Our Director
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Director: We Can't Tell You Her Name Just Yet...
We can tell you a little bit about her though! She has had seven years of corporate management experience, she homeschools her children, and is currently a part of the Ignite family! Until she is ready to give notice at her current job, we can’t announce her name. You will see her around at some upcoming events though, so keep an eye out!
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Our Tutors
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Tina Andrade
Tina Andrade is thrilled to join the Ignite Homeschool Ministries community. Her deep relationship with Jesus Christ is at the heart of everything she does, guiding her passion for teaching and inspiring a love for learning in children from kindergarten through the teenage years.
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Charlotte Atkins
Charlotte Atkins is a passionate educator with a deep love for teaching and helping students discover the joy of learning. Her teaching journey began with assisting her mom in homeschooling her younger brother. Later, that blossomed into her own home based piano and voice studio when she was 15. She also was the President of a speech club in Texas where she helped mentor younger students to learn the art of public speaking.
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Favian Chagolla
Favian Chagolla is a passionate media professional, entrepreneur, and instructor dedicated to helping others unlock their full potential. As the founder of Refined Media LLC, he has spent the past five years producing high-quality content for small businesses, influencers, churches, and couples—creating everything from wedding films and photography to business marketing content and social media videos that have reached thousands, even millions, of viewers.
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Neesie Cieslak
Neesie is committed to producing educational content and professional development resources, emphasizing the integration of Christian values into education. With 26 years of homeschooling experience, she possesses extensive practical knowledge in teaching and curriculum development.
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Lindsey Dunn
Lindsey is a dedicated educator, military spouse, and homeschooling mom of two who is passionate about fostering a love of learning. She holds a degree in elementary education from Liberty University and has experience teaching both first and fifth grade.
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Megan Elliott
Megan is a dedicated and passionate educator with a deep commitment to nurturing young minds. Homeschool graduate herself, Megan thrived academically as a straight-A student through both high school and onto college. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Special and Elementary Education at Glendale Community College.
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Cynthia Hellman
Cynthia Hellman has been homeschooling since 2007, and has enjoyed learning alongside her five daughters at every stage. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies from Southwestern College (now Arizona Christian University). She has worked with children and teens in various paid and volunteer capacities since 1998.
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Mikayla Hellman
Bio coming soon!
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Cara Hively
Cara Hively holds an Early Childhood teaching degree from Olivet Nazarene University (IL) and began her career as a Kindergarten teacher at Heritage Christian School in Indianapolis, IN. After taking some time off to raise her two sons, Cara and family moved to Arizona in 2013, where she taught kindergarten for 10 years at Northwest Christian followed by tutoring 1st to 4th grade students in a variety of subjects.
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Ryan Horkavy
Pastor Ryan Horkavy holds a BA in Bible with a minor in NT Greek, an MA in Bible with an emphasis on Church History, and an MDiv with an emphasis on Theology, Church History, and Biblical Counseling. He is completing a Doctor of Ministry in Shepherding and Discipleship. Ryan and his wife Jennifer with their two children have served the Lord together since 2001 at churches in SC and AZ and as missionary church planters who started Crossroad Baptist Church of AZ in the West Valley.
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Patty Johnson
Patty graduated from ASU West with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She spent the last twenty years teaching at a local private Christian school. After taking a break to care for her grandchildren, she returned to teaching for the 2024-2025 school year.
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Taylor Kramer
Originally from New Mexico, Taylor moved to Arizona in 2020 to help plant a church. While earning her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing from New Mexico State University, she was actively involved in a campus ministry, where she developed a deep conviction for discipleship and investing in Kingdom endeavors.
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Leah London
Leah has 20 years of experience in ministry, providing leadership to ministry teams and design teams across the country. She is committed to fostering environments where growth, leadership, and innovation thrive, empowering individuals to reach their God-given potential. In addition to ministry, Leah has a deep love for the arts and is dedicated to inspiring creativity in her students.
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Tamara McClure
Tamara McClure is an Arizona native who began her educational pursuit at Northern Arizona University where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and her Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education. She taught for four years in the Peoria School District prior to starting her family. After her first child turned five, she was blessed to start her fifteen-year journey of homeschooling her five children.
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Kaitlyn McKay
Kaitlyn McKay is thrilled to be part of Ignite Homeschool Ministries. Teaching has always been close to her heart, and she feels incredibly blessed to be on this journey. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Grand Canyon University, and while she is still new to teaching, she has gained valuable experience along the way.
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Brad Melton
A long-time Arizona resident, Brad holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, a graduate certificate in Christian Apologetics, and master’s degrees in Public History (a.b.t) and Theological Studies. He is pursuing a doctorate in Pastoral Care and writing a book on Christian living.
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Carter Milam
Carter was born and raised in a Christian home in Memphis, and could either be found at church or a park playing basketball while he was growing up. Carter was always sure God was calling him to serve the Kingdom but was not sure exactly how. After graduating with a degree in Secondary Education, he went into ministry during his final semester of school and has never looked back.
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Emma Milam
Emma has a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Freed-Hardeman University. She currently serves as the Children's Minister at Canyon Church, and is also a certified birth doula. Emma's main goals in ministry and education are to build relationships between children and strengthen relationships within families.
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Sammie Moran
Sammie is Phoenix born and raised, and was homeschooled herself. She fell in love with physics in high school, and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Astrophysics from Northern Arizona University, which is where she met her husband of a little more than a year. After graduation, Sammie spent time doing research on dark matter and working as a teaching assistant at Arizona State University…
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Emmalee Rivera
Emmalee is an Arizona native and is a homeschool graduate. In fact, she will have the pleasure of working with many of her former tutors here at Ignite! Emmalee is pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Developmental Psychology, after which she hopes to pursue Cognitive Developmental Counseling.
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BriAnna Schmidt
BriAnna Schmidt is a homeschool graduate with an affinity for theatre! She began seriously pursuing theatre in 2018 with fundraiser shows at The Refuge Youth Center. In 2023, BriAnna began performing with MoezArt. Since graduation, BriAnna has longed to teach theatre and took many volunteer opportunities such as assistant directing with Branches Homeschool Co-op from 2023-2024.
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Tanja Shineman
Tanja Shineman, founder of Rising Fire Music, is a seasoned vocal coach and worship leader with a passion for helping singers embrace their unique voice for the Lord. She has a bachelor’s degree from NAU. With a background in classical training, musicals, country bands, and worship ministry—including leading youth and family worship—she mentors students in voice, worship guitar, and keys.
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Emily Stefnik
Mrs. Emily Stefnik is passionate about inspiring young minds through engaging Science and STEM education, creativity with writing, as well as preparation for students' future education. As a former homeschool student, she understands the value of hands-on learning and creative exploration, making her classroom a place where curiosity and discovery thrive….
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Victoria White
Victoria White graduated from Huntington University with her bachelor's in Film Production last year. She is now the owner of a budding film company, servant4HIM Entertainment, where she continues to tell her stories. She loves to support the arts by creating show trailers for theatre and to support local animal shelters by creating videos of their adoptable dogs. Her films have been accepted into the Peoria Film Festival and nominated for the Student Production Awards.
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Veronica Wright
Veronica Wright is a fifth-generation Arizona native and has lived in North Phoenix since she was a child. She holds an Associate of Arts degree and a long history of working in education. As a child of a public educator most of her jobs prior to becoming a mom were in the education sphere including being a paraprofessional, an attendance clerk, and finally working for a local tech company that serviced K-12 school nutrition professionals. Veronica has always had a heart for youth and has felt God calling her to be involved with them…