Indigenous History Team
Dorothy Matsumura--8th/7th Grade Indigenous History
My name is Dorothy Matsumura. I was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. My maternal family is from Cuba, NM. My paternal family is from the New England area and Jemez Pueblo. My grandfather, Dr. Joe Sando was a pueblo historian and author of 6 books, detailing the history of pueblos and people of the southwest. I inherited his passion for history and writing. I graduated from UNM with a Master's in Secondary Education and focus on Social Studies. My hobbies are traveling, gardening, exploring the outdoors and walking my dogs.
John Fraschilla--6th/7th Grade Indigenous History
Hello, my name is John Fraschilla, and I am very excited t
o be teaching here at NACA. I have been teaching in Albuquerque for 19 years. I graduated from UNM with my bachelor’s degree in education and am endorsed to teach Social Studies, Language Arts and English as a Second Language. I have lived in Albuquerque my entire life and that is where I met my wife. We have two wonderful daughters, one at U.N.M. and one working at Disneyworld as part of the Disney college program. We as a family, are huge Disney freaks and spend a lot of our free time at those parks. I am also a huge sports fan, and love baseball. I started coaching when I was 16 years old and my love for coaching and helping young players is the main reason I became a teacher. My favorite baseball team is the Chicago Cubs, but I also like the Dodgers and of course the Isotopes, for whom I am an employee. I work 2-3 nights each homestand as the scoreboard operator during the baseball season. I also love the Green Bay Packers as my father was born in Green Bay. I am a huge Lobo basketball fan as well. In our free time, my wife and I enjoy watching the TV comedy Psych and I may quote it from time to time in my classroom.