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Founders and Directors

Donna Hulsey and Karen Langdon founded and co-direct ACE Academy.

Donna Hulsey

Head of School

As an undergraduate at Rhodes College and a graduate student at the College of William and Mary, Mrs. Hulsey pursued a strong foundation in the classical liberal arts, linguistics, literary analysis, rhetoric, and composition. Mrs. Hulsey has worked as a senior technical writer, publication editor, and project manager in business; a freelance writer in banking and healthcare; and an instructor in writing in elementary and college classrooms. Outside academics, she has enjoyed teaching in several realms, but her favorite challenge has been coaching teams in creative problem solving (Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination) since 1990. Led by the needs of her own children into advocacy for gifted children, Mrs. Hulsey has trained in best methods for teaching gifted learners, as well as Montessori methods and the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. A veteran of several startups, Mrs. Hulsey has been a founding member of several professional organizations and publications.
dhulsey@austingifted.org


Karen Langdon, M.Ed.

Director of Admissions and Counselor

Mrs. Langdon graduated from Emory University with a double major in Biology and Psychology and completed her Masters in Education at the University of Arizona, with a specialty in counseling and parent education. Employment in several medical hospitals followed, where she did parent education and training, therapy, marketing, and served as a consultant and speaker on a range of medical topics. Mrs. Langdon completed all coursework for a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of South Carolina and finished her internship at Austin State Hospital. When she struggled to find gifted services for her own children, Mrs. Langdon changed directions. In 1999, she co-founded Summer Wonders, a summer program for gifted students, and completed an internship at the Gifted Development Center in Denver, emphasizing assessment of gifted children and counseling families on the social and emotional needs of this population. She serves as a community resource and public speaker on the needs of gifted students, conducts teacher training, and helped found the Austin chapter of the American Creativity Association.
klangdon@austingifted.org


Teachers

Deanna Buckley

Science

Mrs. Buckley is completing a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas. Her extensive teaching experience includes science instruction for students of all ages, from elementary to college, as well as curriculum design and training for teachers. She has published several articles, including a recent article in The Science Teacher. Mrs. Buckley's classes are fully hands-on, detailed, and somewhat rowdy. ACE students often have to be coerced out of the science classroom and frequently spend their breaks there.
dbuckley@austingifted.org


Laura Zahm

Science

Mrs. Zahm has a master's degree in Geology from the University of Texas. After spending 10 years working in research for the petroleum industry, she has turned her energy toward her true passion, teaching science. She has served on several K-12 education committees, published in many scientific journals, and spent most of her spare time (when not working and raising her three gifted children) working in the classroom helping to enrich the "hands-on" science activities at the elementary and middle school levels. Mrs. Zahm plans to share her passion for the natural sciences with all the students at ACE not only to help them learn about the inner-workings of the world around them but to help them grow into stewards of the planet for the future.
lzahm@austingifted.org


Lauren Siegel

Math

Mrs. Siegel received her undergraduate degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1988. After spending time in the workforce, and while raising two gifted sons, she trained specifically to teach math using the inquiry method with the University of Texas College of Natural Sciences UTeach program. She is certified to teach mathematics at both the middle and high school levels in Texas. Mrs. Siegel also teaches spinning at the YMCA and volunteers regularly with Mobile Loaves and Fishes, and with Caritas. A favorite math class at ACE is Mrs. Siegel's annual bead extravaganza, featuring bead jewelry making and related spreadsheets. She will be making two presentations at this year's conference for Texas the Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT) about the math labs she developed over the past two years alone and in cooperation with our Art Teacher, Martha Merry.
siegel@austingifted.org


Anita Sybesma

Math

A native of Austin, Mrs. Sybesma holds a B.S. in Education with Mathematics concentration from UT Austin. She has additional credits and hours in GT training, the IBO Middle Years Programme, and the ACC Center for Community-Based and Nonprofit Organizations. Before coming to ACE, she led AISD students through 26 years of middle school math, regular and GT prealgebra, and regular and GT algebra. She has wowed our Summer Wonders students with math puzzles and string art math. As Mom to a gifted child, Mrs. Sybesma has advocated for gifted education while also volunteering in her church and community. She is most proud of her awards that include Austin Association of Gifted and Talented, Board member and GT Teacher of the Year; Alpha Delta Kappa, Chapter and District President; campus finalist for Teacher of the Year at Fulmore MS and Murchison MS; Golden Apple Award at Murchison MS; Certificate of Award at Murchison MS and Fulmore MS; and unofficial but most precious -- plaque from the students of the first and only 7th grade GT algebra class at Murchison MS inscribed, "Thanks for an awesome year Mrs. Sybesma!! 1999 -- 2000 7th Grade Algebra Class" surrounded by pictures of the students from class.
sybesma@austingifted.org


