Meet Our Staff
-
Tami Breeden grew up in Southern California in a family of teachers. Both her parents and grandparents worked in education. She received a BA in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Elementary Education with an endorsement in gifted education, and later a M.Ed in Instructional Leadership. She has many years of experience and has taught in California, Texas, and Washington before moving to New Mexico in 2007. Tami’s favorite thing to do is read and spend time with her family. -
Lisa Belmares feels privileged to have been granted the opportunity to be the 2nd-grade teacher here at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School. She truly believes her calling in life is to serve the community, using the talents and gifts God has provided her. She has worked within the APS school district for the past two years, as a middle school educational assistant. Prior to that, she was the Director of Religious Education at St. Edwin’s Parish. She is an active member in her parish community and is currently one of the Children’s Liturgy coordinators. Her dedication to serve our younger generations, and to lead them to a relationship with Christ, that is deeply rooted in our Catholic faith is important to her. As a mother of two, she believes God’s greatest gift to our world, is our children. She is a Native New Mexican and absolutely loves the food, culture, and many outdoor wonders of our great state! -
Kate Bloom is a “product” of Catholic schools, and she is looking forward to being back in familiar surroundings. She attended Catholic schools from first grade through college and master’s degree programs. She brings many years of experience, loves children, looks forward to teaching pre-k again, but this time within a Catholic environment where God is the mainstay of the curriculum. One of the things she enjoyed the most about her teaching career was training student teachers from the College of Education at UNM. She is very excited to once again work with colleagues at a Catholic School. And, lastly, she and her husband have been parishioners here at OLA for several years and have found this community to be very welcoming. -
Jennie Brito-Duran has been a long- time parishioner at OLA church. She has a wonderful husband, Jimmy. Together they have 6 grown children and 16 beautiful grandchildren. Jennie has management experience and excellent people skills. She looks forward to working with everyone and getting to know all our OLA community. Many Blessings. -
Della is a lifelong resident of Albuquerque, NM and a parishioner of OLA for 45+ years. She is a graduate of Valley High school with Associates degrees in Medical Assistant and Insurance from TVI (CNM). Della has owned a home day care for almost 20 years. She also has retail managerial experience with Regis corporation, Firestone Tires, as well as nurse assistant for a private medical doctor practice. Della is the mother of four, grandmother of ten and great-grandmother of two. -
Allan Esquibel was born and raised here in Albuquerque, NM. Music has always been a big part of his life and he is very excited to be teaching it at OLA! He’s a UNM Alumni, plays for the Knights of Columbus softball team and leads worship for Our Lady in the Valley on Sunday mornings. -
Michelle Everett received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix in 2007 and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in 1997. Previous education included a Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Merchandising from Parks Business College and Certified Electro-Mechanical Draftsman from Albuquerque’s Technical Vocational Institute. Michelle is now pursuing obtaining a teaching certificate/license. Michelle Everett is currently working in Our Lady of the Assumption’s Parish Office performing various office administration activities including records management and maintenance. She also works at the Catholic Foundation as an independent contractor supporting monthly banking and investment reconciliations. During the school year, Michelle works the Aftercare Program at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School. This includes tutoring the children during the homework designated time. She is also an active substitute teacher at the school and available throughout the school year. These have turned out to be her favorite jobs as the children are amazing and so very special. No job has been as rewarding. Michelle relocated back to Albuquerque in July of 2016 after retiring from a successful career at Honeywell Inc., Satellite Systems Operations in Glendale Arizona. She worked at Honeywell for 31+ years, starting out in Albuquerque, as a Draftsman and retiring in Arizona after working the last 15 years as a Senior Program Quality Engineer, supporting National Programs. Michelle enjoys spending time with her family, which is what brought her back to Albuquerque. She also enjoys spending time with her dog, Sam, a 130 pound Rottweiler. They take regular morning and evening walks, visit with friends and love swimming at the lake whenever they make a trip back to Phoenix. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys golfing, reading and hiking. -
Rick Garcia is a Los Lunas, NM native. He grew up with 7 brothers and 7 sisters in a home where love and very little else was available. He always knew that going to college was just a dream. He graduated from high school and married his high school sweetheart “Anna,” 44 years ago. They have been blessed with 3 children and 9 grandchildren. Rick is a member of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Peralta, NM. He went on to college after the birth of his 3 children at UNM where he earned a BA in Education. He also earned 60 college credits in Ed. Administration and Bilingual Education. Mr. Garcia is Bilingually endorsed, Early Childhood endorsed and health endorsed. He taught for 30 years in the Los Lunas school district. His wife also became a teacher and retired from APS. Mr. Garcia says “We did it the hard way. Got married, had 3 children, worked menial jobs, but somehow God got us through it. I have been blessed with the most wonderful life. Coming here to OLA was never in my plans, but then again God has planned my wonderful life.” -
