Our Dedicated Faculty & Staff

At Northfield Academy, we take pride in our dedicated faculty and staff who are committed to providing a nurturing and inspiring learning environment for our students. They are passionate about education and strive to bring out the best in every student.

Head of School

Shawna Hein

Mrs. Hein has a passion for Dante, Shakespeare, classical education, and of course, her students. She holds a degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis in American Literature from Kansas State. With over 20 years of experience in education—ranging from traditional classroom teaching, co-ops, tutoring, and homeschooling—she is deeply committed to fostering a love of learning. She has taught Literature, Composition, and History at Northfield. She loves spending time with her family, deep philosophical discussions, and refinishing old furniture.

HeadofSchool@northfieldacademy.org

Sarah Eastley

Mrs. Eastley has a bachelor’s degree in Geography from Brigham Young University and eight children, whom she homeschools until they are old enough to attend Northfield. She has worked professionally as a substitute teacher, a teacher’s assistant, and volunteered extensively in positions working with youth both at her church and with Scouting America. She has been teaching Geography at Northfield since 2018, and is well-loved for her visually rich teaching style, field trips, and bringing food to class. She believes that understanding and appreciating our place in the world is a critical step toward being able to solve the challenges that face our world today.

Megan Gilstrap

Mrs. Megan Taylor Gilstrap graduated from Friends University in 2015 with a BA in Music and a BA in Christian Spiritual Formation. She has taught choirs and private voice students for over a decade. She is Co-Founder and Director of Philoxenia Choral Collective, a local 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing sacred choral music to more diverse communities in Wichita. At Northfield, Mrs. Gilstrap has developed the All-School Choir, audioned Chamber Choir, and the Coffeehouse concert series, an opportunity for students to perform their own songs and poetry.

David Jochems

Mr. Jochems has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and has been teaching at Northfield since 2022. He typically teaches mathematics, but also loves to branch out into computer science when he gets the chance. He is interested in how people learn and is always willing to entertain the students’ questions and turn them into learning opportunities.

Kaylor Nordus

Ms. Nordhus graduated from Kansas State University in 2020 with a degree in Apparel/Textiles Design & Production and a minor in Entrepreneurship. Following graduation, she served as a full-time campus missionary with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) with students on campuses in Utah, Nebraska, and Kansas from 2020-2024. She has returned to Wichita where she grew up and is stepping into her vocation as a missionary artis while also building up an apostolate of Catholic and Orthodox artists with the vision to restore the culture through Beauty. This will be her second year teaching at Northfield. She also teaches art part time at Christ the King Catholic School and finds inspiration through nature’s patterns as well as the experiences of the human heart.

Dan Overholt

Mr. Overholt received his associate’s degree from Friends University, where he studied Cello Performance, having transferred from North Park University in Chicago, where he studied composition and physics. However, he accounts his graduation from the International Baccalaureate program from Wichita’s East High School as a high-water mark in his academic journey and the beginning of a lifelong dedication toward education, creativity, and service.

Lisa Segard

Mrs. Segard has returned to Northfield after a long absence. A former homeschool mom, she saw her own children proceed to get a Northfield education and graduate. This will be her 11th year teaching at Northfield, having taught 6th grade math foundations up to geometry and trig, held multiple tutorials and led several midwinter art trips for students. After many years in and out of college, she received a BA from Wichita State in 2014, having explored many fields, especially mathematics, history and writing. It is her express joy to help her students find and develop the love of learning and artistic endeavors.

Joshua Sturgill

Mr. Sturgill is a lover of travel, books, art and education. A 2001 graduate of Sangre de Cristo Seminary, Mr. Sturgill returned to formal education in 2013 completing a BA in Western classics and an MA in Far Eastern Classics at Saint John’s College, Santa Fe. The St. John’s style of Shared Inquiry classrooms has deeply influenced his teaching methods. Shared Inquiry emphasizes communal learning and an integrative, rather than specialist, approach to knowledge. Mr. Sturgill is the author of two books of poetry As Far As I Can Tell (2018) and Now a Major Motion Picture (2021), as well as numerous short stories, articles and essays. His writing has appeared in The College, Cresset, Synaxis Journal, the online blog of Darkly Bright Press, and has been rejected by many other fine publications. With any spare time, Mr. Sturgill plays Irish Drum, reads Perennial Philosophy or works in his garden. He is a tenor in the choirs of St. George Cathedral, Wichita, and Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Santa Fe.

Sarah Wagner

Mrs. Wagner received her bachelor’s degree in biology (with a marine concentration) from Gordon College, in Wenham, MA, where she graduated in 2009 after a semester of independent research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. She has been teaching biology and general science in high school classrooms for over a decade now. She is known for her love of the oceans (even here in Kansas there are ancient marine fossils!) and her opinion that in science, “it’s always more complicated.” She is the wife of a fellow teacher and book lover, and the mother of five children. She attends Saint Mary's Orthodox Christian Church where she enjoys singing alto in the choir.