Meet Our Retrievers

Kathryn Pierno, Educational Consultant. Kathryn is the proud mom of 2 very recent San Lorenzo Valley High graduates and numerous naughty but endearing pets. In addition to her UC Irvine training as a college advisor, Kathryn has a  broad background in education. She has taught Chemistry at  UC Berkeley Lawrence Hall of Science and UC Santa Cruz and Molecular Biology at Cabrillo College. As a teacher and tutor of middle and high school students, she has extensive experience working with teens and their families.

Kathryn has professional writing experience, working as a Medical Writer to publish articles in scientific journals. She won first place for her essay ‘Surf Science and the Language of Middle School‘ in an international competition sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is the Director of Youth Education at the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center, where she teaches a variety of art classes in the Art After School program and serves as their grant writer. Her favorite  activities include hiking with her tribe of dogs and oil painting.

Education: BA in Biology, UC Santa Cruz; MS in Biochemistry, UC Davis; PhD program in Molecular Pathology, UC San Diego and the Salk Institute; UC Irvine, Educational Consultant program

Sprocket, Lead Retriever.  No matter how harsh the conditions, Sprocket relentlessly seeks his target until the fetch is successful — especially if food is involved. While the goal is important to him, he reminds us that the true joy comes from the process.