CLRC Instructors
Anne Van Fossen spent seven years working with her husband, John, to found a Christian Classical K-8 school in California. Anne was the Director of Program and Curriculum Development and head of the Ancient Languages Department. She has over 15 years of experience teaching classical Greek and Latin to all ages from Kindergarten to adult. Anne earned her Master’s degree in Classics from the University of California at Santa Barbara where she was awarded the Keith Aldridge Memorial Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in the Classics and taught Greek Mythology, Classical Archaeology, Greek Civilization, and Greek Tragedy as a teaching assistant for four years. Anne earned her bachelor’s degree in Physics and Chemistry (summa cum laude) from Mount Holyoke College and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi Societies. Anne lives in Naples, Idaho where she homeschools her three sons with her husband. She loves reading, running, and romping with her boys.
Susan White Baumert completed her B.A. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she double majored in Religious Studies and in News-Editorial Journalism. She went on to earn her M.A. and Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America.
Susan and her husband homeschool their three sons, who have inspired her work in classical education, in the Montessori method, as well as her work in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, all of which she has used while homeschooling and volunteering in her community over the past eight years. She is a certified Montessori instructor and has a love for teaching at all levels.
Susan lives in Falls Church, VA, where she enjoys reading, teaching her boys, painting, going on bike rides as a family, and playing with their two toy poodles, Bella and Galaxy.
Chris Butynskyi is professor of European history with over ten years of experience teaching in higher education. He holds an M.A. in Early Modern Europe from the University of Maryland, Baltimore Country (UMBC) and a Ph.D. in Humanities from Faulkner University’s Great Books Honors College. Professor Butynskyi recently published his first book entitled The Inklings, the Victorians, and the Moderns: Reconciling Tradition in the Modern Age (FDUP, 2020). He contributes to academic journals, web-articles, book reviews, and podcasts. When he is not reading, writing, or watching sports, you can find him coaching or playing basketball, biking, and running. He currently resides in Macungie, PA with his wife and two children.
Mary Danial received her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Cairo, Egypt. She later received her master’s and doctorate in solid state physics from Cairo University, as well. With over 15 years of experience in teaching physics and math courses for college students, she has also taught engineering courses in renowned institutions like Concordia. Mary is currently tutoring college students in the subjects of math and physics from her home in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Danial has always enjoyed teaching at all levels, from elementary to university. She adapts herself to her audience and goes above and beyond to get the appropriate information through to her students.
Bill DiPuccio recently served as an instructor in Physical and Earth Science at Heritage Classical Academy near Akron, Ohio. He has been teaching science since 2002 including a position as science instructor and department head for five years at St. Nicholas Orthodox School, a classical school in Akron, OH. He has designed and taught laboratory courses in biology, earth science, astronomy, chemistry, and physics for elementary school, middle school, and high school. Bill has also, trained elementary school teachers, and taught numerous summer and weekend science camps.
Bill has a Ph.D. in historical theology and a professional background in meteorology, engineering (ultrasonic and electromagnetic polymer joining processes, automation) and graphic design. His academic interests and publications can be found on his blog, scienceetcetera.blogspot.com.
Dr. Gaelan Gilbert is a Visiting Professor of Arts & Humanities at the University of Saint Katherine, a regionally-accredited Orthodox Christian institution of higher education in southern California. He earned his doctorate in English Literature, with a focus on medieval literature, religion, and culture, at the University of Victoria in British Columbia in 2015. From 2018-2020, he served as Headmaster of Christ the Savior Academy in Wichita, KS. He has extensive experience in teaching, research, curriculum design, and program development. He and his wife have designed and led study abroad programs across Europe. He enjoys sailing, cycling, backpacking, and taking any opportunity to explore nature with his family.Todd has been interested in for
ign languages, cultures, and history since high school (which was quite some time ago now). He has lived and traveled extensively in East Asia and the Middle East, and was for some years a language teacher there. He has more recently combined his interest in Chinese language and history with his interest in Greco-Roman and early Christian history by writing a PhD thesis on the earliest Christian texts written in the Chinese language (from the seventh and eighth centuries).
