Staff
Precademy
Aimee Streur
Meet Ms. Aimee! She has always loved working with kids and knew at a young age that she wanted to be a teacher. We are lucky to have her as one of our 4 day Preschool teachers for the past 3 years.
Bucket List: Travel to Africa and Alaska
First Job: Worked at a summer daycare program
Favorite Hobbies: Baking and crafting
Jaime Genzink
Meet Mrs. Jaime! She is serving as our Precademy teacher for the 2-day track.
Michelle Ling
Meet Mrs. Michelle! She is serving as our para-professional for the Precademy 2-day track.
Grace Potter
Meet Ms. Grace! She helps in our 4 day classes and has the warmest smile!
Favorite Color: Sage Green
Bucket List: To travel to all 50 States
Classic Elementary
Kerri Bosch
Meet Ms. Kerri! Anyone that knows Ms. Kerri knows she loves her Cheez-its and we have been loving her the last 12 years! Ms. Kerri has taught many grade levels over the last 9 years, but currently teaches the youngest friends in Young5s.
First Job: Dairy Queen
Bucket List: Whitewater rafting
Favorite Book: Wonder
Voted Most Likely: To get married
Kaleigh Cope
Meet Ms. Kaleigh! We are excited to welcome her as our Kindergarten teacher.
Favorite Color: Teal
Something on your Bucket List: Shop downtown at every beach town on Lake Michigan.
What Motivates you to Teach at a School?: My love for children and their excitement for learning and friendship.
Rachel Warren
Meet Ms. Rachel! Ms. Rachel is teaching 1st grade this year and loves to be in nature with her class!
Cyndi Nykamp
Meet Ms. Cyndi! She has been teaching 2nd grade objectives in Innocademy’s Green Room for 9 years and still LOVES it! She became a grandma last year to two fun little girls, Renee and Elliana, born to her son and wife, Caleb and Rita, AND to her daughter and husband, Lydia and Josh. Her son, Elijah, traveled to Oregon with her this summer, visiting family, hiking, canoeing, walking and eating good food!
First Job: Ice cream dipper and waitress at a ice cream parlor
Favorite Children’s Book: Owl Moon
Surprising Fact: She learned how to “barefoot ski” but was afraid she would lose her toes, so she put tennis shoes on her feet and skied that way!
Jo Heisler
Meet Ms. Jo! She teaches 3rd grade Classic and this is her first year with IES!
Megan Anders
Meet Ms. Megan! She teaches 4th grade Classic and this is her second year with IES!
Love Doing: Reading, playing games, spending time with family, and crafting.
Bucket List: Visit Ireland
Ky Lacy
Meet Mr. Ky! He is our 5th Grade Classic teacher and this is his second year at IES!
Love Doing: Curling up with music and a good book.
Favorite Color: Brown
Adriana Hanson
Meet Ms. Adriana! She is our 6th grade teacher. This is her first year with IES!
Bio Coming Soon!
Stephanie Parrott
stephanie.parrott@innocademy.com
Meet Ms. Stephanie! She is our elementary special education teacher! This is her 15th year in education and 2nd year at IES. She and her husband Scott have three kids and together they love to read, hike, mountain bike, and play games.
Favorite Food: Dark chocolate and berries, together or separate!
Type of Grade School Student: Quiet, perfectionist
Favorite Hobby: Singing in a 10-person acapella chamber choir
Favorite Children’s Book: All Are Welcome
Renee Frye
Meet Ms. Renee! She is the K-4 Classic Interventionist and has been with IES for 9 years!
Love Doing: Camping and going on offsite trips with students.
Favorite Dance Move: The Floss
Jen Kahwa
Meet Ms. Jen! She supports our friends as an interventionist.
Something on your Bucket List: Going on a safari.
Something Surprising to Know: I have lived in Uganda.
Favorite Color: Purple.
Joelle Vruggink
Meet Ms. Joelle! She supports our youngest friends as a classroom paraprofessional.
Favorite Color: Orange
Bucket List: Travel the whole Mississippi River by boat
Danielle Campbell
Meet Ms. Danielle! She supports our friends as a classroom paraprofessional and has been with IES for 2 years!
Go-To Snack: Trail Mix
Bucket List: Build a cabin in Alaska.
Jess Proper
Meet Ms. Jess! She supports our friends as a classroom paraprofessional.
Loves to: Cook and Bake
Bucket List: Visit Sicily!
Las Huellas Elementary
Ruth Gutierrez-Van Beek
Meet Maestra Ruth! She teaches young 5’s Spanish Immersion in Las Huellas and this is her first year at IES!
Bio Coming Soon!
