Youth Education Instructors
Current Instructors
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PAIGE ADAMS
Page "Paiger" Adams earned her bachelor's degree at Weber State in math and physical education and her Masters of Education from University of Utah. She has taught math for 23 years at both the junior high and senior high school levels, including math 7, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, intermediate algebra & trig honors, and ACT math. -
DANA ALLETTO
Dana Alletto has a passion for pastry. She completed the Wilton’s Master Cake course prior to heading to culinary school. During her four years at Johnson and Wales University she completed two internships abroad; the first at the ENSP in France and the second at the DCT in Switzerland, receiving certificates from both. After graduating with a bachelor’s of science in baking and pastry; Dana went on to work as a pastry chef for Aramark in Colorado. Once the summer season ended she moved to Utah and worked as a baker for Deer Valley. After working there for three years she took a pastry chef job at the Canyons, where she still currently works. When not in the kitchen, Dana enjoys being outdoors, skiing, hiking, recreational sports, and hanging out with friends. -
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JUDSON ARMSTRONG
Judson Armstrong, Guitar Camp Director, is a music educator and performing classical guitarist. He has a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Utah and is currently teaching at the Salt Lake Arts Academy. Judson has over ten years experience teaching music in both public and private education. -
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RYAN BOWN
Ryan Bown received his BFA in sculpture from Brigham Young University in 2008 and his MFA in Entertainment Arts and Engineering from the University of Utah in 2012. Prior to working in the games Industry he devoted a decade (1998-2008) to creating and showing Fine Art works at Galleries and Museums throughout the United States and abroad. Having a love for art and video games, he decided to fuse the two passions together. Over the past five years he has worked on half a dozen published games which include EIRE, Disney Infinity and Disney Infinity 2.0. At the University of Utah he teaches Master Projects Classes, Intro to Modeling, Advance Character Production, Digital Figure Sculpting, Texturing for 3D, and Environmental Art for Games. -
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HILARY CAVANAUGH
Hilary Cavanaugh is an award-winning pastry chef who has been baking in the Salt Lake Valley for over 10 years. After attending UVU's Culinary Arts Program, she began her career and has worked as a pastry chef at a wide variety of bakeries in the state ever since. In 2012, Hilary had the opportunity to be on Food Network's Cupcake Wars winning team as the assistant for the Sweet Tooth Fairy. Also in 2012, Hilary opened her own dessert catering business, Rue de Lis Desserts, which has received statewide and national recognition on blogs and in magazines. Hilary's greatest passion is teaching people of all ages the art and enjoyment that comes from working in the kitchen. -
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ELAINE CLARK
Elaine Clark has been teaching science classes for 29 years to students ranging in ages from 4 years to adult. After teaching high school in Georgia, she attended graduate school at the University of Utah where she earned a MS. in Biology, and is licensed to teach science in grades 6-12 in the state of Utah. From 1984 to 2003 Elaine designed and taught hands-on science classes for students ages 4-15 during the after school and/or enrichment programs at the Utah Museum of Natural History and various schools throughout the Salt Lake City School District, including the Homeless Shelter School where she taught for eleven years. Currently Elaine is the science specialist for the Salt Lake Arts Academy where she teaches 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade science. She received the Salt Lake School District "Volunteer of the Year" Award in 1990, and the Utah PTA/KUED Golden Apple Teaching Award in 2003. Elaine's main goal is help students discover that science is FUN, INTERESTING, and USEFUL, and that ANYONE can be a scientist. -
BOBBY CODY
Hailing from the deep south, Bobby has worked as an artist and writer for over twenty-four years. He has been working as an educator since 2006, teaching art, theatre and film in Salt Lake high schools and with the University of Utah's Youth Education program. He is currently working in theatre as a director and writer for local production companies. -
SAMUEL DUNN
Sam Dunn holds BAs in History and Scandinavian Studies from UCLA and an M.F.A. in Theater-Film from the University of Utah. He was a law student. He is a filmmaker and he works for the Sundance Film Festival. He has taught courses for the University of Utah's Department of Film and Media Arts since 1992 and he has taught courses for the University of Utah's Honors College since 2010. He speaks Swedish fluently and he reads all of the Germanic languages, including Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon. Sam enjoys gardening, hiking, reading, and movies. -
Janessa is the Education and Outreach Director for FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake. She comes to FRIENDS after working in educational program development at the Natural History Museum of Utah for 2 years. You will often find her out at Great Salt Lake running the Lakeside Learning Field Trip Program. She holds a B.S degree in Anthropology as well as a B.S in Gender Studies from the University of Utah. Her specialty is Inquiry Based Environmental Education and her passion is connecting people to the natural world around them. In 2017 Janessa was named Educator of the Year by the Utah Society for Environmental Education. When she is not working for FRIENDS, she enjoys hiking with her dog, spending time with friends and family and fine tuning her new birding hobby.
