OUR FACULTY
Teachers of the true, the good, and the beautiful.
St. Luke's faculty are scholars, artists, and Christians who have devoted their vocations to forming students in the classical tradition carrying two millennia of learning into the next generation.
FINE ART - MUSIC, DRAMA & VISUAL ARTS
Rileigh Shelton
Instructor of Classical Arts
BIOGRAPHY
Rileigh Shelton is a ceramicist, painter, and studio teacher whose classroom moves easily between the wheel, the easel, and the sketchbook. She has taught learners of every age from kindergartners at the height of the pandemic to adults returning to the arts and brings to each the same conviction: that making is a form of thanksgiving.
Her practice is grounded in the disciplines of hand building, wheel-thrown pottery, drawing, and painting, and in a deep love for the long history of Christian art and iconography.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Pottery Teacher: North Bend Pottery Ceramics instructor for students from kindergarten through adult. Writes and executes lesson plans for hand building, wheel, and painting instruction, and maintains an active studio. DEC 2025 - PRESENT
Visual Arts Instructor (Practicum): Mount Si High School Taught Beginning Drawing, Painting, and Ceramics full-time under mentor supervision as part of graduate teaching practicum. JAN 2024 - JUN 2025
Teacher, Kindergarten Outreach Program: Independent, Snoqualmie Founded and led a full-day kindergarten pod during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students returned to in-person schooling with fewer learning gaps than peers. 2020 - 2021
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
“Education is a gift. The more we learn of the world and of those who came before us, the more clearly, we see our place in the beauty God has given us. I want to be the teacher who facilitates curiosity, answers what she can, honors what she cannot, and shows students how to give shape in clay, in pigment, in line to the world Christ has made.”
M.Ed., Visual Arts Education
Ceramics & Painting Specialist
K–Adult Studio Instruction
HOME PARISH
Baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church, with a lifelong study of Church history, iconography, and the tradition of Christian art. Prays the rosary daily.
Our Lady of Sorrows
Roman Catholic
EDUCATION
Master: Curriculum & Instruction
Western Governors University
2024 – Ongoing (In progress)
Certification: Social Studies
University of Oregon
1998 – 1999
Juris Doctor Degree
University of San Diego
1987 – 1990
B.A.: Political Science
Mount Saint Mary's University
1964 – 1968
PROFILE
With experience in mixed-ability classrooms, I specialize in making learning an individual experience for each student. By attending to the needs and interests of a diverse student population, I believe the process of learning is more fun and engaging, thus resulting in enduring understanding.
EXPERIENCE
Social Studies / ELA 6–12 Teacher
Yellow Wood Academy, WA • 2022 – Present
-Specialized in working in small groups and 1:1 teaching
-Worked with neurodivergent learners to meet each student's needs
-Attended to individual learning plans and careful assessment
Social Studies / ELA 6–12 Teacher
Academy Schools, WA • 2010 – 2022
-Differentiated curriculum and instruction
-Taught through meeting individual learning styles
-Developed and implemented curriculum meeting OSPI standards
SKILLS
Curriculum design and implementation
Differentiating instruction
Working with all types of learning styles
Collaborating with a team
Problem solving and interventions
Integrating multiple types of assessment
Creating an environment for learning
NATURAL SCIENCES
Dr. Martin R. Zschoche, EdD
Senior Faculty — Sciences & Teacher Formation
EdD, Curriculum & Instruction — Liberty University
MSEd — California Baptist University
BS, Biological Sciences (Pre-Med) — UC Irvine
WA Credentials: Biology, Chemistry, Earth & Space Science
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Martin R. Zschoche, EdD
Dr. Zschoche has spent more than five decades in classrooms, laboratories, and mentoring circles. A scientist by training, a teacher of teachers by vocation, he brings to the sciences the discipline of a researcher and the warmth of a lifelong mentor.
He is the author of The Gospel of Education: Good News for Great Teachers (2020) and The Illustrated Page: Classroom Management from the Work and Wisdom of David P. Page (2025), and continues to lecture on brain-based accelerated learning and classical classroom methodology.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Adjunct Professor of Science Education
Northwest University, Kirkland
Teaches secondary science methodology in the School of Education and the Center for Online and Extended Education. 2019 - PRESENTMiddle School Science Teacher & Department Chair
Monroe Christian School
Grades 6–8 science instruction and departmental leadership. JAN 2024 - JUN 2025Biology & Physical Sciences Teacher
Bellevue Christian School, Clyde Hill, WA
9th/10th Grade Biology; 8th Grade Conceptual Physical Sciences and Woodshop. 2020 - 2021Faculty Advisor Natl. Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine
UCLA & UNC Chapel Hill
Guided high school students through intensive residencies exploring medicine and biomedical sciences.
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
“Mentoring thoughtful, vibrant students and the teachers who serve them has been the joy of my life. My aim is to bridge the gap between curriculum and student, so that science is met not as a list of facts but as an ordered study of the works of God.”