Donna Hulsey

Primary and Middle School Language Arts, World History, Student Newspaper

Mrs. Hulsey's LA classes combine the classical with the creative, integrating Latin and Greek roots for English words, a strong foundation in grammar, research techniques, presentation skills, and writing in many forms. All of this periodically goes into the slightly chaotic publication of the school paper. Exploration of world cultures integrates art, music, science, math, and mythology as we inquire into the development of various civilizations, philosophies, and religions.
dhulsey@austingifted.org


Maya McElroy

Language Arts

Mrs. McElroy received her BA in English from Texas A&M, Texas Teacher Certification at A&M Corpus Christi, and is currently pursuing her MSIS (in school librarianship) at UT's School of Information. In between, she spent nine years teaching English in public schools. Her ACE Language Arts class focus on writing, both creative and expository; fiction and non-fiction reading; building vocabulary; and interpreting poetry and plays--her favorite! (They are called "plays" for a reason!) When she's not in school, she enjoys movies, camping, and road trips--and visiting libraries.
mmcelroy@austingifted.org


Sue Borel

Kindergarden and First Grade

Mrs. Borel's educational background includes a Bachelor's in Education from the University of Michigan and a Master's in Education from the University of Texas. She also holds teaching certificates in several areas from K-12. Her teaching experience includes elementary level, high school level, and community college level, but her passion is for the primary grades. She has many hours of G/T teacher training from the Texas Association of Gifted & Talented, and she was one of the founding board members of the Austin Association of Gifted and Talented. For several years she served as the G/T Parent Representative at her own children's school, where she was a tireless advocate for adequate services for identified students. Mrs. Borel has two sons and one daughter, and her personal interests include reading, traveling, and family activities.
sborel@austingifted.org


Melinda Rincon

Preschool

Mrs. Rincon left the corporate world to enter teaching, and she never looked back. Having taught classes from elementary to adult, she found her love at the Pre-Kindergarten level. In her Pre-K classroom at ACE, Mrs. Rincon's students work together in small groups as well as independently, working through centers, reading time, and weekly matches of Scrabble and chess. Socially and emotionally, her students are at a Pre-K level; academically, they work at first and second grade levels. When not in the classroom, Mrs. Rincon's passions are gardening, reading, travel, and family activities.
mrincon@austingifted.org


Karen Langdon

Emotional Intelligence

Understanding and learning positive ways to deal with emotions, developing leadership and team skills, understanding and getting along with others, learning to use positive self-talk are all part of the Emotional Intelligence curriculum. Topics vary and are based on other aspects of the curriculum, i.e. social studies, history and language arts. Through hands-on experiential activities, group discussion, journaling and social interaction, children learn to better understand themselves and others, build self-esteem and empathy, and learn the positive use of perfectionism and risk-taking.
klandgon@austingifted.org


Sally DeForest

Spanish and Yoga

With 25 years' experience in public and private schools, Ms. DeForest brings an artistic flair to her classes at ACE. Her Bachelor's degree is in Communications, she holds teaching certificates for Speech and Spanish, and special college concentrations in Art and Drama. She is also a licensed massage therapist and yoga instructor. Given any fair-weather opportunity, Ms. Deforest conducts her classes outside.
sdeforest@austingifted.org


Martha Stroud-Merry

Creativity Director--Art and Music

Mrs. Stroud-Merry has her degrees in communications and music, but her creativity spans all parts of her life. As the art teacher at ACE, she introduces the children to classical art forms and terminology as she guides them in creating their own masterpieces. She has designed Art Make-and-Take days for ACE families that get parents and siblings deep into the creative process. Outside of classes, Mrs. Stroud-Merry has operated a jewelry business and organized charity events. In addition to singing professionally for private events, she practices her classically trained voice as a member of the Austin Civic Chorus, which performs with the Austin Symphony.
mmerry@austingifted.org


Amy Lowrey

Drama

As the founder and owner of Just Imagine! Theater for Kids, Ms. Lowrey has been teaching theater arts and improvisation to children for many years in Austin. She has also been a long-term teacher for Summer Wonders.
alowery@austingifted.org


Paul Chaplin

Chess

A United States Chess Federation-certified National Master (NM), Mr. Chaplin instructs ACE students weekly on the basics of chess as well as advanced strategies and tournament play.
pchaplin@austingifted.org


David Heath

Robotics

Retired from NASA and inspired with a passion for teaching children, Mr. Heath teaches animation and robotics to ACE students. At NASA's Johnson Space Center as an Aerospace Engineer for over 30 years, he worked as a Reentry Specialist (for Apollo & Shuttle), Artificial Intelligence Specialist, Automation & Robotics Specialist, and a Consumable Analyst. Mr. Heath has Montessori certification and has written computer software for young children. When not redesigning the world, Mr. Heath travels the globe and participates in a think tank that addresses global issues.
dheath@austingifted.org


Coach Bob McLucas

Physical Education

Owner and Director of Stretch-N-Grow of Central Texas, Coach Bob uses games and exercises to teach sportsmanship and skills while students learn about the body, proper alignment, and nutrition.
coachbob@austingifted.org