Faculty

Latin Teacher

Dian Schmiedicke

Headmistress

Dian Schmiedicke grew up in the coastal community of Santa Cruz, California, the eldest daughter of Bohemian and German immigrant parents. Raised as an evangelical Christian, she discovered and entered the Catholic Church while attending college in Asheville, North Carolina in 1995.

Dian discovered Montessori and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd as a new mother searching for truth and beauty in parenting and began to study. She holds a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Warren Wilson College, an Association Montessori Internationale Primary Diploma from The Washington Montessori Institute, and a Masters Degree in Education from Loyola University. Dian also holds Levels I, II and III Certifications from The Association of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

In 2012, Dian founded Divinum Auxilium Academy, a flourishing Montessori to Classical elementary farm school in Front Royal. In 2018, she established an all girls junior high and high school, St. Edith Stein School for Girls, of which she is Headmistress, and in 2022, founded its brother school, St. Joseph the Just School for Boys.

Dian lives with her husband and their four children in Linden, VA with their horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, dogs, cats, and bees. She enjoys raising and growing food and tinkering in her laboratory kitchen. Dian is passionate about pairing her love of nature with athletics. She has competed in a variety of equestrian sports as well as swimming, mountain biking, triathlon, CrossFit and adventure racing. For fun she enjoys reading, hiking, fox hunting, running, scuba diving, skiing, rock climbing and backpacking with her family.

Christine Nussio

Assistant Headmistress
Middle School & High School History Teacher

Christine Nussio grew up in a military family and moved to Virginia in 2007. She has a B.A. summa cum laude in History from Christendom College and a M.A. in European History from the Catholic University of America. She teaches History at St. Edith Stein School and serves as the Assistant Headmistress.

Christine has taught, coached, and mentored high school girls for more than ten years as a history teacher and school administrator. She has taught European History, U.S. History, Philosophy, Latin, and Debate, as well as coached soccer, Lincoln-Douglas debate, and track and field. She is a passionate believer in the importance of single sex education for the personal and intellectual formation of young women.

Christine has completed professional development with Independent School Management (ISM), the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE), and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC). She lives in Front Royal and also teaches as an adjunct professor of History at Christendom College.

Anita Moisan

Dean of Students
HS Religion & Practical Art Teacher

Anita was born and raised in Arizona where the inspiration of her homeschooling mother instilled in her a life-long love of learning which has served her throughout her continued education as well as her many creative endeavors.

In addition to traditional academic courses, Anita has continued to broaden her knowledge in a wide variety of subjects. She has taken courses in such lost culinary arts as cheese making and fermentation, and is a self-taught knitter and seamstress.

A true renaissance woman, Anita’s professional history reflects her many skills as well as her proven competence and work ethic. She has served in a number of positions, including secretary at a law firm, office manager, administrative assistant with multiple small businesses, farm hand, manager of a farm-to-fork food truck, and woodworking. Her jobs have exercised her talents in such varied fields as grant writing, hospitality, event coordination, accounting, and catering.

Anita lives in Front Royal, Virginia, where she continues to pursue personal interests in art and interior design, reading, cooking, holistic living, organization, and her latest creative endeavor—writing a children’s book.

Christina Carlyle

School Administrator

Originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, Christina graduated from Christendom College in 2013. After college she studied psychology and nursing for a time. Her career has taken her from teaching kindergarten to insurance to tutoring, counseling, school administration, and health management.

In 2017, Christina moved to Madrid, Spain for a year and taught English to high school and college students.

For the past 2 years she was living in Phoenix, Arizona where she worked as a Cryotherapist in a health and wellness spa facility.  and opened up an organic smoothie business with her husband.

Along with the recent move back to Front Royal, Christina welcomed her first baby in April of 2023.

Jaime Gorman

High School Literature Teacher

A girl from the north country, Jaime originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. She graduated with honors in Literature from Christendom College and went on to earn her MA from the University of Dallas. She focused heavily on the Romantic and Victorian eras, both their literature and philosophy, especially in how these can help us understand and combat the crises present in modern aesthetics. She also has a special love for Shakespeare, Waugh, Faulkner, Tolkien, and T. S. Eliot.

Jaime has over 10 years of experience in several aspects of education. This includes classroom and online teaching, as well as curriculum development. A sporadic free-lance writer, she has been published several times, including by the American Life League and the grassroots Soul Gardening Journal. In addition, her academic writings have had various impacts in her chosen field. She has also been semi-officially studying herbalism for over two years, after seeing the power of herbs to heal her children in acute medical situations.

Jaime is now happy to call the Shenandoah Valley home. She lives with her husband and four boisterous children, who are slowly adjusting to town life after nearly a decade on a farm. In her elusive freetime, Jaime enjoys ballet dancing, playing guitar, training and riding Arabian horses, breeding milk goats, and reading, especially British murder mysteries.

