Faculty & Staff
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mrs. McClernon is a former graduate of Providence Academy and is delighted be a part of our staff. She graduated from the University of Dallas with a Bachelor of Arts in History with a Secondary Education Certification. Thanks to her liberal arts education, she enjoys many different subjects such as history, literature, politics, and philosophy. Her main passion is American Military History, but she has also come to appreciate and love studying Ancient and Medieval History. A few of her favorite books are Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Homer’s Odyssey, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Dereliction of Duty by H.R. McMaster, and A History of the American People by Paul Johnson. She has spent the last 10 years primarily teaching history at Providence, but also serving the Academy in many different areas including developing curriculum, mentoring new teachers, running the Christmas Pageant and various clubs, and serving students that need extra assistance by tutoring, teaching study skills, and modifying curriculum. Outside of school, she enjoys cooking things from her garden and spending time with her husband and five beautiful children.
Amanda McClernon
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Miss Liebert is an alumna of Providence Academy. She graduated from Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyoming with a Bachelor of Arts in the Liberal Arts. During her time in Wyoming, she had the opportunity to participate in many outdoor activities including backpacking, rock climbing, kayaking, caving, canyoneering and whitewater rafting. After college she worked as the program coordinator at the Catholic Ecology Center in eastern Wisconsin. Her main interests include entomology, gardening, outdoor recreation, music and literature. When she is not in the office at Providence, she can be found hiking, hunting for butterflies, playing the banjo, reading and spending time with her nieces and nephews.
Theresa Liebert
Karla Hansen
ADMINISTRATOR
Annah Kircher
ADMINISTRATIVE PROFESSIONAL
Mary Hendrickson
SPEEACH & LANGUAGE
Katherine Brennan
LOWER SCHOOL SUPPORT
PRE-KINDERGARTEN
An alumna herself, Miss Leis is excited to begin her second year teaching at Providence. Miss Leis has completed preliminary coursework at Western Technical College and is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree online with the University of Saint Mary. She has extensive experience in childcare and is looking forward to teaching a fun, disciplined, and faith-filled class of young students. In her free time, Meaghan enjoys bird watching, writing, singing in choirs, drawing, and playing outside with her nephew, Thomas.
Meaghan Leis
KINDERGARTEN
Mrs. Dorobek has her master’s degree in Special Education from St. Mary’s University in Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science with a minor in Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. After college, she worked for four years with adults with disabilities. After taking a special education paraprofessional job, she found that supporting children in their educational and emotional growth was her calling. For the past five years, she has worked in different schools as a special education paraprofessional or long-term teaching substitute serving students with a variety of needs. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, gardening, and spending time with her family.
Sarah Dorobek
FIRST GRADE
In high school, Miss Falter began teaching violin to her siblings and directed her church’s choir for Mass. She pursued her love of music and teaching in college. Miss Falter graduated from the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education. While taking Elementary Music Methods in college, she discovered her love of teaching young children. After graduating college, she worked with young children with autism. In her free time, she enjoys swing dancing, reading, and cooking.
Teresa Falter
SECOND GRADE AND LOWER SCHOOL DEAN
Mrs. Tradewell has over 24 years of teaching experience. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. During the past nineteen years, she has taught various grades at Providence Academy in the lower school. Prior to that, she taught in inner city and rural environments. She has continued her education at Viterbo University, focusing on literacy and special needs. She currently resides in the area with her husband and three children.
Jennifer Tradewell
THIRD GRADE
Mrs. Grupe graduated from Minnesota State University-Mankato with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and a minor in Early Childhood/Family Education. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning from Saint Mary’s University in Winona Minnesota. Mrs. Grupe taught first grade in a Catholic school before stepping down from full time teaching to begin a family. She continued to use her gifts to teach in Early Childhood/ Family Education, substitute teach and teach Confirmation for Faith Formation. For the past eleven years Mrs. Grupe has taught Kindergarten and has been an Interventionist serving Learners in grades kindergarten through third grade. It is with Christian joy that she expresses an appreciation for this opportunity to return and be a part of an authentic Catholic School.
