Valley High School's AOHT Staff
Paul Borin
Magnet Coordinator &
NAF Director
Ramona Fricker
Magnet Administrator
Mr. Paul Borin has been part of the Hospitality and Tourism program for 12 years. Mr. Borin was born in Germany and graduated with a degree in education from UNLV. Mr. Borin completed his masters in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University. He has lived in Las Vegas for 16 years and worked in the hotel industry for 7 years. Mr. Borin is the Magnet Theme Coordinator for Valley High School and is the National Academy Foundation's Director for the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism. Mr. Borin has a wide range of interests which include outdoor activities, traveling, team sports, and watching the San Diego Chargers dominate on Sunday's!
Karin Jones
Hospitality and Tourism Management
Karin Jones joined the Clark County School District in 2002. She holds a Bachelor Degree of Science in Hotel Administration at UNLV. Before her teaching career, Mrs. Jones worked for a few Las Vegas hotels including, the Las Vegas Hilton in the front office, the MGM Grand in special events and casino marketing, and the Stratosphere Resort and Tower in casino marketing. From 1996 to 2002 Karin worked for Newmarket International, Inc. as a training and installation manager. In this position she trained and implemented Sales and Catering software systems in hotels and catering offices around the world. Mrs. Jones is passionate about supporting and preparing young adults for college, the workplace and the diverse and exciting world of hospitality and tourism.
Jim Erikson
Economics and Computer Science
Ms. Fricker is responsible for the supervision of program information, recruitung, curriculum, staff, and students. Miss Fricker comes to Valley High School with 12 years of magnet experience at the middle school level. With more than 17 years expereince in CCSD she is excited to be working with the AOHT board and staff to make Valley High School the magnet program all students want to attend.
Lisa Withrow
Marketing I & II
Lisa Withrow obtained her Bachelor of Science in Political Science at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. Prior to her teaching career she worked for a Tier 3 Automotive Supplier in purchasing, warehousing, inventory control and scheduling. After moving to Las Vegas in 1999, she worked in office management, human resources, recruiting, accounting, marketing, customer relations and technical training. She entered into Secondary Education after realizing how much she truly enjoyed teaching at the corporate level. Ms. Withrow joined CCSD in 2005 and then the AOHT Magnet Program at Valley High School in 2012. She teaches all levels of Marketing, supervises the Student Store and is the DECA advisor. Being an avid world traveler has enhanced her understanding of real-world situations in Hospitality and Tourism in all of her classes on a multitude of levels.
Dave Durham
Graphics and Computer Design
NAF Technology Fellow
Jim Erikson is an Economics and Computer Science teacher at Valley High School. He was born in Michigan. Mr. Erikson has a Bachelors Degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Michigan and has a Masters Degree in Education from UNLV. Before his career in education Mr. Erikson held numerous positions in the private sector. These careers included financial advisor, wine merchant in Germany, various management positions and owner/operator of small businesses. Jim believes the Wall Street Journal is the preeminent business newspaper in the world and consequently his students are required to read and report on this paper on a weekly basis. His hobbies include traveling, sailing, and golfing. Mr. Erikson teaches Economics for Hospitality and Tourism to the junior class.
Dave Durham is in his 10th year at Valley. He has taught 7 different H&T courses in his tenure at Valley. Most recently, in his 2014 sophomore Marketing classes he completed a project that he presented nationally in Atlanta at the ISTE conference and a week later in Washington D.C. at the NAF conference. The classes used 15 different apps that included collaboration, peer assessment, group assessment, and social media in realtime. The students used their own devices on most of the project. Because of the success of the project, Mr. Durham is still a member of the NAF Technology Fellows program (USE THE QR CODE BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE)and working on his next class project to present to the conferences. Mr. Durham is also the head flag football coach at Valley.