In addition to PhD obtained from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, he has a BA in Philosophy and World Religions from the University of Tennessee, an MA in Early Christian History from Miami Ohio, and MA in Language Teaching and Linguistics from Georgia State University, Atlanta. He now lives in Tennessee with his wife Kaori, and their daughter Aurelia, whom they are raising to be bilingual (English and Japanese).
Mother Melania (Salem) is the Abbess of the Holy Assumption Orthodox Monastery (OCA) in Calistoga, Ca. She holds the Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Durham, England. She has been a monastic since 1999. She is the author of the series of children’s books entitled Fearless the Fire Duck and His Friends, as well as a continuing series of booklets on the meaning of the Great Feasts of the Church and Stories from the Old Testament.
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Alfred Kentigern Siewers is a Professor of Literary Studies at Bucknell University, Co-Director of the Bucknell Program for American Leadership and Citizenship, and Subdeacon and Warden of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco Russian Orthodox Mission in Lewisburg, PA. He is an award-winning teacher and journalist, having formerly worked as Urban Affairs Writer at the Chicago Sun-Times. His publications included (author) Strange Beauty: Ecocritical Approaches to Early Medieval Landscape, (co-editor) The Totalitarian Legacy of the Bolshevik Revolution, (co-editor) Tolkien’s Modern Middle Ages, and (editor) Re-Imagining Nature: Ecosemiotics and Environmental Humanities, as well as contributions to The Federalist.
Patricia Slatin received her Ph.D. in Classics from the University of California at Berkeley in 2005, with a focus on ancient philosophy, particularly Platonic metaphysics and theology. Thereafter she served as visiting assistant professor at Georgetown University (2007-2009) and postdoctoral teaching fellow at Stanford (2009-2013); recently she taught history and Greek at St. John’s Orthodox Academy in San Francisco and Biblical Greek at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. Beyond teaching, Patricia enjoys spending time with her cat, walking in the hills of western Iowa, and volunteering at a local nature preserve.
Hannah Wegmann received her Ph.D. in Modern French Studies from the University of Maryland in 2018, following a M.A. from UMD and a B.A. from Hillsdale College. Her research focuses on narratives of urbanization within the nineteenth century French novel, exploring ways that the historical phenomenon of migration can function as a theoretical lens to revisit canonical narratives and understand the social, moral, and physical evolutions present. Her other interests include the intersections of art history, religious intertextuality, the history of Paris, and teaching the quirky details of French grammar to students. Hannah lived in France for a semester of college, a year following graduation, and has spent several summers in Paris conducting research, teaching summer courses, and enjoying French culture and history. Hannah has taught a variety of French language and literature courses at the University of Maryland since 2011. Before teaching at the university level, she spent several years teaching at the primary and secondary levels, both in traditional and classical schools. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband, son, and daughter.
Rory Adams received a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Mathematics from Western Washington University. He then went on to earn an MA in Theology. Since then he has worked as both a pastor and a math tutor. In addition to providing individualized math instruction, he developed and taught an after-school class for students struggling in math, and coached a competitive ‘Math Counts’ team in 2019 which placed 2nd out of 14 schools.
Rory lives in Billings, Montana with his wife Jennifer and their 5 children ranging in age from 2 to 12. Rory is a skydiver and in his spare time he memorizes digits of pi!
Molly Barnett earned her B.A. with honors in English from The Ohio State University in 2011. Upon graduation, she began teaching middle school English Literature at Grace Christian School in Columbus, Ohio. From there, she accepted a position teaching fourth grade at Immanuel Lutheran School, a Classical School, in Alexandria, Virginia where she taught for the next 6 years. During the summers of 2015-2018, Molly was a graduate student of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland and earned her M.A. in the liberal arts in August 2018. Later that month, she and her husband, who teaches Latin, Theology, and History in the Upper School at ILS, were joyfully married. They and their son and daughter currently reside in Alexandria where they enjoy little adventures outdoors, spending time with dear friends, and savoring all of life's blessings.
Tessa Carman studied Politics, Philosophy, & Economics (B.A., magna cum laude) at The King’s College in New York City, where she wrote her thesis on George MacDonald’s fairy tales. She also completed her MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Seattle Pacific University in 2020.
