Faculty

Dian Schmiedicke

Founder
Board of Directors President/Advisory Board

Dian Schmiedicke is the founder of Divinum Auxilium Academy. A California native raised in an evangelical Christian home, she discovered and entered the Catholic Church in 1995. As a new mother, she encountered Montessori and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd while searching for truth and beauty in education and never looked back.

Dian holds a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Warren Wilson College, an AMI Primary Diploma from The Washington Montessori Institute, a Master’s Degree in Education from Loyola University, and Levels I, II, and III Certifications from the Association of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. She is currently working on a second Master’s Degree in Psychology with a concentration in Organizational Leadership through Divine Mercy University.

Dian founded Divinum Auxilium Elementary in 2012, St. Edith Stein School for Girls in 2018, and St. Joseph the Just School for Boys in 2022. She is passionate about pairing her love of nature with athletics and competes in equestrian sports, triathlon, CrossFit, and is an avid foxhunter, skier, backpacker, mountain biker, and hiker. She lives with her husband of 25 years and their four children in Front Royal, VA.

Christine Nussio

Headmistress
History Teacher

Christine has taught, coached, and mentored high school and middle school girls for over a decade. She is a passionate believer in the importance of single sex education for the personal and intellectual formation of young women. Christine started teaching at St. Edith Stein School in 2023, and became Headmistress in the fall of 2025. Prior to joining St. Edith Stein School, Christine was Upper School Director at Oakcrest School in Vienna, Virginia, where she worked for twelve years. She teaches History, Philosophy, Latin, and Debate, and has coached soccer, Lincoln-Douglas debate, and track and field.

Christine 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 has completed professional development with Independent School Management (ISM), the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE), the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), and also teaches as an adjunct professor of History at Christendom College. A resident of Virginia since 2007, Christine spends her time visiting her nieces and nephews, and enjoying the beautiful scenery around Front Royal.

Rosie Hill

Advisory Board
Choir Director

A native Virginian, Rosie taught choir, guitar, and piano at public schools in Williamsburg and Fairfax County before teaching at St. Edith Stein School. Rosie has a B.A. in Music Education from Northwestern University and has also worked as a professional church musician. She teaches choir at St. Edith Stein School and directs the Latin Mass Children’s Choir at St. John the Baptist. Rosie is a current member of the Advisory Board for St. Edith Stein School, and lends her extensive gardening expertise to the School’s Practical Arts program and beautification projects.

Rosie, her husband, and children moved to Front Royal in 2015 where they continue to expand their garden every year. She spends her free time growing food for her family and friends, and growing cut flowers on their farm, Peregrine Hills Farm.

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.

Mary Bergida DeLuca

Literature Teacher

Mary Bergida DeLuca joined St. Edith Stein School as a literature teacher in 2024. Before teaching at St. Edith Stein School she taught middle school language arts and as adjunct professor of Literature and Academic Writing. Mary began — and maintains — freelance developmental editing for writers in over fifteen countries. She completed a collection of short stories, Aftertaste and has presented at four international writers’ conferences. Mary continues to pen essays on cultivating a writing practice and is years deep into developing a coming-of-age story set in Georgian England. She has a B.A. in English Literature and Writing and an MFA in Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University.

Mary first moved to Front Royal as a teenager and attended Christendom College. 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, and South Carolina. In 2023, she returned with her son and husband to Front Royal to spend the next chapter near her family.

Brittney Farris

Latin Teacher

Brittney Farris has taught Latin to middle and high school students for over a decade. Prior to moving to Virginia she taught at Athem Preparatory Academy, a Great Hearts School, and at Valor South Austin, a classical charter school. At Valor South Austin, Brittney created the Latin curriculum, determining course sequence, setting pacing for each course, and recorded instructional video used across the Valor Education network.

Brittney holds a BA in Latin and English Literature from Knox College as well as an MA in Catholic Studies from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN.

Sophia Harne

Math, Latin, Literature, Religion Teacher

Sophia joined St. Edith Stein School in 2025 bringing with her a great love of Latin, Literature, and deep devotion to the wisdom and beauty of the Catholic faith. Sophia attended Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts, where she graduated with a degree in philosophy. Throughout college she tutored students of all ages in Latin, Greek, and English, and felt a strong pull towards teaching. After college she spent time studying Thomistic philosophy and now is looking forward to following her call to teach.

A native New Englander, Sophia is swiftly falling in love with the beauty of Virginia. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, planning adventures with friends, baking, and singing polyphony.

