Our Faculty

Kimberly A. Medendorp – English / Language Arts, Bible
Kimberly is a National Board Certified Teacher. She is also a 2009 recipient of the Phi Delta Kappa “Outstanding Educator Award.” Kimberly has taught English Language Arts for 12 years in Los Angeles and Pasadena Unified School Districts. Kimberly graduated from Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, IL with an English major and minors in both Communication Arts & Dutch. She is also a graduate of Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, CA.

 

Randy Christopher – Social Studies / Public Speaking and Debate
Randy has over fifteen years experience teaching, training, and working with teenagers in school settings. He has taught fourth and fifth grades in Los Angeles Unified School District. He has spent almost a decade training school personnel at private schools around the country in quality standards for academic, clinical, and residential services. Randy has graduate degrees from U.C.L.A. and Cal State University Northridge. Along with a passion for education and learning, Randy brings experience as a school counselor in elementary and high school settings, public and parochial.

 

John Fong –  Science
Mr. Fong has been teaching regular, honors and AP chemistry at several local public school districts for the past 17 years.  Prior to teaching, Mr. Fong was involved with research and product development of personal care products for Shaklee Corp., Neutrogena, and Joico haircare.  Mr. Fong earned a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of California at Berkeley, majoring in Chemistry.  He has expressed a real love for teaching our children, the fascination of chemistry and contributing to the development of of our youth.

  

 
Elaine Enns – Restorative Justice
Elaine is teaching our cornerstone class in Restorative Justice. She is a member of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries and holds a Masters degree in Conflict Management and Peacemaking. She has over 20 years’ professional experience working to reconcile conflict and training others to develop these skills. Elaine will be developing middle and high school age appropriate curricula and teaching our students how to interpret and respond to injustice as they experience it in their own lives and in the world around them.

 

 
 
Alexander Platonov – Math
An incurable math enthusiast, Alexander believes that strong math skills provide the mental tools to tackle all kinds of important and fun challenges in life. Alexander completed a rigorous program of higher mathematics while attaining an MS in engineering at Moscow Aviation College, a top engineering school in Moscow, Russia. After obtaining a second degree in music education, he taught for five years at the middle school level.

 

 
Ethan Tam – P.E.
Ethan Tam, our martial arts Sensei, is a professional 5th degree black belt in Harmony Aikido. He's currently Chief Instructor of Harmony Aikido Association. He has been training with the founder of Harmony Aikido, Yu Sensei, for over 9 years. In addition, he has been exploring several different type of martial arts, involves different training and applications in internal and external martial art.

 

Erin Conley - English / Middle School Bible
Erin graduated from Occidental College with majors in English/Comparative Literary Studies and Religious Studies. She is currently finishing her Master’s program at Claremont School of Theology, where she is studying early Christian history, women’s religious history, and religious education. Erin grounds her educational philosophy in an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Erin believes that respectful, engaging discussion in the classroom serves as an impetus for meaningful, effective communication and action. She views education as a lifelong pursuit that incorporates both classical book learning and active involvement in the global community.

  

Bob Nolty – Media Literacy
Bob Nolty is a restless soul with a Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech, a love of hearing and making country music, experience making movies small and large (including three years developing software for Avatar), and jobs teaching pre-meds and TAing a Guatemala trip for Christian psychology students. He is the school's go-to IT guy and is constantly striving to make our systems better. He is also teaching our elective, Digital Media, which involves learning to argue with the messages in commercials, songs and movies as well as learning to produce good video. He wonders if his video asthetic still applies to the YouTube generation.

  

Anne Nolty – Foreign Language
Anne, a licensed clinical psychologist, is preparing for board certification in Pediatric Clinical Neuropsychology. Having grown up in the Congo attending a Belgian high school, French, Latin, and Dutch became foundations on which to learn Spanish, German, Biblical Greek and Hebrew, and even some Mandarin and Nicaraguan sign language.  Prior to graduate school in psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary, she fell in love with the classroom as she taught Math to gifted students in South Carolina, and then added Physics and French to her teaching arsenal in an American boarding school in Switzerland. International Baccalaureate experience teaching Math and Physics in a private school in Spain followed, and she then found her way to the South Island of New Zealand to teach Math. “I have a deep respect for the complexities of divine grace and human dignity in the midst of poverty and political injustice – and I love kids, teaching, languages, and cultural diversity.”  Could there be a better fit for Anne than P&JA?

  

Justin Heinzekehr - High School Bible
Justin is a PhD student of theology at Claremont Lincoln University and teaches the 9th and 10th grade Bible classes. He is a strong supporter of Christian education, having graduated from a Mennonite high school and college. The combination of faith formation and strong academics, he believes, is essential for a student to apply his or her education with integrity. He has served on the board of Bethany Christian High School as well as the Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference. Justin has an MA in theology and ethics from Claremont School of Theology and a BA in Bible, religion and philosophy from Goshen College.

 

Gloria Newton - Art
Gloria Newton is a visual artist, musician, actor, and director.  Gloria received her B.A. from Occidental College and her M.A. in Theater Arts from California State University, Los Angeles.  She has over 15 years’ experience as an educator, teaching and tutoring students from Kindergarten to university.  She directed the first Summer Arts Program at the Peace and Justice Academy in 2011.  Gloria's work as a teaching artist is fueled by her conviction that the creative process has a unique ability to empower individuals as agents of positive change in the world.