Our Staff

Tracy Rosewarne has been teaching high school for 15 years.  She is the adviser for The Communicator (online and print editions).  The Communicator Online and The Communicator newsmagazine are student-run publications that have won numerous state and national awards.  She also teaches Intro to Literature, Writer's Way, Pop Lit and Forum. 

She has two kids and likes to eat homemade chocolate chip cookies after school.  She has written two education books that are published with Heinemann; one is on spelling and the other is about writing and literature; neither of them have been made into movies.  Tracy used to play tennis, dance and run.  She is currently focusing on doing a 20 minute workout video at least twice a week.  Her right arm is significantly stronger than her left because of all of the papers that she grades.

The Counselor role is fun and varied- from shoulder to cry on to college counselor and advisor. I change schedules, recruit students from middle schools, meet with college professionals throughout the world and write letters of recommendation. This year, I was honored with two awards, which mark some important distinctives of my role. Colleges That Change Lives, an organization that represents 41 colleges featured in the Loren Pope book of the same title, named me a "Counselor That Changes Lives." In late spring, I was surprised by my professional organization's highest achievement award, The Michigan Association of College Admission Counseling's William Gramenz Award.  It is an honor to work with the great families and staff that is Community High School.

I have had the distinct privilege of teaching at Community since 2003, and have served as a teacher in the Ann Arbor schools since 1989. I previously taught kindergarten and pre-school for the University of Michigan. I currently teach classes in photography, drawing and painting, open studio, Italian Art and Culture, and sometimes I help with the Yearbook. I have a wonderful Forum group that makes me smile and laugh everyday! I am a practicing artist, currently working on a body of photographic pieces based on how humans interact with landscape. I am a native of the Upper Peninsula, and presently live in Ypsilanti with my wife Karie and two children, Philip and Julia.

I am a highly qualified teacher with a Masters of Arts in Teaching and extensive experience in both classroom instruction and mentoring. I have been a high school mathematics teacher for nearly nine years and have gained valuable experience delivering quality instruction to a highly diverse student body. I have taught a range of mathematics courses at all grade levels with an emphasis on Algebra and Geometry. I believe in making connections with students and am committed to helping them grow both personally and academically.

This is my 4th year at Community High and I love being here! I teach math (Geometry) and work in the counseling office. My favorite part about being here at Community is our students!

Hi, my name is Christina Hicks and I am the Secretary to the Dean here at Community High School.  I started out 16 years ago in the Research Department at Balas.  From there I served as the Main Office Secretary at Pioneer High.  Then I spent 5 years working as the Secretary to the Principal at Forsythe.  I am starting my 6th year here at Community High.  The students are my favorite part of  the AAPS.  I find out something new and amazing about them every day.

I have been teaching for 6 years and I absolutely love it!  My first degree is in Advertising and after nine short months of working at an advertising agency, I decided to quit my job and go back to college to become a teacher.  It was one of the best decision that I made!

I was born and raised in Ann Arbor and I am a former Pioneer. I have been married for six years and I am a very proud mother of two beautiful girls: Jordyn and Averie.  My world revolves around my family and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I grew up in Ann Arbor. After receiving my Bachelor's of Science from University of Michigan, I worked as a fisheries scientist for USGS. I returned to U of M for graduate school and got my master's in education from the MAC program. During this program, I student taught at CHS and was lucky enough to be hired to teach science!

I started teaching Spanish part-time at Community in 2005 and I am very excited to be here full-time now.  I still teach Spanish at Community, levels 1-4 and Advanced Proficiency.  I also have an awesome lunch Forum.  I am an AAPS, University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and Wayne State alum where I've received BAs in Pychology and Spanish and a MA in Language Learning.  My husband and I live in downtown Ann Arbor and enjoy having our family nearby.  I love learning and teaching Spanish, but my other interests include traveling, reading, art, crossword puzzles and BBC Mystery! series.  While that may lead you to think I'm 85 years old, I am actually in my 30s.  I believe in promoting communicative competence and cultural awareness through task-based activities in my classroom.  I feel lucky to be teaching such great kids in such a great school.

I enjoy working and helping students understand and navigate the realm of online learning. I strive to find uses of technology to take a different look at ideas and help students understand a deeper understanding. My previous experiences involve teaching mathematics for 10 years at Huron High School and for 1.5 years at Skyline. I look forward to continuing my role as an online math instruction and to developing the online program.

