Julianne Lord

K-12 Physical Education

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education, Loras College.
Julianne is starting her first year as the K-12 PE teacher at CVCS. She is also the 5/6 and 7/8 girls volleyball coach as well as the CVCS Women’s Boot Camp Trainer. She enjoys exercising, playing sports, personal training and nutrition activities with students.

Shari Guthrie

3-Year-Old Preschool and 4-Year-Old Pre-Kindergarten

Education: Grace University (Omaha), Iowa Western Community College (Council Bluffs), Kirkwood (Cedar Rapids), University of Iowa.
Shari began teaching preschool and pre-kindergarten at CVCS in 1985. She also taught kindergarten for twenty years before returning to preschool and pre-kindergarten. Shari compiles and edits the Husky Heartbeat newsletter. She and her husband have three grown sons, three daughters-in-law, and six grandchildren. She enjoys spending time with her family, gardening, cooking, writing poetry and short stories, making music, and traveling. She is currently the education director for Heart of God International Ministries – East Africa, which has taken her to Uganda to minister during the summer.

Janet Knake

Kindergarten

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Education, University of Northern Iowa, with certificates in K-8th education, behavioral disorders, mental disabilities, multicategorical and instructional strategist.
Janet taught for 5 years in Cedar Rapids public schools and was blessed to be able to stay home and homeschool her own children K-8th grade.  Her husband, Marty, teaches math/algebra at Harding Middle School in Cedar Rapids.  They have four children.  Her favorite times are family times which, with college-age children, are few and far between. 

Sue Menken

First Grade

Education:Bachelor of Arts in Education with a Special Education Endorsement (1978), University of Northern Iowa. Basic and Advanced training in Orton Multisensory Language (1992). Master’s Degree in Elementary Education with a Reading Endorsement (2012), Mount Mercy University.
Sue is married to Roger Menken and has two sons: Aaron and Nathan. About Cedar Valley she cheers, “I love this place! People are so friendly and helpful!”

Lisa Conn

Second Grade

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Education K-8, Iowa State University, with Emphasis in Reading/Language Arts; Coaching Endorsement.
Lisa is married to Adam (CVCS secondary math teacher). Lisa enjoys running, ultimate Frisbee, reading, watching movies, and spending time with family and friends.

Debbie Lord

Third Grade

Education: Bachelor of Science, Elementary Education (1978), Mount Mercy College. Master of Arts, Educational Counseling (1985), Iowa State University
Debbie taught for Cedar Rapids Community Schools for eight years and has been at Cedar Valley since 1996. She is married to Dan. They have a son Zachary, daughter Julianne, two cats and a guinea pig!

Rhonda Finley

Fourth Grade

Rhonda taught 2nd grade for 3 years before staying home to raise her boys. She taught Spanish part-time since 1999 at Cedar Valley until this year when she became the fourth grade teacher. She loves the Hawks and Cubs. In addition, she sings in a 70 member barbershop group in Iowa City and loves to read and do stained glass when not spending time with her three sons.

Lori Arndt

Fifth Grade

Education: Bachelors Degree, University of Northern Iowa.
Lori taught in the Des Moines public schools for ten years before taking time off to raise her children. She and her husband Allen have been married for over 20 years. They have six children and two grandchildren. She loves to spend time with family camping, attending sporting events and other activities with her children.

Wendy Cronbaugh

Sixth Grade

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education (1994), University of Northern Iowa; Master of Science in School Counseling (2004), Drake University.
Wendy is a CVCS alumna, having attended from third through ninth grades. She graduated from Prairie High School in 1988. She has been teaching at CVCS since 1996 and during that time has coached 5-8th girl’s volleyball and has served as the high school girl’s cheerleading sponsor. Over the summer she loves to read and has made short-term mission trips to Uganda. 

Laurie Sloterdyk

Private Piano

Education: Bachelor of Music Education, University of Northern Iowa.
Laurie taught vocal music in the public school system for 5 years. She has been teaching private piano for 16 years. She has been blessed to be at CVCS since 2004. Her husband is Aric. They have two sons, Aaron and Luke. In her free time she loves to sing, read, run with her dog, Zoe, and go boating with the family.

Samantha Ulmer

Vocal Music Grades K-12

Education: Bachelor of Science in Education (1969), Arizona State University.
Samantha began teaching music at CVCS in 2009. Before that, she taught in the Cedar Rapids Community Schools for several years. She was married for 35 years to husband, Bill, who went to be with the Lord in 2002. She is blessed to have 2 children, Darin and Daphne, and 13 grandchildren. Her grandson, Jordan, graduated from CVCS in 2011. Samantha has always been very involved in church music and serves as music director at Community Baptist Church, Marion, leading choirs for 1st graders through adults. One of her favorite ministries is taking her teen choir, REDEMPTION, on a choir/ministry tour each summer. Besides music related activities, she loves spending lots of time with her grandchildren, watching sports and cheering for the Huskies! She is very thankful to have the opportunity to teach music at Cedar Valley and share her love for praising God through song!

Tom Fogle

5/6th Girls’ Basketball

Education: Bachelor of Arts in English Education 1968, Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, North Carolina. Master of Theology in Bible Exposition 1972, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas Texas.
Tom teaches 7-9th Grammar and Composition and 11-12th Family Living in addition to coaching 5/6th girl’s basketball. He has been teaching at CVCS since 1978.