New Faculty & Staff for the 2019-20 School Year

Each year, it is hard to say goodbye to departing students and faculty who have grown to be a part of The Meadows School family. But this is a natural part of school life--students grow up and graduate, and teachers retire or go in search of new teaching and life experiences. And at the same time, it’s a pleasure to search for, hire, and ultimately introduce new members of The Meadows Family. Therefore, please join me in welcoming the following professionals to their new home on Scholar Lane:

 

After amassing 18 years of experience in various fundraising capacities, Ms. Heidi Lee joined The Meadows School this summer as our new Director of Advancement. Heidi worked most recently as Senior Director of Development for the Lee Business School at UNLV, and previously worked at Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica. She looks forward to utilizing her knowledge of Las Vegas and her experience in higher ed and private school fundraising to develop our advancement efforts.

 

Ms. Katherine von Collenberg, who goes by the first name “Nicki,” joins our Beginning School staff with 9 years of classroom experience as a substitute and a full-time teacher. Nicki has a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s in Education, both of which she earned from the University of Phoenix. She will be teaching in our new Fireflies classroom this year.

Jennifer Johnson is well known to the Beginning School faculty as she has subbed there for the past five years. We are thrilled to welcome her full-time to the Explorers program. She brings a Bachelor’s degree in P.E., with a focus on elementary education.

Maureen Meci was hired in the middle of the year last school year. She has an extensive background in customer service positions but has worked in private preschools for the past two years. We are excited to have her return to teach in our Explorers classroom.

Abbigail Van Sweringen joins the Beginning School as a part-time teachers’ aide. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and is assessing whether she would like to pursue a career in education.

 

After taking two years off to tend to her growing family, Ms. Katie Mayer is returning to the Lower School in a new role as an Instructional Coach, providing instructional support and feedback to Lower School teachers. While we fully expect her to move into a classroom teaching position if and when a suitable spot becomes available in the future, when I learned that she was interested in working full time, I saw an opportunity to bring a veteran teacher, with ten years of Meadows School experience back into the fold.

 

After a successful first season as The Meadows’ varsity baseball coach, Mr. Andy Concepcion joins the Middle School staff this fall. Andy has worked as a baseball coach, a scout, and as a teacher in his 11 years of working with young people. A former UNLV football player, he will continue as our varsity baseball coach and work to develop a middle school team while overseeing middle school study halls and teaching PE.

 

Mr. Todd Rubin joins The Meadows Family as a Middle School science teacher with a Bachelor’s in Education from Florida Atlantic University and a Master’s in Education from the University of Florida. A lifelong Floridian, Todd made the move to Las Vegas after amassing a decade of classroom teaching experience at the middle and high school levels. He is also a former high school wrestler and looks forward to helping to coach the Meadows growing wrestling team.

 

Miriam Sol is already well-known to the Middle School community. After a successful stint as a long-term substitute covering Ms. Jarvis’s classes last year, we are lucky to have her continue with us. Ms. Sol has experience teaching Spanish at both public and private schools, and at the middle, upper, and college levels.

 

With a large freshman class this year, and with a handful of middle school students who have never taken Spanish before, we found that we needed two extra sections of Spanish covered.  We were lucky to find Ms. Jessica Acosta to cover the necessary classes. She will work as a part-time teacher, covering Spanish I and Spanish II courses in the Upper School.

With 12 years in admissions at Colorado College and Ursinus College, Ms. Melissa Lustig joins our college counseling staff after having served as a College Counselor at Aspen High School in Colorado for the past 6 years. Those experiences, along with her education at Wellesley College (AB in English/History) and University of Michigan (MS in Higher Ed Administration), have uniquely prepared Melissa for her new role as Co-Director of College Counseling at TMS. Ms. Cassidy Paine joins us from the state of Maryland, where she taught middle and high school math classes for the past 9 years. She brings a total of 11 years of teaching experience, a Bachelor’s in Math Education, and a Master’s in Education from George Mason University to The Meadows. Cassidy will be teaching freshman Geometry and, as a former Division I student-athlete herself, will be working to grow the Meadows soccer program.

Ms. Cassidy Paine joins us from the state of Maryland, where she taught middle and high school math classes for the past 9 years. She brings a total of 11 years of teaching experience, a Bachelor’s in Math Education, and a Master’s in Education from George Mason University to The Meadows. Cassidy will be teaching freshman Geometry and, as a former Division I student-athlete herself, will be working to grow the Meadows soccer program.

Mr. Pete Simpson will be teaching History, Business, and Economics classes in our Upper School. He taught history, social media law, geography, and politics most recently at IMG Academy in Florida. Prior to that, Pete worked in estate planning and as a financial services lawyer. He also had stints of teaching and administrative work at Palm Beach Day School in Florida, The Benjamin School in Florida, Warren Walker School in Nevada, and The John Cooper School in Texas. Pete’s broad background of teaching and “real-world” experiences will be a great addition to the Upper School Social Sciences staff. He is also excited to help coach our cross country and track programs.

Ms. Jenna Soule joins the Upper School office staff after four years in sales and customer service. She learned of The Meadows School through Shelly Soule, who works as a Lower School teacher. Having started at the beginning of July, Jenna has already made a solid and positive impression on the Upper School. Jenna will be responsible for upper school receptionist duties including attendance and answering the campus-wide switchboard.

Known until now as a Meadows parent and the wife of Middle School Science teacher Mr. Trujillo, Ms. Dawn Minnick-Trujillo is a fantastic addition to the larger Meadows family and to the upper school Science staff. Dawn taught for the last 13 years in the Clark County School District and amassed an impressive list of accomplishments. Along with her two Master’s degrees in Education and Administration, she is a Nevada State Champion Robotics coach and is one of only a handful of educators from around the country to be admitted into the NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassador program. Along with her Chemistry and Physics teaching responsibilities, Dawn will expand our robotics and engineering programs in Upper School.