Elizabeth Pilon

Math Teacher

Elizabeth spent more than twenty years homeschooling her nine children before coming to teach math at St. Edith Stein School. She earned her B.A. in philosophy from Christendom College. Elizabeth teaches Geometry at St. Edith Stein School.

A native Virginian originally from Northern Virginia, Elizabeth has been a resident of Front Royal for over 30 years. 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.

Susan Schwartz

Math Teacher
School Play Director
Classical Barre Instructor

Susan has more than thirty years of teaching experience as a ballet teacher, math teacher, and homeschooling her nine children. After her own professional career in Classical Ballet, Susan began teaching and many of her students have embarked on professional ballet careers of their own. Susan has been instrumental in the development of the St. Edith Stein School theatre program, Math curriculum, and maintaining a robust Classical Barre program for the School.

Originally from Arizona, Susan trained at the Phoenix School of Ballet and earned her BS in Zoology at Arizona State University. She has choreographed and directed many ballets and theatre productions, including performances for St. John the Baptist Drama. She continues to teach ballet at her studio in Front Royal, Etudes Classical Ballet.

Stephanie Spiotta

Latin Teacher

Stephanie taught for the Great Hearts classical charter school system for seven years after graduating from Thomas Aquinas College in 2014. Stephanie is re-entering the classroom for the first time since having children, although she has also taught a variety of subjects for the Swallowdale homeschool co-op for the past few years, including poetry and folk dance.

Stephanie enjoys studying languages and quibbling about grammar. She has participated in two spoken Latin conferences and loves the traditional Latin Mass; she is grateful for the opportunity to return to formal teaching of the Latin language

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.

Maria Hatch

Chemistry Teacher

Maria was born and raised in Virginia and tolerates the summer so she can enjoy the beauty of fall. 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 to two wonderful kids. She started teaching Chemistry at SES in 2024. In her free time, she enjoys working on home renovations and learning new things to make from scratch.

Maggie McClelland

Religion, Literature, & Practical Arts Teacher

Maggie McClelland comes from a large Catholic family in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she was instilled with a love for the Church and the liturgical year by her parents and community.  Prior to joining the team at St. Edith Stein School, she taught at Chesterton Academy, Knights of Our Lady in Battle Creek, Michigan. She is a graduate of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, where she graduated magna cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in French and Philosophy, and a minor in art. In 2023, she was blessed to be able to study at the Institut Catholique de Toulouse and live in a monastery with the Community of the Beatitudes. She is very excited to teach at St. Edith Stein School now and to contribute to the mission of an authentic feminine Catholic education.

Having been instilled with a love for the practical arts by her mother and grandmother, she was able to work as a historic presenter in the Historic trades program at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, leading tours and working in the pottery, print, weaving, and glassblowing shops. Maggie brings with her a passion for Truth, Philosophy, Beauty, and the practical arts and their use in everyday life.

Angelica Hatke

Coming soon!

Angelica Hatke grew up living back and forth between rural places in the Shenandoah Valley and similarly wild parts of Northern Tuscany, Italy. She graduated from Grove City College in 2026 with a BS in general biology. Angelica has volunteered since 2017 as a specimen preparator for the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute where teaching interns and working in the biological specimen collection further fueled her passion for science, museums, education, and local wildlife.

Angelica spends her free time birdwatching, doing amateur geology, and painting birds and dinosaurs.

Fr. Daniel Gee

Spiritual Director
Formation

Father Daniel N. Gee, newly appointed pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish in Front Royal, VA was born Dec. 19, 1967, in Portsmouth, Va., one of four children of Rear Adm. and Mrs. George Nicholas Gee of Key West, Florida.

Raised in a military family, Father Gee attended W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax before graduating from Coronado High School in Coronado, Calif., in 1986.

Father Gee studied at the University of Oregon, where he majored in Spanish, then entered the collegiate level of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania in 1989. He was ordained in 1995 after spending his diaconate year at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Arlington.

Father Gee served as parochial vicar of All Saints Parish in Manassas, 1995-99, and Our Lady of Angels Parish in Woodbridge, 1999-2003.

In 2003, Father Gee was assigned to serve at the diocesan mission in Bánica, Dominican Republic. After five years as a missionary, he returned to Virginia in 2008 to serve as chaplain of Christendom College in Front Royal until 2010 and his last posting before returning to Front Royal was at St. Rita’s parish in Arlington.