Staff

Wendy Hunsaker is a Wyoming native and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. She has a Bachelors degree from the University of Wyoming in Elementary Education. She has been teaching for 5 years, both in Laramie and Cheyenne. She loves working at PODER and is constantly amazed by the hard work ethic of the students, staff and administrators.

wendyh@poderacademy.com

Mrs. Arvizo is originally from Metuchen, New Jersey. Upon graduating high school, she joined the United States Air Force where she served as an orthopaedic surgical technician for 6 years. After her time in the Air Force, she studied Elementary Education at the University of South Florida and continued teaching in Tampa, Florida. She recently moved to Cheyenne with her husband, son, and two dogs! Mrs. Arvizo is excited to be teaching 5th grade at PODER Academy.

Miss. B (Bugg) is in her third year of teaching. She taught in Garden city Kansas before teaching this year at Poder for the first time. She is from Colorado Springs Colorado and received her degrees in Elementary Education and French Language from the University of Northern Colorado in December 2020. She and her two dogs now call Cheyenne home for the first time this year.  

Keri grew up in Washington and moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming after high school. She got her Bachelors in Elementary Education from Valley City State University. Currently, she is working on her Masters in K-6 Mathematics. 

keri@poderacademy.com

Prior to becoming a Kindergarten teacher at PODER Academy in 2018,  Virginia was a Center-Based Special Education Paraprofessional and then taught Kindergarten for a bit. She was born and raised in Wisconsin (Go Pack Go!) and moved out to Colorado in 2015. She has a Bachelors in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a Masters in Teaching and Learning. 

She loves to be outdoors as much as possible! Whether she is camping, ATVing, boating, playing tennis, skiing or simply sitting out on the porch, she craves the nature that surrounds her. Some of her favorite things are peach green iced tea, fruity candy, anything to do with cheese, The Green Bay Packers, Target, spending time with her family/friends and teaching our future generations! Teaching is a huge part of her life and she wouldn’t change it for anything! :)

virginia@poderacademy.com

Patrick grew up in East Chicago, Indiana. He joined the Air Force after high school and served 22 years. He's been working at PODER for 5 years and has loved every second of it. When at home, he enjoys watching all sports, except golf. Seriously, golf is boring.

patrick@poderacademy.com

Rhonda is excited to be at PODER Academy.  She received her degree at the University of Wyoming. She's lived in California, Arizona and Wyoming and loves to do things with her family on her days off. She enjoys doing crafts and being outdoors, and also enjoys watching movies and reading.

Mason Munford is the long term substitute teacher for Mrs. Hunsaker's sixth grade class at Poder. In the fall he will be moving over to PASS as an in house sub and academic interventionist. Last year he was a sixth grade teacher and middle school activities director at Wheatland Middle School. He was born and raised in Cheyenne and graduated from Central High. He attended Western Nebraska community college and Adams State University, where he graduated with his secondary education degree in social studies. He enjoys long walks on the beach and sampling charcuterie boards from various places.

Mr. Burke is the new English as a Second Language teacher at Poder Elementary and PASS. He grew up all over the country, starting in New York and graduating high school in Tennessee. He has lived in Wyoming for a total of 13 years now with his wife and six kids. He has a Master’s degree in Spanish from University of Wyoming where he is currently completing a graduate certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language. He previously studied Latin American and Asian Studies at Brigham Young University-Provo where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree and learned Mandarin and Brazilian Portuguese. He enjoys hiking, fishing, being on the water, performing jazz, and reading great literature, including the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and most especially, Peru’s Mario Vargas Llosa.

Toni Becker, Speech Pathology-Assistant, is excited to return to the academic setting and whatever adventures this 2020-21 school year brings. She maintains Wyoming certification with her B.S. degree in Elementary Education and K-8 Special Education from Concordia University-Nebraska and holds a Speech Language Pathology-Assistant certificate from Colorado University-Boulder.  She comes to us with 20+ years of education and clinical experience. Her interests include reading, gardening, home repair projects, aquatics/exercise, online tutoring, church volunteer activities, and spending time with a large extended family in the Wyo-Braska area.

Dominic is the Chess teacher / coach at PODER and P.A.S.S. He has been a Chess teacher for many years and has been in the education field for over 10 years. He loves what he does and loves helping and seeing students grow in a multitude of ways.

Austin Fermelia is the Tennis Director at PODER Academy. Tennis, teaching and coaching have always been huge passions of his and luckily he gets to do all three at PODER. Some of his other passions are running his general contracting business during the summers, staying fit, and hanging out with his two Shih Tzu's Atlas and Ellie.

Jessica is a Cheyenne, Wyoming native who attended the University of Wyoming for both her undergrad and graduate degrees. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who has experience in various areas of mental health including family therapy; substance abuse; social and emotional disabilities; suicidality and self-harm. She loves spending time with her pets, reading, and traveling the world. She is very passionate about working at PODER and hopes to help in any way she can!

Corina has been working as a paraprofessional at PODER Academy since 2018. She studied psychology at LCCC. She loves being able to work with and get to know a lot of students on a one-on-one basis. In her spare time she enjoys reading, baking and working on craft projects of all sorts.

Vicky is a country girl from the panhandle of Oklahoma. She loves to craft and read mysteries.

Ms. Brinkman is in her second year as a para professional, first year at Poder Academy. She is from Cheyenne, Wyoming and currently in college at Laramie County Community College.

I am a Wyoming native, I graduated from Burns Jr/Sr Highschool in 2020.I knew at that time I wanted to help shape young minds. After graduating high school I worked as a Preschool Teacher at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base. I have worked at Poder Academy for the past year and it has been an amazing experience. I am excited to see where the education field will take me!  I enjoy working with children and watching them learn new subjects. I love camping and vacationing with my husband.. Family is everything to me. I also enjoy reading and cooking in my free time.

Since she can remember Jessica has had a love of working with kids. Watching them learn and grow throughout the year is always fun. With over ten years of experience she is very excited to be able to work at Poder. During her free time she enjoys reading a good book or doing something creative

Ms. Hallcroft was born and raised in Gillette, Wyoming. After high school, she went on to play basketball at the collegiate level at Sheridan College. She has a Bachelors Degree in Educational Studies in Elementary Education and is currently in her Masters program through Western Governors University. Outside of the classroom, she loves to be outdoors whether that be fishing, camping, or riding four-wheelers.

Steve is a 1990 graduate from Chadron State College with a Bachelors in Commercial Music and an endorsement in Education. Over the years, he worked many jobs that include a water tech for Culligan, music teacher, radio DJ, carpenter, upholsterer, custodian, and maintenance person, just to name a few. In his personal life, he enjoys woodworking, mountain man rendezvous, and spending time with his wife of 28 years.