Chemistry teacher hopes to bring excitement to the classroom

Off the coast of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, a school of dolphins circled around a snorkeler as if serenading her. The sun glistened and reflected off the water and the dolphins’ bodies.

Amidst a ring of dolphins, new science teacher Janny Cahatol rose out of the crystal-clear water and removed her goggles.

“The dolphins were curious to see what I was, and I was curious and slightly frightened to see what they were,” Cahatol said.

Because of longtime science teacher Bob Kucer’s retirement over the summer, Cahatol has joined the SHS staff as a chemistry teacher.

In her free time Cahatol enjoys backpacking, snorkeling and just being outdoors.  She attributes her love of the outdoors to her father.  Growing up in the Central Valley, Cahatol and her family often traveled to Yosemite on the weekends.

While a student at University of California, Berkeley, Cahatol met some adventurous friends who also liked to snorkel and backpack.

After college, she taught AP Biology abroad in Zanzibar. There, Cahatol and a college friend backpacked through other parts of Africa including Zanzibar, Porcelanosa, Zambia and Botswana.

According to Cahatol, she met a variety of interesting people throughout her trip with whom she exchanged travel stories at the hostels, which are dormitories with bunk beds and a shared bathroom that ranges from $10 to $25 per night.

“It’s a great thing that we speak English. If you can speak English, you can basically get by anywhere,” Cahatol said.

One night in Zanzibar, Cahatol stayed at a hostel with a missing wall. Before going to bed, she left two mangoes on the table. She was woken by a noise in the middle of the night.

“When I woke up I saw a half-eaten mango. I was like, darn, I just lost two mangoes to a monkey,” Cahatol laughs. It was like living out in the wild, she said.

In Maasai Mara, Cahatol and her friend went on a safari on a jeep.

“We weren’t all wearing safari hats like in the cartoons, but we were on a jeep,” Cahatol said.

They drove to a watering hole and watched the wild animals drink water. Cahatol said it was as if all the animals, including the giraffes and elephants, were all one big family.

However, as the lions were approaching, all the animals stopped drinking and stampeded, trying to avoid the lions. The giraffes looked like they were running in slow motion because of their long legs and necks, Cahatol observed.

“It looked just like ‘The Lion King’,” Cahatol said.

Going on a safari was nothing like going to the zoo because all the animals were roaming free and there were a much greater variety of animals, Cahatol said.

Cahatol went on many different safaris in Africa, but she was not always lucky enough to see the animals.

“It’s an experience that is very unlikely if you were to look at me. You wouldn’t think I was so adventurous,” Cahatol said.

Cahatol’s interest in teaching science began in college. She has an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in biochemistry and two masters’ degrees, an M.A. from Stanford in education and an M.Ed from Columbia in educational leadership.

Over this past summer, before she knew about an opening here, Cahatol wasn't even in the job market. She heard about the position here from a friend and teacher at Leigh High School, where she has taught chemistry for seven years.

Cahatol decided to apply on a Friday night at midnight. The following Monday she got an interview and was offered the job a few days later as the new Chemistry Honors teacher.

Now that she’s settled down and married, Cahatol doesn’t have very much time to travel, but she still enjoys hiking in the hills around the Bay Area.