Jill Hettinger
Executive Director
jhettinger@pistem.org

Roles:
Principal
Curriculum Director
ISEE Coordinator
Operations Co-Director

Dr. Hettinger is an Idaho native with teaching credentials in Elementary Education (K-8 All Subjects), Secondary Education (6-12: Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physical Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Standard Mathematics), and Administration (K-12). She has 16 years of public school teaching experience and has taught all levels K-16.

Dr. Hettinger holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Zoology and Secondary Education from the University of Idaho. She holds a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction, a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership, and a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction focused on STEM Leadership from Boise State University. Her dissertation was a statewide study that evaluated the quality of science instruction in high achieving low and high socioeconomic elementary schools in Idaho. The title of her dissertation was, Finding Success in Elementary Science across Socioeconomic Boundaries.
After being in various teacher-leader roles at North Star Charter School (K-12) for 11 years, Dr. Hettinger joined Project Impact STEM Academy and took over as the Executive Director in the Spring of 2019. Dr. Hettinger completed her administration internships at ANSER Charter School (K-8) and St. Joseph’s Catholic School (K-8). Dr. Hettinger was an active member of the Idaho STEM Leadership Cohort I & II, was a member of the Idaho STEM School Designation Committee in 2018, and is currently a member of the Idaho STEM Ecosystem. She enjoys helping teachers build confidence and self-reliance in developing and implementing engaging core and STEM instruction. Dr. Hettinger has an expansive background in curriculum across all content areas and grade-levels.
Dr. Hettinger considers herself a STEMinologist, one who studies and implements best practices for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. In the classroom, she has engaged her students in real-world application of science and opens their eyes to the world of opportunity that awaits them. She directed the Student Spaceflight Experiment Project (SSEP) at her last school, where over 500 students in grades 5-12 participated in developing microgravity research proposals. One team of 5th-grade students were selected to send their experiment to the International Space Station. She engaged her students each year in growing trout from eggs through Trout in the Classroom. While Dr. Hettinger was at Boise State University, she developed and taught a course titled Investigations into Sustainable Development in which she engaged students from biology, geosciences, and environmental Studies in service-learning enhanced instruction. Her work in this class was featured in the book, The ACTivist Learner: Inquiry and Service Learning to Make Learning Matter. 
Dr. Hettinger enjoys immersing herself in STEM experiences. One of these opportunities included flying in microgravity onboard NASA’s microgravity plane to collect data on the movement of cerebrospinal fluid in humans with Boise State University students majoring in Biology, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science. In summer 2017, she worked with Washington State University paleontologists and graduate students at the DIG Field School where they were in the process of unearthing Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, and Duckbill dinosaurs. Then in the summer of 2018, she spent time at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research learning about the technology their research scientists are using to save endangered species all over the world, including the California Condor, African Elephant, Polar Bear, Desert Tortoise, and White Rhinoceros. While in graduate school Jill worked with raptor biologists and graduate students from the Idaho Bird Observatory to capture and release raptors in an effort to gather information on their health and migration patterns. Over the years, Dr. Hettinger has also had the opportunity to work in the field of informal education within zoological parks, such as Zoo Boise, and coaching and assisting with several Lego League and Jr. Lego League programs.
Dr. Hettinger and her husband, Rob, have two sons, ages 14 and 17. They also share their home with a long-haired Weimaraner. As a family, they enjoy skiing, rock climbing, horseback riding, camping, and traveling. Dr. Hettinger has an adventurous spirit and loves to travel to places to expand her knowledge. She has been to the rainforests of Costa Rica and the savannas of South Africa. She enjoys expanding and sharing her passion for STEM with others.

Kelli Hudson
Assistant Principal
khudson@pistem.org

Roles:
Assistant Principal
Dean of Students & Classroom Management Coach
Title I Coordinator
Test Coordinator
CTE Director

Belle Garner
Business Manager
businessmanager@pistem.org
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Mrs. Belle Garner fell in love with math as a young girl and is so grateful to have a career where she works with numbers all day long, especially as your Pi STEM Business Manager!
 
