Faculty

Mr. Dan Kelly - Headmaster

Dan has been involved in Catholic education for nearly his entire life. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Aerospace Engineering (yes, he is a rocket scientist), Dan joined the first cohort of teaching fellows in Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (“ACE”) program, serving as a teacher for two years in Lake Charles, Louisiana and obtaining a Master of Arts in Teaching. Dan subsequently taught at Trinity School at River Ridge in Minnesota for three years before attending Ave Maria School of Law. Dan served as counsel to Chesterton Academy of the Twin Cities at the time of its founding and later served on its board as well as the board for The Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Dan presently serves on the boards for Our Lady’s Montessori School in Kansas City and Adeodatus.

Dan lives in the south metro with his wife and four children and enjoys disc golf and woodworking in his spare time.

Mrs. Debbie Lee - Academic Dean and Humanities

Debbie Lee has been teaching science, math, literature, history, writing, and art in a classical education setting for nine years. Prior to that, she homeschooled four of her five children using a classical curriculum while living in Austria. She and her husband were youth ministers for nine years at a large Roman Catholic Parish before moving to Europe. She has a bachelor's degree in Architecture/Interior Design with a minor in Art. She recently graduated from CIRCE'S Classical Education intensive 3-year Apprenticeship Program receiving her Classical Teaching certificate. Mrs. Lee has been immersed in the Liberal Arts for many years. She loves digging into rich texts with her students, sparking lively discussion, and thoughtful reflection.

Dr. Sujin Yoon - Faculty

Sujin Yoon, a native of South Korea, has a deep love for studying, teaching, and performing sacred music. She earned a Master of Music from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, N.J., and a M.M. and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ and Church Music from the University of Kansas. Her principal teachers have been Michael Bauer, James Higdon, and Joan Lippincott. Sujin has been married to her husband Doug for sixteen years and has a twelve-year-old son Evan who loves reading. She enjoys hiking and various forms of sacred art with her family. Currently, She serves as Director of Music for the Novus Ordo and Extraordinary Form liturgies at Christ the King Catholic Church, Kansas City, MO where she offers a Gregorian chant class and directs the Schola Cantorum. She is delighted to teach at Chesterton Academy of St. Philip Neri.

**Mrs. Valerie Thornburg - Faculty**
Valerie attended Catholic Schools, kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating from Saint Gertrude High School in Richmond, Virginia. She earned degrees in Biochemistry and in French from Penn State University, followed by a Master’s in Physiology from the Medical College of Virginia.
She has taught a Physiology course at Washburn University in Topeka for the past 15 years. For a decade of that time, she has also taught middle and high school maths and sciences. Throughout her teaching career, she has had the joy of showing students the Truth in the created world according to Catholic teachings and traditions. Her first year at Chesterton brings with it the highest teaching Good - Classical and Catholic!
Valerie resides in Topeka with her husband, Todd, and their two daughters. The family (mostly) enjoys the company of a pet free-roaming rabbit named Cocoa.

Mrs. Colette LaFave - Faculty

Colette recently moved to Kansas City from Chicago! She received her BA from Thomas Aquinas College and is a high school graduate from Chesterton Academy of The Holy Family in Lisle, IL. During her senior year at Thomas Aquinas College she wrote and defended a Thesis On Femininity: What it means to be woman. She has a great love for Theology and Philosophy and a deep appreciation for the Chesterton Curriculum and Liberal Arts Education! In her free time Colette loves spending time outside, connecting with other young adults, and singing. She moved to Kansas City a year ago and was just married this past June.

**Mr. Liam Connelly - Faculty**
Liam Connelly was born and raised in Kansas City. When he was young, he and his family began attending Our Lady of Good Counsel where he soon began serving at Mass as an altar server. While serving, he felt a call from our Lord to join the seminary and to pursue a vocation to the priesthood. After high school, he immediately joined St. Gregory the Great Seminary where he received an undergraduate degree in Philosophy. Later, he joined Kenrick Glennon-Seminary to pursue a Master's Degree in Theology. After five years of discernment, he left the seminary and now teaches Philosophy and Latin at the Chesterton Academy of St. Philip Neri while assisting at Our Lady of Good Counsel.

