Elective

Master Journalism Educator Trish McHale currently teaches Journalism, Advanced Journalism and Public Speaking. A former member of the Board of Judges for Columbia, she has over 25 years of teaching experience and serves as the adviser of "The Fourth Estate," the national award-winning student newspaper and its website. Trish’s newspaper staff won a CSPA Silver Crown Award in 2011 and an NSPA Online Pacemaker finalist award this year.

As the director of the Senior Project Program, Trish helps prepare the seniors for their presentations, and she coaches students who participate in the Lions Club Speech Contest and the Optimist Club Oratorical Contest. She is also the Interact Club facilitator, a student club sponsored by the Santa Barbara Rotary Club.

Trish leads the School’s community service program, which she helped to develop in 1994. Ms. McHale is credited with starting a number of programs for the School, including the student club program; the Humanitas Service Honor Society to recognize and involve students who excel in service leadership; the Middle School Media Literacy Program; the Mock Trial program; and the School’s debate team.

She was honored with the School’s distinguished Walk of Fame Award in 2010, the highest award recognizing remarkable long-term dedication, generosity and commitment to Laguna Blanca. She is also the recipient of the Windward District Teacher of the Year Award, Kailua, HI.

A member of the Santa Barbara Cinema Society, Trish enjoys film and supports the arts by attending interviews with directors, cinematographers and actors.

Katie Pointer joined Laguna’s science faculty in 2005 having completed her Masters of Education and Secondary Science Teaching Credential at UCSB. A Summa Cum Laude graduate from Westmont in chemistry, Katie received numerous honors during her distinguished undergraduate career, including the College’s Outstanding Graduate in Chemistry recognition and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society induction. Katie also received a five-year Knowles Science Teaching Fellowship, which afforded her the opportunity to work with other physics and chemistry teachers around the country to develop their teaching. In 2022, Laguna recognized Katie with the Faculty Excellence Award. Though her primary passion and teaching at Laguna have been in chemistry, she also enjoys the opportunity to share her love of the ocean with students through our Marine Science elective. Outside of school, you are likely to find Katie walking or reading at the beach.

In addition to serving the LBS community at the Isham Library & Nylen Academic Research Center, Al is currently completing his Ph.D. at UC Santa Barbara in religious studies. He specializes in the history and philosophy of American religion and is writing his dissertation on the late American author David Foster Wallace, specifically on Wallace’s famous Kenyon College commencement address, This Is Water. Al taught academic writing at UCSB for over four years, and works with students as an educational coach/tutor. Before coming to Santa Barbara, Al worked as a biomedical researcher & laboratory manager (cancer biology) at his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania--an experience which greatly developed both the breadth and depth of his educational skills.