High School Teachers
History Department
Karina Doyle is in her tenth year as a secondary teacher, and her second year at COVA. She earned her BA from Gustavus Adolphus College, with majors in psychology and athletic training, then pursued her MA in religious studies (emphasis in world religions) from Arizona State University. She earned her teacher certification from College of the Southwest in Carlsbad, New Mexico. In addition to her teaching experiences, Karina has been an athletic trainer working with high school athletes for seventeen years, and has been a high school coach for girls’ soccer, softball, and springboard diving for several years as well.
Bryan D. Franklin earned a B.A. contract degree entitled “The Role and Impact of Race and Ethnicity in the American Society” from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Bryan further pursued his education at Washington State University, completing a M.A. in political science. After working for three years teaching at the community college level, he returned to school and received licensure for secondary social studies. This is his second year with COVA and he is thrilled to be teaching courses in social studies.
Linnea Ingraham is in her second year with COVA teaching world history and world civilizations. Linnea received her B.A. in history from the University of Colorado. She is a fifth-generation native of Colorado and has lived in a number of places around the state.
Science Department
Suzanne Jackson is in her third year with the COVA high school team as a science teacher. She has seven years teaching experience in science, math and French. In addition, she has two years of teaching experience with home schooling families. Suzanne was born and raised on the Jersey shore, earned her B.S. in science education in 1996 from Florida State University, and moved to Colorado in 1997.
Lulu Jones has six years of teaching experience in science and math. She earned her B.S. in human biology from the University of Kansas in 1992, and earned her teaching credential in California. In addition, she spent time as a biologist on a scientific expedition in Baja California with sea turtles. Lulu moved to Colorado in 2003. This is her second year with COVA and she is very excited to be a part of the high school team.
Melissa Lambrecht is excited to be in her first year as a virtual teacher, with four years of classroom experience in a local K12 Core Knowledge charter school. She attended Colorado State University and University of Northern Colorado earning a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and secondary science education. Melissa is originally from Iowa, but has lived in Fort Collins most of her life. She is very eager to teach chemistry, physics, physical science, and earth science this school year.
Math Department
Natasza Krajcovic is in her second year as a high school math teacher for COVA. She was born in Wroclaw, Poland and immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was almost nine years old. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics/operations research. She attended the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley where she received her teaching license and her master’s degree in mathematics, with an emphasis on education.
Gary Santi received a BS in Economics from United States Naval Academy in 1974, his Master of Business Administration from the University of New Mexico in 1981, and his Secondary Mathematics Teachers Certificate from Marymount University in Washington DC in 1995. He retired from the Navy after 21 years as a Naval aviator in August of 1995. Gary truly has a passion for teaching young people math and has enjoyed watching the evolution of computer assisted teaching/learning.
English Department
Casey Longo grew up in New York and went to college at the University of Colorado at Boulder. There she received degrees in English literature and creative writing, as well as her teaching license. She has taught in Colorado schools for nine years, and has also spent a year abroad teaching on the Caribbean island of St. Croix.
Billie Jo Saunders is in her ninth year teaching English, and her second year with COVA high school. She earned a BA in English with an emphasis in secondary education from the University of Northern Colorado in 1999. In June 2006, she completed work on her MA in school counseling, and recently received a MA in school administration. Both of her MA degrees were received from the University of Phoenix and involved a great deal of online learning.
Chrissy Thorsen is in her eighth year teaching high school English and her second year with COVA. For the first six years of her teaching career, she taught at Ponderosa High School in Parker, Colorado. Chrissy earned her BA from the University of Northern Colorado in English with an emphasis in secondary education and a minor in writing, and she is currently working on her master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Denver.
Arts/Electives/PE & Health
Jolene Masek is a high school instructor in fine arts for COVA and Art Team Coordinator for K12. She has an extensive background in the area of fine arts instruction, curriculum development, and teacher training. She has been a part of COVA since the school's second year, filling the roles of elementary teacher, middle school teacher, lead teacher for Southern Colorado, and now high school teacher. Previously, she taught fine arts at the elementary and secondary levels in a Core Knowledge school in Colorado, where she was responsible for visual arts, music, and technology. She has also written Colorado state standards for these subjects. Jolene received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Stout, and licensure from Colorado State University.
Terri Silli is in her first year teaching PE and health for COVA. She grew up in Wisconsin and received her bachelor’s degree from UW-La Crosse in PE/health. She completed her master’s degree from Southern Illinois University in PE. For fifteen years, Terri was an exercise specialist in adult fitness/cardiac rehab for a medical center in West Palm Beach, FL, and was an adjunct for seven years in PE at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Terri also taught life hanagement skills for one year with Palm Beach Virtual Academy.
Instructional Coordinators
Kim Rich brings to COVA eleven years of educator experience. After earning her Bachelor of Science degree in environmental education from the Ohio State University, she pursued her teaching license for middle and high school science and language arts. Kim has worked in both informal and formal educational settings, with five years teaching in environmental education arenas, as well as six years in a classroom in both virtual and brick and mortar schools.
Kimber Podsedek began her career in 1986 working as a roving secretary in Fortune 500 top oil and gas companies and provided temporary secretarial support for nine various departments. This position taught her to be a jack-of-all-trades and to learn new software programs. She also worked as a sales assistant, loan/real estate assistant, technical support manager, web administrator, and office manager.
Krystal Spurlock is a certified teacher with a bachelor’s degree in English education from the Ohio State University, and a master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Dayton. She has over 15 years of experience as a teacher in public schools, home-based education, private and small group tutoring, and educational consulting. Krystal has taught pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Her areas of focus are composition, language arts, journalism, American literature, English literature, honors English, developmental English. She believes that teaching sometimes requires different methods to reach the unique strengths, challenges and interests of the student, and that it is the educator’s responsibility to create meaningful and exciting learning experiences for the student.