Mrs. Laura Goodyear received her B.S. in Elementary Education from Illinois State University. She’s worked as a 5th Grade teacher in Galveston, Texas for ten years where she lead the 5th Grade team of teachers. While staying home with her kids, Sean and Adam, she enjoyed being in mom’s groups and teaching Vacation Bible School at St. Joseph on the Rio Grande in Albuquerque. She came to Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School in 2010 and has taught 3rd Grade for seven years. Her favorite memories are when students have discovered their talents and used them to do well in class and shared them with classmates. She also enjoys the excitement of students learning new skills, trying new teaching strategies, and watching her students grow up as they continue through the upper grades. Mrs. Goodyear loves to read, go to movies, shop, eat out, play guitar, and especially spend time with family! -
Robin Kurth is very excited to accept the privilege to teach at OLA. She is an alumnus of St. Pius X, UNM, and Gonzaga University. She began her professional career in corporate risk management and worked as a risk analyst for several years. She later joined up with Johnson & Wales University as an affiliate faculty member teaching accounting and computer science. Shortly thereafter, she was lucky enough to join up with Regis University and has been teaching and developing data science classes for the College of Computer and Information Sciences. During this time, her two young daughters began school, and she became very interested in their work and child development in general, always knowing the classroom is where she is best suited to share her vocation. She is looking forward to the upcoming school year and a bright future with OLA! -
Cynthia Larranaga has had the privilege of working in Catholic schools for over 20 years and loves being around the children. She feels especially blessed to be working in a Catholic environment with some beautiful colleagues. She has been a parishioner of OLA for several years and was married and baptized at OLA. She is married to Ed Larranaga, president of the Catholic Foundation and has two adult children, who both attended OLA and Pius; and two granddaughters, one of whom now attends OLA. -
Glady Lynch was born and grew up on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. She moved to Florida in 1999. She is married to a wonderful man, Lee, and they have 5 girls. She taught Pre-K in Jacksonville, Fl, for a few years then they moved to Lakeland, Fl where she taught Pre-K through 8th Grade Spanish for 10 years at St. Anthony Catholic School. They moved to New Mexico two years ago. Last year she taught Pre-K at Risen Savior Catholic School. During her 20 years of teaching she has been taking different classes, training and many courses to be prepared and highly qualified for this position of teaching. She loves to teach and provides a safe and loving environment for her students. She is very excited to be part of Our Lady of the Assumption family, and is looking forward to meeting everyone soon. -
Debbie Marino works with Early Childhood. She enjoys assisting and helping prepare the children for their next grade level. Debbie enjoys working as an Educational Assistant in Kindergarten. She has volunteered with Pre-K through third grade as well as in the library. She volunteers with various school activities and helps with the Uniform Store too. Debbie feels blessed to be in an environment, where prayer and learning about God, is a part of a child’s education. She has two grandchildren attending Our Lady of the Assumption. She enjoys family vacations, going to the movies, gardening, and spending time with family and friends. -
Mr. Marc Nestorick is a veteran educator who has committed his professional life to serving a variety of academic communities to ensure learning excellence for all. Mr. Nestorick earned his undergraduate degree from the Catholic University of America in history/secondary education and his master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Western New Mexico University. In addition to having been a teacher early in his career, Mr. Nestorick has been a nation-wide consultant, taught in higher education, and has served as a principal for more than twenty years at the elementary and secondary level. While serving as a principal from pre-school through 12<sup>th</sup> grade, Mr. Nestorick has found his strength and passion to be in elementary education. -
Dr. Phil Pohl was born and raised in Albuquerque, and studied risk at Sandia and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories for 28 years, leading projects in software development for food defense, building security, and Controlled Environment Agriculture for water conservation, efficient food and biofuel (algae) production, Health Physics and gas separating membranes. After 9/11 he traveled to and spoke in Libya, Tunisia, El Salvador, Egypt, Morocco, Oman, Holland, Jordan, Italy and Mexico, mainly waging peace on food and water. He graduated from UNM and UTAustin with degrees in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and Molecular Physics. He is on the Engineering Advisory Board for Navajo Technical University, consults for San Juan College and volunteers at Holy Child Catholic Church and East Mountain Food Pantry, both in Tijeras where he resides with his wife of 35 years, Brenda.
