Staff & Faculty
Jack Hummel | Founder & Head of School
Jack, a Lansing native, has a B.S. in Economics with a minor in Math from Hillsdale College. Jack has previously worked at the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency, Cornerstone Schools in Detroit, and Auto-owners Insurance. Jack and his wife, Caroline, have been working to open Cedar since the end of 2016. They have four children.
Upper School
JR Snow | Upper School Humanities Teacher
JR Snow grew up close to Charleston, South Carolina, the oldest of five kids. They were fortunate to live close to the creek and the beach, hunting, fishing, and swimming whenever they could. Throughout the past six years, JR has helped out at schools and co-ops in various capacities. Most recently, he worked for a start-up classical school in Soldotna, Alaska as a Lead Humanities Teacher before moving back to the southeast in 2020 to attend graduate school at Reformed Theological Seminary and The University of Dallas. He looks forward to applying what he has learned by discipling the hearts and minds of the students at Cedar Classical Academy. JR and his wife Katie got married in 2017 and now have three children.
David Shane | Upper School Math & Science Teacher
David Shane, originally from the Cincinnati area, has a B.S. in Physics from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Physics from Washington University in St. Louis. He currently teaches Physics and Integrated Science (the latter especially for Education majors), and is also faculty chair of the Physical Science program, at Lansing Community College. He was named the 2020 College Science Teacher of the Year by the Michigan Science Teachers Association. He recently finished a term on the executive board of the Michigan section of the American Association of Physics Teachers. David is married to Rebecca Shane, a diagnostic research scientist at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams in East Lansing. David has served on our Governing Board of Directors for the past three years. They have one child.
Stefan Hull | Dean of Faculty, 3rd-8th Humanities Teacher
Stefan has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan. She has previously worked as a foster care social worker and a publication designer for a non-profit public policy firm. She was a homeschooling mom for seven years, increasingly influenced by a classical philosophy of education, until she joined Cedar as a founding teacher in 2019. She and her husband, Joshua, have five children.
Lower School
Jen Simon | 5-6 Teacher
Jen has a B.S. in Exercise and Sports Science from the University of Tulsa. She has grown in her love of classical education over the past 12 years of homeschooling her own children. Teaching her own children classically gave her a passion to encourage other moms and students in their love of learning, which led her to teach in a homeschooling co-op in the St. Johns area before joining Cedar Classical Academy. Jen and her husband, Craig, have six children.
Amelia Stieren | 3-4 Teacher
Maria Berggren | 1-2 Teacher
Maria has a B.A. in English with a minor in Spanish from Hillsdale College, where she was a participant in the Teacher Apprenticeship Program. She and her husband, Vins, live in Lansing.
Sydney Ackerman | Dean of Parents, Kindergarten Teacher
Sydney has a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Early Childhood Education from Hillsdale College, where she played softball and fell in love with classical education. In her free time, she loves to read, write; and play tennis, guitar, and card games with her husband Christopher. Christopher and Sydney have one child.
Zach Pohl | Lower School Math & PE Teacher
Zach was born in Missouri, raised in Connecticut, and moved to Michigan to study Mathematics at Michigan State University. During the first months of his time there, he heard Christ say: "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." By God's grace he was brought to repent of his rebellion and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He and his wife Lexi have one child. He and his family live in Lansing and are members of South Church.
Kim Sukta | Substitute Teacher
Kim has a B.S. in Special Education and Early Childhood Education from Central Michigan University. She has previously taught in the classroom for seven years to 4th-6th graders and online to ESL learners for two and a half years. She and her husband have two children.
Specials
Kyria Beals | Art Teacher
Kyria has a B.A. in Arts, with a concentration in painting, from Spring Arbor University. She has previously worked at the University gallery and has taught in TA, daycare, and co-op settings before joining Cedar as a founding teacher in 2019. She and her husband, Charlie, have two children.
Christin Peng | Music Teacher
Christin has a B.A. and M.A. in Music from Pensacola Christian College. She has previously worked at an after-school piano program of Trinity Episcopal Day School in Baton Rouge, LA. Since providentially stumbling upon classical education, she has had the joy of homeschooling her children for the past 10 years and tutoring for Classical Conversations in Lansing. She joined Cedar as a founding teacher in 2019 and is currently pursuing her Kodály certification. She and her husband, Timothy, have three children.
Administration
Emily Zuiderveen | Facilities
Emily has a B.A. in Communications from Grand Valley State University. She has previously worked as a secretary at DeWitt Middle School and the director of a day care center before staying home full time and homeschooling. Emily and her husband, Shane, have five children.
Caroline Hummel | Founder, Advancement
Caroline has a B.A. in Politics from Hillsdale College in the Honors Program. Caroline has previously interned in grantwriting and education policy at the American Legislative Exchange Council on their Education Task Force and worked in sales and community relations at a start-up Detroit e-commerce school supply company. She and her husband, Jack, have four children.