Faculty Directory

Lauren Sanders
Headmaster

Lauren Sanders is a wife and mother to three children, with a passion for exposing her children and others to bilingual and classical education. She holds two Bachelor of Science degrees and a Master's degree in Education and maintains an Oregon teacher license. Lauren is the Director of Religious Education at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Corvallis, Oregon since 2017 and has networked with other parish families to establish a local chapter of the Catholic Schoolhouse. She is also employed as a supervisor of bilingual elementary school student teachers, working to inspire morally conscious educators, while actively engaging herself in professional development and teacher leadership.

Tristan Mitchell

  • Tristan was born and raised in Corvallis. He attended Corvallis public school and studied pre-medicine at Oregon State University. His interests expanded to philosophy and theology after taking his first philosophy course in his fifth year at OSU. Around the same time, he participated in an Alpha course at the OSU Newman center, where he profoundly experienced God’s love for the first time on a retreat at the Father Bernard Youth Center in Mount Angel. He went on to earn a Master Degree in Theology from Villanova University. He is happy to be back in Corvallis, and is incredibly passionate about bringing classical Catholic education to his hometown!

Garth Rose

  • Garth Rose has been a parishioner at St. Mary's since 1997 and has been tutoring college and high school students full time in STEM subjects for nearly that long.

    In past years, he has been on the RCIA, Confirmation, and youth group teams; and he has been a lay member of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) since 2015.

    Garth is excited to embark on a new adventure with St. Andrew's Chesterton Academy!

Sean Akroyd

  • Mr. Akroyd was born in Japan, raised in New Zealand, and moved to Corvallis during high school. He has a BA in History from Oregon State University and an MA in Theology from Mount Angel Seminary.

    Mr. Akroyd has a wide range of scholarly and personal interests, ranging from classical drawing and monasticism to language learning and playing pool. He is a Benedictine Oblate of Mount Angel Abbey. Mr. Akroyd is married to his high school sweetheart Sofia, and has two beautiful boys. He teaches history, literature, and art.

Lisa Freeman

  • Mrs. Freeman earned degrees in mechanical engineering from Oregon State University and worked as an instructor there and then as an engineer at Hewlett Packard. She left her engineering career to raise and homeschool two sons, attempting to implement a classical education in the home. She has tutored homeschooled students, taught homeschool courses, and was a merit badge counsellor for Boy Scouts. She and her husband have been active members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Albany for many years, and there she has taught RCIA, confirmation, and adult education classes and trained altar servers. When she is not teaching, she is studying, and sometimes knitting, gardening, or learning some new fiber art or other useful skill.

Elisa Monaco

  • Elisa obtained her bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine and PhD in Italy. From 2004 to 2014, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Penn State University, PA; University of Illinois, IL; and The Linus Pauling Institute at OSU, respectively. In 2014, she was hired to teach in the Dept. of Animal and Rangeland Sciences at OSU. She has received many teaching grants aimed at enhancing students’ learning experience. She has also been recognized for her excellence in teaching by becoming a recipient of the College’s Registry of Distinguished Teachers Award.

    Elisa loves teaching and aspires to give her students a richness of understanding and depth of reasoning that can accompany them for life as they become lifelong learners. When not teaching, Elisa values spending time with her family and friends. She is married to Massimo, one of the first minds that envisioned a Chesterton school in Corvallis. They have 4 beautiful children and are active parishioners at Saint Mary’s in Corvallis.

Kim Palmero

  • Kim grew up in Alaska, before moving to Oregon in her junior year of high school. She attended the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, where she received an MA (Hons.) in Medieval History & Archaeology. She then returned to the US to study Law at the University of Washington in Seattle. While in law school, Kim spent a semester living in her husband’s hometown of Lyon, France, where she earned a Diploma in European & International Law from Jean Moulin University, concurrently with her JD from UW. She has been an active member of the Oregon State Bar since 2010.

    Kim, her husband, and her three young sons moved to Corvallis in 2022, where they were blessed to discover a vibrant and loving faith community at St. Mary’s. Kim hopes that her classroom will a place of learning, inspiration, and of encounter with God’s love throughout history and in students’ daily lives.