Faculty and Staff

Kathryn Anstaett is the 6th grade Social Studies and Earth Science teacher as well as the 7th grade Ancient History teacher at Columbus Collegiate Academy. Prior to joining the CCA staff, Kathryn taught Spanish in St. Louis Missouri at Imagine College Prep. While at Imagine College Prep, Kathryn founded a Spanish club which traveled to Chicago for a Latino cultural event and participated in many local activities. She also established a garden club at Imagine to raise environmental awareness.

Kathryn graduated magma cum laude from Miami (OH) University in 2007 with a degree in International Studies, Spanish, and Latin American Studies. Upon graduation, Kathryn was accepted into the Teach For America program, a highly selective national service corps for recent college graduates. Through this program, Kathryn dedicated two years of service to under-resourced public schools.

Felicia (Nikki) Trautman Baszynski is a curriculum specialist and grant writer for Columbus Collegiate Academy. She is also the Yearbook and Student Council advisor. She joined CCA after spending two years at Frederick Douglass Academy III in the Bronx. While at FDA III, Ms. Baszynski taught the 6th grade humanities classes, directed the school’s fencing program, served as Coordinator of Student Affairs, and supported her Teach For America colleagues as a School Team Leader.

Ms. Baszynski graduated from Loyola University Chicago cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy, Ethics, and Political Science. She is an alumnus of Teach For America and also served as their campaign manager while in Chicago.

Andrew E. Boy is the Founder and one of two Co-Directors at Columbus Collegiate Academy, overseeing the finance and operations of the organization. Prior to joining Columbus Collegiate, Andrew completed the Building Excellent Schools Fellowship. During the BES Fellowship, Andrew studied the highest performing urban charter schools across the country, completed a school and leadership residency at a high performing urban middle school, and received extensive training in governance, finance, operations, school organization, curriculum development, and school culture.

As an experienced urban educator, Andrew Boy spent five years at W.E.B. DuBois Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio, an urban charter school that was then rated as excellent or effective by the state of Ohio. At DuBois, Andrew designed the science program as Science Director from 2001-2005, improving students’ proficiency scores from 0% passing to over 80%. From 2005-2006, Andrew was Lead Teacher for CSRIC, a new school within the DuBois school district. During Andrew’s time with this school district he was awarded Teacher of the Year two times, and facilitated several mentoring relationships between students and various Cincinnati professionals. Andrew holds Bachelor’s degrees in Education and Communication from the University of Cincinnati and a Masters of Education Administration from Xavier University.

Jennifer Burdine teaches sixth and seventh grade reading at Columbus Collegiate Academy. Prior to joining the teaching staff at Columbus Collegiate Academy, Jennifer taught 7th and 8th grade language arts and social studies at the International Academy of Suriname; an international school located in Paramaribo, Suriname, South America. During her time in Suriname, Jennifer was responsible for high school student council, ESL tutoring, and teaching.

Jennifer is in her fourth year of teaching middle school. Currently she creates and implements the 6th and 7th grade reading curriculum at Columbus Collegiate Academy in Columbus, Ohio. Jennifer Burdine graduated from Cedarville University with a degree in Middle Childhood Education and just recently graduated with her Masters of Education from Indiana Wesleyan University.

John A. Dues is one of two Co-Directors at Columbus Collegiate Academy, overseeing the curriculum, instruction, and assessment of CCA’s students. Prior to joining Columbus Collegiate, John served as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at West Denver Preparatory Charter School. During his tenure as West Denver Prep’s instructional leader, WDP became the top rated middle school in Denver Public Schools as measured by the School Performance Framework’s growth measure. In addition, new students annually made an average of more than two years of progress in reading, language, math, science, and social science as measured by the Stanford 10 during his time there.

John is a veteran urban educator having taught 2nd, 5th, and 6th grades in Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Denver, Colorado; and Columbus, Ohio. In his current role at Columbus Collegiate, 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 and holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Cincinnati. He is also an alumnus of Teach For America, a highly selective national service corps of recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in under-resourced public schools.

Jeaneen Hooks serves as the Operations Manager & Student Recruiter for the Columbus Collegiate Academy. She is responsible for effectively managing the operations of the school such as: facilities, food service, transportation, and administrative functions to ensure success of the academic mission. As the Student Recruiter she markets the cultural and academic tenets of the school to families seeking a better education for their middle school aged student. She also manages the enrollment/orientation process to make certain the family has a well-informed and positive transition to CCA.

Abbey Kinson is a founding teacher at Columbus Collegiate Academy. She currently teaches seventh grade Pre-Algebra and sixth grade Math Procedures. She taught both sixth grade math courses in the school’s founding year. During that time, she led students to make outstanding growth in mathematics. Students meeting the statewide standard for proficiency on the Ohio Achievement Test jumped from 41% to 82%. She also led students to achieve more than two and a half times the “expected yearly growth” as measured by the national Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) test.

Abbey grew up in Brecksville, Ohio, and graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from The Ohio State University. Upon graduation, she taught 6th grade, all subjects, for two years in Southeast Washington, D.C. as a member of the prestigious Teach For America program. During that time, she earned a Masters of Education degree from American University.

Ben Pacht is the intervention specialist at Columbus Collegiate Academy, and works to ensure students receive the services they need in order to succeed academically. Before coming to Columbus Collegiate, Ben was a special education teacher at Orr Middle School in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also began a homework help/soccer program at his school that spread to a number of other schools in the Las Vegas valley.

Ben is a graduate of Carleton College in Minnesota, and received a Master of Special Education degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Amanda Stookey is the sixth and seventh grade Math Problem Solving teacher at Columbus Collegiate Academy. Amanda graduated Magna Cum Laude from the College of Charleston where she received a Bachelor of Science in Middle Level Education with concentrations in mathematics and social studies. During her tenure in Charleston, Amanda engaged in diverse practicum experiences, teaching math and social studies to sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in urban, suburban and rural settings. During her final year in the education program at the College of Charleston, she engaged in a clinical internship where she assumed full-time teaching and lesson planning as an eighth grade Pre-Algebra and Algebra I teacher. Upon graduation, she was awarded the College of Charleston School of Education’s Middle Grades Outstanding Student award. Amanda was also involved in the College of Charleston’s Collegiate Middle Level Association, a professional education organization affiliated with the National Middle School Association for college students preparing to be middle level educators. In the fall of 2008, Amanda attended the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado where she engaged in various workshops that shared current research-based strategies in education as well as training in the latest educational technologies.