Executive Director and Founder of HuckleBerry Center for Creative Learning
Founder & Executive Director of HuckleBerry. A home schooling educator for many years, Stephanie Berry has taught classes in many subjects. Her first love of teaching resulted in her becoming a reading tutor which quickly expanded to many other subjects. After teaching in her home and with other educators in their homes, she felt it was time to get these wonderful teachers together in one place to help our community of homeschoolers have more access to fabulously fun classes. Her philosophy in education is that kids need to be in an environment where learning is fun to become self-learners and that making mistakes is part of that fun. She likes to use lots of games and projects to encourage kids to explore subjects more deeply. Hearing kids say “Aha! I get it!” is the best part of her day! Prior to embarking in the educational arena, Berry was a software and business consultant. She has developed both in-house and commercial grade software and holds two patents on algorithms and software designed to help find the causes of human diseases.
Director of Community Outreach
A graduate of the USC Marshall School of Business and homeschool Mom for 7 years, Kelly is also a licensed cosmetologist for over 30 years and have worked with many well-known artists such as Vidal Sassoon, Allen Bush, and Paul Mitchell. As instructor and platform artist for the ABBA Academy she brought her love of teaching and artistry to the move industry. An actress and dancer in the entertainment industry, Kelly moved to more sedate activities with the birth of her children! She says "The most difficult job I have had to date is being a mother to my 4 children. Still looking for that instruction book!
Lisa Huckemeyer comes to us as a graduate from the University of WI – Madison, earning degrees in both business and child and family studies. After working in the business arena for 10 years, she is now a mother and considers herself the primary educator of her two boys, ages 8 and 14. Lisa has worked with HuckleBerry since it’s inception. Lisa’s philosophy on education is that if it’s not creative and fun, we’re not learning! Lisa also owns her own children’s business and is an active member in our local community.
Peter Kjenaas is a director, writer, actor, producer and teacher.
Graduated from Concordia College with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Religion. Sarah has been a Home Educator for the past seven years and has been a well loved teacher of Elements and the Periodic Table, Forensics and Biology, Cooking, and Math Games to the homeschooling community. Sarah's teaching philosophy is to approach each class with interesting hands on activities and games that keep the kids wanting to learn more!
Our newest Fine Art Teacher, believes that each child has the ability to be creative. She has a love for art and children and believes that the two go hand in hand. She is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising where she studied fashion illustration. She also attended Art Center College in Pasadena and Pasadena City College studying fine art and graphic design. She has experience as an artist, including mural painting, graphic art, water color, acrylic, oil painting and pastels. She currently teaches in her home art studio, Creative Powers Art and has taught fine art for 8 years with Kids Art Studios. One of her strengths is to acknowledge each child’s unique personality and expression, while providing learning tools to achieve their fine art abilities.
Ann Rees has a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering. She has tutored in several math levels, including basic math, algebra and beyond for several years. Rees enjoys working with children to make math fun and to help them see connections between mathematical concepts and the real world usage of math. Contact Ann directly at her email for private or semi-private math tutoring sessions!
Penny Sande has a passion for making music. As an accomplished violin and viola player, her playing credits date back to the mid 70's. At the request of a local elementary school, she began teaching students to play violin and recorder. Sande has a loyal following, and soon added cello to her repertoire, and is the current director for 2 local string orchestras. Sande's peformance groups have performed at many weddings, charity & local events, including being a featured playing group at Universal City Walk during 2006-08 Holiday seasons. Her group regularly performs at Barnes & Noble, the Farmer's Market and other local events. She is both a dedicated homeschooler, and a well loved private string teacher, with approx. 30 current private lesson students.
Holly Van Houten holds a Masters degree in English and American Literature and is ABD (All But Dissertation) for her Ph.D. in English Literature from USC. She has taught courses in literature and writing at USC, Pepperdine University, CSUN, CSULB and other Los Angeles area colleges. She is currently the Dramaturg for the Mountain Shakespeare Festival where she also serves on the Board of Directors. She currently homeschools her two daughters and loves watching their love of literature grow year by year.
