Our dedicated Board of Advisors provides critical oversight, quarterly reviews and substantive recommendations for improvement. We are thankful for their expertise and their care for our students and families.
Finance – Julie Delong
Julie is an experienced bookkeeper and accountant. She is the founder and COO of Backyard Bookkeeper. Since 2008, she has worked with over 250 different companies in a wide variety of industries, including construction, nonprofit, health care, consulting, retail sales, online sales, legal, entertainment, real estate, and many more.
Legal – Austin Hepworth
Austin attended Ave Maria School of Law, graduating summa cum laude and first in his class. Austin has worked in a variety of areas of law, including constitutional, business, real estate, finance, estate planning, adoption, international tax, prenuptials, creditor/debtor, corporate governance, contracts, and appeals.
Technology – Kaleb Albee
Kaleb graduated from Eastern Washington State University with a Master of Science in Computer Science and two minors in Math and Physics. During his studies, he concentrated on AI, hacking, and databases.
Marketing – David Robertson
Faith-Based Instruction – Julie Robertson
David Robertson served as president of the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission. He is a former counselor in a stake presidency, stake Young Men president, bishop and missionary in the Brazil Recife Mission. SANW area controller, Corporation of the Presiding Bishop. He was born in Raleigh, N.C. Juliana Robertson served as a counselor in a ward Relief Society presidency and is a former stake Young Women president, ward Young Women president, ward Primary president and seminary teacher. She was born in La Mesa, Calif. Together they have seven children.
Instructional Design – Tara C. Allred-Niekamp
English – Jennifer Wheeler
After receiving a B.S. in English Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Jen taught for several years in the Fairfax County Public School System where she instructed 10th and 11th grade students in English and Language Arts. During that time, she also served as a curriculum developer and testing coordinator for her team.
Science – Molly Christensen
Molly Christensen graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Statistics. She has founded several highly-successful cooperative learning groups, written a large amount of curriculum and taught many classes to youth and adults, including Latin, science, math, and leadership.
Mathematics: Kimberly Pearson
She earned her bachelor degree in elementary education with a mathematics minor from Sam Houston University and earned her MBA from the University of Utah. She has experience teaching from elementary to adults, and particularly enjoys teaching the middle school and high school age students. Kimberly has a great passion for organizing and planning. She has planned and managed many events from corporate conferences to community and charitable function, from church camps to family reunions. She enjoys challenges and has a talent for seeing the big picture as well as the detailed steps to achieve the end results.
History and Geography – Jeff Jensen
Mr. Jensen is an experienced teacher, having taught online history, geography, government and economics courses for over 9 years. He is a popular speaker and has logged over 3000 public speaking hours, most in classroom settings across the state as a guest lecturer on the Titanic and U.S. history. He was recognized by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as a noteworthy Reagan historian and was invited to speak there in 2017. He is currently working towards publication of his first book, “The President’s Pages.” He has published articles in peer reviewed history and academic journals on the RMS Titanic and served as assistant editor and historical consultant on 3 BYU publications in the “Saints at War” program. Mr. Jensen also has extensive experience with gospel teaching & learning as Stake Sunday School President in 2 stakes over 10 years and a substitute CES instructor for seminary.
Fine Arts: Music – Leah Ellis
She graduated from BYU Idaho, with a BA in music, string emphasis, and a minor in Marriage and Family Studies. Leah enjoyed 19 years of private violin lessons, including 8 years under the instruction of Emily Day-Shumway, former member of the Utah Symphony and Concert Mistress of the Utah Chamber Orchestra. Leah performed in the Utah Youth Philharmonic for 6 years, and in the BYU-Idaho Symphony Orchestra and ensembles for 4 years, along with multiple community orchestral and choral events. Leah also performed with her family bluegrass band “The Wildflowers” as a fiddler and vocalist for 8 years. While violin is Leah’s main instrument, she also enjoys playing the piano, viola, cello, guitar, and singing. Leah has 2 years’ experience as a private tutor in elementary level reading, literature, art and music theory, and has 10+ years’ experience teaching private violin lessons to students of all ages. She has taught two previous online Music Appreciation courses.
Fine Arts: Art – Marie Withers
Marie Withers is an artist and instructor. Her Education includes a Master of Arts (MA, 2019) in Art Education at Brigham Young University (BYU), and a BFA Degree in Art Education from Utah State University (USU, 1988). She teaches painting and drawing; and is also fluent in graphic design and photography. From 1997 to 2017, she was a graphic designer and multi-media designer at BYU. Currently, she makes and sells fine art (mostly oil paintings) and prints, in galleries, shows and online. She has taught drawing and painting at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan, and served as an artist-in-residence for Fox Hollow Elementary School in Idaho Falls.
Career and Technical/Digital Studies – Jill Simonson
Mrs. Simonson has been teaching junior high, high school and college for many years. She has always been passionate about distance education and how accessible it makes education to all people, no matter where they are or what their circumstance. This passion led her to pursue a Distance Education emphasis when earning her MEd from Utah State University. In addition to her position at Ensign Peak Academy Mrs. Simonson also teaches for an online charter school, BYU Idaho, and homeschools two of her children.
Financial Literacy – Samara Starchman
Samara earned her Bachelor’s degree in Family Sciences from Brigham Young University in 1994. Since then, she has had many adventures in education and business, including managing car dealerships, teaching High School Algebra, and managing commercial high rises.
Health – Dr. Julie Luckart
Julie Luckart is a family nurse practitioner and registered nurse in Washington and Oregon. She earned her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from the University of Arizona in 2018 and was honored as The March of Dimes Nurse of the Year for the state of Oregon and Southwest Washington in 2017.