Her family roots are in northern Minnesota, where her father’s crowded bookshelves, her grandfather’s 400-acre farm, and long cold winters were some of her first tutors.
She continues to pursue her love for literature, languages, theology, and theater with her husband, daughter, and son. Some of her favorite things include going for walks with her family, writing at coffee shops with her husband, hiking in the mountains, studying Old English with friends, baking biscuits and scones, exploring used bookstores, and advocating for the Oxford comma.
John C
athey studied music (B.A.) and religious studies (M.T.S.) in school and has been a classroom teacher for the last 6 years. His teaching experience includes a variety of history, religious studies, and music courses. He also teaches private lessons on several instruments. John's personal interests include reading, tea, the outdoors, and spending time with his family, among other things. One of eight children, John enjoys working with young people of all ages. Currently, John resides with his wonderful wife and first son in Cumming, Georgia.
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Anna Drummond graduated from the University of St Andrews in Scotland with an MA (Hons) joint degree in English & Art History. While at St Andrews she focused her studies on British Literature and Renaissance Architecture and Painting. After graduating and taking time to travel the Continent she returned to the United States to partake in a fellowship at the John Jay Institute in Philadelphia where she studied public policy in a rigorous seminar setting. Following her time in Philadelphia, she was a student at the Tertio Millenia Seminar on the Free Society in Krakow, Poland. After getting married in Washington, DC, she and her husband relocated to Phoenix, AZ where she taught English and History at St Mary’s Catholic High School. While there, she was involved in campus ministry and greatly enjoyed sharing her love of literature with her students. Anna currently lives in Washington, DC with her husband, Charles and her two young boys, Robbie and Edmund.
Liz Greaser has been teaching homeschool art classes for the last few years and recently received her Florida teacher’s certification in art education. She holds a master’s degree in library and information science and an AMS-accredited Montessori credential. She has worked as a librarian, adjunct professor, homeschool parent, and Montessori teacher. She spent five years making computer science more accessible for children through the use of Lego robotics and the programming language, Scratch. She has a passion for creative activities and you will often find her drawing, writing, knitting or following her children’s latest interests. She and her husband enjoy discovering new things, making stuff and helping their children to craft their own learning adventure. She and her family live in north Florida, where they are still two hours from the beach.
Michael Kopf received his MA in Ancient Philology in 2015 from the Polis Institute in Jerusalem after completing undergraduate studies in Classics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and at the University of Vienna. He has working knowledge of 9 languages, and has been teaching Classical Greek and Latin for the last 5 years. He has taught classical languages to middle- and high-school students and graduate students, both through immersion and in more conventional settings, in Rome, Vienna and Jerusalem, and has also taught teacher training courses in Rome and Jerusalem.
He enjoys rediscovering the ancient world and its reception, especially the history of classical education, grammar and linguistics. He recently settled in rural Austria with his wife and is eager to continue sharing his enthusiasm for antiquity and language learning through online teaching. In this way, he hopes to contribute towards making classical studies more accessible.
Candace Langsfeld received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Dallas. After graduating, she taught Biology and Earth Science classes for four years at Great Hearts Academies in San Antonio while coaching soccer and cross country running. She recently earned her Master’s degree in Humanities and Classical Education from the University of Dallas. She currently lives in Albuquerque New Mexico. When not teaching, she loves to play soccer, rock climb and spend time with her son.
Shannon Mauro is a Romance language enthusiast who began studying French at age 12. Her passion for language learning stems from her travel experiences and years of singing choral music in French, Italian, Spanish, and Latin. She holds an MA in Modern French Studies from the University of Maryland, where her research focused on medieval French music. Additionally, she earned an MAEd and a BA in French with a minor in Italian Studies from Wake Forest University. She has taught French to students of all ages, from elementary school to university, and is currently homeschooling her children. Shannon lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and a black cat named Douglas.
Fr. David Morrison is parish priest at St Anthony Orthodox Church in Bozeman, MT. He received his Master of Divinity degree at St.Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary. He holds a B.A. in History from Trinity University, San Antonio. He spent his first year of marriage teaching high school in Guatemala, is a professional musician, and likes good Tex-Mex food. He and his wife have 3 children, and are grateful to live and hike in beautiful Montana.
