St. Martin's is proud of its teachers. You will find in this article the biographies of our lower and upper school teachers and the special subject teachers who teach all grades at St. Martin's.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
PRE-KINDERGARTEN
Bobi Glavawas born in Cyprus (a Greek island) and moved to the U.S. with her family in 1974 at the age of 7. Bobi has a Bachelor's Degree in Education from Towson State and a Master's Equivalent from Western Maryland College. She has also taken some courses in child psychology and counseling and has worked extensively as a camp coordinator and director. She completed her student teaching in Baltimore City and began her career as a substitute in Anne Arundel County Public Schools and St. Martin's. She has been at St. Martin's for 22 years with experience teaching 3rd Grade, Extended Day and presently Pre-K and Lower School Science. Bobi lives in Annapolis and attends the Greek Orthodox Church on Riva Road. She has one son, Manuel, who is a St. Martin's student. Bobi says, "I feel so blessed to be able to have my career and be with my son every day." St. Martin's has been my extended family. I feel as though I have grown up at St. Martin's. It has been such a pleasure to work with such extraordinary teachers, administrators, parents and children. I look forward to all the fun experiences/moments with the Pre-K'ers each day. I believe in providing a nurturing, loving, and fun-filled environment for my students to experience maximum learning. The children's stories, smiles, and hugs, involved parents, and the extraordinary staff are what have kept me at St. Martin's
Kim Esterson is in her tenth year at St. Martin's. She has lived in Annapolis for 30 years with her husband, Andy. They have two wonderful daughters, Nicole and Lauren and a new son-in-law, Ben. Kim and her husband are avid Navy fans and enjoy sponsoring midshipmen. Kim says her favorite student activity is the "Me Boxes," because she "loves to see the children get so excited about telling the class about themselves." Kim loves teaching at St. Martin's because she gets to see the children grow year after year to become fine young boys and girls.
PRE-KINDERGARTEN ASSISTANT
Judy Stroetzel is in her tenth year at St. Martin's School. For the past ten years she has worked in the "before and after school" extended day program. This is her third year as the Pre-Kindergarten assistant as well as working in the Extended Day program. Judy enjoys working with the Pre-Kindergarteners because they are enthusiastic and excited to be in school. She lives in Annapolis with her husband Steve and their two daughters who both graduated from St. Martin's School.
LOWER SCHOOL
KINDERGARTEN
Barbara Marchis a native Marylander and has spent the majority of her years in Annapolis. Barbara is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a degree in Elementary Education and Geography. She has been a fixture at St. Martin's for 14 years, teaching Pre-K, third grade, and now kindergarten. Barbara says, "It's great to work with students who show such excitement and enthusiasm for learning."
FIRST GRADE
Lynn Miller earned her B.A. degree at Concordia Teacher's College, River Forest, IL, with specializations in religion and reading. Concordia Colleges are part of a Lutheran system of schools that prepare both pastors and teachers for ministry in the Lutheran Church. Lynn has been teaching since 1970. She taught a combined 1st and 2nd grade classroom of 30+ children in her first years of teaching in St. Louis. From 1982-1993, she developed, directed, and taught a Gifted and Talented program for children in grades 1 to 8 at Messiah Lutheran School in Fairview Park, OH. She came to St. Martin's in 1994.
Lynn loves to watch the excitement children find in learning. Every fall they study and re-enact the lessons, games and songs of children from the days of One-room Schoolhouses. In winter the class writes stories about what they become when they put on their "Magic Mittens". During the last half of the school year the children participate in "I CAN READ" and try to read more books than the previous first grades. Last year's class read over 3,200 books which will be a tough score to beat! In spring, the first graders, with the help of parents and teacher, transform the classroom into an Amazon Rainforest as they study this important world resource and raise money to save acres of rainforest land. "I love teaching at St. Martin's because my class and I learn about more than just school subjects. We grow in our faith and love for God and care for each other. First graders are amazing because they try so hard to learn, yet they have a joy for life that they share with me. I'm blessed being with them each day. "
SECOND GRADE
Jemma Meidenbauer graduated from James Madision University with her Master's degree in Teaching and is in her fourth year teaching at St. Martin's. She grew up in Bowie and now lives in Deale with her husband Dan and their dog Luna. She enjoys living by the water, reading and teaching with the Smartboard! Jemma enjoys teaching at St. Martin's students because of their energy to learn new things.
