Meet Our Staff
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Lisa Arguello is thrilled to be teaching and job sharing second grade with Christine Sena, whom she has worked with for years at APS. She has a bachelor’s and Master’s degree in elementary education. In addition to teaching second grade, she has also worked as a Reading Intervention Specialist for Title I. She is excited about being part of the OLA teaching staff. -
Nicole Baca is excited to start working as an Educational Assistant at OLA this year! She has worked with children of all ages, for many years. She loves to see children learn and grow! She has many stories to tell, of the children she helped become great adults! She lives in Rio Rancho and is married to her loving husband, Jonny. She loves being a Godmother to her four Godchildren! Her favorite thing to do is sing and dance! She loves to encourage anyone to do what they love! She also enjoys old fashion cooking and baking. She looks forward to meeting everyone! May we have a great school year! Lots of Blessings and hugs! -
Lisa Belmares feels privileged to have been granted the opportunity to be administrative assistant 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. -
Clarissa Contreras has taught art at OLA for the last 15 years. Previously, she taught 3 years in the OLA middle school world studies and science. Throughout her 18 years at OLA, she has also taught religion for 6th and 7th grades. Additional duties have included: lunchroom monitoring, science and world studies fairs, art curriculum development for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and OLA art and talent shows. Before coming to OLA, Clarissa taught 5th grade for 6 years in both APS and Los Lunas Public Schools. This school year is her 25th year in education. Currently, Clarissa is married (18 years) and has a daughter in 5th grade attending OLA along with a son, who is an OLA graduate (class of 2017). She is a lifelong parishioner of OLA. Mrs. Contreras earned her BS in elementary education from University of New Mexico (Social studies endorsement), as well as a Masters degree in Art education. -
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.
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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.
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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.” -
Ms. Elaine Geissler is an Albuquerque native. She attended Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic School, graduated from Sandia High School, and received her BA in Anthropology from UNM and her Post-Baccalaureate in Elementary Education from UNM. She has endorsements for middle school math. Ms. Geissler’s teaching career began at Ernie Pyle Middle School where she taught math for 2 and a half years. She then moved over to Madison Middle School and taught math for 23 years. She retired from APS and will be starting her 2nd year teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math here at OLA. Ms. Geissler has always dreamed of teaching at a Catholic school and is very grateful for the opportunity and for her students. Ms. Geissler enjoys hearing of her former students’ accomplishments. Many have gone on to some of the top universities in the country. Several have become teachers and others have pursued careers involving mathematics. Teaching math is her passion and she loves seeing her students learn and excel. Ms. Geissler resides in Albuquerque with her two daughters, Natalia and Marina. Natalia is a junior at St Edward’s University in Austin, TX, and Marina is a senior at Sandia High School. Additionally, her 87 year old father, Henry, lives in Albuquerque as do three brothers and their wives. She also has two sisters who live in San Antonio, TX. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, gardening, hiking, and watching the Steelers and the Penguins play!
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Kandace Glaser was born and raised in a small, oil town in northern Oklahoma. She graduated Tulsa University with a BSEd degree in Special Education and Elementary Education. She continued graduate classes at New Mexico Tech. and New Mexico University. She has endorsements in secondary science, social studies, language arts, and fine arts. She taught in Catholic schools for 16 years (this is her third year at OLA) and 15 years for Rio Rancho Public Schools. Of those 31 years, only 3 were in elementary school with the rest being in middle school science. Throughout these years, she has been awarded many national and international recognitions including the New Mexico Presidential Science Award. She and her husband will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in January. They have two children; one is a science/math teacher and the other works for Sandia Labs. They are blessed with three grandchildren. One is studying to be a forensic scientist, one is planning on being a master mechanic, and one has talked with Archbishop Wester about becoming a priest. -
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!
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Jesus Hernandez keeps our school immaculate and in great working order! He has been with OLA for 5 years and is retired from APS after 25 years of service primarily working at Taft Middle School. Jesus is married and has two sons and a daughter and is a grandfather of 3. Jesus enjoys taking his grandchildren to the park to play and watching movies. He enjoys the interaction with the OLA students and the students will tell you the same. -
Robin Kurth is very excited to accept the privilege to teach the 5th-grade at OLA for the 2019-2020 school year. 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 forwarding to the upcoming school year and a bright future with 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. “Everything starts from prayer.” -Mother Teresa -
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 12th grade, Mr. Nestorick has found his strength and passion to be in elementary education. -
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
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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.
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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.
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Mrs. Mary Wentworth received her BA in English and Speech & Theater and her MS in Counseling Education from Indiana University. Mrs. Wentworth is a teacher as well as a licensed school counselor. Before moving to New Mexico, she and her husband lived in California where she taught school and worked as a case worker for the blind, mentally ill, mentally challenged and industrially injured. When she and her husband moved to Albuquerque, she obtained her New Mexico State Teaching License and began teaching for the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. She taught for two years at St. Charles, and upon the request of her Pastor at that time, Fr. Luis Jaramillo, moved to Our Lady of the Assumption where she has been ever since. She is the seventh and eighth grade homeroom teacher and teaches Religion, Language Arts and Literature to the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Mrs. Wentworth loves the Church, children and animals. In her spare time, she does a lot of work for the Church, and she is an avid reader. Quote she loves: “Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” Martin Luther King, Jr. -
Jacquelou Williams is excited to be a part of Our Lady of the Assumption family. She has been teaching for 10 years. She taught Science (Physics, Chemistry, and General Science) for 7 years in a Catholic school with high school students and children with special needs. Previously, she was an infant and toddler instructor and a designee in a nonprofit childcare center for 3 years. She received her bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education and completed MA SPED academic requirements at St. Louis University abroad. Currently, she is working to finish her Alternative for teaching courses in elementary. She has always enjoyed helping others learn and grow. At present, she is also an active mentor of CNM’s mentorship program in Early Childhood for future teachers. Her passion in theater performing arts and her experiences doing missions when she was in the ministry of CFC-Youth for Christ led her into this field, education so to speak. Outside of the school she enjoy vacations with her husband and daughter, watching movies, camping, and playing board games.