Our Dedicated Faculty & Staff

Katherine Earles served as head of school at Christ the Savior Academy from 2021-2026. Her teaching career has spanned nearly every grade. She spent a decade teaching mathematics, statistics, and math history at the college level. Since 2015, she has also taught Latin, mathematics, literature, science, and history in middle school and elementary classrooms. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Idaho State University and a Master of Science degree in Mathematics from Wichita State University. Katherine’s hobbies include birdwatching, cooking international cuisine, designing costumes for a local youth theater company, and learning to play board games from antiquity - anyone for a round of the Royal Game of Ur?

Mrs. Eastley has a bachelor’s degree in Geography from Brigham Young University and eight children, whom she homeschooled until they were old enough to attend Northfield. She has extensive volunteer experience working with youth both at her church and with Scouting America, and has worked professionally as a substitute teacher and a teacher's assistant. 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.

Mattie graduated from Berea College in Kentucky, and holds degrees in Spanish and Technology & Applied Design. Her real education, though, began as the daughter of biologists and the granddaughter of a farmer, growing up on a farm in the Hill Country of Texas, where she learned to love the land and steward its gifts. This is Mattie's first year teaching at Northfield Academy. She loves sunshine, good soil, and growing food, as well as reading, hearing people's stories, and speaking Spanish. Her goal this year is to nurture Wonder and cultivate a love for Creation in students, equipping them to care for their corner of the world.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.