Gilbert Early College

Blue Anderson

Brittany Tomkins

Krista Robinson

Krista is married with a daughter who attends LEAO. She graduated with an arts degree in Fashion Merchandising, but has been working with charter schools for the past seven years. In her free time she enjoys going to the movie theater, shopping, and hiking!

Laura Reinhardt

Dawn Romero

Tracie Kruszeski

Mrs. Tracie Kruszeski and her husband relocated to Arizona from the Albany, NY area in September 2015. She graduated from the College of Saint Rose in Albany in May 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Special Education. Tracie taught in a 3rd-5th grade 15:1:1 classroom in Gloversville, NY at the beginning of her career. She later moved on to teach a 9th-12th grade 12:1:1 classroom in Stillwater, NY. Tracie took a break from the classroom and did in home teaching for special needs infants, toddlers and preschoolers through Head Start in Saratoga Springs, NY. She is excited to be teaching at Leading Edge Academy as well as being back in the classroom again.

Nikki Foster

Mrs. Nikki Austin Foster has taught at Leading Edge Academy since 2004. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Arizona State University. She has taught elementary, high school and has settled into teaching junior high. She enjoys reading, traveling and playing softball. She is the head coach of the Lady Spartans varsity softball team and also has coached the junior high boys basketball team. She enjoy the opportunity to teach your children and share her passion of history and the world with them!

Joel Moyar

Mr. Moyar earned his bachelor’s degree from Ohio Christian University in 2005, and graduated from Wesley Biblical Seminary with his masters degree in 2009. He has taught at the collegiate level for over ten years. During this time, Mr. Moyar taught in both the in-seat and online context. He has a wide range of experience, teaching both adults and traditional aged students. Mr. Moyar has trained and taught world history, philosophy, and theology.

Justin Rosepapa

Justin Rosepapa is an alumnus of Northern Arizona University. He earned a Master’s Degree in Literature during the spring of 2019. Justin is currently enjoying his first full year as an educator at Leading Edge Academy. When he is not teaching, you may find him hiking far and wide throughout the southwest, writing and reading at local coffee shops, and jaunting through used bookstores and record shops.

Amy Ivy

Mrs. Ivy grew up in Virginia, and she moved to Arizona in 2017. She attended Virginia Wesleyan College (now Virginia Wesleyan University). She has worked in the education field (Sylvan Learning Center, substitute teaching, and teaching) for over nine years. She has been with Leading Edge Academy since the fall of 2019.

Michelle Smith

Mrs. Smith is Canadian by birth. As long as she can remember she has had a love for math and number manipulation. She completed a Bachelor of Science at Indiana Wesleyan University and a Bachelor of Education at University of New Brunswick. Since marrying and moving to the USA she has taught high school math in North Carolina and Arizona. Outside of school she likes to read, repurpose bargain finds and travel.

Donna Pond

Mrs. Donna Pond is a graduate of Liberty University. Her degree is in Mathematics Education. She has been in education for 26 years. She has taught in Virginia, Japan, and Arizona. Her most recent experience was at Hamilton for the last 11 years. She also enjoyed a 6 week long term substitute position in Hawaii. She is married to a wonderful man and has two sons and one daughter, one very hyper dog, and a very shy guinea pig. Her hobbies are reading and music and enjoys playing different kinds of instruments.

Mero Geesey

Mr. Geesey is originally from Florida. He received his Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Florida, his MBA from Florida Atlantic University, and is currently working towards a Master’s in Educational Leadership from GCU. In college he worked as a research assistant developing gene therapy treatments for blindness and in grad school he implemented and taught outdoor recreation & education courses for college students. He loves to travel (he’s been to over 75 countries!) and has instructed high school study abroad programs to Iceland and Ecuador. In his free time he enjoys hiking, camping, cooking, and snowboarding.

Katie Skipper

Katie Bradley

Mrs. Katie Bradley received her BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Wichita State University, majoring in English with a minor in Speech Communication. In 2011, Katie received her Master of Arts in Communication. From 2005-2009, Katie was a starter for the Div. 1, Wichita State Shockers’ Volleyball Team and went on to play for Arizona’s professional volleyball team, The Arizona Sizzle from 2013-2014. Katie coaches the Spartan’s Varsity volleyball team, winning the 2013, D2 State Championship and received the “Coach of the Year” award. With both parents as art teachers, it came natural to love and teach art to others.

Laura Lindstrom

Ms. Laura Lindstrom has her BA in Vocal Performance and Speech Drama, from North Park University in Chicago, Ill. She holds a Provisional Career and Technical Education and Training Certificate. Ms.Lindstrom is a member of the NAfMe and the AMEA. She has been teaching for Leading Edge since 2004. In her spare time, Ms. Lindstrom enjoys spending time with her grown children and grandchildren as well as helping produce musicals at her church.

Adam Goldson

Mr. Adam Goldson received his BA in Music Education from Dowling College in New York. Prior to that he studied Classical and Jazz Performance at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While there he studied Tuba with Gregory Fritze, Principal Tubist with the Rhode Island Philharmonic. Mr. Goldson has worked as a District-wide Instrumental Music Teacher and Band Director for Grades 4-8, in addition to being the High School Marching Band Director in the Attleboro Public Schools in Massachusetts. He has taught Band in the Scottsdale Unified School District and Madison School District in Phoenix.

Katy Gillespie

Ms. Gillespie started teaching PE at Leading Edge Academy in 2020. She received her Bachelors of Science in Sports Science in 2015 and her Masters of Science in Kinesiology in 2019. She played college soccer at Mesa Community College and Briar Cliff University. Currently she is coaching soccer at the GEC campus. In her spare time she is often playing, coaching, or watching soccer.

Asher Laufenburger

Ms. L graduated from the University of Arizona with a double major in Communication and Spanish. She studied abroad for a semester in Chile and worked at a Montessori school teaching preschool aged children English. Ms. L has always wanted to be a high school Spanish teacher but had started working for a mortgage company while in school and stayed with real estate for a period of time before finally deciding to follow her dreams of teaching! Her favorite part about teaching is seeing people excited about communicating with others and bridging gaps between groups with language barriers.

Ron Kennedy