Natalia Pánuco
Meet Maestra Natalia! Ms. Natalia has always loved learning! her bucket list wish is to continue her academic learning. She has shared her love of learning with us the last 6 years and currently teaches our youngest friends in Las Huellas.
Type of Grade School Student: Quiet, and always worried about grades and homework
Can’t Live Without: Coffee
Favorite Book: Romeo and Juliet
First Job: Dishwasher (at 8 years old)
Marisol Arvizu
Meet Maestra Marisol! She is a BIG fan of animation AND she is in love with teaching and can’t wait to teach her Las huellas 1st graders! Something she enjoys is reading! Reading takes you places when you can’t travel! Open a good book, find your favorite spot and get reading!!
Bucket List: Visit all the great wonders of our world!!
Favorite Book: Corduroy
Voted Most Likely: To love too much!
Favorite Hobby: Reading
Rachel Potter
Meet Maestra Rachel! This is her 7th year at Innocademy, and teaches second grade standards to our Las huellas Spanish Immersion friends. If she’s not at school, you can probably find her growing some veggies in her garden, golfing with her husband, trying her hand at some amateur sewing, or lounging on the beach with her dog!
Favorite Food: Crab legs
Can’t Live Without: One-woman concerts in her car on the way to school
Bucket List: Seeing a Broadway musical
Elisabeth Van Wolde
elisabeth.vanwolde@innocademy.com
Meet Maestra Elisabeth! She teaches 3rd grade Las Huellas and this is her second year with IES!
Favorite Book: Harold and the Purple Crayon.
Would be voted most likely to: Win a Grammy!
Morgan Cummings
morgan.cummings@innocademy.com
Meet Maestra Morgan! When she is not teaching, Maestra Morgan enjoys taking trips to the beach and strumming up a tune on her ukulele! This is her 3rd here at Innocademy teaching fourth grade standards to our Las Huellas middle friends!
Can’t Live Without: Taco Bell and coffee (separately…not together!)
Favorite Book: Robot Salvaje
Personal Hashtag: #ifyouknowyouknow
Voted Most Likely: To be mistaken for a student
Maria Torres
Meet Maestra Maria! She’s busy teaching our 5th grade friends this year and has supported students in the past as a paraprofessional.
Favorite Hobby: Riding rollercoasters at Cedar Point
Favorite Color: Royal Blue
Liliana Jogerst
liliana.jogerst@innocademy.com
Meet Maestra Liliana! She supports our friends as an interventionist and Middle School Las Huellas teacher.
Bio Coming Soon!
Jailin Sanchez
Meet Ms. Jailin! She supports our friends as a classroom paraprofessional.
Favorite Snack: Doritos
Favorite Book: The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly
Tania Yunissi
Meet Ms. Tania! She supports our friends as a classroom paraprofessional.
Bio Coming Soon!
Classic Middle School
Alvin Essenburg
alvin.essenburg@innocademy.com
Meet Mr. Alvin! Mr. Alvin’s bucket list wish is to visit All the National Parks in the United States. We are lucky enough to have him share all his outdoors and science knowledge with as the 7th and 8th grade Science and Math teacher.
First Job: Paper Route
Favorite Snack: Combos/Mountain Dew
Favorite Book: The Bible
Special Talent: Computers and fixing things
Jessie Webb
Meet Ms. Jessie! She is our 7th and 8th grade Social Studies and ELA teacher. This is her first year with IES!
Bio Coming Soon!
Brad Van Beek
Meet Maestro Brad! He is teaching Spanish for our oldest friends and it’s his first year with IES!
Bio Coming Soon!
Erin Beyer
Meet Ms. Erin: Ms. Erin loves the color orange. She has worked at Innocademy since January 2020. She is an interventionist with our oldest friends. She is married to Ryan and they have four daughters.
First Job: Babysitter
Can’t Live Without: Potatoes and Dr. Pepper
Favorite Book ~ The “Little House on the Prairie” series
Surprising Fact ~ Was a camp counselor for 17 summers.
Specials & Electives
Emily VanDam
Meet Ms. Emily! She teaches art! It is her 5th year teaching art here at Innocademy. Ms. Emily lives in Zeeland with her husband and two daughters, and their dog Charlie.
Favorite Food: Ice Cream
Favorite Book: Where The Crawdads Sing
Hobbies: Reading, going on hikes with her family, making art
Hillary Schmidt
hillary.schmidt@innocademy.com
Meet Ms. Hillary! Ms. Hillary is in her fifth year teaching Y5-8th grade music at Innocademy. Ms. Hillary teaches in one of the few rooms in our building with walls. And it’s a good thing because she loves moving, grooving, singing, and playing with our students!
