Ms. Holmes has been a long-time arts educator, namely with the New Hampshire Theatre Project. Christy is committed to quality in the curriculum, the teaching environment and the work of her students to bring them and the school closer to their personal academic and artistic goals. Her motto, "the artistic expression of the academic experience," permeates all of her programs. For the past two years, she has revitalized, motivated, and moved forward CATA's mission to provide excellence in secondary education through integrated arts and technology into core academics, performing arts, musical arts, and fine arts. Christy continues to explore her role as artist in the community as a vocalist with a local band.

Mr. Fletcher holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Education from the University of New Hampshire, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Ithaca College in New York. Mr. Fletcher stridently believes that Science is fundamentally the testing of Hypotheses, and therefore encourages students to generate their own questions and design investigations that are conducted both in the laboratory and in the outdoor classroom. He is currently taking part in the Global Climate Change Education professional learning community offered by NASA through UNH, and integrating computer modeling and mathematics into the CATA science curriculum. During his several years at CATA, he has mentored the Envirothon and Ocean Bowl academic teams, the Ultimate Frisbee team and taught electives in Puppetry and Domestic Arts. During his free time, he enjoys hiking, biking, disc golf, and relaxing with his family.

Mr. Azzaro earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Safety Studies and Master’s Degree in School Counseling, as well as, a Post-Master Certificate in Educational Leadership from Keene State College. Prior to his arrival at CATA, he spent the past three years as the Guidance Director for the Mascenic Regional School District. Mr. Azzaro’s goal is to help students to become good decision makers by helping them realize that with a good education, their opportunities for the future will be expanded. His hope is that students and their parents will see that there is a connection between what goes on in the classroom and the outside world. To this end, he provides individual counseling, post secondary planning, and career counseling.

Mr. Azzaro believes that a school should provide students with a secure and caring environment, one that allows a person to be valued for their intrinsic qualities. He has always maintained an “open door policy”. He realizes that many students have personal issues that can be devastating, and if he is able to help by being a good listener, then he hopes that he has made a positive impact on their lives.

He is looking forward to working in a school that focuses on artistic expression in the academic environment. Throughout his life, Mr. Azzaro has always been immersed in the arts. His father is a retired Professor of Ceramics and his mother a retired art teacher. During his free time, Mr.Azzaro enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, coaching basketball and exercising.

Robotics: During the early 80s, Professor DuPrie danced with the Philadelphia Ballet, and played in a variety of orchestral and rock/blues bands. After a stint in the military as a combat medic, he spent 12 years at University studying and teaching developmental neurobiology. While at University, Professor DuPrie assisted in the design of a number of hyper-benthic robots and ROVs. He left University to help some friends with a high-tech start-up, and has since helped over 200 small high-tech businesses get their start. He has worked with the IETF and W3C in writing ipV6 protocols, and a variety of web standards. Professor DuPrie is now semi-retired, and spends his time teaching critical thinking and technology skills in K-12 environments.

Mrs. Frost holds both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English teaching from the University of New Hampshire. As an educator, she continues the work she did in her studies, concentrating in her classroom on literary criticism, writing instruction, critical thinking skills, and the study of film as literature. She is licensed with the New Hampshire Board of Education for grades 5-12, and she is an adjunct professor at UNH where she teaches Freshman Writing every fall. She is a fellow with the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College where she continues to attend workshops and symposiums that focus on issues of social justice and education, compassion, and equality. Mrs. Frost also teaches yoga and leads guided meditation. She is outspoken about equal rights, she loves to read and write, and she's a whiz at parallel parking.

