Academy Staff

Geoff Grimmer will assume the responsibilities of Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV) Academic Director. His responsibilities will include overseeing the Vail Valley Tutorial Academy (VVTA). In doing so, he becomes the 4th Academic Director following founder Terresa Herbst, Kathy Payne and Tanya Tanner in the 16 year history of the program.

Geoff will continue his work as Academic Director of Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy (VSSA) the groundbreaking one year old partnership with Eagle County School District (ECSD). As a result of his dual role as Academic Director of both VVTA and VSSA, he will relinquish his direct responsibilities at Battle Mountain High School and relocate his office to be present full-time at the Minturn Middle School (MMS) campus where both VVTA and VSSA are housed.

Geoff Grimmer was born and raised in Madison, WI. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BS in Finance through the Carlson School of Management, during which time he spent 9 months studying Economics at the University of Leiden, Holland. Geoff spent two years travelling overseas in Asia and South America before meeting his wife McKinley, a Madison native herself. McKinley was offered a Peace Corps fellowship in New Mexico where the couple taught in a public school on the Navajo Reservation for five years before relocating to Eagle in 2006. In 2006-07 Geoff accepted the position of Dean of Students at Battle Mountain High School. Last year he became the Assistant Principal of BMHS, as well as, the Academic Director of the newly established Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy (VSSA).

Geoffrey and McKinley have two sons; Owen age 4 and Sam who turns one in November. Geoff has a MA in Secondary education and a second MA in Education Leadership from Western New Mexico University, Gallup.

Geoff is excited about focusing solely on the talented students at both VVTA and VSSA and is committed to provide these young athletes with an exceptional and dynamic experience in education.

Holly Beavers comes to VSSA with over 8 years of Office Management experience. Prior to moving to Eagle County she was with Aurora Public Schools as a Principal's Secretary. Education has always been an interest to Holly and she will use her background and experience in communications to assist in the day to day activities of a busy school. Athletics has always been a large part of Holly's life, she was a cross country and track runner in high school, rowed college crew, and grew up skiing here for vacations with family until moving to Colorado in 1999. She is now a yoga instructor and avid snowboarder residing in Eagle-Vail with her husband Ryan.

University of Colorado, Boulder - BA Communications

Ryan Beavers
ryan.beavers.vssa@gmail.com
Upper School Science
Room 104

Ryan Beavers joins the VSSA Science department by way of Eagle Valley High School.  Ryan is currently best known as the husband of Holly Beavers, VSSA Office Manager, but will soon be recognized as a passionate and caring teacher, well prepared and rigorous, with a unique sense of humor and knack for creative lessons.  Ryan will join Scott Hopkins as the VSSA science department and will be teaching Physical Science, Biology, Physics, Anatomy and Math 6.  Ryan had taught both in the middle school and high school arenas and attended CU Boulder, majoring in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology. 

Cynthia Blancke speaks five languages fluently! She was born and raised in Belgium. She is a very intuitive and caring foreign language teacher. This year, she has developed the first hybrid foreign language secondary learning model in the State of Colorado. She provides supplemental lectures focusing on listening and speaking at VSSA as students take Aventa on-line courses. Cynthia’s diverse understanding of foreign languages allows VSSA to offer French, Spanish, German, Latin and Chinese. Students complete the bulk of their written work through Aventa, and then meet with Cynthia for 50 – 200 minutes per week depending on their schedule. Cynthia lives with her husband and two children in Edwards.

University of Louvain, Belgium, Degree in Germanic Phil, 1979
European Teaching License: ESL, German, 1980
University of Minnesota, M.ED. Second Language Acquisition, 1987
Colorado Teaching License, 1989
Adams State College, MA in Bilingual Education (Sp/Eng.), 1996

Becky Brown is back in town!  Becky Brown is the VSSA Special Education Coordinator. She comes to you from a year in Silverton School district, where she taught Special Education and high school art, and got to ski some great powder, too.  Before that she worked in Lake County school district’s special education department. You may remember her from Beaver Creek 3-6 ski school where she taught for 15 years, Prater lane playschool, or the Avon rec. center pool.  Becky is a licensed Special Education Generalist ages 5-21. She received her Special Education teacher’s training from Western State College of Colorado. She was on the Dean’s list both semesters of the program.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in art from Virginia Commonwealth University.  Becky grew up in Richmond, Virginia. She moved to Colorado with her husband, Adam in 1994 and never left.  She lives in Leadville with her husband, Adam and daughter, Nancy and two dogs.  Becky Loves her family and has a passion for Kids, teaching, skiing, the outdoors, the mountains, and snow. 

