Kenai Classical Faculty & Staff

Jerry Strait grew up on a farm in the Missouri Ozarks listening to Johnny Horton singing “North to Alaska,” reading Jack London, and dreaming of faraway wilderness places. In 1984, he secured a seasonal job in Soldotna with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that turned into a thirty-five-year-long outdoors adventure. 

Meanwhile, in the off-season from Fish and Game, Jerry traveled doing foreign missionary work (India, New Zealand, and Ukraine) and attending college and university in Missouri and Texas. He holds four degrees: an Associate of Arts in General Studies with an emphasis in journalism, a Bachelor of Arts in History, a Bachelor of Science in Biblical and Related Studies, and a Masters in Christian Ministry with a Christian Education focus.

Jerry and Violetta are blessed with two wonderful daughters: Vitalia and Aleysa.

Jerry is excited at the opportunity to teach at Kenai Classical. This year he has taught HS Bible, Alaska Biodiversity, Alaska History, JH Humanities, and Alaska Outdoor Studies.

  Milton Wilcox grew up as a military "brat" who moved all over the Lower 48 before joining the US Coast Guard as a ship’s cook in February 2001. During his four year enlistment, he advanced to the rank of E-5 and earned the Coast Guard Commendation Medal for his service onboard the Cutter Diligence. 

When his enlistment ended, he went to college at Belhaven University where he studied Philosophy and Biblical Studies. After graduation he married his wife, Kylie, and the two of them moved to Florida where he enrolled at the University of South Florida’s Ph.D. program in Philosophy and Religious Studies. Upon obtaining his doctorate, he taught Philosophy at USF for 3 years as a Visiting Instructor. His research has focused on the history of the doctrine of God’s changeless nature and what that means for faith and truth.

During their tenure at USF, Milton and Kylie were blessed with four children, and his oldest now attends Kenai Classical. He is proud to be a part of the Kenai Classical faculty and loves to see students mature as they come to understand that “Ideas have Consequences.” Aside from teaching and spending time with his family, he enjoys reading, fishing, journaling, riding motorcycles, and quiet contemplation. 

  Anna Lattin is a native Texan who married an Oregonian, and together they continued north to settle in Soldotna, Alaska.  Anna and Jason have four children who all attend Kenai Classical. 

  Anna grew up in a Christian home and had the blessing of knowing the Lord personally at a young age. As a child, Anna was certainly a book worm and continues to love learning. But her greatest joy is seeing the Good News of Jesus Christ changing hearts and lives whether in the classroom or anywhere else in the world. 

   Graduating from medical school in 2004, Anna's professional training is as a physician, but after taking early retirement (to "just" be mom), she cherishes her second career as teacher and director at Kenai Classical.  She teaches Math and a variety of JH subjects. She also gladly answers phones, orders curriculum, makes copies, vacuums floors, etc. because she wants to see Kenai Classical be a reality and a blessing to this community.   

 Gerry Goede holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master’s

Degree in Math Education from Montana State University.

He worked for more than twenty years in nuclear engineering, engineering management, and financial

management and has taught Calculus at Montana State University. Mr. Goede has been teaching for 18

years and started teaching math and science classes at Heritage Christian School in Bozeman, Montana

in 2004. Gerry was the Head of School at Heritage Christian School for nine years and is currently

teaching and doing administration functions at the school. Gerry enjoys each and every student that

God places in his classes.

Mr. Goede has a passion for seeing Christians grow through a focus on God’s Word and discipleship.

Gerry and Pat have five sons and seven grandchildren and are blessed to have them all living in the

Pacific northwest.

He also has a passion for tandem bike riding with his wife, Pat. They have taken several long bike trips

throughout the country and love hosting and talking with other touring bicyclists. To date, they have

been able to ride in 27 states and look forward to any new adventures that God has for them. Some of

their best memories are taking long bike rides together and being able to see God’s creation from a

different perspective.

Danae is married to Jordan Harlow and lives in Moscow with their son, two cats, and two horses.

She grew up in Salem, OR and attended a classical Christian school where she started learning Latin in 3rd grade. However, it wasn't until she had a dynamic Latin teacher in high school that it came alive as a real language. At age 15, Danae felt God's call on her to be a Latin teacher.

With that goal in mind, Danae moved to Moscow, ID in 2010 and attended New Saint Andrews College, where she took every Latin class she could. She taught JH & HS Latin at Logos School (Moscow, ID) for 8 years before switching to teach online from home. She now also helps instruct the Freshmen Latin students at New Saint Andrews College under the tutelage of the Latin professor, Tim Griffith.

Other than teaching and tutoring Latin, Danae's hobbies include teaching horse riding lessons, directing JH & HS plays, acting in community theater, and singing in the church choir.

Will Boyd lives in the Palouse region of North Idaho with his wife Liz, six sons, and two daughters. Will grew up near the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where he earned a B.S. in Biology (2000) and minors in Chemistry and Conservation Biology. 

