Instructors

Clara Grebel is a native Spanish speaker, raised and educated in Argentina. She studied General and Latin American literature in the Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, and graduated from the Instituto de Arte Cinematográfico de Avellaneda, Argentina, with a degree in Filmmaking (with strong emphasis in screenwriting). She has been teaching since 1998, and co-founded Castalia Language Center in 2007. Outside of the classroom, Clara enjoys reading, watching movies and walking in beautiful Portland. She is a fan of public transportation and commutes by bus, MAX and streetcar.

Patricia A. Morrissey was born and raised in Lima, Peru. She has graduate degrees from both the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico and the University of Rhode Island. She has taught in Peru and in Mexico and for over ten years at Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon. Patricia also volunteers with the Hispanic Council, a non-profit she co-founded in Clatsop County. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys reading, hiking and traveling.

A Spanish teacher and interpreter for over 8 years, Jessica Dover was born in North Carolina, making her way to Portland nearly six years ago after stops in Colorado, Michigan, and California. After receiving her Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, she spent the summer after graduation in the Yucatan, Mexico, where she lived with a local family, studied Spanish intensively, and nurtured her then new-found passion for the Spanish language. Jessica is a nationally Certified Medical Interpreter and will be receiving her Court Interpreter Certification in February of 2012. She also produces and edits promotional videos and weblogs, and enjoys playing the piano, singing, cooking (and eating!), yoga, movies, and travel.

Stephanie Kreutter originally hails from Denver, Colorado, but has lived in various places in the Spanish-speaking world such as Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Cuba and Spain. One of her favorite cities remains Portland, where she enjoys going to the cinema, being outdoors (either hiking, cycling or taking photos), working in the darkroom and teaching español to adolescents and adults alike. Stephanie has devoted much of her time to studying Spanish formally at Santa Clara University, the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and Portland State. She holds an MA in Spanish Language and Literature from PSU. This is currently her sixth year teaching.