Course Listing - by Instructor
| Name | Biography |
|---|---|
| Grim | Grim is a Tabletop RPG enthusiast with nearly 30 years of experience playing and running Dungeons & Dragons. Passionate about teaching creative storytelling, teamwork, and imagination to new players through hands-on adventures and accessible learning. |
| LERN Staff | |
| Voices For All, LLC | Voices For All, LLC, The Voices For All Voice Coaches/Producers/Instructors are known for their fun and informative presenting methods. Our coaches have many years of experience in the voiceover industry and are masters at teaching all of the information pertinent to making it in voice acting. Whether it be speaking, presenting, writing, producing, or announcing, Voices For All has it covered. With hundreds of regional and national commercials, and public service announcements under their belts, our instructors not only deliver the highest quality education and coaching to their students, but their unique enthusiasm and expertise bring an element of fun and excitement to the virtual classroom as well. |
| Ayumi Amama | Growing up in Osaka, Japan, Ayumi always enjoyed cooking. Since she started making rolled omelets at 7 years old, she has continued learning new techniques and developing new recipes. Ayumi has also taken calligraphy lessons in Japan for about eight years and is trained in architectural design. She enjoys sharing Japanese culture. |
| Michael Amama | |
| Danielle Andrews-Butterfield | |
| Ethan Avalon | Ethan Avalon is an entrepreneur and educator specializing in AI applications and prompting. He teaches practical ways to leverage ChatGPT for creativity, productivity, and business innovation. |
| Mike Bane | Mike and Sam have spent over 20 years investigating the unknown. They founded EPIC VIP Events, LLC in 2024, to share the excitement of the paranormal and inspire others. |
| Sam Bane | Sam is a Reiki Master, Tarot and Oracle reader, and Intuitive and Psychic-Evidential Medium. Her true passion is in working with authorities to find missing persons and solve cold cases. Sam hosts spiritual retreats, offering spiritual healing, counseling, and mentorship. Having trained at Arthur Findlay College by some of the world's best mediums and divination experts, she brings a fresh perspective to connecting with spirit. |
| Carol Barta | Carol Barta is a founding member of the Flint Hills Resilience Coalition and certified permaculturist. |
| Jessa Baxter | A pioneering yoga instructor and entrepreneur, fosters wellness and connection through her passion for helping others and building mindful, supportive communities. |
| Tracey Bearman | Tracey and her husband, Paul, have been proudly serving their community in the pest control business for over 26 years. Together, they’ve built a business grounded in trust, experience, and hometown values. |
| Tom Boley | Tom has been a hobby woodworker all his life and became a woodturner in about 1995. One of his joys in life is standing at the lathe, teaching the craft to others. He teaches in his shop at his home near Wamego. When an opportunity to make actual money in the woodturning business arose in 2005, he changed directions to focus on architectural woodturning. From December 2005 to July 2014, he was a full-time custom architectural woodturner in northern Virginia, making turned items for both restoration and new construction, numbering from a single item to sometimes hundreds of the same thing. Examples of that are new balusters in the same style and shape as old ones for the restoration of a railing around the porch of an old house. Newels, porch posts, table legs, and finials were also commonly requested turnings. As of August 2014, Tom mostly retired from that business and moved to Wamego, near Manhattan, the home of his beloved Kansas State Wildcats. Now, in addition to some commercial work, he very much enjoys working on the artistic side of woodturning as a hobby and participates in one or two craft shows each year. The hobby produces bowls, bottle stoppers, pens, sweater pins, and other items. Tom's favorite turnings are natural edge bowls in several different forms, specializing in square natural edge bowls and what he calls "log bowls." And he has started a woodturning club for local turners called Flint Hills Woodturners (www.flinthillswoodturners.org), a great place to meet fellow woodturners, and be inspired by the Show and Tell items they bring to the meetings and learn about the craft. |
| Dr. Cantalot | |
| Cary Chappell | |
| Craig Coffman | Craig Coffman is an experienced piano and guitar instructor, professional pianist and music director. He has over 30 years experience teaching piano privately. His piano and guitar seminars have been offered live through Community Colleges and Community Education Programs nationwide for over 30 years. Over 30,000 students have attended these popular classes. Now the classes are offered exclusively online and they are more popular than ever. He has a degree in Sociology from Illinois Wesleyan University in Illinois (where he also studied piano) and a Master of Divinity degree from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. |