Mike Allen has worked over 20 years as a professional commercial artist. Most recently as a character designer on Nickelodeon's hit show “The Fairly OddParents.” Originally from New York, Mike has worked as an art director for some of NYC's largest advertising agencies on many major brands, as well as running his own graphic design studio for many Fortune 500 clients. He is a traditionally trained illustrator, attended Parsons school of design, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Towson University in Maryland.
Frank Browne, our guitar teacher, resides in Castaic and tours regularly throughout the U.S. He has performed on stage with many national acts including Zoot Suit Revue, the acclaimed swing, big band, latin, and jump blues show group; and the jazz ensemble Big Brothers Big Band, where he performed for President Clinton. He is featured on ZSR s album “Bold, Borrowed and New” as well as three CD’s with Gary Urwin’s Studio Orchestra. Their latest recording, Kindred Spirits, can be heard on jazz radio stations across the country. Frank has performed at such notable venues as The Derby, The Coconut Club, The Supper Club NY, House of Blues, and the MGM Grand. Fluent in all musical genres, he also maintains a large studio of private students. Frank originally hails from New York and is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Music.
Partners in Learning
Sharon Koppenhaver joined the HuckleBerry staff in January of 2008 as a Physical Education Teacher. She graduated with a BS in Physical Education specializing in Exercise and Fitness from James Madison University in Virginia. Sharon has been a Personal Fitness Trainer in Delaware and Minnesota. She taught PE in Massachusetts for 2 years and in California for 1 year. Sharon has an extensive background in many team sports as well as total body wellness. She lives in Stevenson Ranch with her husband Dave and their two children Paige (15 years old) and Davis (12 years old).
After a decade working in television animation for Disney and Warner Bros., Lisa Melcombe earned her California State teaching credential and has taught in the Santa Clarita Valley since 2002. She has a degree in Art from Cal State University, Northridge and an appreciation for creative and performing arts. Ms. Melcombe has a special passion for literature and storytelling, and loves to introduce children (including her two young daughters) to beautifully written and classically illustrated books.
While teachers vary for these classes, we have been lucky enough to usually have Mr. Vincent. At Play-Well TEKnologies they strive to build problem-solving skills, provide an opportunity for creative expression, foster a greater appreciation of how things work, and encourage the qualities of inquisitiveness, self reliance, and self confidence in children. They do this in the context of fun-filled engineering and architectural projects, activities that both the children and the instructors enjoy!
Tracy Quick has always loved helping people, especially kids. As a child she dreamed of one day becoming a teacher, getting married, and having a large family. Today she’s “living the dream”, as her husband always jokes. Tracy is a New York native, with her B.S. in Education from Boston University. She taught grades K-12 in Massachusetts public schools, until pregnant with her third child. After moving to Santa Clarita, and experiencing the public schools here, she and her husband decided to homeschool their children. She currently homeschools her four youngest children, who LOVE attending HuckleBerry. She likes being busy, loves learning and sharing new things, enjoys the freedom and flexibility that homeschooling offers, and is excited about being more involved in the wonderful HuckleBerry community.
Cathy has worked world wide as a soloist and background vocalist for internationally renowned artists (i.e. Placido Domingo, Julio Iglesias, Charles Aznevour, etc), and also performed on Broadway as Grace Farrell in "Annie", as well as many regional theater productions. She now shares her love and knowledge of drama with our students. Her academic background is diverse, with passion and studies in fields from History to Geology.
“Coach Jay” Stallings has been teaching chess to children full-time since 1996. He is a USCF Expert and is on the National Scholastic Chess Committee. His curriculum was developed after years of teaching, and is designed specifically for children. Coach Jay’s students and teams have won numerous state titles and have even earned as high as 2nd Place at SuperNationals events against the strongest players and teams in the nation. He is married and has two boys, ages 23 and 13.