Danielle Howard is pleased to be joining the faculty of CATA this fall. A New England native, Danielle has worked for several years as a director and actor at theatres around the country, including Indiana Repertory Theatre, Greenbrier Valley Theatre, American Stage Festival, Shadowland Theatre, Prather Entertainment, and American Family Theatre. Locally, she has appeared onstage or behind the scenes at Seacoast Repertory Theatre, Hackmatack Playhouse, the Palace Theatre, and the Theatre Lobby in Boston. She has taught acting, directing, and introductory theatre courses at Indiana University, Franklin College, Ivy Tech Community College, and beginning this fall, at Great Bay Community College. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from Indiana University and Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of New Hampshire. For several years, she served as a musical theatre instructor for Indiana University’s Midsummer Theatre Program—a summer intensive program for high school students from across the country. She has also led workshops in musical theatre for young performers in New Hampshire at the Bell Center and the Palace Youth Theatre. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association and an Associate Member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

Mr. Keith has been with CATA since it opened. He is working towards his Master's degree in education at Franklin Pierce University and is a strong proponent of experiential, student-centric learning. His philosophy is that learning is a collaborative effort and the teacher must be willing to learn from the students if the students are going to learn from the teacher. In other areas of life, Mr. Keith is a musician who performs regularly in the Seacoast area, a volunteer producer for the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, as well as the co-founder of Avant Coast, a New England artists' collective. Additionally, Mr. Keith is a die-hard Boston sports fan.

Mr. Livingston studied Physics and Mathematics at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. He has been heavily involved in outdoor environmental education and experiential learning. He believes that people learn math best when they can relate it to their world, and aims to make mathematics relevant and integrated with other fields of study. His teaching goal is to instill mathematical confidence in his students, enabling them to handle any numbers that life throws at them. In addition to Math and Science, he enjoys playing guitar, tinkering with computers, and the occasional outdoor adventure.

Melissa Manseau is an active classical and opera singer and active vocal instructor, specializing in developing young voices through confidence building and technique starting in the early years with Broadway Kids, Teen Idol, Youth Opera Workshop and Show Choir. Many of Ms. Manseau's students go on to pursue the study of voice or musical theater as a college career, several on scholarship. In addition, her students perform successful auditions and leading roles, and generally loving singing throughout the greater Seacoast area. She received her Bachelor of Arts in music education from the University of New Hampshire. Ms. Manseau was an Apprentice Artist with Sarasota Opera in 2001 when she was awarded the Sarasota Opera Guild Scholarship and the Kern Foundation Scholarship. She has recently performed with the Cape Cod Opera and recorded with Parma Records and begins her third year with the Cocheco Arts and Technology Academy. She is also available for private lessons.

Meghan Samson is the Fine Arts teacher at Cocheco Arts and Technology Academy. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of New Hampshire with a dual concentration in Sculpture and Ceramics. She has been teaching art, as well as making and showing her work avidly, since graduating from the University. In recent years, she has studied sculpture as a work study resident at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado, as well as a studio assistantship at Odyssey Center for the Ceramic Arts in Asheville, North Carolina. Meghan believes that making and creating is one of the most important aspects of being human. She feels that supporting and encouraging her students to take part in the creative experience helps them to use their imaginations and begin to feel a connection with their art and their existence. Making art is a way for students to begin to recognize their personal expression and is one of the first communication tools a child will explore. Looking at art is a way for students to feel a connection to other cultures and gain inspiration from other artists’ techniques and styles. Art is a special gift they can use through adulthood and become unique and creative individuals in their communities.

Bob Walker, Jr. earned his BM in Music Education at Berklee College of Music and is working on his Master’s Degree in Education Media Design and Technology at Full Sail University. He has also gone through training to teach the AP Music Theory Course through Manhattan College in New York and has attended the Jazz Band Director Academy through the Essentially Ellington program. He has been teaching privately for 22 years and in the public schools for 8. Mr. Walker’s performance experience includes playing in theatre bands, with his most recent performances with Hackmatack Playhouse, Seacoast Rep, and Prescott Park Arts Festival. Currently, he has been working as a freelance guitarist for various live and recording performances including his band Bob Jr and the Martini Gardeners, with whom he has recorded and released a CD and participated in the past two RPM Challenges. Through the RPM Challenge recordings, the band had a song selected to be a part of a compilation CD Sounds of Caring, released in 2008.