Dr. Carol Taylor: Math Department Chair, 3rd, 4th, 7th-12th Grade Mathematics
Dr. Carol Taylor earned her undergraduate degrees – a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.S. in Secondary Education – at Lock Haven University. She attended Temple University where she earned her M.A. in Mathematics and her Ed.D in Mathematics Education. She has taught mathematics at Temple University, Penn State University (Abington), Chestnut Hill College, Garnet Valley Middle and High School, Strath Haven High School and Springton Lake Middle School. She has taught pre-service teacher education courses at Temple University. Carol and her husband, Rob, have three children: Sam, Abby, and Luke. She and her family are members of St. Maximilian Kolbe parish in West Chester, PA. Her hobbies include reading, baking and traveling.
Mark Potter: Rhetoric History and Literature
After growing up in various locations around the world, Mark attend the University of North Carolina at Asheville where he received his BA. He later received his Masters of Arts in Religion with an emphasis in Apologetics from Westminster Seminary in Glenside, PA. Mark has dedicated his life to ministering to and mentoring students, particularly college students. He and his wife, Gwen, have four children, several grandchildren, and an assortment of art students who roam about their farm where they make art and learn how to be artists while living out their faith. Mark is also the pastor of Chestnut Street Church in Gap, PA.
Joslyn Serfass: Math
Joslyn Serfass attended Bucknell University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. She has homeschooled for 11 years. Joslyn and her husband, Steve, have five children: Cole, Cayley, Ainsley, Sadie, and Lizzie. She and her family attend Church of the Savior in Wayne, PA. When she has time she enjoys cooking, gardening, photography, scrapbooking, and downhill skiing.
Bethany Serridge: 5th-12th Latin, English Grammar
Bethany Serridge earned a B.A. in Latin and a secondary teaching certificate from Mount Holyoke College. She graduated magna cum laude and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Bethany has been teaching Latin for the past twenty-five years in a variety of settings, including college tutorials, public and private schools and more recently with homeschoolers. She and her husband, Tom, are members at New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher. They have a daughter, Abigail.
Cheryl Crowe: Art
Cheryl Crowe earned a B.S. in French with a minor in Art from the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, AL. She has taught French and Art in a Classical school in Orlando, FL while working as administrative support to the school’s principals. She has also organized and taught several children’s art camps and after-school art programs. She does commissioned watercolor, pencil, or pastel pieces. Cheryl and her husband, Brandon, have four children: Charlie, Simeon, Ethan, and Eliza. She and her family are members of Cresheim Valley PCA Church in Chestnut Hill.
Alison Valentine: Writing
Alison Valentine earned a B.A. (Hons) degree in Modern European Studies at Nottingham Trent University in England. She moved to the United States with her husband, Dave, seventeen years ago. They have four children: Jake, Caitlin, Becca, and Nathan, who have been homeschooled for the last seven years. Alison is a member of Fairview Village Church in Eagleville, PA. She taught English as a second language in Austria as an undergrad and has completed The Institute of Excellence in Writing’s Teaching Writing: Structure and Style course. Ali, along with her family, has traveled extensively throughout the USA spending many months living in a camper.
Ruth Kornrumph: 1st Grade Math, Memory Work
Ruth Kornrumph has been teaching in various church settings for close to 20 years. Before her children were of school age the director of a program similar to Claritas (in that it combined classroom and home education) recruited her to teach their 2nd and 3rd classes. Observing the behavior, love of learning and confidence the students displayed, instilled in her a new admiration for the home school hybrid style of education. Eventually she enrolled her own children, Samuel and Mercy, into an identical program. The Kornrumph family joined Claritas at the start of the 2012-2013 school year. Ruth has enjoyed the privilege of teaching the students of Claritas since that time.
Sarah Scudder: Language Arts
Sarah Scudder is starting her third year teaching Language Arts at Claritas Classical Academy. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bob Jones University in Women’s Ministries which included the study of crisis counseling and early childhood education. Sarah has experience teaching children in different environments–from summer Bible clubs, to youth group, Sunday School and substitute teaching. She is mother to Sophia, Naomi, Mercy, and Olivia who are enrolled at Claritas. Her husband pastors a non-denominational church in inner-city Philadelphia, where they work together mentoring teenagers in their youth group.
