Gary Soerensen (Chair) hails from Joliet, Illinois, which is just south of Chicago.  He graduated from Joliet West Township High School with a scholarship in vocal performance.  He received both his B.S. and M.S. in Music Education with an additional major in English and Speech from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.  Mr. Soerensen has served as artistic director of the Musical Theatre Ensemble for the past fifteen years at Arts High coupled with his assignment as current chair of the English Department.  His past productions of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Hello, Dolly!, 42nd Street, Dreamgirls, Grease, Pippin, South Pacific, Jesus Christ Superstar, Carousel, Evita, Fiddler on the Roof, Fame: The Musical, A Chorus Line, West Side Story, Little Shop of Horrors, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, HMS Pinafore and originally conceived and directed productions of Broadway:  Then and Now and An Evening With Andrew Lloyd Webber at Arts High have been received with much critical acclaim in the Greater Los Angeles Area.  Mr. Soerensen has been honored as "Honorable Mention" for the prestigious Bravo Award recognizing outstanding achievement in arts education for several years by Club 100.  As a professional actor and singer, Mr. Soerensen has appeared in the title role of The Mikado at the James Armstrong Theatre in Torrance, Comedy Tonight Productions in Thousand Oaks, the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica and the Long Beach Playhouse.  He also recreated his role of Hucklebee in The Fantasticks for MET2 at the El Portal Center Theatre in North Hollywood.  His production of Evita in 1985 was named Best Musical in Illinois for which he also won Best Director.  Professionally, Mr. Soerensen has also directed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Wiz, Grease, Show Boat, The Pirates of Penzance and Carousel.  In 1998 he co-directed Finian's Rainbow as a joint collaboration between Arts High and Cal State LA at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex.  Mr. Soerensen is celebrating his 38th year of teaching!  He has a daughter, son and granddaughter that all live in Springfield, Illinois.

Classes: English 9, Adv. English 9, Musical Theatre
E-mail: huklbe@aol.com Phone: (323) 343-6369

“Great stories have the power to open minds, question ideas, heal our sufferings…mirror our joys.  I enjoy being an advocate for such reflection and am honored to serve at the LA County High School for the Arts.” 

Classes: English 10, Adv. English 10
E-mail: javier.armijo@gmail.com Phone: (323) 343-6354

Barry Pohlmann DMA, in his five years as a LACHSA English teacher, has earned a reputation  for his rigorous 11th and 12th grade English classes which provide his students opportunities to develop their skills as writers and thinkers prepared for college.
      Originally hailing from Wisconsin, Dr. Pohlmann attended Lawrence University, in Appleton, Wisconsin, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate with Bachelor’s degrees in English and Music.  Dr. Pohlmann earned numerous recognitions for his academic work, including The Phi Beta Kappa Prize for “most outstanding freshman,” and English prizes for “most outstanding critical essay” and “most outstanding performance in courses in English.”   He also was distinguished as a Henry Merritt Wriston Fellow, Lawrence’s most selective academic honor, and won a place as a state finalist as Lawrence’s nominee for a Rhodes Scholarship.
      After graduation, Dr. Pohlmann took a one year hiatus from academic study to pursue full-time work as a guitarist with one of Milwaukee’s top bands, “Streetlife,” a pop-jazz fusion group best known for its frequent Midwestern festival appearances and as the house band for the Milwaukee Bucks. Although he began graduate studies in English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the following year, Dr. Pohlmann decided instead pursue advanced musical study, attending the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, wher he earned a Master’s degree in Jazz and Contemporary Media Performance in 1994. 
      In 1994, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he taught Guitar as an assistant lecturer at the USC Thornton School of music, and helped design the School’s DMA performance degree program in Studio/Jazz guitar, the first of its kind in the nation, of which he became the first recipient in 2000.  During the same time, Dr. Pohlmann began teaching in the LACHSA Music department, eventually taking on not only a guitar class, but Jazz Theory, and Jazz Improvisation classes, as well as the direction and creation of the Jazz Lab Band. 

Classes: English 11, Honors Eng. 11, English 12 Honors Eng. 12, Eng. 11/12,
Writing Lab
E-mail: drpohlmann@gmail.com Phone: (323) 343-6399

A native Californian, Tiffany Owens comes to LACHSA with a rich background in the arts and theater in particular. She studied ballet for many years, played the cello in her school orchestra, sang in the concert choir and acted in the musical theater ensemble. After high school, Ms. Owens earned a coveted place and completed the intense acting program at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. For several years, she worked on the production side of the Santa Barbara International FIlm Festival, the American Film Institute’s film festival and the National Children's Film Festival in Los Angeles. Ms. Owens went on to earn her B.A. from Antioch University and her teaching credential in English from the Michael D. Eisner College of Education at California State University Northridge. She previously taught English, Drama, and Musical Theater Ensemble at Charter schools in the greater Los Angeles area, and she now teaches American Literature and British Literature at LACHSA.
         Ms. Owens has designed and taught rigorous English and Drama curriculums for her previous schools and worked on a U.S. Department of Education Grant to integrate the arts into core-subject teaching practices. She has received numerous accolades and recognition for her keen ability to provide the highest caliber of academic instruction while simultaneously creating a joyous classroom environment that encourages active student engagement and success. Her work has yielded measurable results in the form of significantly increased standardized state test scores.
         Ms. Owens’ passions are reading (of course!) world travel - New Zealand being a particular favorite - and finding beauty in the small, everyday rituals of life. Her goal for both her students and herself is ongoing growth as extraordinary thinkers and communicators.

Classes: English 11, English 12
Phone: (323) 343-6383