Chris is our new Upper School math teacher.While born in Louisiana, Chris moved to Colorado when he was 1.5 years old, so he considers himself a 96.25% native Coloradan.After graduating from Pueblo South High School, Chris went to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT where he graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering.Chris then spent the next 10 years as an engineer in the Coast Guard where he was stationed in Boston, MA, Ann Arbor, MI, Washington, DC, and Seattle, WA.During this time, he attended the University of Michigan where he earned an M.S. in Marine Engineering.After his time in the Coast Guard, Chris and his family decided it was time to return to Colorado and he decided to make a major career move and become a math teacher.His first teaching position was as a math teacher at Buena Vista High School in Buena Vista, Colorado (about 70 miles south of Vail), where he taught for 6 years before coming to VSSA.Chris is currently living in East Vail with his wife and two children.

Marian Cartin joined VSSA in January, 2008 as a science and math tutor with what was then called Vail Valley Tutorial Academy, now the Vail Ski & Snowboard Winter Tutorial. She will adopt the VSSA Lower School Social Studies position for the first 40 days of school as Kelli Parish will start the year on maternity leave.  Marian and has a strong understanding of the VSSA culture and high expectations for kids.  Kelli will reunite with our Winter Tutorial students on November 1^st.  She grew up on her family’s dairy farm in central Minnesota, and moved to Colorado in 2005.  For the last 9 years, Marian has been working in the field of outdoor and environmental education.   She spends her summers in Wyoming leading backpacking trips for the National Outdoor Leadership School.  Athletics are also important for Marian.  She was a cross country and track runner in high school and college, and helps coach the Battle Mountain Cross Country team.  While not at school in the winter you can find Marian snowshoeing or telemarking.  Marian currently lives in Vail with her husband Luke and their dog Goose. 

University of Wisconsin – River Falls, BS Biology

Kerry Donovan joined the ski academy in 2007 as a tutor with what was then called the Vail Valley Tutorial Academy.   Kerry, who was born and raised in Vail, also serves on the board for Vail Jazz Foundation, the Eagle River Scholarship Fund, VSSA Advisory Board, and is intensely involved with Birds of Prey as a volunteer. In the summer she runs the family ranch located near Edwards.  She attended the University of Notre Dame where she majored in pre-medicine and Anthropology

Scott Hopkins will continue his role as a Lower School Science teacher, but has accepted the newly created VSSA Mentor Teacher position.  Scott will join Cindy Suplizio and Geoff Grimmer on the VSSA Instructional Leadership Team. He comes to us from Oxford, Mississippi, where he was the recipient of the Robert Plants award for excellence in teaching at the University of Mississippi. The son of a Bell South Engineer and with a family deeply committed to education and community, Scott brings a valuable perspective on school culture and specifically as a math and science teacher. Scott has spent the better part of his life enthralled with science, so it is fitting that he teaches a science inquiry class at VSSA with our 11 – 14 year olds. Scott has worked with many innovative science programs and now looks to implement a robotics team, an invention convention/science fair competition, as well as a semester course on engineering. Scott teaches computer applications as well as covers Pre-Algebra and Algebra. Scott will be skiing as much as possible this winter, and is preparing for massive improvements in his on-mountain technique. Scott lives in Edwards.

University of Mississippi, BA 2005

Beth Huck will take over the VSSA Lower School English position.  Beth arrives having recently been an Elementary Gifted Education teacher in Eagle County.  Her previous role had her travelling extensively between multiple schools, so she is excited to establish her single home here at VSSA.  She has a strong background in Mathematics and Reading and will be the first ‘reading specialist’ in the history of VSSA.  Beth has a BA in Elementary Education from Penn State University and an MA in English as a Second Language from Adams State College.  She enjoys nordic skiing and is a certified yoga instructor.  

Mike Kimmel will take on the role of Upper School Language Arts teacher at VSSA.  Mike joins us from Jackson Hole Wyoming, where he was a 9^th and 10^th grade English teacher at Jackson Hole High School.  Mike brings a wealth of innovative teaching strategies and a rich background in international travel.  Mike has spent time as a competitive rock climbing coach and grew up in Telluride, Colorado.  Mike has a BA in Asian and Pacific Area Studies and an MA in Teaching from the University of Puget Sound.

Philosphy

I love cooking and love people.

I want to provide my clients of all ages the best food possible.

I want to provide special diet needs for those who need or desire.

I intend to create dinning that people want with nutrition that people need.

Attended Minneapolis culinary school graduating 1982.

