My name is Dr. Apostol, and this is my 15th year as a high school teacher. I grew up in Los Angeles County and have attended and worked at A LOT of different colleges, so my educational history is a little wild. Okay, here goes... after high school, I began my undergraduate education at El Camino Community College in Lawndale, California for a year and a half before transferring to UC Davis for a year. I returned to Southern California and completed my bachelor’s degree at UCLA. After graduating, I worked at the California Institute of Technology in a research lab, which is where I fell in love with molecular biology and biochemistry and decided I wanted to pursue those subjects. I went on to attend graduate school at UC Irvine and after 6.5 years (yes it was a long time!) I received my Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry (which is why there is a Dr. before my name). I then did research at Colorado State University, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Puerto Rico, Tufts University in Boston, and then eventually ended up back at UC Irvine. Along the way, I have done some teaching at GWC, OCC, Cal State LB, UCI and now SAC. When I turned fifty, I retired early from my position as a researcher at UC Irvine and again went back to college to get my teaching credential in Biology and Chemistry.

I am also passionate about protecting the planet. I volunteer regularly as a naturalist with the Back Bay Conservatory and I am the advisor for Godinez's Environmental Club.  Lastly, I love hanging out with my 23-year-old daughter (a  UC Berkeley graduate and now a legislative aide in the state capital), my pets (I have two cats and a dog), and friends. I am passionate about seeing the world and have traveled to Mexico, Guatemala, China, Russia, Mongolia, Indonesia, Philippines, western Europe, India, Nepal, Japan, Ecuador, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Morocco to name a few..  

I am looking forward to having a great 2023-24 school year!