Anne McCauley Padula received an M.A. in English from the University of Dallas and studied both Greek and Latin as an undergraduate and graduate student. Anne taught writing, literature, and math at community colleges in Dallas as a graduate student, and later worked as a writer for the University of Texas Medical Branch. A full-time lecturer at Texas A&M University at Galveston for three years, Anne taught Technical Writing, Freshman Composition, Homer and the Trojan War, Environmental Ethics, and Logic. For the past 14 years, she has been a home school teacher for small groups and for her own three children and has especially enjoyed teaching elementary Latin, Greek, and Math. Very involved in music education, Anne served as director of operations for a youth strings program in Santa Barbara and has guided her own children who now have a Celtic band and classical string trio. Anne loves hiking and exploring the outdoors with her three children.
Dimitra Salavasili was born and raised in Volos, Greece. She graduated from the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education, University of Thessaly, Greece, and completed a Postgraduate Program on learning environments and production of teaching material at the same university. She also completed a postgraduate program in special education at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus. She has been teaching students of all ages for the last 10 years. Her great love besides mathematics is the etymology of words, which reveals all the richness of the language and the culture of people.
The Rev. Fr. Michael Shanbour is a lifelong Orthodox Christian and pastor of Three Hierarchs Orthodox Mission in Wenatchee, Washington. He received his M. Div. at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1989. He has been active in youth, camp, music, outreach/evangelism and Christian education ministries. Father Michael was ordained to the holy priesthood in 2001 and pastored mission parishes in Topeka, Kansas, and Spokane Washington before being assigned to Three Hierarchs. He is the author of Know the Faith: A Handbook for Orthodox Christians and Inquirers (Ancient Faith), as well as The Good Samaritan: A Children's Catechism (Three Hierarchs Publishing). He is blessed to live in Wenatchee with his wife, Makrina, and son, Simeon.
Anna Shkireva is from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. She got her MA degree in International Relations with at the State University of Nizhny Novgorod and completed her second MA degree in TESOL at the University of New Mexico. Now, Anna is working toward her PhD in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies. Her main interests are second language acquisition, instructional communication and classroom applications that support the development of students’ interest and persistence. Anna is passionate about teaching and learning foreign languages, sharing Russian culture with students, hiking, snowboarding, running and kayaking. Her next personal goal is to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Bryan Smith has been involved in classical schools for over twenty-five years. During his career he has taught history, government, Greek, and art. He has also served in several key administrative roles — curriculum director, head of school, and vice president of academies. He was the founding headmaster of St. Peter’s Classical School in Fort Worth, Texas. He holds a Master of Politics from the University of Dallas.
Damon Smith received a B.A and M.A. in Classics from the University of Arizona. He has completed his coursework and is working on his dissertation for a Ph.D. in Greek and Latin at the Catholic University of America. He has taught both Latin and Greek at the college level and taught 8th grade Literature and Composition and Latin at Chandler Preparatory Academy in Arizona. He currently lives in Granger, IN, with his wife and two young children. In his free time, Damon enjoys reading Greek and Latin poetry, lifting weights, and trying to get a two-year-old into opera.
Sue Ellen Turscak has been a teacher of Great Books, Literature, and Composition at Heritage Classical Academy in northeast Ohio since 2006. Prior to that she taught English for ten years at Western Reserve Academy, an independent college preparatory school, and before that, Russian language and literature at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia.
She earned her A.B. In History and Literature, magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1986, and a Master in Humanities, summa cum laude, from Tiffin University in 2009. Her thesis was on the forms of contemporary classical Christian education.
During the summer months, from 2010-2017, she was the director of her own Merely Players Shakespeare Camp, a two-week day camp for 7th grade through early college focused on exploring Shakespeare thematically through performance. In 2013, she was the recipient of the American Shakespeare Center’s Words in Action Award “to deserving teachers to honor their commitment in bringing Shakespeare to life for their students.”
