St. Catherine Faculty and Staff

Elizabeth Mares -Kindergarten- Our kindergarten teacher, Liz Mares, has taught here for seventeen years. Her energy and enthusiasm help to create a nurturing and highly interactive learning climate for our students. Mrs. Mares holds an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education and a B.A. in Education. She is the recipient of a Scholarship Certificate Award for Distinguished Academic Performance. She is also bilingual in Spanish and English. Mrs. Kathy Moser, our primary instructional assistant, assists Mrs. Mares.

Jennifer Foisy -Grade 2 - Miss Foisy will be starting her fifth year at St. Catherine School. She comes from St. Mark Parish in Shoreline. She graduated from Bishop Blanchet High School and received her teaching certificate from Western Washington University with an endorsement in Interdisciplinary Child Development.

Stephanie Schuler - Grade 3 - This is Stephanie Schuler’s second year at St. Catherine School.  Stephanie began her teaching career almost 30 years ago after graduating from Seattle University with a degree in Special Education.  In 1988, Stephanie received a M.Ed. in Computers in Education from St. Martin’s College.  She has taught special education, at the community college level, religious education and third grade.

Stephanie and her husband Greg have been married for 31 years.  Since 1992, they have owned a fire equipment company in Fremont.  For the last 11 years, they have lived in Ballard and belong to St. Benedict parish.  Their son, Jacob, is 24 and works with his Dad.  In recent years, their commitment to the homes of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos in Central America and their sister parish in Zambia have taken them many interesting places.  They also enjoy boating, golf, DVD production and precious time spent with a very large (106 and counting) Schuler family.

Kathleen Lofstedt - Grade 4 - This is Mrs. Lofstedt's fifth year at St. Catherine School. In 1981, she started the kindergarten program at Our Lady Star of the Sea School in Bremerton, where she taught Kindergarten, then first grade, for 24 years. Mrs. Lofstedt teaches an after-school French class for our students, writes and leads prayer services, and is a cantor at Parish and School Masses.  Her goals for her students are to live their faith, discover their talents, and love learning.

David Buerge -Grade 8- In conjunction with the University of Washington, Mr. Buerge, our eighth grade teacher, helped develop an award winning website at the Library of Congress American Memory Collection. This work, American Indians of the Pacific Northwest won an Ameritech award, and was placed on the Library of Congress site. Mr. Buerge contributed an essay about Chief Seattle and Chief Joseph. The essay is one of 15 contributed by local historians and is accompanied by original documents and numerous photographs.  David’s teaching focus is on the use of primary sources with the middle school students.

Mr. Buerge is a noted historian and author and is in great demand as a speaker.

Judy Sheridan - Study Skills - Judy received her BA from Holy Names College in Spokane, Washington. She began her teaching career in the sixties at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Everett, where she taught sixth grade for two years. From there she went to St. Luke’s and taught fifth grade for a year. She then taught sixth grade at Lake Forest Park in Shoreline for three years. She got married and had six children, and stayed home to raise them. She then returned to teaching in 1980 here at St. Catherine. She taught kindergarten for one year and then fourth grade for twenty-one years. Judy began semi-retirement in 2002 and now assists middle school students with study skills.

Stacey Sunde -Music- Stacey received her training in K-12 music education from Pacific Lutheran University. She teaches at St. Catherine’s School, and also conducts the St. Catherine Parish Youth Choir (many voices strong!). Ms. Sunde is also a cantor at St. James Cathedral, where she directs the Youth Music Program.