Brenda Grupe
FOURTH GRADE
Miss Bostrom graduated from Ave Maria University with a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities and Liberal Studies and Communications. She grew up on a lake in rural Minnesota and is happy to be back in the Midwest after spending four years in Florida. In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, exploring nature, playing games, and spending time with her family and friends. She is delighted to have the opportunity of continued learning alongside her students and to be a part of the faithful community Providence Academy offers.
Anna Bostrom
FIFTH GRADE
Miss Wieser holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire and has received teaching certifications in both English education and Learning Disabilities. After graduation, she served as a missionary with FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. She is grateful to be a part of the beautiful and faithful community here at Providence Academy.
Kelsey Wieser
SIXTH GRADE
Originally from Grafton, Wisconsin, Mrs. Atwell graduated from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota with majors in Spanish and Catholic Studies. It was there she first encountered the model of classical education as a means by which to draw out the best of the student and pass on the best in the culture. After college, she went on to serve for a year as a missionary in the inner city of Milwaukee with a local food center, Kinship Community Food Center. She has most recently taught middle school religion at St. Thomas More Catholic School, a bilingual school in Green Bay, WI. New to Providence Academy, she is enthusiastic to explore what is good, true, and beautiful with her students. Mrs. Atwell and her husband live on a family homestead in the area, and in her free time she enjoys reading, outdoor adventures, cooking, and spending time with her family.
Kaitlyn Atwell
LOWER SCHOOL ART
Mrs. LaVoy grew up right here in La Crosse, WI. After marrying her husband, Michael, they moved to San Angelo, TX, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Child Development and Learning in 2008 from Angelo State University. In addition to her teaching role at Providence Academy, she is a mother to a family of accomplished and budding artists.
Maria LaVoy
UPPER SCHOOL LITERATURE
Originally from central Minnesota, Ms. Zabinski attended the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in English and Spanish. She taught for two years at a classical high school in Michigan before joining the faculty at Providence Academy in 2024. Ms. Zabinski enjoys a wide range of literary topics, but a few of her liveliest intellectual interests include the life and letters of C.S. Lewis, early American writers, and contemporary Catholic literature. Her favorite poem of all time is John Donne’s “Batter My Heart.” Outside of the classroom, she likes to write, sketch, sing in choirs, and hike in any weather.
Regina Zabinski
UPPER SCHOOL MATH & ATHLETICS
Mr. Faber has served as Providence’s Upper School Math teacher since 2018 and Athletic Director since 2020. Born and raised in Sandusky, OH, he came to Wisconsin for college. Mr. Faber graduated Summa Cum Laude from Marquette University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Theology. Although mathematically-inclined, Mr. Faber enjoys reading the Classics frequently, returning to The Confessions of St. Augustine, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. He enjoys playing and watching soccer, hiking, studying maps, cooking, traveling, and penning letters to friends. In the summer of 2017, Mr. Faber went on pilgrimage along the Camino to the resting place of the Apostle St. James the Greater at Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It was along “the Way” that Mr. Faber made the Prayer of St. Brendan the Navigator his own: “to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown…and know that my times, even now, are in Your Hand.” So profound the experience, the Camino continues to bear fruit in his spiritual life even today.
Austin Faber
UPPER SCHOOL THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, AND DEAN
Mr. Wolk is a native of Connecticut. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA in 2012. His senior thesis was titled, “Distributism and Medieval English Peasant Life: Testing the Historical Vision of Hilaire Belloc.” On Easter of the same year, he entered the Catholic Church, converting from Protestantism, and before that, atheism. After graduating, he began a Master's in Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, which he completed at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC in 2015. He successfully defended his Master’s thesis, “How the Philosophical Doctrines of St. Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham Affect Their Theological Doctrines of Grace and Charity.”