-
Joey grew up in Albuquerque, NM. He attended school at Our Lady of Fatima, St. Pius X, and UNM where he received his BBA. In 2017, Joey began teaching middle school math and science in Santa Rosa, NM. He then taught middle school math and science for a year, and then fourth grade for two more years at Our Lady of Fatima. Joey loves to spend time with friends and family. He loves skateboarding. -
Mrs. Saiz received her B.S. in Computer Science and her M.D. from the University of New Mexico. She’s worked as a programmer for IBM before returning to NM to attend Medical School. She volunteered as an HSA officer before joining Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School in 2006 to pioneer the computer program helping to raise parent satisfaction level to 98% from 27%. She also directed the Rosetta Stone Program for a couple of years.Her favorite memories are when she was able to help staff and students solve computer issues. In a world of ever-changing technology, she enjoys learning and helping students learn about technology challenges on a daily basis. Mrs. Saiz loves to read, travel, and spend time with her family. She also enjoys walking her dog, and figuring out puzzles! Quote she loves: “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” – Saint Augustine -
Anita Sanchez comes to us having been a 1st grade teacher in Albuquerque Public Schools. Having retired from APS after 18 years, Anita has been a substitute teacher in various Catholic Schools across the city. This past year, Anita worked at Queen of Heaven School teaching Pre-K. She is passionate about teaching 1st graders to read and do well in all academic areas. Anita’s former principal stated that she was impressed with the growth that Anita’s students demonstrated over the course of the year. -
David Sauter is the physical education and health teacher at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School. Mr. Sauter has over 30 years of teaching experience including both elementary and middle school. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education from the University of New Mexico, and a Master’s in Education, also from UNM. Mr. Sauter joined the OLA staff in 2016. Mr. Sauter enjoys athletic activities of all kinds. He is also fond of music, movies, traveling, and spending time with his family. Mr. Sauter’s goal for his classes is to promote a healthy lifestyle, teach the skills of athletic activities, and of course, to have fun. -
Sara Shoemate has been a member of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish since 2009, when she and her husband, James, were married in the church by Father Domme. She has been working with kiddos since 2003 and has worked with children as young as 6 months old to seniors in high school. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of New Mexico in 2009 with an endorsement in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.) She has many years of experience teaching elementary education, but knew middle school is where she belonged. She has finally found her forever teaching home at OLA as the English and Religion middle school teacher. She has been a part of the OLA school for years. She has served as a room parent, as well as HSA Secretary. She feels very blessed and excited to be on the OLA staff. -
Mrs. Sweeney retired from APS, where she worked in the Special Ed department for 21 years. Mrs. Sweeney has been at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School for 3 years as an Educational assistant in the first grade. Mrs. Sweeney has been faithfully enlightened since being at Our Lady of the Assumption school. Mrs. Sweeney has two daughters. The oldest is married with three children; while her youngest is seeking a degree in counseling at CNM. Mrs. Sweeney loves spending time with her family and also enjoys shopping and eating out. Mrs. Sweeney believes that teaching should be student – centered and students should be accountable for their learning and behavior. As a teacher’s assistant, she helps her students acquire the communication skills, problem solving skills, and critical thinking skills, which will enable them to be life long learners. She believes students should learn to be independent but still have the skills necessary to work constructively as a team. Mrs. Sweeney looks forward to meeting and working with each and every student. -
Becky Vigil has worked or volunteered in both public and Catholic schools for the past twenty years, teaching everything from Vacation Bible School, serving as a second grade and sixth grade catechist, directing a local Catholic preschool co-op, and teaching every grade from preschool-eighth grade, P.E. and Title I. Her favorite grade has always been Kindergarten. It was her first assignment as a student teacher, her first job as a substitute teacher and a summer school teacher, and her first job as a brick-and-mortar teacher. Mrs. Vigil attended a Catholic school herself from kindergarten-eighth grade and knows the importance of a solidly Catholic and rigorously academic education. Mrs. Vigil and her husband have four children who attend O.L.A. Catholic School as well and their family has been parishioners at O.L.A. since 2010. Mrs. Vigil currently teaches English online to Chinese students and loves helping students learn to love reading and writing. It is her goal to help her students learn about the Catholic faith and strive to be saints, as well as provide fun, hands-on opportunities to make connections to the curriculum and the world around them. She hopes to have you stop by her classroom soon and see all of the fun we are having in Kindergarten!
mwyrick@olacs.org