Board of Directors
Sarah Kwilinski,
President and Founding Director
Sarah Kwilinski is a certified special education teacher with a Masters of Arts in Classical Teaching from the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University. Her interest in high-quality pedagogy and curricula led her to the classical education renewal movement. She admires Charlotte Mason and Maria Montessori and seeks to create a classroom where both would feel at home. Sarah serves as the Director of Programs for Sundial staff and also serves on the Board of Directors as its President. Most recently, Sarah presented a case study on the design of Sundial at the National Symposium for Classical Education in Phoenix, AZ. She lives in East Lansing, MI.
Mindi Grieser Cromwell,
Founding Director
Mindi Grieser Cromwell, PhD is Chair of the Ministry and Theology Department at Central Christian College of Kansas. She lives in McPherson, KS. For more background, visit her faculty page at Central.
Amy Richards,
Founding Director
Amy Gilbert Richards, PhD is Affiliate Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Eastern University in St. Davids, PA a suburb of Philadelphia. She is also a Faculty Fellow of the Templeton Honors College's Master of Arts in Classical Teaching program. She lives in Havertown, PA. For more background, visit her faculty page at Templeton.
Sarah Scudder,
Director
Sarah Scudder works as the Director’s Assistant for Nyansa Classical Community. She has 10+ years teaching elementary school phonics, math, and music at Claritas Classical Academy in Pennsylvania where she also serves on the Board of Directors and as Language Arts Chair. Over the last few years, she has developed and written multiple curricula in Bible, phonics, literature, and other areas alongside acquiring a Masters of Arts in Teaching in Classical Education from Templeton Honors College. Sarah lives in inner-city Philadelphia where she works alongside her husband in ministry at Bethel Chapel Church. They have four daughters who attend Claritas Classical Academy and keep them on their toes.
Officers
Jeremy Dowsett,
Secretary
Jeremy Dowsett is a doctoral student at the University of Dayton where his focus is in the area of moral theology/ethics and Catholic social teaching. He lives in Lansing, MI. For more background, visit his student page at the University of Dayton.
Anneli Mung,
Treasurer
Anneli Mung runs her own business The Rooted Bookkeeper. She lives in Lansing, MI. For more background, visit her business website.
Staff
Sarah Kwilinski,
Director of Programs and Upper Elementary Instructor (see above)
Allison O'Rourke,
Lower Elementary Instructor and Nature Study Guide
Allison O'Rourke has a Masters of Social Work from Michigan State University. She has spent her career working with and advocating for children as an Early Interventionist for Early On and as a School Social Worker at both a charter school and a public school. Allison took a few years to stay home with her four children and during this time she started teaching nature-based classes to children at a local park. Allison and her family love the outdoors and spending time tent camping. Allison is excited to bring this love of adventure and exploration to the students at Sundial.
Matthew Romans,
Director of Common Arts
Matthew Romans has worked on and managed organic farms for over 10 years. A graduate of MSU's Organic Farmer Training Program, he currently works as the Program & Education Specialist at the Greater Lansing Food Bank's Garden Project, coordinating 100+ community gardens & developing educational resources for gardeners throughout mid-Michigan. He lives in East Lansing MI, and loves seeing students engaged in building applied knowledge & skills.
Abby N. Evans,
Director of Fine Arts
Abby is thrilled to join our team, both as an enrichment instructor and parent of two newly minted Sundial students. Abby earned her Bachelor of Arts from University of Northwestern - St. Paul, MN where she studied as much Latin as was offered while completing her degree in music. Abby is a long-time music educator with a keen interest in pursuing excellence while having fun. As a newly published author/illustrator, Abby is excited to share her love of learning and the arts with the students of Sundial Classical! For more information about her professional work, check out abbynevans.com.
Rev. Fr. Boniface Harju,
Spiritual Head of Orthodox Christian Catechesis
Father Boniface Harju serves as pastor of Saint James Orthodox Church in Williamston, MI, a parish in the Diocese of Toledo and the Midwest of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. The Antiochian Archdiocese is part of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East which is itself part of the Orthodox Church (or often in the U.S. known as the Eastern Orthodox Church). Fr. Boniface oversees Orthodox Christian Catechesis at Sundial Classical Farmstead (SCF) by recommending and approving instructors and guiding the instruction provided.
Sarah Smith,
Orthodox Christian Catechesis Instructor
Sarah Smith holds a BA in Biblical Studies from Olivet Nazarene University and an MDiv from Asbury Theological Seminary where she spent all her electives on the Ancient Near East. Some of her specialties include Biblical archaeology – she spent a summer living in Israel digging at Tel Abel Beth Maacah – as well as Biblical Hebrew serving as the teaching assistant and grader for two years in Seminary. She also teaches at St. Raphael School | Scholé Academy and is currently teaching Ancient Classics History for 2023-24. Sarah is a wife, a mom of three young kids, and an avid reader. She and her family live in St. Johns, MI.