Through his undergraduate years he participated in numerous biological field studies in fun places like the Bering Sea, Alaska’s North Slope, Western North Carolina, Minnesota, Central Wisconsin, and the Cuyahoga River Valley of Ohio. He also interned for the Smithsonian’s Conservation Research Center, where he led an effort studying giant eland reproduction and spent a season caring for and studying wallabies, kangaroos, and other marsupials at the Macquarie University Marsupial Fauna Park near Sydney, Australia.

Will currently also teaches secondary science classes for Logos School. In addition, he works as a STEM Education Consultant and is the founder and board president of the Homeschool Institute of Science (HIS, Inc.).

Annika Hagedorn was born and raised in Soldotna, Alaska. Growing up she learned about her love for music and for the Alaskan outdoors. She has hiked across the Kenai Peninsula from Seward to Hope and has dreams of hiking longer trails all over the world in the future. At eight years old she started taking piano lessons and is still continuing to further her musical education. Annika owns a local studio where she teaches private piano lessons and music theory. 

This past August, Annika married her sweetheart Keegan and is very excited to continue teaching at Kenai classical through married life. Above all, Annika loves teaching young students the abounding love of God and all that He has done for them. 

Vitalia Strait was born and raised in Kenai, AK, but spent a lot of time also growing up in Ukraine, her mother’s home country. She recently earned her BA in English from Colorado Christian University, where she also worked in the Writing Center. Next year, she intends to pursue her MA in creative writing, with the hope of becoming a professional writer and college professor. She has had some works published in various journals, such as The Trouvaille Review and Poetry Potion. Needless to say, words take up most of her time, both for work and pleasure.

This is her second year teaching grammar (and now writing) to the JH students of Kenai Classical, having begun the year remotely from Lakewood, CO, and now has returned to teach in-person in Kenai. She has been thrilled at the opportunity to help them improve their writing skills, and to get to know the students!

Dominic Pineiro grew up in Florida and studied Mathematics at the University of Central Florida. He met his wife in an Apologetics club and married her at R.C. Sproul's church, St. Andrew's Chapel. They had their first child a short 3 months before moving across the country to Northern Idaho where they had their second. Dominic kept his finance job from Florida, working remotely, before deciding to quit and start teaching online. In the short amount of time he has been teaching it has become an easy passion for him.

Dominic started to have an appreciation for math when he took Calculus his senior year of high school. Finally, it all clicked, so much so that he eventually switched his major from BioMed to Mathematics. He loves the certainty of the truths found in mathematics and the consistent rules built into the subject.

Beyond mathematics, Dominic's favorite subjects are world history and political philosophy. He and his wife love the outdoors- camping, hiking, and gardening whenever their house projects and children allow.

Mrs. Cross as born and raised in upstate NY and moved to Vermont and then South to Marietta, Georgia for 20-plus years before moving to Alaska with her husband and youngest of two sons. Her husband works locally as an optometrist and Bryce and Jackson also live and work locally.

In Georgia, Mrs. Cross taught at East Cobb Christian School, which is a

Charlotte Mason philosophy-based school as a parent-teacher and substitute while her son was a student there, as well as managing her husband’s busy optometry practice.

After arriving in Alaska, Mrs Cross taught at Cook Inlet Academy as a combined

classroom Elementary teacher until 2019. She started a Cottage Co-op school, The Scholars Den, for several families who wanted a secure, wholesome teaching environment for their children.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Christian Counseling and her  Masters of Art in Teaching from Liberty University.

She has a passion for helping students find their strengths and gifts in learning., with an emphasis on structuring differentiated/individualized instruction and exploratory learning, combining rich literature and enrichment.

When not teaching, you will find Mrs. Cross outside with her dogs and family, paddle boarding/kayaking, mountain biking, skiing or playing hockey, traveling or sailing to some wonderful, warm beach or country, reading books, painting or watching a good movie. She is excited to share her passion for students at Kenai Classical and this year is

teaching Geography, Grammar and Writing for K-3.

Karen Stam fulfilled a life-long dream in August of 2022 with a move to Alaska. She grew up in the PNW but always enjoyed visits from her grandpa from Kodiak and his tales of the North. Her passion was reignited a couple of years ago after some friends moved to Nikiski and she had the opportunity to visit for two summers. After teaching 3rd-5th grade for the past few years at a classical Christian school in southern Arizona, Karen ventured way north and lives with her two cats, a life-sized skeleton named Jeremy, and a ton (literally) of books. 

Karen came to appreciate classical education when she was homeschooling her son and has developed that passion ever since. She is furthering her personal education as a full-time student at Liberty University and loves to share her love of reading, grammar, history, and Jesus with the next generation of students. 

When she is not at Kenai Classical, Karen enjoys reading, working at a local youth outreach, BBC British mysteries, playing her guitar and singing, and of course, doing all of the wonderful outdoor things that Alaska has to offer.