Emily Minick

High School Government & Economics Teacher

Emily teaches both Economics to high school students and American Federal Government to college students. Prior to entering teaching, she worked on Capitol Hill for Members of Congress in both Chambers working on issues ranging from labor policy, foreign affairs, tax policy and the federal budget. She has also worked at numerous political nonprofits in Washington.

She received her B.A. from Christendom College in Political Science and Economics and her M.A. in Government from Johns Hopkins University. She currently lives in West Virginia with her husband and 4 children.

Susan Schwartz

Algebra I & 2 Teacher
Classical Barre Instructor
School Play Director

Susan was raised in Arizona where she trained in Classical Ballet. After her own professional career, she taught ballet for nearly three decades and many of her students have gone off to have professional careers of their own. She earned her BS in Zoology at Arizona State University and has been homeschooling her nine children for the past 17+ years. Through it all, she has choreographed and directed many ballets and theatre productions.

Elizabeth Pilon

Geometry Teacher

A native Virginian originally from Northern Virginia, Elizabeth has been a resident of Front Royal for over 30 years. She earned her BA in philosophy from Christendom College where she met her husband. They have 9 children whom Elizabeth spent more than 20 years homeschooling before they attended school. She is happiest when surrounded by her family, and is thrilled to be discovering the joys of being a grandmother. Elizabeth also enjoys watching her children play sports, reading, working on sudokus, crosswords, and other puzzles, and her daily walks while listening to audio classics of literature or faith-based podcasts.

Rosie Hill

Choir Director

After abandoning her childhood dream of becoming a professional soccer player, Rosie focused on music when she realized it was a legitimate career option. She left her home state of Virginia, driving through seemingly endless stretches of Midwestern farmland, until she reached her new home on the shores of Lake Michigan at Northwestern University. There she received a degree in music education, married her high school sweetheart, and promptly bid adieu to Chicago winters and returned to Virginia.

Rosie taught choir, guitar, and piano at public schools in Williamsburg and Fairfax County, and spent some brief time as a professional church musician before taking early retirement with her growing brood of rambunctious children. Eventually the garden, she, and her husband outgrew the boundaries of their suburban yard, so in 2015 they moved to Front Royal and continue expanding their garden every year, and their family continues to grow as well.

Now out of retirement, Rosie directs the choir at St. Edith Stein and the Latin Mass Children’s Choir at St. John the Baptist. She spends her copious free time growing food for her family and friends, and growing cut flowers on their farm, Peregrine Hills Farm.

Faith Starnes

Middle School Science & Religion Teacher
Athletics Director

Faith joins us as a lifelong Catholic and proud native Texan. Having graduated from the University of Dallas with a major in Theology and concentration in Ethics, she is excited to bring her love of faith and ethics to the Front Royal community. 

Growing up, Faith’s parents instilled a love of athletics in her and her 5 siblings. By the time she graduated high school, she had played tennis, volleyball, basketball, softball, track and cross country. After having played one year of college basketball, Faith realized she was called to focus more on her faith and friendships. She continued her passion for athletics by overseeing the intramural seasons at the University of Dallas throughout her last two years. 

After graduating college, Faith spent the next year as a Seton Teaching Fellow in the Bronx where she helped bring the Catholic faith to students and their families. There she cultivated a deeper passion for sharing the faith while also realizing a fervor to continue teaching. 

She enjoys working out, traveling, cooking, crocheting baby blankets for her friends, and painting. She is very excited to begin her new journey in Front Royal!

Nancy Briggs

Moral Theology Teacher

A native of Arizona, Nancy moved to Front Royal at the age of 17 to attend Christendom College. After graduating with a BA in Politics, and an MA in Political Theory from Catholic University, she spent a few years working on Capitol Hill until she and her husband Doug returned to the Front Royal area in 1986 to put down roots and raise a family. A homeschooling mother of nine and grandmother of 12, Nancy has also taught part time over the past 30 years at Christendom, Aquinas Academic Center and White Oaks School, as well as various private classes for homeschooled teens.

When not teaching, she enjoys helping other families relocate to the Shenandoah Valley as a Realtor, as well as fixing up the family home that is rapidly becoming an empty nest.

Mary Bergida DeLuca

Middle School Literature Teacher

Mary Bergida DeLuca first moved to Front Royal at the starry-eyed age of thirteen and quickly nicknamed the town “Girl Heaven” due to the plethora of young females in the community. 

She later went on to graduate from Christendom College with a B.A. in English Literature and Writing, with her thesis exploring a favorite book character’s inner and outer realms: Finding Camelot in Avonlea — Balancing Imagination with Reality in Anne of Green Gables. 

For fifteen years ministry roles, graduate school, and love took Mary to live in many new towns and metropolises within the states of Florida, Louisiana, Colorado, Washington, South Carolina and back to Washington again. 

