, yet have lived in a variety of places throughout the country. I have an undergraduate degree in photography from The Evergreen State College and a Masters degree in elementary education from Antioch University New England. Before attending graduate school I worked as a photography teacher, Colorado River guide, rock climbing instructor and community volunteer. Before Willaims Smith I taught visual arts at Rocky Heights Middle School and at the Renaissance Elementary EL School in Castle Rock, Colorado for 9 years. I grew up just west of St. Louis, in Huckleberry Finn'land, between the confluence of the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers playing outside in the dirt and building things. Like Huck, I made a lot of choices that ended poorly and fantastically--choices guided by struggle, innocent curiosity, an innate sense of social justice and hastiness. Some of my favorite adventures have been traveling from the southern tip of South America to St. Louis, Missouri, by land, hiking a desolate 62 mile section of the Inca Trail in Bolivia, Burning Man Festival, learning to spear fish from Indonesian Bajau sea gypsies, the thirty-two days paddling the Bonnet Plume River in Canada’s Yukon Territory with the National Outdoor Leadership School, two months exploring remote islands in the Philippines, 14-days bike-packing 1000+ miles of CO's back roads, five months cultural immersion in Central America, hitch hiking the Panama Canal, three years living and teaching on an island in Maine and youthful summers spent in the Ozark Mountains chasing ghost and swimming in crystal clear spring fed rivers. I've had a blessed life and my list of adventures and experiences are expansive. If you'd like to swap stories let me know, because I get a kick out of sharing mine and truly enjoy hearing about others tales. However grandiose or trivial, people and their perspective make my world go round. I love being outside, the arts, listening to music, NPR, the truth, ingenuity, silence, the underdog, dreadlocks, mohawks, diversity, geography, splitting wood, the sound of thunder, the smell of rain, possibility, introspection, home and time spent with friends and familyEmail: KSHARRIS@aurorak12.org

jewelry & Design & sciencey things

Hi, I’m Chris. If you are here at our school, you will probably hear me before you see me. I’m a little loud, a little goofy, but I LOVE what I do. In fact, I get to teach all the things I love: lapidary (stone jewelry), apparel creation (silk screen, vinyl, sewing, etc.), 3d design and printing, Maker Space and building, and most importantly, Minecraft.I have been teaching in APS since 2004 where I got my first job as a P.E and health teacher at Hinkley High School. I switched to physics in 2011. I’ve been here at William Smith for 6 years. In that time, I’ve taught a myriad of subjects. From physics to cosplay costume design, I’ve done it all. Finally, however, I landed my dream job of electives. I have a beautiful wife (who is also a teacher), 2 fantastic kids, an adorable dog, 2 wonderful rats, 2 spastic gerbils, one glorious fish, and one devious (not really, she’s a doll) snake.If you find me on a weekend, I’m either hanging out with my family, fishing, working on a project in the garage, rockhounding, hunting, playing video games or binging a show with my wife. I look forward to meeting you and hearing about your adventures inside and outside of school.
Email: CDHUNT@aurorak12.org
Chris Hunt