The CMEC Leadership Team

Amy Snell has been part of the Charlotte Mason movement for almost 20 years with her own five children, including two homeschool graduates, while also supporting other families around the world. Amy has a graduate degree in literature from the University of California-Irvine and taught in a variety of classroom environments until she discovered Charlotte Mason. She has shared Mason’s philosophy with others by speaking at national conferences and retreats, hosting book discussions and workshops for parents, running a Nature Study Club, facilitating Truth, Beauty, Goodness afternoons, and creating the Mason Academy. A co-founder of the Charlotte Mason Educational Center (2015), Amy now serves as president of the board and academic director. You can find her on Instagram @learninghowtolivecm.

Celeste Cruz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their eleven children. With a graduate degree in English and a background in European humanities and art history, she has taught literature and writing in a variety of settings. She has spent the past two decades studying Charlotte Mason's philosophy and letting it direct and inspire her work as a mother and home educator. Besides organizing a local Mason co-op and nature club, she shares the joys of home education at Joyous Lessons and @celeste_cruz and speaks at retreats and conferences nationwide. Celeste has worked with the CMEC since 2018 and now serves as executive director.

More of Our Team Members

Shannon Bucko, originally from Roanoke, VA, has made her home in Philadelphia for almost 20 years. A mother of five and grandmother to three, she and her husband are still cheering on their last homeschooler, set to launch in the spring of 2027. A devoted home educator for more than 16 years—with the CMEC for about half that time—Shannon is a true grammar enthusiast. During these years, she has taught English grammar and helped students uncover both the beauty and logic of language through careful parsing, diagramming, and sentence analysis. Shannon has guided students and families through the Scott & Jones Latin text for nearly a decade and brings the same thoughtful approach to her online tutoring through Viva Voce, where she guides students through both the Meiklejohn English grammar text and the Scott & Jones Latin course. She teaches Latin at The Mason Academy and assists the CMEC as a guide writer. In her free time, Shannon loves to read, cook, garden, lift weights, run, hike, host TBG groups, and savor time with her wonderful family and friends. Shannon earned a B.S. in Horticulture from Virginia Tech.

Judy Clark has learned beside her four children since her oldest two were in 5th and 3rd grade. As they graduated, she was introduced to Amy Snell and Charlotte Mason while searching for a better way to homeschool her young twin girls and quickly embraced Mason's philosophy. Judy has an undergraduate degree in biology and a graduate degree in computer science, and she also helps her husband run their two comic book and game shops in the Philadelphia suburbs. She enjoys being a grandmother, reading, tea, and local adventures with friends. Judy assists the CMEC as a membership administrator and Form Leader.

Born and raised in Southern California, Tom Cox studied Latin and Greek at Hillsdale College in Michigan. After college, he went on an 18,000-mile road-trip exploring America, and, while touring the country with his barbershop quartet, was offered his current job at The Heights. Prone to misadventures, Tom has broken both of his ankles and doused a house fire with only a pair of frozen pants. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Nicole, and sevenchildren. In the summer of 2019, he completed a Master's Degree in Liberal Arts at St. John's College in Annapolis. Being a Johnnie sharpened his pedagogy while expanding the tools he uses in the classroom, from seminars to oral exams. When he isn’t speaking or reading Greek and Latin, he enjoys reading (English), hiking, and spending time with family and friends. Besides being a CMEC dad, Tom consults for our curriculum and resources, particularly on the ancient world.

Cassie Detwiler is a mother of five and lives in the Philadelphia area. Cassie was introduced to Mason's philosophy after graduating from Eastern University's Templeton Honors College where she studied philosophy, politics, and economics. She teaches at The Mason Academy outside Philadelphia. As director of communications, Cassie oversees our Instagram account, @the.cmec, our discussion board, La Pianta, and manages emails and events.

Dawn Duran encountered the philosophy of Charlotte Mason nearly fifteen years ago and has been serving in the roles of “guide, philosopher, and friend” ever since. Having graduated their oldest son, Dawn continues to learn alongside one son in high school and a small group of scholars that meets in their home weekly for the pursuit of “truth for truth’s sake.” She has undergraduate degrees in physical education and physical therapy as well as a graduate degree in health sciences. Her pre-motherhood career choices were influenced by her experience as a Division I athlete, and she worked as a physical therapist full time prior to taking on her most prized roles of stay-at-home wife and homeschooling mother. Dawn created Swedish Drill Revisited to assist homeschool families effectively embrace a forgotten form of physical education, and is the author of A Reasoned Patriotism: Critical Thinking and Civic Duty in an Age of Polarization. She also co-hosts The New Mason Jar podcast. Dawn assists the CMEC as support manager and contributes to our study guides.

Heather Ermine lives in the Philadelphia area with her husband and nine children. After encountering Mason’s writings and philosophy at a local book club many years ago, she plunged wholeheartedly into applying those principles at home, school, and life. She has been homeschooling since her eldest, now an adult, was in kindergarten, and looks back with immense gratitude on the great privilege it has been to learn alongside her children for so many years. Heather holds a B.F.A. specializing in sculpture and graphic design from the University of Central Florida. In her leisure time, Heather enjoys reading, cooking, baking, taking rugged hikes, and working on artistic projects. Heather serves as our Kinderleben and Form 1 Leader.