Faith Nakhla: Memory Work, Math
Faith Nakhla graduated Summa Cum Laude from Biola University with a B.A. in Liberal Studies and received her multiple-subject teaching credential. She taught in the classroom for 3 years before having children and began homeschooling in 2004. Besides teaching her own children at home for 11 years, she has tutored homeschooled children in a classical setting for 3 years. Her two oldest children have already been attending Claritas, and she is excited this year to bring the whole family here and to join the staff herself. Her husband, David, works for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as an administrator for short-term missions, disaster response, and diaconal ministries. With their 5 children (Tina, Maddie, Emma, Josiah, and Marcus), they are members of Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Glenside, PA.
Dr. Heidi Lee: 7th – 12th Grade Writing
Heidi Lee earned her Ph.D. in English from the University of Notre Dame, her M.A. in English from The Pennsylvania State University, and her B.A. in English and Spanish from Houghton College. In addition to teaching at Claritas, she also teaches writing to undergraduates at Eastern University, as well as serves as a Writing Specialist for students in the Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership program, also at Eastern. She has taught writing and literature for over 15 years. Her academic interests include food studies, religion and literature, travel writing, and disability studies, and she has published articles and essays in those subfields. Her hobbies include reading, of course, and scrapbooking. She and her husband, Mike, and their two elementary-age girls attend Church of the Good Samaritan, in Paoli, and Heidi helps to lead an American Heritage Girls troop in Valley Forge.
Sharon Stoudt: 2nd-6th grade Memory Work, Language Arts
Sharon Stoudt attended Lafayette College, where she earned her B.A. in French & International Studies/Spanish. Although her love of languages remains, her deeper delight has come through the joys of mentoring over the past 20 years. Sharon and her husband Bryan are both on staff with CMDA (Christian Medical and Dental Associations). Bryan serves a pastor to healthcare students & professionals in Philadelphia, and Sharon serves part-time as a mentor to the women on campus. Sharon was introduced to the classical model of education through a homeschooling friend 15 years ago, and immediately caught a vision for the possibilities to “mentor” her children through homeschooling — to not only impart knowledge, but also to develop character with love. She and Bryan have 4 unique children: Carissa, Matthew, Anna, and Braedon. Their family worships at CityLight in Roxborough.
Kelly Dixon: 7th-12th Science
Kelly earned a BS in Biology from the University of Delaware and has taken over 30 credits of education courses at the Masters Level at Arcadia University. Upon graduating from Delaware, Kelly taught private school science classes at Lakeside Educational Network for four years at the Middle and High School level. Following those years of teaching, she worked at Rohm and Haas, now Dow Chemical, as a chemist for over two years doing polymer technology. After having her first child, and wanting to be at home with her children, in 2008 she started teaching home school science classes in the Abington and Souderton area. These classes include Middle School General, Physical and Earth Science and High School level Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science and Physics. She currently has two children, Charlotte and Jasper, and lives in Glenside with her husband, Mark. They are members of New Life Presbyterian Church in Glenside.
Madeleine M. Hewitt, Dean; History
Madeleine Hewitt is a native of Colorado, and a graduate of Eastern University and the Templeton Honors College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. She earned her B.A. in History with a concentration on European history. She studied abroad at Trinity College in Oxford University in 2013, and her tutorials were in the life and works of Jane Austen and in C.S. Lewis and the Moral Imagination. Upon graduation, she went on to teach at a classical charter school in Phoenix, Arizona as a high school Literature and Composition as well as Humanities teacher. She and her husband were married in the Fall of 2016, and their son, Abraham, was born in the Fall of 2017. She is currently pursuing her MAT in Classical Teaching through the Templeton Honors College. She and her husband are members of St. Phillips Orthodox Church in Sauderton, PA.
Monica Chilbert, Literature, Logic Math
After graduating from a Classical Christian k-12 school, Monica Chilbert attended the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University where she majored in Philosophy. Since then she has taught Latin, literature, and grammar to a range of ages and in various settings, including a Classical charter school in Arizona and a Classical online academy based in Pennsylvania. She loves reading, a strong cup of caffeine, making music with friends, and being active out-of-doors. Monica, her husband, and their son live in Conshohocken and attend St. Philip Eastern Orthodox Church in Souderton.
