Beth is a long time resident (more than 40 years!) of the Sahuarita/Green Valley area, along with her son and grandchildren. She founded Great Expectations Academy in 1999 after a year of planning and working through the Charter approval process with the State of Arizona. She is a Reading Specialist with both her Bachelors and Masters degrees coming from the University of Arizona. Prior to founding GEA, Beth spent 17 years as an Administrator of Federal Programs for the Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District in Rio Rico, Arizona. She also taught Masters level courses for Arizona State University and the University of Arizona and is a certified trainer for the Collaborative Literacy Intervention Project (C.L.I.P.)
Jeremy completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts in 2001 and recently earned his Masters in Educational Leadership. He has extensive experience as a counselor for children with special needs. His training includes Therapeutic Restraint Training, Behavior Management and individual/group counseling techniques. Jeremy loves music and art of every genre. Jeremy and his wife, Susannah, and their two children, Cree and Nia, live in Tubac.
A native Arizonan, Mark had an interest in music from an early age. He grew up performing in a variety of ensembles and continues to play professionally when his busy schedule allows. He received a full scholarship from Eastern Arizona College and majored in Music Performance both there and at Mesa Community College. Mark directs our award-winning Jazz Ensemble as well as teaching beginning and advanced band and designing the curriculum for our elementary music program. In addition to driving the school’s bus, he is also a certified streetcar operator and on weekends he can be found operating the historic streetcars of the Old Pueblo Trolley line.
Born into an Air Force family, Carol spent 21 years in the Air Force before “retiring” into her new occupation as the school’s health aide and front desk administrative assistant. She has been married to Adrian Blanco, who is in charge of maintenance for the Town of Sahuarita Municipal Complex, for 15 years and has three children. Her youngest child is a 4th grader at GEA. Carol has been a certified CPR and First Aid Instructor, and enjoys reading, travel, gardening and cooking as well as working with children. This is her third year at Great Expectations.
Originally from El Paso, Patti arrived in the Tucson area by way of San Francisco in 1989. She has worked in law offices, engineering and architectural firms, the computer industry, a small public school, and a coffee-roasting company, and has been a dance teacher, choreographer, and performer in musical theatre. She currently serves as Service Unit Manager for Girl Scouts in the Sahuarita/Green Valley area and leads a Community Troop of Girl Scouts in Arivaca, where she lives with her husband Lance and their four children in a hand-built adobe home. Her two oldest daughters graduated from GEA and attend Sahuarita High School, and her younger children currently attend GEA in fifth and third grades. This is her fifth year on the school staff.
Wayne moved to Tucson from Chicago in the fall of 1996 to enjoy the natural beauty that Arizona has to offer. Prior to teaching he served as a youth social worker, working with homeless and parentless children. Wayne has a Master’s Degree (Education) from the U of A. He likes to use his energy in an effort to promote socially responsive, child centered educational practices. He firmly believes that social justice can be enhanced through fundamental educational reform. As an educator he finds fulfillment when students can express joy, engage the world through social interaction, and can find or create solutions. During his free time he enjoys art, music, travel, sports, and wearing plaid.
Dotty was born and raised in California and moved to Tucson in 1979. She has been a member of the GEA team since the school began in 1999, starting as a volunteer and working her way up from lunch monitor to office helper before becoming the school’s librarian and computer lab instructor. Dotty began creating the school library with the 1999 book fair and parent donations, and is proud that there are now over 20,000 books in the library and classrooms. She is also the Yearbook Advisor and 8th Grade Graduation Co-Advisor, and has volunteered with many school, sport and civic organizations over the years. Her two youngest daughters attended Great Expectations through the eighth grade.
Jani and her husband, Al, have lived in the Sahuarita area since 1981. They have a seventeen-year-old daughter. As a family, they enjoy music, reading, camping, and travel. Jani graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in Elementary Education. Graduate work has been in the areas of Counseling, Guidance and Reading Instruction. She is also trained in Reading Recovery. Jani has 22 years of experience teaching the Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th and 8th grades, reading and gifted programs.
Rebecca is a native Tucsonan with roots going back to her great-grandmother. She and her husband now live in Sahuarita with their two children, Matthew and Mia, who are students at GEA. A certified personal trainer, Rebecca specializes in youth fitness, childhood and adult obesity as well as pre and post-natal training. Rebecca successfully ran her own fitness classes in and around Sahuarita before joining the GEA staff. Her hobbies include triathlons, 5 K runs, swimming, cycling, reading and working on her scrapbook. This is her third year at GEA.
Originally from Bisbee, Martha moved to Tucson in the 4th grade and has lived in Sahuarita for 15 years. This will be her 10th year working at GEA and she is happy to be taking on the task of elementary music instruction in cooperation with Mark Phillips. She will also continue as Assistant Band Director. She has been a Student Council Advisor and helps with Middle School electives as needed. She has two children, 12-year-old Eric (who is in 7th grade this year) and 15-year-old Corrina (a 2007 GEA graduate attending San Miguel High School). Martha enjoys music, playing tenor sax and guitar, as well as dancing, golf and camping.