Carl Wolk
UPPER SCHOOL HISTORY
Ms. Pierucci graduated from the University of Dayton, OH with a BA in history and English. Her favorite areas of study are Caesar’s Gallic wars and the history of religion in the United States. Ms. Pierucci loves reading classics, and her favorite works include Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, and Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. She has a special devotion to Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, St. Joan of Arc, and St. Teresa of Calcutta. When her books and laptop are shut, she enjoys hiking, playing soccer, line-dancing, cheering on her favorite sports teams, and sharing in meals with friends.
Grace Pierucci
UPPER SCHOOL SCIENCE
Mrs. Mohr grew up in La Crescent, MN and went to college in Rapid City, SD, where she met her husband and earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering with a Biochemical Engineering emphasis. After graduation and marriage, she moved to her husband’s home state of Nebraska, where the bulk of Mrs. Mohr’s engineering career was spent in the power industry, specializing in combustion safety and emission control technology. In 2012, she left the industry to concentrate on family life. Mrs. Mohr came to realize the value of a classical education when homeschooling her children. Returning to Minnesota, she joined the Providence Academy team in 2019. She enjoys teaching at the same school her five children attend. She enjoys spending time with her family, teasing her children, good books, long conversations, hiking, camping, biking, board games, and learning.
Bridget Mohr
UPPER SCHOOL ART
Mr. LaVoy grew up on a hobby farm in Necedah, WI. He served four years active duty in the Air Force, working as a videographer. During his enlistment, he earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from University of Maryland. In addition to his teaching role at Providence, he serves in the Air National Guard and works full-time as a freelance illustrator. His published works include projects for Our Sunday Visitor, TAN Books/St. Benedict Press, Ascension Press, Voyage Comics and Publishing, Marian Catechist Apostolate, and Holy Cross Family Ministries. He is also a father of five children, who all love art as much as he does.
Michael LaVoy
UPPER SCHOOL LATIN
Emily Felsheim is a native of La Crosse, WI and holds a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Wyoming Catholic College. Her formal study of Latin began in high school with Fr. Henle's books and methodology but truly came alive in college, through an introduction to Hans Ørberg's Familia Romana and by participating in WCC's immersive Latin program: from demonstrating Euclidian geometry proofs in Latin, to smiling over whimsical passages of Winne Ille Pu; from reading Virgil's Aeneid in correct poetic meter, to laughing over the challenges of cooking dinner on a tiny camp stove while only speaking Latin with classmates on a week-long backpacking trip in the mountains. She believes that the most effective way to study Latin is through disciplined practice, with a touch of playfulness.
Emily Felsheim
GYM
I am the oldest of five children and grew up in Holcombe, WI. Upon graduating, I went to UW-Madison for a semester, but finished my BS degree in Mathematics at UW-Eau Claire. I taught for two year in public schools, but spent time discerning a vocation to the priesthood. I was fortunate enough to live a little over a year at the North American College in Rome, Italy while discerning my vocation.
In 2009, I married Shelly and began teaching math at Providence and continued to do so for nine years. I am happy to return to Providence as the current Phys. Ed teacher and substitute teacher. I look forward to working with the families, and staff at Providence Academy! As I side note, I also have a BS in Nursing from UW-Eau Claire. I guess you can say learning is a passion of mine.
Brett Linskey
MUSIC
Mrs. Wolk teaches music to grades K-12, and directs the Providence Academy Schola. She graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville with a Bachelor of Arts in Sacred Music and Theology. As a Voice major, her degree recital featured arias from Handel’s Theodora and Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia; and the art song of Brahms, Bizet, and Bellini. She sang the lead role of Anima in Franciscan University’s production of St. Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum. She has two decades’ experience as a sacred musician, and has taught voice privately for over ten years. She is thrilled to be entering her tenth year directing the music program at this excellent Catholic school.