Special Talent: Classically trained singer
Favorite Book: The “Harry Potter” series
First job: Dry-cleaning clerk
Favorite hobbies: Cooking & gardening
Chad Zuber
Meet Mr. Chad! Mr Chad has been with Innocademy for the last 9 years in many roles, he is currently teaching our connections class. He stresses with his class to be proactive and take responsibility for actions within your control. He often points to a quote from Arthur Ashe, “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” you can often find him at a local park, checking out a bug in his native plant garden, or on a walk with his family when he is not in school.
Based on his background in science and design, it may be a surprise to find out his favorite time of the school day is doing class read aloud because of the interesting discussions and depth of thinking students show around challenging texts. His classes’ favorite books have been Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus, Bud, Not Buddy, and Flora and Ulysses.
Kim Looman
Meet Maestra Kim! She is excited to be teaching as our elementary Spanish teacher and this is her first year at IES!
Bio Coming Soon!
Support Staff
Jessenia Martinez
jessenia.martinez@innocademy.com
Meet Maestra Jessenia! A couple of things on her bucket list include taking a road trip around the United States and sky diving!
She has been at Innocademy for the last 7 years and has served as a paraprofessional, elementary and middle school teacher for las huellas. Currently she is the lead for our building!
Her husband Juan, her daughter Delyla, and her enjoy reading and watching family movies.
Her favorite habit is putting first things first as she likes to get things done in the order of importance. The one thing she wants every student to know is “Your voice matters and you have SO much to share with the world, make sure to do so!”
Kristin Frederick
Meet Ms. Kristin! She supports our students as our School Social Worker.
Favorite Color: Purple
Bucket List: Scuba diving with sharks!
Lisa Runyon
Meet Ms. Lisa! She supports our students as our School Pyschologist.
Favorite Food: Chicken and Waffles
Bucket List: Visiting all the States in the U.S.
Becca Beebe
Meet Ms. Becca! This will be her seventh year with Innocademy as the Speech-language Pathologist. She is one of only a few staff that work in all the IES schools (precademy, las huellas, Innocademy, iCademy and Innocademy Allegan Campus). She is married to Jim Beebe and they love doing anything that has to do with water (either liquid or frozen). They have three grown sons who live all over the country; Maine, Indianapolis and Washington!
Fun Facts: Loves classical and folk music and can play piano, recorder, voice and harp
More Fun Facts: Her mother is still healthy and living at 98 years old
Enjoys: SWIMMING, reading, cooking, knitting, playing the piano, cycling, cross country skiing, rowing, sailing, going out to eat, chocolate and tea.
Melissa Meyer
Meet Ms. Melissa! Ms. Melissa has been with IES schools for 7 years, starting as a parent volunteer and is now our technology coordinator for all three schools.
First Job: Video Store clerk
Favorite Snack: White Cheddar Popcorn
Can’t Live Without: Her husband, kids, and cats
Meet Ms. Raquel! She greets everyone with a smile as she wrangles our front desk for all of us.
Oscar Rodriguez
Meet Mr. Oscar!
Kelly Johnson
Meet Ms. Kelly!
Heidi Wolters
Meet Ms. Heidi! Ms. Heidi has been with IES schools for almost 10 years, starting as a parent volunteer and is now our pupil accounting and registrar for all three IES Schools. You may also see her smiling face at the front desk on Fridays.
Ms. Heidi wants all the students to know that “You are capable of great things in your life. Make good choices, move on from your mistakes and you will be capable of anything you set your sights on!”
First Job: Grocery store cashier
Favorite Snack: Doritos
Can’t Live Without: Her husband & kids
Quote to Live By: “Life is all about the choices you make”
Meet Ms. Leisa Lobbezoo! She believes her special talent is her super loud whistle, but after being part of the IES family for the last 14 years, we know she is a woman of many talents! Ms. Leisa wears many hats at Precademy, Innocademy and iCademy Global as she works to help all of our new families through the enrollment process as well as working in communications and marketing.
Type of Grade School Student: Teacher’s pet… for real…. they gave her an award
Voted Most Likely: To become an actress
Life Hashtag: #hangontightandenjoytheride
Bucket List: Visit Europe, walk on a glacier, watch the Detroit Tigers play in most of the MLB ballparks
Deb Feenstra
Meet Ms. Deb! Deb comes to us with years of experience and works hard to guide our schools as our IES executive director.
Favorite of the Seven Habits: Think Win-Win
Favorite Snacks: peanut butter pretzels
Bucket List: Drag racing
Meet Mr. Dave! He handles the finances for all of our schools.
Jamison Andrus
Meet Mr. Jamison! He is our human resources person for all of the schools.
Bio Coming Soon!