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.
Lower School
Stefan Hull | Dean of Lower School 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.
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.
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.
Amelia Hawkins | 3-4 Teacher
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.
Sarah DeGoffau | Special Needs Teaching Assistant
Sarah is a Hillsdale College graduate with an Elementary Education emphasis and triple minors in English, Science, and Music. Sarah has a wide variety of instructional experience, including teaching ESL in China, tutoring dyslexic students, teaching at a charter school, and leading classes at various homeschool co-ops. Sarah and her husband, Corey, have four sons.
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.
Fine Arts
Amy Moll | Art Teacher
Amy has a B.F.A. in Art, with a concentration in graphic design and photography, from Eastern Michigan University. She has previously worked as an art teacher for a homeschool tutoring service, as a graphic designer in Buffalo, NY, and as an art tutor in various homeschool settings. She has been inspired by classical education over the past seven years of homeschooling her own children. Amy has continued her love of the arts through freelance graphic design work and various art commissions. She and her husband, Josh, have five 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 | Office Administrator
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.