My name is Leif Atkisson.   I am a graduate from SDSU with a degree in Spanish with a teaching emphasis. Throughout my university years and formal study of the Spanish language I traveled throughout Latin America to experience what I had been studying.  I also studied at a bilingual academy in Morelos, Mexico.  I still travel, but now I travel with my wife and 2 sons.  I have been with the OUSD for many years.  I started my career as a bilingual teaching assistant in 1991 at Palmquist Elementary School.  Then I went to El Camino High School and taught  Spanish 1, 2 and 3 until 2005.  I then spent 3 years on leave in the rain forest of Costa Rica. Those 3 years have proved very valuable to me personally and professionally.   I returned for the 2008/2009 school year and I have been teaching here at OHS ever since.   I am very happy and proud to be teaching for the OUSD, and I am proud to be a Pirate.  This year I am teaching Spanish 1 and AP Spanish.  I look forward to another fulfilling and rewarding year here at OUSD.