THIRD GRADE
Beth Rosencrans earned a B.S. Degree in Human Development and Counseling from Penn State University and a Master’s Degree in Education from Western Governor’s University. Her teaching experience includes Pre-School, Kindergarten, Elementary, Computer, High School, and College level classes. She was also the previous Assistant Principal and Admissions Director to St. Martin’s. Beth has recently returned to the third grade classroom because of her aspiration for teaching. She loves working with children and enjoys their exhilaration for learning. She strives to keep students engaged with an interactive classroom and use of new technology such as the Smart Board. She especially looks forward to helping the students construct a Native American Museum and watching them recreate the U.S. Presidents and First Ladies this year! Beth has been married to her husband, Joe, for 28 years and has two adult children, Joey and Christine. She is originally from Pennsylvania and is an avid Penn State and Navy football fan. You will see her at a football game most fall week-ends. She also has a passion for animals with one Golden Retriever, Macy, and two cats, Jasmine and Chloe.
FOURTH GRADE
Kristen Doyle is so excited to be part of the St. Martin's teaching staff. For those of you who don't know her, she is a mother of four. Zach and Aiden are students at St. Martins and Luke and Naomi are her three year old twins. For eight years she was a teacher in the public school system and took a few years off to take care of the twins.
She holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Maryland in Special Education and a Masters Degree from Johns Hopkins University with a double major in Reading and School Administration. In 2006, she obtained her National Board Certification in Reading/Language Arts.
She loves to teach which has been a passion of hers for as long as she can remember. When other kids were playing with Barbies growing up, she was in her basement teaching to her stuffed animals! She hopes to make learning as exciting and enjoyable as possible!
FIFTH GRADE
Lois Milan began her teaching career in Anne Arundel County public schools in 1971, where she enjoyed teaching grades one through three in Glen Burnie. Lois then moved to a Harford County public school, where she taught third grade for several years and was then asked to create a special education class for fifteen special students.
Lois returned to the Annapolis area and resumed her teaching career, coming to St. Martin's in 1999 to teach fourth grade. Now in her twelfth year at the school, she was recently "promoted" to teach this year's fifth grade.
Sharing novels with her students is a favorite classroom activity. "Novels afford a great time to share thoughts and ideas. It is also a time to explore challenging vocabulary," Lois explains. She also loves teaching math to both the 4th and 5th graders. Her fifth grade classroom has a relaxed atmosphere where a joy of learning frequently mixes with laughter!
Lois earned her Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, and she has completed graduate coursework towards her master's degree in child counseling.
LOWER SCHOOL SCIENCE
Diane Williamsis in her 5th year as the Lower School's science teacher. She started at St. Martin's as a parent nine years ago. Both of her sons now attend St. Martin's. Diane graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.S. Degree in Elementary Education. She had prior experience teaching Pre-K, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade. She has taught Pre-K through 5th grade science. Currently Diane is teaching science to grades 3 through 5. Hands-on activities are the main focus of Diane's classes "to keep children engaged and make learning fun." Grades 3 through 5 have formal labs on a weekly basis. Diane says, "All of my classes get to encounter a wonderful variety of live animals, which are brought into the classroom as specific topics are being studied. We take interactive fieldtrips, design and built projects, and much more. The 3rd grade class runs our school and church wide recycling program. The 4th grade class builds a project to benefit the wildlife around the Chesapeake Bay. Our 5th grade class designs and builds rockets or and races cars made from produce using the laws of physics. There is so much more. All students are scientists who learn, discover, and explore the wonderful world around them."
