Our Teachers

WHITNEY BRIDE, Director of Operations, is an alumnus of Teach for America, a national corps of demonstrated leaders committed to affecting change in low-income communities by teaching in urban and rural public schools.  In addition to teaching 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades, Mrs. Bride served as a corps member liaison to the Teach for America Regional Board of Directors in Houston, Texas.  She has spent the past four years working primarily with Latino families and communicates proficiently in Spanish.  She holds a B.S. in Human & Organizational Development with an emphasis on Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness from Vanderbilt University.

KATHRYN DAI, is the 6th grade Earth Science teacher at West Denver Prep. She graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a B.S. in Earth Science emphasizing in Secondary Education. She enjoys teaching urban students with culturally diverse backgrounds. Her favorite areas of teaching include Rocks and Minerals, Plate Tectonics, and Oceanography. She is often called a “rock nerd” due to her extensive rock and mineral collection, which she is proud to have entirely collected on her own geological excursions. She has traveled throughout Europe and America and has visited Egypt and Russia. She loves all living organisms (particularly her dog Vinny who is a Boston Terrier), cooking and baking, and being outdoors.

JOHN DUES, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, is an alumnus of both the Teach for America and Reach for Excellence programs. He is a veteran urban educator having taught 2nd, 5th, and 6th grades in Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and Denver, Colorado. In his current role at West Denver Prep, he oversees the creation and implementation of the school’s standards-based curriculum and the summer teacher training program. Mr. Dues graduated with Honors from Miami (OH) University with a B.A. in Psychology and Criminology and holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Cincinnati.

SHANA DINNER, sixth grade Writing teacher, is a Denver native.  Prior to becoming a founding teacher at West Denver Prep, Ms. Dinner taught at Denver Summerbridge for three summers and then spent two years in Quito, Ecuador where she helped start an elementary school.  She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder and holds a B.A. in both Spanish and French (Language and Literature).  She enjoys training for half marathons and, as a result of her love of languages, has now begun studying Italian.  Ms. Dinner is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Denver.

JEN DUNLAP, is the special education teacher at West Denver Prep.  Born and raised in Colorado, she earned her undergraduate degree from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL.   She earned her teaching license from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Looking for every opportunity to explore more of the world, Jen has traveled to a number of Latin American countries to study, work, or volunteer.  Her most recent teaching experience was in the Dominican Republic and though she misses the foreign land she had grown to call her home, she is thrilled to be back in Colorado, working with the Latino community.

CHRIS GIBBONS, Head of School, is the former director of Denver Summerbridge, a DPS partner program serving low-income students.  He has worked in Southwest Denver for the past four years, and speaks fluent Spanish. He has participated in the Building Excellent Schools Fellowship, a one-year, nationally-recognized training program that prepares potential charter school founders to design and run high performing urban public schools.  He has a B.S. in Biology from Yale University and a M.Ed. from Regis University.

RAYLENE KAUFMAN, received her undergraduate degree in creative writing from Knox College.  After graduating, she entered Teach for America and taught 8th grade Language Arts in the Mississippi Delta for 7 years.  While working at Madison Shannon Palmer High School, she worked closely with the community to help establish a community service program.  She earned her National Board Certification in 2004 and her Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Mississippi in 2005.  She moved to Denver in 2007 and will begin teaching 6th grade reading at WDP.  She is excited about living in a new city and looks forward to meeting her new students!  Outside of teaching, she loves to do photography, write, and hike.

KATHRYN LAW, is the sixth grade math problem solving teacher at West Denver Prep. Ms. Law graduated from Regis University in May with a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and a minor in Secondary Education. Ms. Law has been working with teachers and students in Northwest Denver for four years, studying the theory and techniques of bilingual and ELL education. Prior to joining West Denver Prep, Ms. Law worked as a computer programmer for a local financial advising firm.

