Meet Our Faculty

Chris Antonsen has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Rhetoric from the University of Illinois, an M.A. in Folklore Studies from Western Kentucky University, and a PhD in English from Ohio State University with joint emphases in Folklore Studies and American Literature.

Prior to coming to Countryside in 2010, Mr. A spent time as a college professor, as the founding managing editor of a small academic publishing house, as a projects manager and grants writer for the National Foreign Languages Resource Center, as a web-delivered database developer, and as a scout leader. He studied folklore at England’s University of Sheffield where he later held an Honorary Research Fellowship while conducting dissertation fieldwork.

Mr. A loves travel, and he really wants to add a second floor to his house, accessed by a steel silo with windows and a spiral staircase. In addition, he is the proud parent of two Countryside alumni.

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 is in her fifth year at Countryside. She 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. In the past, she has been 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

Marty Stambaugh is in her twenty-second year at Countryside and thirty-third year in teaching. Prior to coming to Countryside, she taught middle school Science at Urbana Middle School for nine years and served as the on-site coordinator for University of Illinois secondary education students who were student teaching at UMS.

Having completed 22 graduate credits beyond her M.Ed., Ms. Stambaugh has taken advantage of numerous workshops, seminars, and courses to develop her interests in science education and related areas, as well as conducting various workshops herself. In addition to the teaching degree, she holds a B.A. in Agricultural Communications with a news-editorial emphasis.

Gloria Arizaga is native speaker of Spanish, originally from México. She received her bachelor's degree in Journalism from the journalism school "Carlos Septién García" and her associates 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 in 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. In addition, Mrs. Chen 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 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. In addition, Ms. Jacki was our guest director for Countryside’s 8th grade production of Into the Woods, Jr. in 2016.

Whitney McComas graduated from the U of I 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 Masters 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 eighth 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 is also the head volleyball coach at Urbana High School and 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 sixth 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 more recently, our Countryside Golf Outing. In addition to serving as our Athletic Director, Mr. Woodcock coaches Countryside’s boys’ basketball team, coed soccer team, and archery club. He is also a Middle School Advisor.