Alysia grew up in Kaiserslautern, Germany with her mom, dad, and two sisters. She moved state side when she was seventeen. She was not a lover of school by any means and wanted to carve her own path. Her own schooling experience was not one she enjoyed or wanted, which has fueled much of her passion to see change in the field of education. She began reading parenting, education, as well as homeschooling books. However, life being the greatest teacher and being a mom to three of her favorite people in the world, she realized one of her greatest passions is for people of all ages to use their God-given gifts to pursue their passion and live out their purpose. She and her husband, Ryan, are on this same journey themselves. They love to dream big about the future and find joy in the journey, while pursuing their goals both, individually and together. Alysia finds fulfillment in encouraging others right where they are.

She has a background in Early Childhood Education and was a homeschooling mom for four years. She had the privilege of working as a Teachers Aide the last two years at John Adams Academy and Harvest Ridge Placer Academy. She has also had the pleasure of helping lead church youth groups of all ages and is now excited about being apart of the staff at Acton Academy. She is looking forward to exploring, learning, growing and encouraging the hearts and minds of the children she is blessed to work with this next school year.

Nick Tuttle has been an innovator in the educational arena for the past 20 years. In his roles at the college level, secondary level, as a career counselor and a specialist in educational and childhood psychology, Nick has been an outside the box thinker and Socratic leader who brings a unique skill set to the Acton Placer community. Nick was recently voted Outstanding Faculty Member of the year by the student body at Foothill College in the San Francisco Bay Area.

It was in his research as a child and adolescent psychology professor at Foothill College that he first discovered the Acton Academy model where he did an analysis of over one hundred different educational models. He knew immediately upon finding the Acton model that it was the only model for his own two children. When he met Matt Beaudreau during his Acton network research process, an instant connection was forged which eventually led Nick to move his family to the Rocklin area to be a part of this incredible family of people.

Nick is grateful to be around a passionate, open-minded community of people who are excited to be on their own Hero's Journey with their children and students.

Kelsy comes to us from Acton Academy Wausau, Wisconsin. She was the Lead Guide in Elementary for 3 school years, beginning in Fall of 2014. Prior to taking the role in Wisconsin, Kelsy worked at the San Francisco Schoolhouse for several years and in the summer months, she worked at Live Oak Elementary as the lead K-1 summer school teacher, also located in San Francisco. Kelsy has experience working in a multi-age classroom with highly individualizing curricula and really enjoys the challenge of meeting the needs of each child. Working in multi age/level classrooms makes the day to day exciting and witnessing the relationships built between the children keeps her passionate about her work. Kelsy attended San Francisco State University for her college years, obtaining her B.A in Liberal Studies- with an Elementary Teaching Emphasis. Outside of the studio, you may find Kelsy living an average life of a wife and mama of two young girls. She enjoys challenging herself with half marathons, hiking and camping. Kelsy enjoys traveling, and spending time with family in the Midwest and East Coast.

Katie is coming to Acton after spending over a year at Merryhill Private Preschool here in Rocklin as the PreK 2 Lead Teacher. She began working with children at a young age and grew to love the process of helping them grow and learn! In 2011 and 2012 she continued her experience abroad both Japan and Germany, living on American military bases and teaching the elementary age children that lived there. This is where her passion began to flourish! While working at the Child Development Center on campus, she graduated with her B.A. in Child Development with a minor in Counseling from California State University, Sacramento in 2015. While attending CSUS, she studied and worked with Qualitative Researcher and Developmentalist Dr. Lynda Stone as her videographer. She personally helped Dr. Stone collect the data for the articles she was writing, exploring children’s cognitive development. In 2013 she also began to work at the afterschool program that Dr. Stone had created, which was based on similar beliefs and ideologies as the Acton model. She has experience in working with groups of children that vary in age, collaborating together on a project-based learning system, with the instructors acting as a guide. It was this experience, coupled with her experience working as a Teaching Assistant in 2015 for Dr. Stone that really set her passion in the right direction. After graduation, it was all about finding the right fit for Katie and she has found her home here at Acton. While Katie is not in the studio, she enjoys going on adventures! She has a daughter and they can be seen hiking, kayaking, bike riding, camping, dancing, and doing yoga! Katie loves to travel and plans to take her daughter to see the world with her on her breaks!

Marissa joins the Acton Academy Placer County team with over 20 years of work experience in management, sales and marketing. Marissa's role at Acton is to help foster a cohesive, informed parent community through events, education and communication. She and her family relocated to Placer County exclusively to be part of the amazing Acton Placer community and revolutionary Acton educational model. Marissa's favorite role is serving full time as Mom while on her family's heroes journey.

Matt is a long time educator, having worked as a teacher, administrator, and athletic director in public and private schools at the K-12 level. He has also been involved in higher education as a corporate trainer, consultant, guest lecturer, and keynote speaker for schools including Stanford, Sacramento State, and William Jessup University, among others.

After being a featured at TEDx Santa Cruz in 2015, he quickly became a highly sought after keynote speaker for companies such as Honeywell, Gray TV, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Jack Henry Group.

Once Matt discovered the power of the Hero’s Journey that Acton Academy offered, he was compelled by a vision of bringing that type of community to the Placer County area. Acton Academy Placer will open its doors in the Fall of 2017 to a thriving tribe of heroes that will find their calling, and change the world.