Why did you choose your career path? My career in education chose me! After I graduated from the University of Utah I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I took a part-time job at the Natural History Museum of Utah. I worked in the public programs department, and one of my facilitators was out sick and we had a junior science academy class scheduled that day. We didn't have anyone else to teach the class so I decided to do it. It was my very first time teaching students and even though it was a bumpy first try, I was hooked! I loved watching kids get excited about something I was teaching them! After that, I kept asking my boss to let me teach more and more.
When you were growing up, what did you want to be? I wanted to be an Olympic gymnast!
If you could join a Youth Education class, which one would it be? I would take the Girls Rock Robotics class because I don't know anything about robotics and I love learning new things. I also think it is really important to get girls excited about science and engineering at an early age. If someone would have told me when I was young that I could be a scientist, it would have opened up a whole new world to me.
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CARRIE FINLINSON
Carrie taught English in junior high school where she was recognized as teacher of the year. She received her B.A. in English from Brigham Young University and participated in the Utah Writing Project while studying for her Master's in Secondary and Gifted and Talented Education at Utah State University. Carrie is an adjunct professor for the elementary education department at Utah State University and runs Write On! Workshops, an award winning writing program for children. Carrie is also a freelance writer who has been published in various publications.Why did you choose your career path? I chose this career because it's so much fun! It doesn't feel like work to me!
When you were growing up, what did you want to be? When I was a kid I wanted to be a movie star and for awhile I wanted to give tours at art museums. I did have a lot of fun performing but gave up on my movie star dream. My dad said people do art museum tours for free. I love movies and art but feel so lucky to do what I do!
If you could join a Youth Education class, which one would it be? If I could join a Youth Ed class, I'd join an art class. Growing up, my daughters had awesome experiences doing those classes with youth ed. I think I would have liked them too!
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ELLIOTT FRAUGHTON
Elliott has spent a lifetime in summer camps as both camper and every position imaginable as staff. Since summer 2012 Elliott has brought his experience to Club U camps as Camp Director. Elliott graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor's degree in philosophy, and is now finishing his Masters in Public Administration (MPA) . Somewhat like Peter Pan, Elliott is never wanting to grow up and is preserved by the positivity of the summer camp experience as well as the campers and staff of Club U. When not being a camp nerd, Elliott enjoys spending time in the outdoors with his girlfriend, and puppy. -
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SERGEI GRITSAEV
Sergei, who is from the Ukraine, is a certified master of fencing and has over twenty years teaching experience. He works with all levels, from beginners to international competitors. -
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CORY JENSEN
Cory Jensen recently received his Masters Degree in Science Education with an emphasis on Physics. He has grown up being immersed in the physical sciences and has always found ways to make science interesting and fun. His original passion was for the theoretical sciences, but he has recently been studying ways of finding diversified and renewable energy sources and thinks that the world is close to solving this puzzle. He is also an avid percussionist and is a graduate of the music education program at Weber State University. He resides with his wife and 4 daughters in Syracuse, Utah.
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IAN JENTZSCH
Ian was a film major who has since moved into the EAE video game program (and Youth partner) at the University of Utah due to his love for video games. He lives in West Jordan, Utah with his wife (who is a supervising editor for Cosmic Pictures) and their very sleepy Corgi, Ike. Ian is an amateur graphic designer, having been raised with Adobe products most of his life, but later became certified in web design tools (Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, HTML5 and CSS3). He currently works for Youth Education at the U, and teaches graphic design to 10-16 yr olds, and beginning programming to 6-9 yr olds. In his spare time, he is cultivating his skills as a hardcore Xbox achievement hunter or attempting to make you cry in Super Mario Maker.
