Laura Jeffrey Academy Start-up team

As with any new organization, the ability to succeed is often predicated on the people starting it – in this case, on its board of directors, founder, and project leadership team. Following are brief profiles of the individuals involved in starting LJA.

Founder

Cindy Reuther – Executive Director

Cindy has spent much of her adult life working to better the lives of women and girls in organizations and community.  LJA brings together two of Cindy's passions. The first is to provide urban girls access to educational opportunities currently available to those with financial means. Second, she is interested in developing an organization with infrastructures that support excellent learning, financial sustainability and organizational resilience. Her long-term plan includes documenting the process and replicating the model across the country and internationally. Laura Jeffrey Academy has been a dream in the making for over a decade.

Kai Michels - Co-Founder

Kai’s work was crucial in obtaining LJA’s charter and start up funding. A former elementary school teacher, she remains dedicated to the concept that education can change the world. She created the LJA tagline ‘Asking questions, Making choices to express the teaching and learning philosophy of LJA. As an Organizational Development and Financial Management consultant, Kai specialized in work process redesign, providing both the vision and methodology for process reforms. Kai provided project and financial management consultation for Fortune 500 business divisions across a broad array of industries. Her previous experience includes Account Manager, Dun & Bradstreet Software; Director of Budgets and Forecasts, and Manager of Accounting, Itel Corporation.

Laura Jeffrey Academy's Board of Directors

Debra Pridgen

Debra has worked with the Girl Scout Council for 11 years, and is currently the Director of Community Partnerships. She is well-seasoned at developing partnerships, capacity building, and networking. Debra was board chair of East Metro Women’s Council and she was a convener for the African American Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaborative. Debra is the mother of four daughters and one son.

Lizzie Forshee comes to Laura Jeffrey Academy with a bachelor's degree in Science from the University of Minnesota and a Grades 5-12 Life Science Licensure from the College of St. Catherine. Lizzie has worked with students of diverse backgrounds and various communities. During her undergraduate work, Lizzie taught for Mad Science, an after-school science program. Lizzie is was most recently a Science Educator for the Science Museum of MN, and a teacher within the Minneapolis School District. Lizzie is coming to Laura Jeffrey Academy to promote hands on learning through a safe and responsive environment for young learners. Lizzie’s passion is to engage girls in science learning and promote critical thinking in their everyday lives. Lizzie’s passion for inspiring girls in the field of science is transparent through her energy and commitment to the classroom and her students. 

Carolyn Westra

Carolyn is a recent graduate from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the University of Minnesota Law School, where she focused on education law and policy. Carolyn’s interest in education policy and innovation developed in 2004-2005, when she completed a year of service as an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow, serving at a public K-8 school in St. Paul. As a graduate student, Carolyn was lucky to find her way to Laura Jeffrey through a faculty advisor, and she completed a practicum in nonprofit boards during her first year of service at on the LJA board. Carolyn has worked with the Minnesota Association for Charter Schools and the Disability Law Center, a law firm that advocates for students and their families in special education, discipline, or discrimination disputes. A new attorney, Carolyn is currently completing a legal fellowship at Minnesota AIDS Project, where she provides legal services and advice to low-income, HIV+ clients regarding a range of legal issues.

Jill Gaulding

Jill developed a life-long interest in education issues through her experience with Teach For America, which gave her the opportunity to teach 7th grade science in New York City in the early 90s.  She also has a background in both law and cognitive science (that is, the study of how brains work) and she brings both topics together in her current work on gender discrimination.   As a Bundeskanzler Scholar in Germany, she studied European and German approaches to the work-family conflict, and in particular, the way specific German parental leave policies tended to reinforce gender stereotypes and thus undermine equality.  Later, as a law faculty member at the University of Iowa, Jill developed courses on global feminist strategy and led protests against the misogynistic “Pink Locker Room” tradition.  As a practicing lawyer, she has worked to modernize legal doctrine to better reflect what we’ve learned from cognitive science about why discrimination happens and how we can stop it.  In 2010, Jill co-founded GENDER JUSTICE, a nonprofit advocacy organization that seeks to break down gender barriers.

Ken Simon

Beth Murphy

As Director of Special Projects at The Bakken Museum, Beth currently leads a collaborative project with the Minneapolis Public Schools to improve student science learning through yearlong teacher professional development.  Prior to joining The Bakken, Beth spent six years as an assistant professor of physics in Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Her teaching experience covers all levels of the undergraduate physics curriculum including courses for pre-service teachers and advanced physics students; at The Bakken she regularly facilitates science workshops and institutes for in-service K-12 teachers.  As a scientist and educator, Beth is passionate about the importance of a creative, integrated and high-quality STEM education that prepares students for fulfilling careers and civic engagement.  Her professional interests include authentic collaboration, an outcomes-based approach to teaching and learning, and utilization-focused program evaluation.

Bethany Kois

Josh Rhode

Sponsor

Laura Jeffrey Academy is one of twenty schools sponsored by the Audubon Center of the Northwoods. The center is located on 800 acres of woods, water, and fields near Sandstone, Minnesota, approximately 90 miles north of St. Paul.

All LJA students will have the opportunity to attend a residential environmental education experience at Audubon Center of the North Woods.