Working at Jerry's Deli while attend Culinary 

First Resturant job Decathlon Club, private athletic club

Head Chef Boulder River Ranch (where i met my huband)

Excutive Chef Food and Beverage Manager Pecos River Ranch, Excutive training retreat 1985-1993( where I met aldo and sara)

Banquet Chef Grouse Mountain Grill Beaver Creek

Head Chef Trappers Cabin Beaver Creek

Private Chef most work done here in the Vail Valley but also Martha's Vineyard, and South Dakota Hunting Camp and Parties around the country.1999-presant

Katie MacFarlane recently joined VSSA to teach 6^th grade math and geometry.She has worked in education for 20 years in teaching and administrative roles.Katie grew up in Southern California and received her BA in education from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.After teaching (K-8) for twelve years in both the Los Angeles and Denver area, Katie returned to school and earned her Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of Colorado, Denver.She has lived in Vail for seven years and worked at Vail Mountain School, the Vail Valley Foundation, and Eagle County Schools.Katie loves to ski and bike with her husband, Bill, and hike with her two labs, Max and Allie.

Ramiro Mendoza began this summer as the full time custodian for VSSA.  Ramiro has over 20 years experience in maintenance and is also an ECS parent.  When he is not working, Ramiro enjoys watching professional soccer matches and spending time with his family.  You can find Ramiro in the custodial office across from the library, or around the building helping prepare our new facility for a great year.

Kelli Parish comes to us from Trieste, Italy where she and her husband Rob have been teaching for the last two years. Before that, Kelli spent 7 years teaching language arts, literature and social studies in grades 6-8 at Berry Creek Middle School in Edwards. She was twice nominated for the Eagle County School Districts ‘Teacher of the Year’ award, and has a dynamic athletic background as well as a thorough understanding of how to support the unique affective needs of our middle school students. Kelli will teach 6/7 writing, 6/7 English, and 8th grade History for VSSA in 2010-2011. Kelli and Rob both have dynamic athletic backgrounds, and will reside in Vail.

Colorado State University, BA in English, Minor in History, 1993

Bindu Pomeroy comes to VSSA via Minturn Middle School where he has spent the last year teaching and developing Middle School Social Studies and Reading courses. He was also the athletic director, coordinating all sports for MMS. Bindu has a strong background in Secondary Social Studies, including over 180 hours of course credit through the University of Colorado in Boulder. He previously taught for four years in Erie, Colorado. Bindu will teach Human Geography, World and European History, as well as 6-7 grade History.

Bindu is a former NCAA athlete at CU and is an avid backcountry snowboarder. He has also been actively involved in coaching cross country, track and football during his career. He has always strived to live in the mountains of Colorado and feels right at home in Eagle County. Bindu resides in Edwards.

University of Colorado, BS in Business, 1996

Secondary Teaching License in Social Studies, 2005 and MA in Education, 2007

Cindy Supliziowill step into our Lower School Mathematics position as well as our Master teacher role at VSSA.  Cindy brings a rich background in both education and skiing.  She has a BS and MS in engineering, is certified in science and math, has taught at Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont, Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, Rocky Mountain Academy in Evergreen, and most recently at Telluride High School.  Cindy is Nationally Board Certified in Mathematics and will be a terrific fit for our instructional leadership role.  Cindy skied on scholarship at the University of Colorado in Boulder and has two children who ski competitively. 

Charlene Whitney joined VSSA in the fall of 2011 as the new Director of College Counseling.  She is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia and has been in Eagle County since 2007.  After graduating college, she took a job with a company called Eckerd Youth Alternatives to work with youth at risk.Out of the 19 wilderness programs throughout the East Coast, she went to work in a small town called Floral City, Florida.When she started her career in 1999, she had no idea that first position would have such a profound impact on her life.For her two year commitment as a Counselor/Teacher she lived with a group of 11 adolescent females in a campsite on 860 acres of land.They lived together in tent like structures built with their own hands.They slept under mosquito nets and cooked meals on open fires.When she completed her two-year commitment she stayed at the program to work in different positions.She gained experience as a supervisor, trainer, and a group treatment coordinator. In 2005, she moved to Vermont and continued to work for the same company but gained experience working with adolescent males and their families as a Family Worker.  In 2007, Charlene became aware of a career opportunity in Colorado as a Social Caseworker for Eagle County.  While working for the county she was able to obtain a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and Counselor Education from the University of Colorado at Denver with hopes of becoming a School Counselor.  Charlene is thrilled to be a part of VSSA and is excited to jump into the world of college counseling while supporting the social and emotional needs of the students.  While she loves to travel, she can not imagine living anywhere else but Eagle County.