Sue Ellen homeschooled her two children through high school. Her son works as a data scientist for a major consulting firm, and her daughter is a software developer for Microsoft. Sue Ellen resides with her husband and one very grumpy cat in Northeast Ohio, and attends St. Elia the Prophet Orthodox Church. She enjoys reading, cooking, international travel, and all things Russian and Slavic in general.
Natalia Wooten earned her B.A. with honors in Secondary English Education from Oral Roberts University in 2002 and married her husband, David, shortly thereafter. Upon graduation from college, she began teaching middle school in Fort Worth, Texas. She then began work on her Master’s Degree in Library Science at Texas Woman’s University, which she earned in 2007.
In 2009, the Wooten family (which at that point included two young daughters) transplanted to Crestwood, NY for seminary. Her husband, David, was ordained to the Orthodox priesthood in 2012 and since that time, Natalia has found jobs teaching in the various cities where her husband has served, including at Miami Dade College, Paideia Classical Academy, and several online providers. She has homeschooled their four wonderful children and currently resides in San Antonio, Texas where she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family (at least 3 seasons of the year) and eating lots of Tex-Mex food!
Lawrence Wray has taught writing and literature for over thirty years. As a homeschooling parent, teaching in an education cooperative in Pittsburgh, Lawrence helped students develop their understanding and facility with the personal essay. His teaching experience includes writing courses at Pennsylvania State University, a Graduate Teaching Fellowship at Duquesne University where, among other things, he studied the poetry of women writers at the end of the eighteenth century. Prior to this, Lawrence studied philosophy and comparative literature at Binghamton University where he taught writing-intensive courses. His undergraduate degree—English, creative writing, and Classical literature with an emphasis in Latin—was completed at the University of Arizona. Lawrence is a member of the Connecticut River Poetry and Poetics seminar, an annual meeting that emerged from the Frost Place Advanced Poetry Seminar, and publishes poetry in journals such as Coal Hill Review, St. Katherine Review, Presence, Relief, and Poetry Salzburg Review.
Jaimie Althage received her B.A. in Classical Studies from Hillsdale College in 2011 (magna cum laude). After graduating, she taught for Great Hearts Academies in Arizona for four years, and then served as a founding faculty member for another Great Hearts Academy campus in Irving, Texas, before taking a hiatus from teaching to stay home with her children. She loves teaching and classical education, and has taught History, Latin, and Greek at various grade levels. She currently lives with her husband and three children in the Dallas area. When not teaching, she loves to read, cook, and knit.
Wes Callihan grew up on a farm in Idaho and graduated in History from the University of Idaho in 1983. He has taught for thirty-five years–at two private schools, a college which he helped found, the University of Idaho, and his own online classes for the past twenty-two years. His online Great Books lectures have been filmed and produced by Roman Roads Media as a video curriculum for homeschoolers called Old Western Culture. He has spoken frequently on education and church history at Classical education conferences for home educators and private schools, and has taught summer intensive Latin and other summer courses. He has written columns and short fiction for journals and contributed to publications on classical Education and home schooling. He runs live residence programs at Hill Abbey (summer courses on the Early Church Fathers and a year-long “gap year” program), geared toward high school graduates.
Wes and his wife Dani have six married children and fourteen grandchildren. Wes and Dani live in the beautiful countryside of northern Idaho near Wes’s parents and most of the kids and grandkids, where six generations of the family have lived on the same family farm. They use the cold winters as an excuse to read, and the hot summers as another excuse to read. Wes also likes hiking and hunting, barbecuing, listening to the blues, gardening, movies, and travel (he has organized many tours for his students and their families to Greece and Turkey). But like the Venerable Bede he loves teaching, reading, and writing best of all.
Julia Connors has been involved in classical education for most of her life. After attending Heritage Study Center where she studied Great Books with Sue Ellen Turscak, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at Grove City College, along with a minor in Classical Christian Education. She went on to teach at Holy Trinity Classical Christian School in Beaufort, South Carolina for four years, where she taught a variety of courses from English to Latin to classical literature.
Julia now lives in northeast Ohio with her cat, Ember. She is completing a Master of Library and Information Science Degree at Kent State University and enjoys reading, knitting, and spending time outdoors.
