Summer Session Teachers

Our Summer Session @ SSM classes are taught by highly-skilled faculty from Shattuck St. Mary's School. With over 170 years of combined experience, it is clear these educators are the best of the best. 

Peter Schleif
Peter Schleif is currently in his 3rd decade of teaching music. He has directed school, church, and community ensembles in Colorado, North Dakota and Minnesota. Ensembles under his direction have performed all over the United States, as well as in Austria, Germany, Poland, The Czech Republic, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. Schleif received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where he studied with René Clausen and has done graduate work at the University of Minnesota and St. Mary’s University. In addition to his role as Director of the Pre-Conservatory Program at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault, MN, he is also the Director of I Cantanti Chamber Choir in Northfield, MN. A strong advocate for music education, Schleif has presented at state, regional, and national conventions around such topics as vocal health, performance practice, and the value of communal music-making.  He is a member of the American Choral Director’s Association, the International Federation of Choral Musicians, and the Minnesota Music Education Association. He lives in Northfield, Minnesota with his wife Lori, and two sons, Isaac and Ian.

Carrie Homuth
Carrie Homuth has been the director of the dance program at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School for the past 16 years where she works with students with beginning to advanced dance experience. Additionally, she has had the pleasure of working with students age 3 - adult through her various workshops, classes, and guest teacher and choreographer positions throughout the
greater Twin Cities.

Ms. Carrie holds both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree in Contemporary Dance and is a RYT-200 Yoga certified teacher, with additional certifications in Chakra Yoga and Kids’ Yoga. It is the combination of her bringing her students the joy of all dance and yoga that make her classes unique and engaging.

Dr. Benjamin Downs
Benjamin Downs holds a PhD from Stony Brook University and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati. Originally a pianist and music theorist, Dr. Downs shifted to interdisciplinary research that merged philosophy, history, and music theory through original archival research and critical reading. His research has been supported by a Fulbright Fellowship, a Graduate Council Fellowship, and the McKnight Foundation, and has been published in several peer-reviewed journals.

Before coming to Shattuck St. Mary's in 2019, Dr. Downs taught at the University of Cincinnati, Stony Brook University, and Macalester College. 

Dr. Downs loves working with motivated and curious students, and guides students in projects ranging from creating professional concerts to experiments on the sensory life of flora. He has taught classes at Shattuck on a broad range of subjects including whittling, music theory, philosophy, and martial arts. When not teaching, you can find Dr. Downs reading, writing, woodworking/carving, camping, running, playing piano, or stubbornly cheering for Minnesota United.

Alex Jones
Alex Jones has been the director of the Engineering Center of Excellence at SSM for six years. His main objective in teaching is to train students to think like an engineer. In his engineering classes at SSM, students are constantly working on projects that challenge them to think through project constraints to develop unique and creative solutions to the problems at hand.

Prior to teaching, Alex earned his Master’s degree in civil engineering (geotechnical field). He worked in the engineering consulting business as a geotechnical engineer and a pavement engineer for several years. Alex has many hobbies including woodworking, metalworking, and CNC automation (3D printing, lasers, routers and plasma cutting). Along with teaching at SSM, he is currently working as a manufacturing engineer at a growing fabrication shop near SSM.

Jonathan Peasley
Jonathan Peasley teaches Upper School English courses at Shattuck-St. Mary’s and has over a decade of experience teaching literature, philosophy, history, and ancient languages at the high school level. He studied English, Classics, Philosophy and Russian at Gustavus Adolphus College and holds a graduate degree in Church History from Luther Seminary. As a teacher, he loves developing rapport with students in the classroom and is energized by the creative process of learning how to meet students wherever they are in the learning process. He believes that students expressing either confusion or asking their own questions are the sparks that make the classroom a profound space for connection and growth. When he isn’t teaching, he loves cycling, cross-country skiing, fishing, and spending time with his wife and young kids.

Patrizia Vignola
Patrizia Vignola is a professional, award-winning fine artist who has exhibited her work in galleries nationwide. She has also been a visual arts educator for 30 years and has been teaching in the PAVA department at SSM for the last nine years. To read more about her and see her work, please visit her website at https://patriziavignola.com/

Tom Falcone
Tom Falcone teaches introductory and advanced Calculus and Computer Science classes and leads the Robotics Club. He has over twenty years of experience teaching and coaching in these areas. Tom has a Master of Science in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Purdue University. He loves problem solving, overcoming challenges, and learning new things. Tom spends his free time reading, bicycle riding, taking care of plants, and listening to music.

Dr. Elle Cook
Dr. Ellee Cook (“Dr. E”) is a scientist and teacher from Santa Fe, NM. Dr. E enjoys working with students to explore the wonders of science and help them pursue their personal and academic passions. She holds a BS in Biology from Trinity University and PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Missouri. Throughout her degree work, she conducted field-based research in the Caribbean studying animal behavior, ecology, and endocrinology. She has taught a variety of courses at the collegiate and secondary levels, including Biology, Chemistry, Virology, and Anatomy and Physiology. Outside the classroom, she enjoys reading, riding horses, playing volleyball, and finding the spiciest thing on the menu.

Megan Maschoff
Megan Maschoff is the Director of Communications for Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, having been at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School for a total of ten years. A graduate of Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minn., Megan majored in communications with an emphasis on sports broadcasting and photography. In her free time, Megan enjoys reading, traveling, cheering on all the Minnesota sports teams, and going to concerts.

Ingrid Engelhardt '18
Ingrid Engelhardt ‘18 is an SSM alumni. She is currently a U.S. History and Government and Civics teacher at HSMSE, a New York City Public School. Ingrid studied Growth and Structure of Cities at Bryn Mawr College. There, she combined her passion for the social sciences and theory to study the built environment. She then went on to Teachers College, Columbia University where she received her Master of Arts in Teaching Social Studies (7-12). She continues to incorporate her passion for city planning into her courses, and teaches an elective course on urban planning. As a teacher, Ingrid believes in providing students the tools of the social sciences and allowing students to see education as a form of liberation. Outside of the classroom she enjoys reading, going to flea markets, theorizing over the TV show Survivor, playing soccer, and exploring NYC. She lives in Harlem, NY.