| Melissa Copp | |
| Carlos Cordero | Carlos is an experienced programmer with a background in application development and IT solutions. He is skilled in PHP, backend and frontend systems, and is passionate about delivering efficient, reliable software. |
| Lauren Darrah | As a Hy-Vee dietitian, Lauren Darrah, MS, RD, LD is passionate about making a positive impact on her clients and she aims to provide realistic and science-based strategies in those she works with. |
| Stephanie Drake | |
| Angela Durtschi | Angela Durtschi is a licensed Realtor with Alliance Realty and has called Manhattan home since 2011. In real estate since 2018, she has strong knowledge of the process of buying, selling, investing and all things real estate |
| Gregg Eyestone | Gregg has been instructing others on gardening practices for 30+ years through K-State Research and Extension. A native of Manhattan, he has been gardening his whole life. His orchard contains just about one of everything. |
| Gary Ferguson | With 15 years of experience in 3D design and manufacturing, our instructor runs a full-service workshop producing products with 3D printers, lasers, and CNC machines, bringing practical expertise to every lesson. |
| Dennis Fike | Dennis and Lou Ann are co-owners of Valley Trails Winery. They have been growing grapes for 6 years and making wine for 3 years on a commercial scale. They specialize in making wines from local Kansas-grown grapes. |
| Monica Franco | Monica Franco Franco is an English-Spanish teacher who works in a public high school. Monica has over ten years of experience teaching foreign languages and is a K-State alum who lives in Equador. |
| Ana Franklin | Ana Franklin began practicing yoga in the 1970s. However, Ana's exposure to yoga started in early childhood as her father practiced yoga faithfully every day since 1951, making this a regular part of the household activities. Then in 1963, Ana's mother began to attend yoga class and also became a faithful practitioner. Ana has been teaching yoga since 1984. In the '90s, Ana traveled to Hawaii and took five Yoga Teacher Training sessions from Gary Kraftsow, founder of American Viniyoga Institute. She has also been certified by the Krishnamacharya Health and Yoga Foundation in Chennai, India. "Yoga is a lifelong commitment for me, and with such a rich subject, there is always more to learn, and to teach! I hope to continue doing both for a very long time." |
| Lisa Hatt | Tea educator and owner of a handcrafted tea business, Lisa shares her passion for loose-leaf tea through engaging classes and tastings. She has taught at the Midwest Tea Festival and been invited to teach at the Nevada Tea Festival. |
| Gaige Huber | |
| Jake Huber | This USMC vet and “Jake-of-all-trades” brings 20+ years of D&D experience to the table. He always delivers creative, engaging, and practical instruction with hands-on skills to classes in prop making, security, CPR, and more. |
| Mindy Huber | I currently work as a Level 4 Special Education Teacher. I received both my undergraduate and graduate degrees through Kansas State University. Prior to teaching I worked as a paraprofessional for several years and I worked for 3.5 years with adults with disabilities; supporting individuals with disabilities is a passion of mine is a part of my every day life. |
| Felicia Lochmiller | Felicia is a registered dietitian and functional medicine nutrition specialist. As owner of Vitality Functional Nutrition, she helps uncover root causes of health issues and guides clients to lasting wellness with personalized nutrition guidance. |
| Sue Maes | |
| Josie Mason | Josie is an Army Veteran with over two years of rope dart experience. After discovering the art post-service, Josie developed a deep passion for its flow and discipline and is excited to share that passion through teaching others. |
| Pedro Melendez | Pedro is a graduate of K-State with 2 bachlers degrees in studio art. He has been painting miniatures for over 5 yrs, for himself and through commissions. He has also taught classes at The Village Geek, one of our local game stores. |
| Aliah Mestrovich Seay | |
| Jayme Morris-Hardeman | Jayme Morris-Hardeman is the Executive Director of Thrive! and has worked with families in poverty for more than 20 years. |
| Debbie Newton | Debbie has been a certified yoga teacher (CYT) since 2007. |
| Joshua Norris | Josh is a former collegiate golfer and scratch player with multiple top-3 finishes. He is experienced in coaching high school golfers pursuing collegiate play, focusing on consistent swings, smart course strategy, and simple, effective coaching for all skill levels. |