BURGESS LEPAGE, joins the West Denver Prep staff all the way from Cumberland, Maine.  She graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in English and French (language and literature).  This year will be her first year of formal teaching, although she has had much experience working with students.  Her most recent informal teaching opportunity was found at Seeds of Peace International Camp, an organization that brings students from conflict areas around the world to a lakeside oasis in rural Maine, a safer place for spoken “enemies” to coexist and communicate with intentions and hopes for peace.  A four year college varsity field hockey player, Ms. LePage intends to help build after-school athletic programs to help students become more involved in sports and team-building.  Ms. LePage is extremely thankful to be spending her first year in Colorado teaching at West Denver Prep.

ELLEN LEVY, has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Columbia University, and taught college chemistry at the University of Colorado at Denver for 11 years.  She came to West Denver Prep last year because this may be the most important work anybody can do.  After coming up from the ocean floor and down from the moons of Jupiter in Earth Science last year, she will be teaching 7th grade life science .  When not sleeping, preparing for class, or teaching, she enjoys arguing with her almost 11-year-old son Theo, cooking Chinese food, and thinking about how somebody should really clean the house.

SUSAN MORRIS, completed her student teaching in Topsham, Maine and graduated from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in Spanish and Teaching. She was a 4-year Math teacher for the Denver Summerbridge Program and is thrilled to be joining the Math Department at West Denver Prep.

BRIDGET NEWMAN, is a World Studies teacher at West Denver Prep.  Before teaching at West Denver Prep, Ms. Newman taught middle school social studies for two years as a Teach for America corps member in Camden, New Jersey.  She graduated from Duke University with honors in political science and a minor in Latin American Studies.  While in college, Ms. Newman studied abroad in Brazil, Italy, Spain, Morocco and Egypt.  Ms. Newman is excited to share her love for geography with her 6th graders this year!  

EMILY PARK-FRIEND, formerly a 6th grade Reading teacher at West Denver Prep, is now being promoted to 7th grade.  Prior to joining WDP, Emily taught 1st and 2nd grade as a Teach for America Corps Member in the rural Mississippi Delta.  She graduated magna cum laude in 2004 from Bucknell University with a dual major in International Relations and Women’s Studies.  She is fluent in Spanish and has traveled extensively throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (and hopes to do more).  Emily is excited to reunite with the college class of 2017 and welcome the college class of 2018 to West Denver Prep.

BETSY PETERSON, was a founding Math teacher at WDP and currently teaches 7th grade Pre-Algebra. Prior to working at WDP, she worked as a Math teacher and School-Year Program Coordinator at Denver Summerbridge. As a Boettcher Scholar, Ms. Peterson studied at the University of Denver, and studied abroad at Cambridge University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Malta.  She wrote her thesis on the challenges of cross-cultural education, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Denver.

JEFF PYLE, is the 6th grade math procedures teacher. He graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Biology. Mr. Pyle has previously taught biology, physical science, and earth science at the high school level. He comes to West Denver Prep with knowledge of working both in an Urban and Suburban setting.

SETH TRUDEAU, has snuck into Westminster Abbey in London, England; drank coffee prepared in the trunk of a Mercedes-Benz in Beirut, Lebanon; and been shot at in Nimule, Sudan. He has swum in the Mediterranean Sea, taken a boat up and down the Nile River, and watched the sunset over Lake Victoria. To supplement these encounters - and many others - he also has a Bachelors Degree, magna cum laude in International Studies from the University of Denver. He is very excited to combine his classroom knowledge with his life experience to bring world history to life at West Denver Prep.

CASSANDRA YOUNG, is the Office Manager at West Denver Prep. She is working on a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Denver.  She enjoys teaching Computer Club, where keyboarding is the central topic of the class. She moved to Colorado in 1995 to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder.

ALETHEA WINGERT, was a 6th grade teacher with West Denver Prep. last year.  She enjoyed last year and those students, but is looking forward to teaching reading to the new 6th graders this year.  Mrs. Wingert graduated from Northwestern College with a degree in Psychology.  She has worked in several different settings before finding her way to WDP.  On her off time, Mrs. Wingert enjoys hanging out with her husband and other friends, walking her dog, and of course reading!