Christina Gandy: Classical Studies and Informative Play
Christina Gandy attended West Chester University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Studies program with a minor in Studio Art. She has a passion for history and helping children explore the subject through hands on activities and creativity. She has homeschooled for 7 years. Her family includes her husband, Rob, and her children, Abagail, Oliver, and Annabel. She and her family are involved members at Springton Lake Presbyterian Church, where Christina enjoys leading women’s bible studies and helping out at crafts at Camp Treasure Island. In her spare time she enjoys reading, running, creating, and spending time in the outdoors.
Anna Finegan, Junior Kindergarten
Anna received her B.A. degree in Psychology at Wheaton College near Chicago, IL. She has worked as the director of Josiah Project, training college students to enter ministry,; as the Children’s Minister at her church and taught at St Mark’s Nursery School for 3 years before coming to Claritas. This will be her third year teaching JrK at Claritas. She and her husband have 5 children: Daniel, Rosemary, Allan, Fitzwilliam and a baby boy due in November. They are members at Cresheim Valley Church in Chestnut Hill. Anna has a photography business and enjoys running, reading and hiking with her family.
Robert Styer, Ph.D., Math and Physics
As a kid, Bob planned to become a scientist, but in seventh grade he had an inspiring math teacher who made math a game with simple rules, and this put him on the math track. At Penn he double-majored in math and physics, then went to grad school at MIT working in analytic number theory. During his post-doc at Temple he met Peggy, and years later they married and had two daughters then two sons, and later were blessed to adopt two sons then two daughters. Bob has a wonderful set of colleagues at Villanova where he teaches in the Mathematics and Statistics Department. Bob and Peggy attend Crossroads Community Church in Upper Darby, which hosts the CHEER homeschool group for which Bob organizes the 4th-8th grade Math Olympiads contests.
Patricia Hill, Math
Patricia (Pedie) Hill received her Masters from the Wheelock College School of Education of Boston Univeriity in 1975. She brings 30 years of rich teaching experience to Claritas, most recently 20 years as a fourth grade teacher at the Agnes Irwin school, during which which time she also served as the Lower School math representative. This will be her third year with Claritas Classical Academy, teaching 5th grade math and “Hands On Equations – Making Algebra Child’s Play” to 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.
She also tutors math in her home for students from 1st grade through Algebra I (7th, 8th, and 9th grades) with a specialty in teaching “Hands On Equations – Making Algebra Child’s Play”. She will be teaching Saxon Math 8/7 to a small group of home school students this year, and I will be starting with “The Golden Key Russian School” in King of Prussia, PA, teaching Math Enrichment classes (in English), specializing in manipulative and math games.
Jessica Gaffga, Language Arts, Math
Jessica Gaffga earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology from NYU. She received a Master’s degree from Villanova University in Counseling, and enjoyed working as a family therapist before raising a family. Homeschooling has been a rewarding and delightful adventure for Jessica, especially the opportunity to shape her children’s worldview and to read good books together. She attends Narberth Presbyterian Church with her husband, Jamie, and her two daughters, Tabitha and Shiloh. Jessica enjoys volunteering in youth ministry, reading, baking, and yoga.
Karen Watkins, Ballet
Karen Watkins is the Assistant Director of the Good Samaritan Dance Academy and Liturgical Dance Choir. She trained extensively with Valerie Henry, and has also studied at West Chester University, Paul Klocke Dance, American Academy of Ballet, and Master Classes under Elbert Watson, Cynthia Gregory, Pam Smith, Randall Bane and the At Marah Dance Company. In addition to studying folk, character, lyrical, pointe, ballet and modern, she has choreographed and performed in community theater productions, musical theater and dance camps, and teaches public speaking and drama at the TEACH homeschool coop. Karen is an avid home cook. The Watkins have three children, live in Berwyn and worship at Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli.
Grace Loyd, Spanish
Grace received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in Spanish and Sociology (double major), and a minor in French from University of Virginia in 1997. She followed that by obtaining her Masters in Social Work from Temple University in 2001 and remains licensed in Social Work. Since that time she has worked as a Foster Care Social Worker, Adoption Social Worker, and Medical Social Worker, often working with Spanish-speaking clients/ patients and families. She taught Spanish at the Salesianum High School in Wilmington, DE in 2016 while covering paternity leave. Grace lives in Wallingford, PA, and is a mother of 2 daughters and wife to one of the founding members and elder at City Line Church (PCA) in Bala Cynwyd, PA (www.citylinechurch.net).
Ruth Lohmann, Grammar Science, Art
