K-8 EXCELLENCE SINCE 1973 2027 7th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710 (map) • 510‑845‑0876
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DeAndre Calhoun Interim Head of School 2024-25
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“The relationship among the adults has more to do with the character and the quality of a school than any other factor.”
Roland Barthes
Faculty
Nataliya Vdovychenko is originally from Ukraine, where she grew up in a family of math teachers for two generations. She received her M.S. in mathematics and computer science from Vinnitsa State Pedagogical University in 1990 and taught mathematics for five years at Vinnitsa High School. Nataliya then worked for 11 years at the Vinnitsa City Council as their computer specialist. Upon joining her family in the U.S., she completed the intensive ESL and computer courses at the English Center for International Women and at Laney College in Oakland. Nataliya has been in the teaching field for over 23 years. She has two daughters, one of them a BPC class of 2020 graduate. She joined Black Pine Circle School in 2009. Nataliya enjoys traveling, reading books, cooking, dancing, and spending time with her family.
Teaching Since
1991
Pronouns
she/her
Contact
Email >
Why I Work with Children
I love the students and helping them at school. Working at this school gives me a positive outlook and hope for the future.
A Favorite Book
I love Agatha Christie’s “cozy mysteries”. She wrote from the 1920s through the 1970s and she’s the best selling novelist of all time! Such vivid characters, such carefully written and thrilling plots!
Quick Fact
Fluent Russian speaker
Eighth Grade History & Geography Teacher
Keen on floating houses and mutant Basset Hounds
Full Bio >
Seventh Grade Math Teacher, Math Club / Math Team Coach
Played soccer on a Zambian teacher team
Eighth Grade Spanish Teacher
I speak several languages.
Eighth Grade Math Teacher
Loves to travel
Fourth-Sixth Grade Music Teacher
Tamed a mechanical bull in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sixth Grade Science Teacher and Sixth Grade-Level Coordinator
Herded sheep by motorbike in Australia.
Upper School Physical Education Teacher and Upper School Athletic Director
Eighth Grade English and Eighth Grade Drama Teacher
Ask me about the time I had a magical and terrifying stand-off with a bison in the Badlands.
Seventh and Eighth Grade Music Teacher, Band Director
Performed music in South Africa during the end of legal apartheid.
Eighth Grade Science Teacher
Apprenticed with a luthier, adept with a paddle
Sixth & Seventh Grade Math Teacher
Seventh Grade History Teacher
Sixth Grade English Teacher
Loves to write or paint
BPC String Orchestra Leader
Creates musical arrangements for fun
Seventh Grade Science Teacher
Kissed a shark once!
Sixth Grade Spanish Teacher
My birthday is April 1st, no joke!
Seventh Grade English Teacher
Obsessed with the Salem witchcraft trials
Sixth Grade History Teacher
Played Gaelic Football as a youth, and won a Minors championship in Ireland
Upper School Mandarin Teacher
Once ate deep-fried silkworms
Seventh Grade Math Assistant, Math Team Coach