| Terry Olson | |
| Gloria Park | |
| Terri Pearson | Terri is a certified health coach through Revelation Wellness and certified coach through the Federal Internal Coach Training Program. Health and coaching are deep passions for her. |
| Kristen Philip | Kristen has worked at Oz Winery since 2013 and will become its owner in 2026. She and her husband, Alec, are raising their family in Wamego, inspired by its community and the winery’s creative, magical spirit. |
| Little Apple Pilates | Little Apple Pilates is a fitness boutique that specializes in alternative fitness. Traditionally weight lifting and cardio such as running have been available to the masses. For those who need more instruction, personalized class workouts, and innovative methodologies, we are for you. People often joke that we provide workouts for people who don't like to workout. However, we also can give you an edge in your performance and biomechanics if you are concerned about injury prevention and care or if you have an injury. We are a small community where we know our students by name. |
| Mariah Raybern | |
| Paige Romaine | Paige Romaine is a veteran, mixologist, and mobile bar owner passionate about crafting creative drink experiences. She brings energy, expertise, and a love for community to every class she teaches. |
| Lisa Rubin | |
| Jessica Schierkolk Long | Jessica, a Wamego native, is a mother of six and lifelong entrepreneur. A cosmetologist for nearly fifteen years, opening her own salon in 2021 and added face painting in 2023, she has been extending her passion for creativity across four family-run businesses. |
| Katherine Schlageck | Kathrine Schlageck, former Curator of Education at the Beach Museum of Art, has over 40 years’ experience engaging diverse audiences. She is a trained Visual Thinking Strategies facilitator with a MA in Museum Studies. |
| Karen Schroeder | Karen Schroeder, karen@karenschroederphotography.com, specializes in family, senior and pet photography. She also provides businesses with branding photography and business portraits. |
| John Schwartz | |
| Vaishali Sharda | Born and raised in northern India, Vaishali moved to the US to work on her PhD. She grew up watching her mother cook everything from scratch in the small town they lived in. Her passion for cooking grew when she met her husband who is an avid foodie. She blogs about her adventures in the kitchen at www.kitchendocs.com and works at K State as faculty in climate and water resources management. |
| Robert Smith | Robert Smith was born in Nebraska and attended Nebraska University where he majored in history. Bob has always had a love for history and a particular interest in military history as he comes from a military family. Prior to his return to academia and advanced degrees Bob managed a family operated business where he learned management and organizational skills. He returned to academia in 1998 attending Kansas State University receiving a Master of Arts in military history in 2004 and a Ph.D. in military history in December 2008. Currently Bob is the Director of the Fort Riley Museum Complex, Fort Riley, Kansas. |
| Peakform Sports | |
| Neal Strathman | Hello, I am a retired 22-year-Veteran of the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserves. I started my appreciation of whiskey (American and Irish) and whisky (Scottish, Canadian, or Japanese) shortly after turning 21 while stationed near Seattle. It was a great benefit having disposable income that I could use to explore more expensive Scotches, Ryes, Irish whiskeys, and Bourbons. I joined the Navy Reserves at the age of 30 where I was deployed to Japan several times assisting in radiation surveys after the Fukashima reactor accident and shipyard maintenance. It was here that I discovered the possibility of good whisky being made in any place where care is taken to ensure quality. I am grateful for the ability to share my passion for great drinks with friends and family. |
| Cricket Thurston | Cricket Thurston is a 2025 K-State graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. They’ve been selected for 4 separate Scholarship Exhibitions on the K-State campus and will be pursuing a Master’s degree of Fine Arts. |
| Andrea Vinson | |
| Dawson Wagner | Dawson Wagner is the Assistant Director of Wildcat Electronic media and he teaches podcasting, audio, and video at K-State, inspiring the next generation of creative storytellers. |
| Rachel Wahle | |
| Lisa Ward | Lisa is a business, real estate, and estate planning attorney with decades of experience. She advises businesses, nonprofits, and families on complex legal matters and also leads the Tough2gether Foundation, dedicated to fighting childhood cancer. |
| Stan Wilson | Stan Wilson has studied martial arts since 1970 and has a black belt in Hakkoryu Jujutsu and a black sash in Pai Lum Kung Fu. |
| Tiffany Wood | |
| Kelly Yarbrough |