During this time, she also taught middle school language arts; directed a production of Alice in Wonderland; earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University; completed a collection of short stories, Aftertaste; enjoyed four years as an adjunct professor of Literature and Academic Writing; began — and maintains — freelance developmental editing for writers in over fifteen countries; and presented at four international writers’ conferences. 

She continues to pen essays on cultivating a writing practice and is years deep into developing a coming-of-age story set in Georgian England.

In 2023, she returned with her son and husband to Front Royal to spend the next chapter near her family. She is delighted that this chapter may, perhaps, include a fresh version of “Girl Heaven,” through sharing her love for literature and writing with the middle schoolers of St. Edith Stein. 

Maria Hatch

Chemistry Teacher

Maria was born and raised in Virginia and loves almost everything except the humidity. She received her BS in Chemical Engineering from Virginia Tech with a focus in Biomedical Engineering. She then went on to work for the Department of Defense in many roles including aircraft material development, research analysis, and project management. In 2023, Maria left the government to begin a new career as a stay-at-home mom. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, working on home renovations, spending time with her husband and son, and learning new things to make from scratch.

Kathryn Blicharz

Art Teacher

A native of Front Royal and lifelong parishioner of St. John the Baptist, Kathryn has always enjoyed the natural landscape of her hometown, from floating on the Shenandoah to hikes in the Blue Ridge. After graduating from Chelsea Academy, she traded green Virginia summers for colorful New England falls and attended Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire where she earned a BA in Liberal Arts. Kathryn then pursued her lifelong passion for drawing and painting to Virginia Commonwealth University and obtained a BFA in Communication Arts. Since graduating, she has taken up freelance book illustration.

When you love something, you want to share it with others. For Kathryn, teaching has always been a natural extension of her love of art. She is excited to share not only her love for art, but also her love for God and His Creation with her students.

Cynthia Rahme Bared

Biology Teacher

My name is Cynthia Rahme Bared. I am originally from Lebanon and have come to the US after my marriage 8 years ago.

I have a Master in School Psychology and was a teacher in Lebanon for more than 15 years.

I also belong to the Neocatechumenal Way and have been walking for 8 years with my community at St Charles Borromeo, Arlington, VA.

I like classical and church music, chants and choir. I enjoy cooking, singing and dancing with my husband.

I thank God for this opportunity He gave me to teach at SES and pray Him to bless and protect everyone in this school, both students and staff.

Desiree Wilkinson

Pre-Algebra Teacher

Originally from Louisiana, Desiree has been a resident of Front Royal for two years. She earned her BS in Physics from Loyola University in New Orleans. After college Desiree moved to Virginia and worked for the U.S. Government as an analyst. She has also taught eighth grade CCD for 10 years, tutored special needs children, and provided reading support to young children.

Desiree enjoys cooking, gardening, and anything outdoors.

I am grateful to God for this opportunity to teach the girls Mathematics and to get to know everyone at the
school.

Lisl Schmiedicke

Drama Teacher

Born and raised in Front Royal, Lisl has an intimate knowledge of the community and deep roots with its people. She was a student in the first graduating class of St. Edith Stein, as well as its first valedictorian. With a love of theatre beginning in middle school, she continued to pursue it throughout high school, in addition to classical ballet. After graduating, she attended Franciscan University of Steubenville where she earned her Associates Degree with a concentration in theatre and performing. During her time at Franciscan, she gained skills as a stage manager, actor, costume designer, prop designer, hair and makeup specialist, stage design and building, lighting, and many other varied pursuits. She has had training in the Stanislavsky method and as a classical Shakespearean actor. When she’s not acting, she enjoys cooking, oil painting, and sewing elaborate historical dress. She is thrilled to be returning to St. Edith Stein in a teaching capacity, and is excited to bring her wide range of skills and deep love of theatre to the girls of St. Edith Stein.

Elizabeth Raetz

Latin Teacher

Elizabeth loves Latin and foreign languages in general.  She received lessons in Latin while living in a religious community closely connected to the Fraternity of St Peter that she joined in 2007. This community was immersed in a Spanish Mexican tradition, where liturgical prayer was all in Latin, alongside many Spanish customs.  Miss Raetz has also been serving as sacristan at St John the Baptist parish for three years.  She is also very skilled in vestment making and hand embroidery, skills she hopes to share with the students at St Edith Stein School for Girls. 

Kate Nelson

Certified Spiritual Director
Student Mentor

Kate Nelson is excited to join St. Edith Stein School as a spiritual director. Kate grew up in Florida but has spent the majority of her life in the Appalachian Mountains. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Expressive Arts Therapy from Appalachian State University. From there, she went overseas to spend time in India working with women and children victims of human trafficking. Furthering her education, she completed her master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling and graduated from the Alleluia School of Spiritual Direction in 2023, as a certified Spiritual Director. Kate is a mother of four and has a bustling household with two dogs, ten chickens, and a couple of cats (although she would describe herself as not an animal person). She enjoys doing pottery, making sourdough and pretending she’s a gardener so she can wear overalls and boots in public.