Technology is an accelerator; it can help get you where you're going faster. If you're going nowhere, it'll help you get there faster too. I'm an award winning playwright, a published poet and more than one publication has actually paid me for my fiction. My Master's thesis, in Philosophical Aesthetics, was titled "Instructive Ambiguities: Bertolt Brecht and Heiner Müller's Experiments with Lehrstücke." I'm a pragmatically organic vegetable gardener, a horror movie snob, a proud grampa, an even prouder father and, for over the past 25 years, I've been blessed with an extremely loving and supportive partner. I've been told I look like music producer Rick Rubens, or equally Santa's scruffy brother.

Ken teaches Introduction to Lit., World Lit., Shakespeare, Science Fiction Lit., Fantasy Lit., Creative Writing, and Forum.

"We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves." -Galileo Galilei

Salvete omnes! This is my 11th year at Community High and 15th year of teaching. Tempus fugit! I am so very fortunate to teach a subject I love in a school where some of my best friends also work. My current schedule is 3 sections of Latin (I, II, & Advanced) and 2 sections of Civics (RWCE 2). I have a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and a Master’s degree in Educational Technology from Michigan State University (Go Green! Go White!). My family includes two daughters (Anabel & Penelope), a wife who also teaches in AAPS, and 3 dogs. I believe in a challenging, open, and safe environment for all of my students and that a commitment to education will always pay untold dividends in the future.

I've been teaching French, Forum and monitoring CRs at CHS for 17 years and am very happy to be here.  I have three children, ages 11, 8 & 7 years old, and a husband who is a teacher in the district as well.    Besides teaching, I love to travel, knit, read, garden, play tennis and spend time with my family.

Nathaniel L. Powell is a lifelong learner.  His first career was as an electronic system officer, aircraft ground controller, and intercontinental ballistic missile commander in the U. S. Air Force.  After receiving his second B.S. degree and teaching certification from the University of Minnesota, he taught grades 3, 5, and 6 and served as a middle school dean of students in Vero Beach, FL.  After several years of teaching, he attended the University of Michigan where he earned the Doctor of Education (2003) and Master of Science in Information (2006) degrees.  Dr. Powell began as a media specialist at Bryant Elementary then moved to Community High, where he continues to work 3-1/2 days a week as well as working 1-1/2 days at Eberwhite Elementary.  Dr. Powell thinks that working as a media specialist in the Ann Arbor Public Schools and impacting the leaders of tomorrow is the most rewarding career of all.  He is married and has two adult children and two grandchildren.

Hello!  This is my third year teaching in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and I am so lucky to be here.  This is my first year teaching full time at Community, but we go way back.  Our previous adventures together include my being a high school student, a student teacher and a part time teacher.  Currently I'm teaching US History, Gender Studies, two sections of Real World Civics and Economics I, and my beloved and entertaining Forum.  I believe that Community is one of the best high schools in the world, and even the toughest days here are marked by the kindness, creativity, and hilarity of the students and staff.  After graduating from Community, I attended Brown University and the University of Michigan, where I received my Bachelor's degree in History and Gender Studies and my Master's degree in Education, respectively.  My partner Julian and I live with our wonderful roommate (Aiden), sweet dog (Carmen), and three riotous felines (Guy, Leo, and Basil), and are grateful to have our families in town.

Years at CHS:  Quite a few: since 1987
Favorite quote:  "If you think you can or you think you can't, you're right."
Love to: run, teach, knit and read
Plan to:  visit all the national parks
Philosophy:  You are what you do repeatedly

I have taught at Community High School since 1997.  I love working with my students in the Individualized Learning Center, as well as Intro to Lit with Ken McGraw.  Currently, I am also co-advising the CHS Poetry Club along with retired English teacher, Brian Miller.  I have also enjoyed co-teaching writing classes with Tracy Rosewarne.  Whatever I do, I try and teach with joy and a passion for life.  I am blessed to be both a teacher and parent at this wonderful school as I have both a sophomore and senior attending Community. 

I feel so lucky to be the Jazz Program Director at Community High School, which is a dream gig! Jazz performance and pedagogy are my passions, so teaching jazz combos all day is truly special. I love jazz history and love playing my saxophone. Also, I live happily with my wife Jaimie, and our little girl, Natalie. They are extremely fun. I also like to run, SCUBA dive, tinker around the house, and hike and camp in the mountains. Traveling is wonderful. And I am crazy about the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. Even my car is gold and black, which may or may not be a coincidence.