**Mr. Mark Poindexter - Faculty**
Growing up in Raymore, MO, Mark was the youngest of eight kids, homeschooled, and loved playing soccer and reading. During high school he enjoyed success academically, and athletically in soccer and cross country. He then attended Missouri S&T to pursue a Mechanical Engineering degree while playing for the University Men’s soccer team. The summer before graduation, he was hired at Kanakuk, a christian sports camp for high schoolers. After earning a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and a mathematics minor, he worked at camp two more summers, did some mission work for a spring, and completed a year-long bible/leadership training. Once home, he was hired as a math and science teacher at Christ the King Catholic School in KCK. He is excited for what the year will bring with the Chesterton Academy of St. Philip Neri.

**Mrs. Kelley Reitmeier - Faculty**
Kelley Reitmeier received a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and a Bachelor of Science in Education in Speech and Theatre from Emporia State University. Kelley has been directing, teaching, choreographing, stage managing, and performing for nearly 20 years. She has worked with countless students around the U.S and even Costa Rica! Kelley has enjoyed serving as the head of several theater departments around the Kansas City area including Gardner-Edgerton High School, The Culture House, and Heritage Christian Academy. She currently can be found teaching tap classes at The Culture House and recently joined the faculty for Storling Conservatory of Dance. Kelley truly loves investing in young lives through the arts! Her most important role however, is wife to an amazing husband and homeschooling mother to three beautiful children!

Mr. David Miller - Faculty

When Dave heard about the Chesterton Academy of St. Philip Neri, he saw an opportunity to combine his degree in history, past teaching experience, and faith. His graduate degree in management served him well during his years in business but like St. Philip Neri, he had grown tired of it and was ready for a new chapter. He feels blessed to be able to help these devout, intelligent, and industrious students along the way as they begin their lives.

***Miss Mattie Karr -*** ***Faculty***
Mattie Karr is a professional sacred artist based in Kansas City. She earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Illustration and Film at the University of Kansas in 2019 and continues to take courses to become the best artist she can be. Though she does not limit herself to only painting religious works, they seem to pour out of her identity as a beloved daughter of God. She hopes that with every piece she finishes, her clients will sense a larger story flowing under their lives and dig deeper to discover the infinite God who loves them more than they could ever hope for. As Chesterton's art teacher, Ms. Karr especially loves watching her students uncover their imagination and budding talents with every drawing.

**Mrs. Miriam Susanka - Faculty**
Originally from Northern California and the eldest of 9 children, Miriam has been blessed with a strong classical and liberal arts education her entire life. Her desire to pursue the good, true, and beautiful, especially as articulated through great works of literature, led Miriam to join the honors program of Benedictine College. There she met her best friend and wonderful husband Dominic, whom she married shortly after graduation. Miriam presented her senior project: "Regrafting English Education: New, Old, and Eternal Stories" to the honors program before graduating from Benedictine with bachelor degrees in English and Theology. Mrs. Susanka is excited to share her joint passion for literature and theology in pursuing truth with her students at Chesterton Academy this year.

Staff

Miss Nicole Conroy - Executive Director

With a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kansas State University, Nicole strives to cultivate Beauty in everything she does. Nicole brings with her an extensive background in education administration and nonprofit management, having previously served as Director of Operations for an inner Kansas City school serving underprivileged students. Originally from Topeka, KS, Nicole received a classical liberal arts education herself and is excited to help others gain the same benefits as she did from her rich educational experience.

Mr. Ollie Bockwinkel - Director of Mission Advancement

Ollie is an entrepreneurial Catholic with a heart for Latin and Greek root words and a mind for numbers. Founder of Custos CPA, an outsourced accounting firm serving faith-based nonprofits, he joined the Board of Trustees of the Chesterton Academy of St. Philip Neri in the summer of 2021. Inspired by his own faith experience at the University of Dallas (BA ‘15, Classical Philology-Greek), Ollie knows firsthand the power of an intentionally Catholic, integrated curriculum to heal and form souls in the love of Christ and has fully embraced the mission of this high school as a seed of the New Evangelization.

Ollie grew up in Shawnee, KS and attended St. Joseph Catholic School and Rockhurst High School. He now leads the Sunday choir at Coronation of Our Lady in Grandview, MO and resides a five-minute walk away from the parish with his wife, Lindsay, and five sons.

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