Ian's Portfolio
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STEPHEN LOBO
Stephen Lobo has been teaching math and science for over ten years as a teaching assistant, a tutor, and an adjunct instructor at a private high school for gifted students. Steve previously was an instructor for a nationally recognized private ACT preparation company. He currently works in research and development for a local pharmaceutical company. -
JACINDA MERANDA
Jacinda is a fifth grade teacher who loves teaching science. She is very excited to teach the Marine Biology and Ecology class this summer. She has a passion for learning and experimenting in the world of science and can't wait to pass that passion onto her students. -
HENRY MILLER
Henry has been making short films for over 30 years. For the last 17 years, teaching kids how to conceive and produce films has been one of his passions. He is currently the multimedia teacher at the Salt Lake Arts Academy. -
JANE MYERS
Jane has her Master's degree from Grand Canyon University and her undergraduate degree from the University of Utah. She attended Mills College in California, also. She has been teaching with Youth Education since 1987 and works with children of all ages. Jane received the middle school art educator of the year award from the Utah Art Educators Association. Jane was honored as one of the sixty juried artists accepted into Utah Art 2002 during the Olympics, and is represented in the Salt Lake County Art Collection and many national corporate art collections. -
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JUDITH NEUGEBAUER
Judith earned her PhD in 2009 from the University of Utah, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, using zebrafish to study heart development. She has over 10 years' experience conducting research, mentoring and teaching, and has transitioned these skills into educating K-12 students. As the program manager and outreach educator of BioEYES Utah, Judith now uses zebrafish to engage students in science and offer hands-on science projects. When she is not teaching science Judith enjoys hiking, camping, and skiing with her family. -
LAURIE OBERG
During the school year, Laurie teaches college-prep language arts, chess, and senior seminar at a local charter high school. While teaching is her first love, she also enjoys reading, writing, knitting, music, and spending vacations at the Oregon coast. Laurie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and history from Westminster College, and a Master of Education degree in teaching and learning from the University of Utah. She is a past board member of the Autism Society of Utah and a volunteer, along with her son, with the Autism Research Institute. -
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DIANA ROGERS
Diana Rogers Glissmeyer earned her bachelors degree in voice at BYU and furthered her music education at the University of Utah. She has been a featured artist with the Children's Dance Theatre and has collaborated and performed on albums such as "Sojourn, along the Path". She has been teaching private voice for over 8 years and has recently become a certified Let's Play Music teacher for young children. -
SARA SCHNEIDER
Sara has been teaching math at Skyline High School for 5 years. She earned her bachelors degree in Mathematics Teaching from the University of Utah in 2011. Sara completed her masters degree in 2015 in Educational Psychology, with an emphasis in Instructional Design and Educational Technology. Sara loves teaching AP Calculus BC at Skyline, and also advises the National Honor Society. This is Sara's third summer teaching for Youth Ed at the U.Why did you choose your career path? I have loved math since I was 5 years old. When I was in kindergarten, we were supposed to find different ways to add to 6 by coloring in boxes. I jumped ahead and wrote equations, and my teacher said she had never seen a kindergarten student do that in her 25 years of teaching. Around the same age, when I was with my family on long car rides, I would ask my parents to make up math problems for me to solve because that's what I liked to do for fun. I have loved math for as long as I can remember.
What did you want to be when you were a kid? In preschool I would have said a pilot. In elementary school my response was a teacher, and in high school I went back and forth between a dietitian and a chemist.
If you could join a Youth Education class, what would it be? I have done a bit of coding and web development before, and I would like to learn more about that.
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JASON SNOW
Jason teaches science at Northwest Middle School in Salt Lake District. -
JOAN STEINMANN
Joan Steinmann earned a Bachelor of Music from The University of Utah in Vocal Performance. Since 2006 she has taught both Choir and German at Paradigm Charter High School in South Jordan. Under her direction, Paradigm High Choirs have won various musical awards and performed extensive through Utah. Recently Joan Steinmann's choirs were featured guests on several concerts of the world renowned Salt Lake Vocal Artists.
Mrs. Steinmann's hobbies include reading, cycling, and hiking in Utah's beautiful mountains with her husband and little girl. -
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SHAUNDA TRIMMER
Ms. Trimmer is an AP/IB Calculus teacher at Skyline High School. She has a Bachelor's degree in Math and Chemistry as well as a Master's degree in Education Administration. Ms. Trimmer has 18 years of teaching experience and loves teaching students who want to learn. -
KAREN WALDBURGER
Karen earned her B. A., M.Ed. and licensure in secondary education from the U of U. She has taught tenth and eleventh grade English at Hunter High School in Granite School District since fall of 2004. She has served as advisor to the junior class, Anime Club, Book Club, Hockey Club, Martial Arts Club, Writing Club, and Urban Dance Club. Karen brings a wealth of experience to Youth Education as she continues to work with youth in a variety of settings, including in camps, community service, counseling, education, recreation, religious setting, and sports for more than three decades.
Why did you choose your career path? I chose my present career path when my daughter earned her M.Ed. and I told myself that it was time to get a Master's and a teaching certificate.
What did you want to be when you were a kid? When I was in grade school I really wanted to be a teacher, but in junior high and high school I wanted to be a writer. I spent years (including college) working for newspapers and magazines.
If you could join a Youth Education class, what would it be? The Youth Education class(es) I would join if given the opportunity would be one of the many Club U classes offered. I was a camp counselor for two summers, (and program coordinator for one,) and really enjoyed camping, hiking, painting, scientific experiments, field trips, road trips - and of course - writing.