Heather Hall lives in Central Virginia with her husband and four children. With an undergraduate degree in English and close to 30 years experience coaching intercollegiate policy debate, she has an extensive background in teaching research, speaking, and argumentation strategies to college students. She has spent the past 15 years using the Charlotte Mason method to lead a local co-op and homeschool her children, three of whom are currently in college majoring in biomedical sciences, aviation maintenance and management, and studio art. Heather loves equipping others to spread the feast for students of all ages, and joined the CMEC in 2025 as managing editor.

Jocey Jekel lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, Levi, and their four little ones. Originally from Massachusetts, she attended the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University for her undergraduate degree (B.S. Biochemistry, with minors in Philosophy and Theology) as well as her graduate studies (M.A.T. in Classical Education). After two years of teaching and outdoor adventure in Jackson, WY, she spent four years as a teacher and administrator at a classical high school outside Philadelphia. Throughout her studies and her working experience in education, Charlotte Mason has become a treasured conversation partner. Jocey draws on her experience in the classroom and teaching a variety of subjects at the Mason Academy in her work with our Community Learning Support Group.

Sarah Jonnalagadda is a wife and homeschooling mom to six in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has her undergraduate degree in Journalism and a graduate degree in Education. After a few years of teaching English in a public high school, Sarah became a mom and homemaker but never lost her love of educational philosophy. After the daze of those first few years of motherhood, she emerged ready to begin exploring the educational direction for her children and immediately happened upon Charlotte Mason. She never looked back. Sarah has enjoyed reading about Mason and her philosophy for the past 13 years—many of them spent in community with other local Mason educators. She helps organize a co-op and nature group as well. Her favorite thing, however, is to help new homeschooling moms meet Charlotte Mason, envision their own unique homeschool environment, and troubleshoot their practices. Sarah helps design and edit various printed materials for the CMEC.

Camille Malucci is a homemaker and home educator in coastal Virginia using the Charlotte Mason method since the middle of her first son's first grade year. That same son is now in college while Camille continues to teach five more children at home. She earned a Bachelor's in Business Administration and worked as a Buyer and Planner in the fashion and home goods sectors, but was glad that when family life called, she was able to pursue lifelong learning beside her children. A lover of good books, homemaking, beautiful architecture, travel, and handicrafts, she found the Mason method was a natural fit and it continues to be a blessing to her and her family. These interests drive Camille’s contributions to our team.

Joanna Nice lives in New Jersey with her husband and six children. She wasn't even considering homeschooling when a friend invited her to a mothers' reading group of Mason's volumes. After two years of slowly pondering and seeing the beautiful example of CMEC families, she realized she wanted to live this way too and invited her oldest kids home from public school. Joanna graduated from Princeton University with a degree in molecular biology and has a background in pharmaceutical marketing and clinical trials. She assists with The Mason Academy in the Princeton area and serves as the Form Leader for Forms 2 & 3.

Tara Riordon’s journey with Charlotte Mason began over a decade ago as she prepared to educate her first two children. After researching a number of educational philosophies, Tara found that nothing she encountered compared to Mason’s methods of educating the whole child. Now a homeschooling mother of six and resident of Philadelphia, Tara enjoys taking on new challenges and supporting her local community -- whether it be through teaching handicrafts, helping out with Shakespeare and TBG, or guiding little ones in nature study and song. Tara is a formally trained artist who studied sculpture and art history at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the University of Dallas. She uses her love of art to develop our handicraft courses and support the CMEC Instagram.

Maria Margarita Roberts supports the CMEC's fundraising and communications efforts from her home in Washington, D.C., where she lives with her husband and daughter. Previously, she worked as the Deputy Communications Director for a member of the House of Representatives and in fundraising communications for a D.C. think tank. An alumna of the University of Chicago, Maria has a passion for learning, people, and engaging with ideas. She is thrilled to now be immersed in Charlotte Mason's philosophy and the CMEC community, especially as she embarks on the journey of motherhood and thinks ahead to educating her children. Maria believes in the power of the CMEC's mission to strengthen families and transform culture and is honored to be working to help the CMEC grow and develop to be able to carry out this mission for decades to come.

A lifelong bibliophile, Emily Sullivan is a graduate of the Great Books Program of Thomas Aquinas College. When she was a young mom, she began reading Mason in Amy Snell's reading group and felt certain she had found a true kindred spirit. The Sullivans currently reside in southwestern New Hampshire where a wild collection of animals, books and daughters are randomly strewn among a blue gambrel barn, the 1860s farmhouse, and various open fields and gardens. In addition to teaching her own girls, Emily also leads TBG afternoons and mentors college women at nearby Thomas Aquinas College. Before becoming a homeschooling Mom, Emily taught theology and philosophy at a classical high school outside of Manhattan and has written and lectured for a variety of catechetical non-profits. When she's not pre-reading for the upcoming term, she's happiest spending time over tea with old friends...like Aristotle and Aquinas. Emily uses her experience as one of our guide writers.