Community
22 Folks to Celebrate The Crucible’s 22 Years
By Natasha von Kaenel & Cathy Niland | 1.14.2021The original Berkeley location of The Crucible.
Celebrating 22 Folks Nominated By Their Peers
These individuals are just 22 of the hundreds of folks who make The Crucible so special; volunteers who have dedicated hundreds of hours, staffers who give 110%, faculty who make every class memorable.
Janet Hiebert
Glass Fusing and Slumping Department Head
Maliq Nathaniel
Lead Studio Manager, Welding and Bike Shop faculty, Fuego Youth Leader
Rob Nehring
Welding faculty, former Crucible staff
Amanda Lacau Noguera
Board President
Shaina Johnson
Fire & Performance Department Head, Grant Writer
Warren Breslau
Crucible faculty and former Board President
Ledora Lewis-Highwater
Crucible Custodian, Woodworking faculty
Taj Wilson
Board Member
Ismael Plasencia
Youth Program Manager
Kier Lugo
Glass Blowing Department Head, former Crucible staff
Lauren Ekman
Glass Flameworking Department Co-head, former Crucible staff
Adrian Rodriguez
Blacksmithing faculty, Fuego Youth Leader
Abisola Coretta
Crucible volunteer
Kelmen Wu
Senior Staff Accountant
Marc MacDonald
Crucible Volunteer
The Crucible struck gold when Marc began donating his time to our studio in early 2014, quickly becoming an integral part of our Bike Shop’s team. A self-proclaimed fixer, Marc loved tackling the most difficult bike donations, even taking frames home to do extra work after hours. Marc passed away in 2019, but his impact lives on through the lives he changed and joy he brought into our space, and he is honored in the Bike Shop with the Marc MacDonald Spoke Hotel.
Nick DiPhillipo
Foundry Department Head
Rikki Smeltzer
Jewelry Department Head, former Crucible staff
Melissa Gray
Senior Programs Manager
Jeremy Cavagnolo
Former Crucible faculty and staff
When The Crucible moved to West Oakland, folks hoped to create a community Bike Shop that showed young folks the opportunities of the industrial arts, while also helping them fix their bicycles. Jeremy Cavagnolo (and his twin brother Brian) were instrumental in this vision, building the foundation of a shop with a service mission that The Crucible’s Bike Shop now relies on.