Jeanette was born and raised in California and moved to Sahuarita in 2005 with her husband Jay and daughter Jillian. She is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a Bachelors Degree in Biology. Her previous work history includes being a top executive with a major importing firm in California. She enjoys reading and hanging out by the pool in her spare time. This will be her 2nd year working at GEA and 4th year as a volunteer. Jeanette is also starting her third year as a Girl Scout Troop Leader.
Richelle moved to Sahuarita from Appleton, Wisconsin in 2004. Born in Columbus, Ohio, she moved to Buffalo, New York at an early age. When she was in 7th grade she moved to Phoenix. She is a graduate of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix with a degree in Elementary Education. Richelle’s teaching experience includes Kindergarten, 3rd, and tutor for K-12. Richelle has enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom for almost nine years. She has been a parent volunteer for the last 3 years at GEA so you have probably seen her smiling face making copies or passing out gift cards for the Scrip Program. Richelle is married to her high school sweetheart, Andy, and has two daughters, Rielly, who is eight, and Kelsey, who is six. Her hobbies include gardening, camping, and reading, writing and illustrating children’s literature.
Born and raised in Tennessee, Gillian attended college in Georgia where she met her husband, Dean. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education from Mercer University in Georgia and proceeded to follow her husband around the world, teaching various grades in Florida, Panama, Puerto Rico, Germany, Virginia and Georgia. She is looking forward to being “settled” in Arizona and very happy to be teaching Kindergarten again. Her interests are cooking, reading, gardening, and playing with her children Owen, 4 ½, and Mary Rachel, 21 months.
Janice and her family moved to Sahuarita seven years ago from Michigan. She was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has a daughter who is 21 years old and in college. Janice taught Kindergarten in Rio Rico for five years, and also taught Kindergarten in Wyoming and Minnesota. This is her third year teaching First Grade at Great Expectations.
Karen graduated from NAU with a B.S. in Home Economics and received a Post Degree Certification in Elementary Education. She has 11 years teaching experience in grades Kinder through Fifth. She has taught Kindergarten for the last 4 years at GEA and is looking forward to First Grade this year. Karen has Balanced Literacy Training and recently completed her Structured English Immersion requirement and the Pima Community Math and Science Program through NAU. Her husband Joey is District Manager for TRS and her children, Jordan and Josh, are students at GEA.
Linda was born in Illinois, but moved to Michigan at a young age. She attended Central Michigan University for two years before marrying and after the birth of her son Matthew in 1974 decided to go back to school to earn her teaching degree. After graduating from University of Michigan with a degree in Elementary Education, she taught 4th and 2nd grades. After three years she and her husband Jerry adopted a little girl, Ruth, from India and moved to Wyoming. She and her husband then both taught until their retirement in 2003. After moving to Green Valley she learned about GEA from her neighbor and decided she wanted the chance to work with children again. She has two beautiful grandchildren and is greatly looking forward to her third year at GEA.
Misty grew up in Sahuarita and is happy to have a chance to give back to this community. She received her B.A. in Elementary Education at NAU and is working toward her Masters. This will be her fourth year at GEA and her ninth year teaching. Misty is loving teaching third grade after teaching first grade for the first seven years. She has been married for seven years and has a 4-year-old daughter, Rhiley, and an 18-month-old son, Benjamin.
Joan was born in Alabama into an Air Force family and traveled the world, living in Holland, Germany, Belgium and England as well as 7 states in the USA. She hopes to be able to say someday that she has visited all 50 states and at this time only has 10 more to go. Joan has a Bachelors in Education from the University of Arizona and has been teaching third grade for four years and has also taught Pre-K. She is an avid sports fan and enjoys basketball, football, soccer and bowling. She is married with five children and two step-children.
Sandra is originally from Phoenix but moved to Arkansas when she was in middle school. Before receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of Arizona, she worked with Head Start and was a substitute teacher. Sandra is very excited about her third year of teaching at Great Expectations and the move up to Fourth Grade from Second. She loves being around and working with children and seeing the smiles on their faces when they learn or accomplish something new. Sandra is married and has four children. She and her husband have lived in Green Valley for eight years
Tami was born and raised in Flagstaff and her family has lived in Arizona since the 1880’s. She has lived in the Sahuarita area for 28 years. She has a B.A. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Educational Leadership. She is a member of the Who’s Who of American Teachers. Her twenty-plus years of teaching experience include 1st, 2nd and 6th grades with 18 years in 5th grade. Tami and Ed, her husband of 21 years, have two cats and enjoy travel and working on projects around their home. This is her 9th year teaching at Great Expectations.
Alicia, an Arizona native, has a degree in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University. She has taught Kindergarten through Eighth Grades. Alicia moved from Tucson to Sahuarita in November 2006 with her husband Jake, a firefighter, and their four children. Her daughters are in 2nd and 3rd grades here at GEA and this is Alicia’s second year teaching in our middle school.
Sandra is originally from Houston but has visited and lived in many places including Germany, Holland, Iceland, England, California, and South Carolina. She has taught Fifth through Eighth Grades in addition to coaching boys’ and girls’ basketball and girls’ volleyball and serving as Student Council Sponsor for 3 years. This is Sandra’s fourth year teaching at Great Expectations