Scott Thornton
​4th-6th Team Teacher (Math Specialist) - Building Lead
sthornton@pistem.org

Mr. Thornton is in his fourth year of teaching. He graduated from Boise State University in 2012 with a Bachelors in Communication. In August of 2016, he received his teacher certification through ABCTE.  Mr. Thornton taught 7th-grade Math at Kuna Middle School during the 2016-17 school year and 4th-grade in Marsing during the 2017-18 school year. He loves the time he gets to spend with all of the students, helping them learn how to become the best version of themselves. His favorite part about teaching is seeing kids laugh and smile while they are learning.
​
Mr. Thornton and his wife Jessica have been married for 12 years and three wonderful children,  Natalee (9), Grant (5), and Jack (2). Their free time is spent as a family, supporting their children in sports, camping, and traveling. His children are involved in basketball, baseball, and softball. Mr. Thornton also enjoys being a high school football official in the Fall and having season tickets to the Boise State University football games.

Julie Duty
4th-6th Team Teacher (Science & Engineering Specialist)
jduty@pistem.org

Mr. Duty graduated from Lewis-Clark State College in 2007 with a Bachelors of Science in Standard Elementary Education all subjects K-8 with a minor in Literacy K-12.  She spent her first year as a teacher in a one room schoolhouse in Pine, Idaho. She taught grades K, 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 7th. She found teaching in a one room school a wonderful experience, but wanted to live within a larger community.  Mrs. Duty worked at the BSU Children’s Center from 2011 to 2017, as an assistant teacher and then lead teacher. After substituting in area charter schools, she discovered that she wanted to work within a charter school environment. She took a position this last fall as an EA for the first grade and special education department at Rolling Hills Public Charter School, and then joined us at Project Impact STEM Academy following Winter break as the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade science teacher.
 
Mrs. Duty enjoys reading and writing and has recently taken an interest in acrylic painting.  She has a black belt in Kajukenbo and her favorite animals are cats, wolves, and jellyfish. She believes in teaching through doing and she is enjoying the opportunity to teach science at Project Impact STEM Academy.

Allysn Rhodes
4th-6th Team Teacher (ELA Specialist)
arhodes@pistem.org

Mrs. Rhodes is excited to join the 4-6th grade team this year at Project Impact STEM Academy.

Mrs. Rhodes's love for teaching runs very deep and she has known since she was little that she wanted to be a teacher someday.

Mrs. Rhodes is a second-generation teacher and is originally from a very small town in Montana (Glendive, MT) where she lived until she went to college in 2013. Growing up Mrs. Rhodes spent a lot of her time after school and during the summer helping out her mother who taught 3rd Grade for 29 years. After high school graduation, she went to college for one year at Minot State University then transferred to Boise State University to be closer to her at the time boyfriend, which is now her husband of 3 years. During her time in college, she not only fell in love with her husband but also the city and surrounding area of Boise, Idaho, where they decided to make their home. Mrs. Rhodes graduated from Boise State University in December 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education certified to teach K-8 and also with an endorsement in Literacy K-12.

Even though this is Mrs. Rhodes's 1st year having her own classroom, she has a lot of teaching experience and exposure in different areas of teaching. The vastness of her experience reaches from being a paraprofessional, and working with students with disabilities and behaviors, to academic interventions within the West Ada School District. She also worked in the West Ada School District as a building substitute where she worked with multiple grade levels of students of all abilities. During her time in college, she was also a section leader for Boise State’s Blue Thunder Marching Band for 3 years, where she had to organize and communicate in a variety of ways. Then even during her high school and middle school years she also led and helped run church groups and teach Sunday School to younger children.

Mrs. Rhodes lives with her husband TJ of 3 years, her Chocolate Lab (Jennie), and her Calico kitty (Peanut). Mrs. Rhodes loves everything Disney, especially anything “Frozen” related. In her free time, she loves listening to audiobooks and reading. She lives and breathes music where she has expressed herself through concert band, marching band, drumline, choir, and dance for many years. She even games with her husband from time to time.

Mrs. Rhodes has a passion for students and having them be an instrumental part of their own learning through problem-based learning and is very excited to apply it in her classroom this year.

Christine Harms
Primary/Elementary Social Studies/History Specialist
charms@pistem.org

Mrs. Harms is a recent Idaho transplant. Originally from Tualatin, Oregon, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Education from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, WA in 2007 and took a teaching position at a local elementary school teaching second grade. Following her first year teaching, she moved with her family overseas to Haiti for ten years. During that time, she was able to teach English as a second language and work with Haitian nationals on English composition and grammar, as well as tutoring American students who had fallen behind. She is thrilled to be back in an elementary classroom!
Mrs. Harms and her husband have two kids, and as a family, they enjoy long walks, gardening and camping. She also enjoys reading, running 5K’s, and knitting. Her family is looking forward to enjoying all the great outdoor recreation that Idaho has to offer.

Elizabeth Van Zandt
​Technology Specialist
evanzandt@pistem.org

Mrs. Van Zandt has a Masters of Arts in Math Education, a graduate certificate in teaching, a Bachelor of Science Business Administration in General Management, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.  She is also working on her Gifted and Talented endorsement and English as a Second Language endorsement. Mrs. Van Zandt is also certified in Project G.L.A.D. (Guided Language Acquisition Design) and a certified Level 1 Google Educator.  She has taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades.  This will be her 7th year teaching and her 2nd year at PiSTEM.

Kaylee Hersch
Art Specialist
khersch@pistem.org

Mrs. Hersch has a Bachelors in Art Education with a Minor in Art History from Western Washington University. Her plans are to guide students through the process of making art, whether that entails expanding on prior knowledge and skills or digging deep to help find your child's inner artist. She will be there every step of the way to ensure every student's potential and your (the parents) needs. Like one of her favorite quotes says: “Every artist was first an amateur” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

​Mrs. Hersch is married with three fur babies, a German Shepard and two kitties. She recently moved to Idaho from Washington to be closer to family. She is crazy about her friends and family. She loves to uphold family traditions and keep a hold of great family bonds and heirlooms. She's a sucker for the holidays especially when it comes to baking and spending time with the family. She also loves going on hikes with her husband and their dog, camping, and pretty much everything in the great outdoors. Fall is her favorite season! As soon as the colors of the leaves start changing and you feel that brisk chill in the air, you just know it's time for caramel apple cider, scarves, and warming up next to a fireplace. Her passions and hobbies include arts and crafts as well as the occasional D.I.Y.

Nichole Backhaus
K-12 Special Education Coordinator
nbackhaus@pistem.org

Originally from Germany, Miss Backhaus is equipped with a MS in Clinical Psychology from the Universität Trier. She completed her elementary and special education teacher credentials at CSU East Bay nine years ago. Previously, she has taught in both Honduras and California! This will be Ms. Backhaus’ third year teaching in Idaho, where she has worked in both the traditional public and public charter school environments. 
Ms. Backhaus is excited to start at Pi STEM in the 2020-2021. She believes that project-based learning and mastery-based grading offer access to and evaluation of learning for all students; academically and social-emotionally. She is looking forward to collaborating with parents to achieve the best outcomes for the students.
She lives with her two out of four (step-)children (23,21,20,& 14), their dog, and two rats in Boise. She feels lucky that her husband is a Chef. She spends most of her free time hiking, dancing, and competing at trivia.