Susan Francino graduated Summa Cum Laude from Hillsdale College with a B.A. in Latin in 2015. She began studying Latin at age thirteen, and did not even consider stopping until she was halfway to earning a degree in it. She has been teaching Latin and Literature courses since graduating from Hillsdale, and also works as an editor. A lifelong writer, Susan is currently earning a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Seattle Pacific University. Her hobbies include taking long walks near her Pennsylvania home and learning Byzantine chant.
Amy Gillispie and her husband, Father Robert, began homeschooling their nine children in 1999. Amy was graduated from The Ohio State University with a B.S. in Architecture, did her Master’s work in Liturgical Architecture, played the organ for her church at twelve years old, danced in a ballet/jazz company, worked as a photographer/developer, directs musicals, is a COPE certified health coach, a registered IEW teacher and a licensed Simply Music Piano Instructor. She wrote her own architecture curriculum and began teaching architecture courses to students from around the world when she created her business, Building Brilliant Minds, in 2009. “Architecture” and “Music/Piano” continue to hold her heart because the possibilities are intertwined and infinite. Mrs. G’s Architecture and Piano courses may be taken online during the arranged Zoom classes or privately. For more information, email Mrs. G. at musicarch.clrc@icloud.com , or visit her website at www.buildingbrilliantmindsonline.com .
Brittany Scott graduated on theater scholarship from Concordia University Irvine with a B.S. in Humanities: Creative Writing. She worked professionally as a production coordinator and videographer in the Orange County/Los Angeles area before marrying the love of her life and starting a family. As an Orange County School of the Arts alumni, she was excited to teach Theater and Film conservatory classes at OCSA’s sister school, The California School of the Arts. And now as she transitions into homeschooling her own two children, she’s thrilled to join the CLRC team!
Allison Gray earned her B.A. at Trinity International University in Chicago, IL, studying intercultural studies, counseling, and social services, and participating in the honors program. For her senior thesis she examined a theology of beauty, and the relationship between Christianity and the arts, particularly literature. Allison spent three years at Great Hearts Classical Academies, where she served as a teaching assistant and taught reading interventions to low-tiered students. She has written literature curriculum for Great Hearts, and homeschool curriculum for the Christian Character Formation Project.
Allison lives with her family in southern Arizona, where she still misses the colorful seasons of the Midwest. She loves sharing her love for books and nature with her toddler son, hiking and reading Lord of the Rings with her husband, crocheting, burying herself in classical literature, and baking bread.
Christine Jennings was homeschooled by her mother and began taking interest in drawing and art through Charlotte Mason-inspired nature journaling. In high school she continued her education through an independent study program with the local high school, where she attended her first course in fine art. In college she continued her education as an art major, received a 4.0, and joined the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. She received several first-place awards for life drawings and fine art, and her art was published in the college arts journal.
She has a variety of skills and experience in painting public murals, mounting canvas icons in churches, training in the art of iconography, and commissioned art works such as portrait work. She has also exhibited her art in local Fresno Art Galleries.
Christine developed a classical curriculum to teach students the elements and principles of art and design through drawing and painting. Uniquely, she teaches her students how to make their own materials such as artists vine charcoal, and ancient gall ink.
Christine enjoys living with her family in the beautiful Sierra foothills of Fresno county, CA. Her husband Matthew is a carpenter, and small business owner. He is currently an apprentice training to become an electrician. They have five lively children whom Christine homeschools through a local charter school. Christine loves to make time for following her many other interests. If she’s not cooking a big meal, she can be found exploring the creeks and hills, gardening, making ink, singing, researching ecology, foraging for mushrooms, and general shenanigans, all with her children in tow!
Marcella Kerrigan received her B.A. from Hillsdale College, graduating from the Honors Program with a double major in Spanish and English. While at college, she was part of the Spanish Department’s tutoring program. Following graduation, she spent a year teaching English Literature at a bilingual school in Mexico and then worked at an elementary school as a reading aide for struggling students. After her daughter was born she took a break from formal employment but was able to spend a year living in Spain when her husband received a Fulbright Grant to do research in Madrid.
