Instructor+Biographies+and+websites

Nancy Meendering Kirstein
Lead Teacher, Excel Middle School Academy Email Miss Nancy

Stephanie Spaan, Excel Achievement Center Director
Email Ms. Spaan

Dr. Cate Sommervold, Excel Middle School Academy Academic Director
Email Dr. Sommervold

Angie Iverson-Maggi, __Excel Middle School Academy Lead Spanish Instructor__ Angie P. Iverson-Maggi received a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish in 2004 from South Dakota State University and a Masters in Spanish from Middlebury College in Middlebury Vermont and Madrid, Spain in 2005. Angie has worked as an instructor of Spanish in the Modern Languages Department at SDSU since Fall 2005. She is one of the section coordinators of the Spanish Program at SDSU and teaches Spanish language at intermediate and advanced levels.

// “Without language, one cannot hope to talk to people and understand them; one // // cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their history or savour their // // songs." // -Nelson Mandela, 1995

Maria Pia Saavedra, Excel Middle School Academy Spanish Instructor



Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science Art Instruction Team (see biographies below)

 * Rose Ann Kelly, Community Learning Center Director
 * Sarah Richter, Music Instruction
 * Mercedes Maltese, Visual Arts Instruction
 * Dan Hodges, Theater Instruction

Sarah Richter, Music Instruction

Sarah Richter grew up in Sioux Falls and is a graduate of Lincoln High School. She began private study of the violin with Sue Sidoti and continued violin study with Ray Sidoti throughout high school. She won violin performance scholarships from DePaul University and the Cleveland Institute of Music and graduated from CIM in 2009.

While at CIM, Sarah studied violin with Linda Cerone and David Russell and was coached by members of the Cleveland and Cavani Quartets. She was active in the Institute’s Chamber Program, playing violin and viola in recitals and outreach programs in numerous venues in the area. She also performed in concerts with the CIM Orchestra at Severance Hall.

Sarah is well-acquainted with DAPA’s music program, as she was a vital part of it during her school years in Sioux Falls. She was first violinist of the DAPA String Quartet, which performed extensively in the Sioux Falls community. She was also concertmaster of the DAPA Youth Orchestra and performed several solo concertos with the group. She has given numerous solo recitals both in Sioux Falls and in Cleveland. She has played in the violin sections of the South Dakota Symphony and the Sioux City Symphony and performs regularly with the Sidoti Trio and Quartet.

Sarah has returned to Sioux Falls to continue study and musical collaboration with her excellent friends Ray and Sue Sidoti, and will be involved in expanding DAPA’s chamber music and chamber orchestra programs. She teaches private violin and viola lessons to students in the Sioux Falls area.


 * Theater Instruction--Dan Hodges


 * Visual Arts Instruction--Mercedes Maltese