She was born and raised in Southern California, loving beaches, farmers markets and book stores. She is a first generation college graduate from UC Santa Barbara with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics. As the oldest of four, she has organically always been a leader, a teacher, and a caretaker. She has always sought out ways to incorporate service, community and math in everything she is involved in. As an undergraduate student she worked as a Math Tutor and College Peer Advisor at Santa Barbara College. Here she established her desire to form connections to her community through service and her love for all things academic. Soaking up all she could in her Economics, Finance, Taxation classes and then sharing/motivating her younger peers with applicable study strategies, concept explanations, and process simplifications  brought her so much joy, she intuitively knew she would someday return to a teaching environment.
 
Upon graduation she entered the realm of Accounting in the Entertainment industry, managing the professional and personal financial accounts of Hollywood Directors, Actors, and Comedians. She rose through the ranks by learning from the best with the biggest take away being “teamwork” and recognizing that the strongest asset isn’t a star but rather a team that shares a vision, collaborates well, and gives it their all until they get it right. With ten years of finance experience under her belt - she still believes teamwork is the foundation of success.
 
Through a series of kismet events, a girl from California met and fell in love with a boy from Idaho roughly ten years ago. They soon married and relocated to Boise, Idaho to start their family. Mrs Garner and her husband have two fun loving boys named Ben and Noah, who share their days and adventures with their very curious little goldendoodle, Duke. As a family their adventures include bike rides, library dates, and building forts. Mrs Garner loves all things Fall - scarves, cardigans, hot cider, pumpkin pie and bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils to welcome a new school year. She is excited to join the Project Impact STEM Academy team and looks forward to working with the families of the Pi STEM community.

Stephanie Braun
Special Programs Coordinator (SpEd, EL, & GT) and Federal Programs Coordinator
sbraun@pistem.org

Ms. Braun was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California. She grew up swimming and playing water polo, which led to her playing water polo-playing at the collegiate level for University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)…..Go Bruins!


Ms. Braun received her B.A. in Psychology in 1998. Within a year of graduating from UCLA, she pursued the All Subjects K-8 certification and Master’s degree in Education from Pepperdine University. While student teaching, Mrs. Braun pursued another certification from the California State University of Fullerton to work with students with learning differences.

Ms. Braun has 14 years of teaching experience as a secondary special education teacher in California and Idaho and an additional 3 years as a middle school science teacher. During 5 of those years she worked at North Star Charter School. In addition, Ms. Braun owned a tutoring franchise in Washington that served Pre-K to 12th grade students. Most of Ms.Braun’s professional experience has been working with students with learning differences in 6th-12th grades.

Ms. Braun has two daughters, one who is a Freshman in College this year and the other will be in 8th grade. She loves the summer months because she loves to travel and be with her family and friends.

Ms. Braun has high expectations for her students and seeks to provide a safe and friendly learning environment where her students have the opportunity to take risks and experience success. Mrs. Braun is excited to join the Project Impact STEM Academy team and looks forward to working with the families of the Pi STEM community.

Julie Lake
K-12 School Counselor, College & Career Advising, & 504 Coordinator jlake@pistem.org

This will be Miss Lake’s third year as the school counselor at Project Impact Stem Academy. She received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Boise State University and continued on to complete her Master’s degree in Social Work at Northwest Nazarene University. While completing her masters degree she completed an internship where she worked with children of all ages within the Nampa School District. She also has experience working in child welfare and has experience providing mental health services to individuals with trauma. She has a passion for working with children and families. She absolutely loves her job at Project Impact Stem Academy and enjoys being part of our community. 

Miss Lake was raised in Central California and relocated to Boise with her family when she was school aged. She has a passion for the great outdoors and her golden retriever fur baby named Milo. In her free time she enjoys stand up paddle boarding, yoga, hiking, white water rafting, biking, baking, and socializing with friends. She loves adventure which led her to explore different parts of the world including Indonesia, Thailand, and Italy. One thing she will never forget is when she went to an elephant sanctuary and had the opportunity to bathe, feed, and brush elephants.

Miss Lake is excited to continue to work with all the students and families here at Project Stem Impact Academy. She looks forward to meeting all of you and learning how she can best assist the PiSTEM community.