She currently lives in Wayne, Nebraska, where she homeschools her two children and volunteers with a program that provides instruction for community members who are learning English. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, baking sourdough bread, reading about theology and novels in Spanish and English.
Christina McNamara graduated summa cum laude from the University of Dallas with a B.A. in History and a minor in French. She started learning French in elementary school at the age of 8 and Latin in high school at the age of 15 and has never lost her love of languages. She has attended spoken Latin conferences led by Dr. Terence Tunberg at the University of Kentucky where she enjoyed conversing in and reading Latin. Christina attributes the beginnings of her love of history to both her seventh-grade and ninth-grade history teachers who truly brought history to life and inspired her with their dedication and creativity – she will never forget her seventh-grade teacher dressing up like a 13th-century monk, transforming her classroom into a monastery, and forcing her students to sing their textbook aloud in Gregorian chant!
Christina has taught Latin and History to middle school and elementary students at classical charter schools in Texas and Colorado for three years and is looking forward to teaching for CLRC. She loves to see her students come alive to the joy of learning.
She currently resides in Colorado with her husband Connor and enjoys hiking in the Rockies, mountain biking, cooking new recipes, teaching violin lessons, and reading historical fiction. Christina and her husband are excitedly awaiting the birth of their first child in November.
Aaron Mitchell grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. He was a member of the first graduating class of St. Peter’s Classical School. He then went on to receive his BA in Classical Studies, Philosophy, and Religious Studies from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, IA. He taught for five years at Anthem Preparatory Academy, a Classical Charter school in Phoenix, AZ. During that time, he taught Latin, History, and Music in predominantly 6th through 8th grade. He has since returned to Fort Worth where he teaches Greek and Latin to students from 1st through 12th grade at his alma mater, St. Peter’s Classical School. He is also a Subdeacon at St. Peter’s Orthodox Church.
Outside the classroom, Aaron enjoys reading, writing poetry, watching baseball, practicing both Byzantine and Gregorian chant, and spending time with his wife Corrie and their son Aidan.
Jennifer Pack started learning German as a high school student in southern California, and had the opportunity to spend two summers living with a German family, where she fell in love with the people and the history of Germany. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis, with a dual major in German and Secondary Education. She spent a year at the University of Tuebingen in southern Germany, studying German language, history, and theology. After graduation, Jen began teaching German to middle and high school students in public schools.
Jen and her husband, Chuck, live near Nashville, with their five children, ages 4-18. Jen loves to cook exotic foods, spend time with her kids, and raise chickens and Great Danes.
Lee Ann Shaffer received her BS in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University in 1982. She spent five years working for General Motors, where she was involved in the fabrication of microchips for automotive sound systems and developing and performing tests for electrical automotive components. She then took a permanent hiatus from her career to stay at home with her children.
Lee Ann and her husband of 38 years, Jerry (also an electrical engineer) have four grown sons, whom they homeschooled from kindergarten through high school. In addition to teaching her own boys, she also taught science classes for homeschooled students, and conducted many chemistry labs for groups of students around her dining room table!
Lee Ann taught at Heritage Classical Academy in Hudson, Ohio for seven years. There she taught middle school and high school math, science, and formal logic. It was during her years at Heritage that Lee Ann discovered her love for classroom teaching.
Outside of the classroom, Lee Ann enjoys reading, experimenting with new recipes, gardening, spending time with her three grandchildren, visiting her sons and their families (which takes her from coast to coast), and taking long walks with her husband. They currently live in West Farmington, Ohio with their chickens and their cat, Annie.
Sarah Smith attended Hillsdale College where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in History. After college, she spent a year as a floating teacher in a Boston area charter school where she discovered a love for teaching middle and high school students. For the next several years she taught at Bradford Christian Academy in Haverhill, MA., while also teaching classes for homeschool students online. When her second son was born in 2018, she paused her teaching career and stayed home full time. Since then, she has enjoyed writing curriculum for a non-profit, leading a M.O.P.S. group, and coordinating her church nursery. She is so excited to be back in the classroom again, especially with CRLC! Sarah's favorite pastimes are reading, researching, baking, and traveling. Her favorite historical person is Alfred the Great, but if she had to pick a historical friend she would pick Dorothy Sayers. Sarah lives in New Hampshire with her husband, Michael, and their three little boys. Unfortunately, they have no pets.
