Meet the Math Department
Audra Garcia, 6th Grade Math Teacher; Math Department Chair
audra.garcia@cottonwoodclassical.org
Mrs. Garcia absolutely loves being a Coyote! Her favorite thing about her job is using her passion for math to inspire the next generation. She teaches the 6th grade Math Foundations class. When she’s not busy teaching her favorite subject, she enjoys playing board games, spending time with her friends and family, and hanging out with her two corgis, Whiskey and Suki.
Jessica Esquibel, Math Teacher
jessica.esquibel@cottonwoodclassical.org
This is Jessica’s 24th year in education and is honored to be part of the CCPS community. She will be teaching Math Foundations and Math Transitions. Jessica is extremely passionate about mathematics education and hopes to instill this passion in her students. Jessica is a National Board Certified teacher. She graduated from the University of New Mexico with her undergraduate, master’s degree, and educational diagnostician certificate. Over her 23 years Jessica has taught 6th grade through 12th.
Gregery Holland, Math Teacher; Dean of Students.
gregery.holland@cottonwoodclassical.org
Mr. Holland has taught for 19 years at the elementary and middle school level. He is the current Dean of Students and teaches Math. Mr. Holland received his B. S. and M. A. in Elementary Education from the University of New Mexico.
Andrea Lee
andrea.lee@cottonwoodclassical.org
Ms. Lee has worked with students for more than 15 years in South Korea, California, and New Mexico. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and earned her Masters Degree in Education at UCLA. In her free time, she likes to learn new things, travel, and run after her two energetic kids. She loves to teach math and help develop students’ ́identities as lifelong learners.
David Meidinger, Algebra 1 Teacher
david.meidinger@cottonwoodclassical.org
David taught all levels of math in Arizona for 27 years prior to moving to Albuquerque. He moved here a year ago with his wife, Laura, of (now) 32 years to pastor a small Christian congregation. Now in his second year at Cottonwood, David teaches Algebra I and Advanced Algebra.
Patricia Spitz, Algebra 2 Teacher and Testing Coordinator
patricia.spitz@cottonwoodclassical.org
Mrs. Spitz has been a mathematics teacher at Cottonwood since 2011. She teaches Advanced Algebra 2. Mrs. Spitz has a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration. She is certified in Secondary Mathematics, Language Arts, Social Studies and Health. She also holds a Level 3B Administrative License. She has also trained in current IB Math and was an IB Math instructor for several years. She currently serves as the Testing Coordinator and is in charge of all testing. Her favorite quote from the Dalai Lama is “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
Quilimaca Padilla, IB Math Teacher and BYU Credit Recovery Facilitator
quilimaca.padilla@cottonwoodclassical.org
Quilimaca has been teaching mathematics since 2005. She has her Level III teaching license and endorsed in Secondary Mathematics. Also, endorsed in Modern and Classical Languages primarily Spanish. She enjoys spending time with her family. She likes to run on her spare time and play sand volleyball once a week with her teammates. Her current goal right now is to be a National Board Certified teacher in Mathematics within the next 5 years. She really enjoys teaching IB Math: Applications and Interpretation Year 1 and Year 2 courses which is 11th and 12 grade level. Her advisory class is Year 1 and they are beginning on working on the CAS experiences along with their interviews. In her teaching she uses a variety of teaching strategies, for example, calculator, collaboration with their peers, challenging tasks, real life application problems, small groups, seminars, guided notes, and practice in and out of class. In Year 1, the students work on Topic 1 through Topic 4 IB content with practicing their math internal assessments throughout the year. In Year 2, students finish up Topic 5 content and work on writing their math internal assessment. Ms. Padilla is also a BYU credit recovery facilitator to the school. She assists students in enrolling them to the course they need to recover credits for class(es).
John Tennison, IB Math Teacher
john.tennison@cottonwoodclassical.org
John is in his 5th year teaching at CCPS and he loves math! He’s all about puzzles, games, and solving problems. This year he is teaching Analysis and Approaches years 1 and 2 along with Advanced Topics. If you have a math question, he is your guy. In his free time he likes running and watching movies. Feel free to come nerd out with him anytime!
Cliff Garrett, Math Teacher
cliff.garrett@cottonwoodclassical.org
Cliff is a second career teacher and started teaching when he was 39 years old. He worked at Intel before teaching for 12 years as a manufacturing engineer. Cliff became a math teacher in 2009 and has enjoyed teaching math for 15 years, 13 of those right here at Cottonwood. Cliff teaches small group math in 6th, 7th, and IB 11th grade, as well as special education. He is also an instructional support team member that helps support our staff with paideia teaching principles. Cliff enjoys teaching and helping kids develop skills that will help them in secondary education and adulthood.
Steven Garcia, Math Teacher
steven.garcia@cottonwoodclassical.org
Mr. Garcia is excited to continue his teaching career at Cottonwood Classical this year. He teaches 7th Grade Math Foundations as well as 8th and 9th Grade Algebra 1. He is excited to share his passion for mathematics with the students at Cottonwood.
