Meet Our Faculty

Chris Antonsen has a B.A. in English (Illinois), an M.A. in Folk Studies (Western Kentucky), and a Ph.D. in English and Folklore Studies (Ohio State). Prior to coming to Countryside in 2010, Mr. A. has been a college professor, editor and publisher, projects manager and grants writer, database developer, and scout leader. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Folklore and Education.

Mr. A. loves travel and has lived briefly in England on two occasions. He would go back in a heartbeat so long as his students could visit a lot. In addition, he is the proud parent of two Countryside alumni.

Amber Barker joins Countryside after teaching 7th and 8th grade science for five years at Blue Ridge Junior High in Mansfield, IL. She graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a B.S. in Education, and she holds three endorsements - Middle School, Science, and Language Arts. She previously substitute-taught in grades pre-K through 12 and has owned and operated a daycare.

Mrs. Barker enjoys spending time playing games with family, painting, and making custom cakes. She also enjoys welding and has driven in a demolition derby! In addition, she is the proud parent of a Countryside student.

Ikro Joe received his B.S. and M.S. in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Molecular and Integrative Physiology from the University of Illinois. As a research scientist at Kim Laboratories, a biotech company, he worked on pathogen detection sensor development, and he founded biotech firm EnvirGen Inc.

For the past several years, Dr. Joe has tutored students in all levels of high school math. In addition he teaches test prep for the SSAT, ACT, SAT, SAT Subject tests, and the calculus, biology, and chemistry AP courses.

Tara Santiago has a B.S. in Computational Mathematics from the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras and an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before joining Countryside in 2016, she was a teaching assistant for undergraduate math courses, an SAT instructor, and a math tutor. Ms. Santiago speaks Spanish and is learning French. She enjoys reading, cooking, and playing video games. When she isn’t teaching, she is probably at home playing with her cat, Luna Victoria.

Gloria Arizaga is a native speaker of Spanish and originally from México. She received her bachelor's degree in Journalism from the journalism school "Carlos Septién García" and her associate degree in Public Policies from the Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública de Querétaro. She has a certification for Teaching Spanish as a Second Language to Children from the Rey Juan Carlos University. Before moving to the United States, Mrs. Arizaga worked as journalist and editor for several newspapers and magazines and had the honor to work under the direction of Nobel Prize in Literature recipient, Gabriel García Marquez.

In the United States, Mrs. Arizaga has worked as consultant for publishers Editions Larousse and Chambers Harrap. She worked nine years at the University of Illinois Extension where she developed a listening course for AP Spanish. She has taught Spanish at St. John Lutheran School, and she currently teaches Spanish online to students in Beijing, China, and is a Spanish tutor. Mrs. Arizaga has taught at Countryside since 2015.

When not at school, Mrs. Arizaga volunteers in different organizations in town and enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking, camping, and reading. She loves to watch history and science documentaries, and she is rediscovering chemistry in her kitchen and garden. Her daughter is a Countryside alumna.

Eileen Chen is a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese and also speaks English and Japanese. She completed her B.A. at Tamkang University, Taiwan, and holds an M.S. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Nazareth College in Rochester, NY. She earned a Certification of Advanced Study and an M. Ed. in Human Resource Education from the University of Illinois, and she earned a Master of Arts in Multilingual Education from the University of Northern Colorado. Mrs. Chen is a K-12 Certified Chinese Language Teacher in both Illinois and Colorado. In addition, she holds a certification of TESOL from the University of California, Irvine.

Mrs. Chen taught Chinese in Chinese schools in California, New York, and Illinois, and she taught English as a foreign language at schools in Taiwan. Mrs. Chen has twice been awarded an excellence in teaching award by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. She enjoys participating in many professional development conferences to bring new knowledge to the classroom. 

She enjoys cake decorating and teaches our wildly popular Sugar Paste summer camps where students create amazing edible treats from rolled fondant icing. Mrs. Chen also loves travel, yoga, and trying new international recipes. She is the proud parent of a Countryside alumnus, and she hopes to go back to teach languages in underprivileged areas of China after she retires.

Jacki Loewenstein is the artistic director and owner of Class Act, a Champaign-based performing arts studio. Since 1992, she has worked professionally as a theater director, instructor, and private acting coach in Chicago, NYC, and Austin.

Over the past decade, Ms. Jacki has directed local productions for Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company (CUTC), Urbana’s Station Theatre, and CUTC’s Penguin Project, a program featuring young people with disabilities paired with peer mentors.

She received her B.A. in Journalism from UNC–Chapel Hill and her MFA in Directing from Illinois State University in Normal, IL. Prior to joining Countryside, Ms. Jacki was our guest director for Countryside’s 8th grade production of Into the Woods, Jr. back in 2016.

Whitney McComas graduated from the University of Illinois with both her B.S. in Classics with a concentration in Latin and her M.A. in Classics with a specialization in Latin. While pursuing her master's in teaching, she was recognized by her university students for excellence in teaching. Ms. McComas student-taught at Victor Andrew High School in Tinley Park, has tutored Latin, and has taught summer language camp for children ages 9-12 at the University of Illinois. Ms. McComas is in her ninth year teaching at Countryside.

Erika Mennig has a Master of Music Education from the University of Illinois. In addition, she has a Bachelor of Music Education (choral), a Bachelor of Music in Open Studies (music business), and a Bachelor of Music in Fine Arts (piano performance) – all from the University of Illinois. Ms. Mennig previously taught music and directed the choir both at Edison Middle School in Champaign and in Rantoul. She also owns her own music studio giving private lessons in both piano and voice. Ms. Mennig was the head volleyball coach at Urbana High School and currently coaches at Countryside School.

Shane Woodcock earned his B.S. in Physical Education from Eureka College and M.S. in Sports Administration from Eastern Illinois University. This is Mr. Woodcock’s seventh year at Countryside. Through his creativity and enthusiasm about physical education, he has grown our program with several new activities. Mr. Woodcock established our archery program, archery summer camp, and the First Tee Golf program. He founded our ever popular annual Color Run and our annual Countryside Golf Outing. In addition to serving as our Athletic Director, Mr. Woodcock coaches Countryside’s boys’ basketball team and archery club. He is also a Middle School Advisor and teaches our middle school wood shop class.