Cara Valle earned her B.A. in English from Hillsdale College, where she focused on English Poetry and also studied violin performance, Greek, and history. She then taught Literature and Composition and advanced Poetry at Glendale Preparatory Academy in Phoenix, Arizona. After having children of her own, she switched to online teaching and has been with CLRC since 2015. She now lives in Northern Virginia, where she homeschools her four children and serves on a non-profit board. She enjoys reading, working out, writing poetry, and spending time outdoors.
Seraphim Winslow was dean of students and principal of a classical K-12 academy in San Francisco for over a decade. In addition to homeschooling his son, he has been teaching English, the classical Trivium (Grammar, Logic and Composition), Modern Languages, the Humanities, and Western and World Civilizations and Cultures to students of all ages for more than 30 years. He particularly enjoys working with students in the 4th through 8th grades.
Seraphim graduated with a B.A. with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds Associate of Arts degrees in Philosophy, the Humanities, and General Studies. He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy at San Francisco State University.
Seraphim enjoys the thrill of getting lost in cavernous university libraries and old European bookstores. He also enjoys riding his recumbent tricycle through the pine-laden Sierra foothills, where he lives with his iconographer wife, Lena; his 17-year-old son, Theodore; and their cat, Skipper.
Rima El Chami Zafaran is a Lebanese native speaker, who was born, raised, and educated in Lebanon. She graduated from Balamand University and has taught the Arabic language to a wide variety of age levels for more than 8 years. Rima moved to the United States in 2005. She and her husband, who is a Syrian Antiochian Orthodox priest, have four beautiful children.
Ryan B. Jawad is a Texas-certified teacher. He has taught in the classroom for 14 years at the middle and high school levels. He was voted ‘Teacher of the Year’ (Student Vote) in 2018. He is also a certified GATE (Gifted And Talented Education) instructor.
Mr. Jawad graduated high school from the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science at UNT. He studied at the Johns Hopkins University, the Peabody Institute, and the Independent University of Moscow and holds a B. A. from Johns Hopkins in Mathematics. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received the J. J. Sylvester Award for Excellence in Mathematics.
In addition to teaching, Mr. Jawad has active interests in classical and early music. He has worked as music director for young adult and adult choirs and is currently the organist at Saint Peter Orthodox Church in Fort Worth. His recent projects include “The Abelard Hymnal: Medieval Christian Songs Translated Into English” (2020), editor and “Ten Alleluias: For Voice – SATB” (2021), composer.
Esther Phillips began homeschooling her own children over 25 years ago and quickly became a proponent of Charlotte Mason and Classical education. Though from England, her childhood was spent mainly in Kenya and Hong Kong until her family settled in rural Lincolnshire, UK. Esther’s father, himself classically educated and able to read Latin, Greek and Hebrew, inspired in Esther a love of learning and lifelong wonder and discovery. She has spent 15 years setting up, directing, and teaching homeschool co-ops and has served as a consultant to many homeschool families, with a desire to foster in them confidence and joy.
Esther has five children, two are still at home completing their homeschooling journey. She lives in Idaho and enjoys reading (of course) and writing (when she gets a chance).
Emily Wells has been teaching Latin for the past nineteen years. She has taught Latin to junior high and high school both locally in Idaho (where she lives) and online through her own tutorial business, to grades 2-6 at Veritas Academy in Pennsylvania, and to high school students at Veritas Scholars Academy online. She has also tutored local college students in Latin, taught Introduction to Great Books and Hebrew, and loves Greek and Italian. Emily received a classical, Christian education from Schola Classical Tutorials in high school, the intensives Latin-in-a-Week and Greek-in-a-Week, and continued her studies at New Saint Andrews College and the University of Idaho. Emily and her husband, Aaron (also a teacher), are raising their four children in the house where she grew up in North Idaho, next to her parents and grandparents. She enjoys reading, coffee, travel, baseball, and mint chocolate chip ice cream!