My name is Dr. Apostol, and this is my 16th 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 50, I retired from my position as a researcher at UC Irvine and again went back to college to get my teaching credential in Biology and Chemistry.  Why did I leave research?  Because after all those years working in academia, I believe more strongly than ever that, as Nelson Mandela stated, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world".

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 25-year-old kid (a  UC Berkeley graduate and now a legislative aide in the state capital), my pets (I have two cats), and friends. I am passionate about seeing the world and have traveled to Mexico, Guatemala, China, Russia, Mongolia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Western Europe, India, Nepal, Japan, Ecuador, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Morocco and Madagascar to name a few.

I am looking forward to having a great 2024-25 school year!