Get to Know Us

Amy has been a lifelong advocate for supporting and producing readers and is proud to be the Head of School for VSA. Amy earned her master’s degree from University of Colorado at Denver in Special Education, as well as an administrator’s license from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Her undergraduate degree was in English Education from Phillips University. She is a trainer of LETRS and Self-Regulated Strategy Development. In addition, she has also been trained in Orton Gillingham and many other structured literacy programs.

Amy has worked in education for 28 years in a variety of roles, starting her career teaching high school literacy to students with emotional disabilities. In addition to that role, she has worked as a learning specialist, 6th grade teacher, instructional coach, and most recently as a literacy consultant for the Colorado Department of Education. Learning about best practices and research within literacy and collaborating about it with fellow teachers is one of her favorite things to do. She believes that every child can become a reader and writer when high quality teachers use evidenced-based instruction. Promoting this concept is her top priority.

In her personal life, she has a husband of 25 years and two children, 21 and 24 years old.  Her husband is a therapist, her oldest son works for a software company specializing in rocketry, and the youngest works in the music field doing lighting and sound for Levitt Pavillion and many other venues. She is very close to her extended family and lives only a mile away from where she grew up and her parents still live. You can find her most weekends hanging out with some part of her family playing games, reading, or skiing in the winter. She is beyond excited to be part of the VSA family!

Ms. Josie is going into her 4th year of teaching. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Northern Colorado. She has been working for the past few years in Early Childhood special education in Jefferson County public schools. As much as she loved teaching the youngest learners, she is ready to use her skills and focus on students with Dyslexia. During her free time, she enjoys being outside, spending time with her family and traveling as much as she can! Ms. Josie grew up in Evergreen and is now residing in Lakewood. She is very excited to start this year with the students and staff!

Ms. Gretchen has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish with a focus on Interpretation and Translation, and a minor in History from the University of Arizona. Following her credentialing program, she received her post baccalaureate degree in Education, Special Education, and English as a Second Language. Her husband’s career brought them to Houston in 2013 and she continued her teaching career with Pre-K, 3rd grade and special education. In 2015, she wanted to expand her skills as an educator and earned her credential as an Applied Behavior Analysis Therapist supporting students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

This is her 10th year in the classroom and she is pleased to say she has found her new home away from home at Vertical Skills Academy.

Christina started Gemsbok Consulting, Inc. in 2001 to assist companies in building a solid foundation from which to grow. Through Christina’s years of experience, she learned that business owners are experts at their business product or service, but running a successful company was not always a strong point. As a result, Gemsbok Consulting, Inc. was founded to help owners with all the back-office processes of the organization. Some of these functions include bookkeeping with a CFO perspective, setting up operational processes, developing healthy human resource habits and strategic planning. In addition to running Gemsbok Consulting, Christina has served as the CFO for a successful Digital Marketing Agency in the Denver area for the past 11 years.

Christina was drawn to serve on the VSA board after seeing how much of an impact the school had on her own son’s educational experience and wanted to support the school in providing this experience for other kids. Since Christina has worked with many companies over the past 20 years in reaching their growth goals, she felt her financial background and leadership skills could support the school in reaching its goals. Christina is doing this through building forecasting tools for the school and helping the school move into the next phase of its business growth.

When not working or supporting VSA, Christina is an avid Crossfitter. She also loves to bake as well as travel with her family.

Lynn is from Colorado and lives in Evergreen with her family. She enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, rafting, and exploring, especially with family, friends and dogs.

Mandy Harris, CALP, M.Ed.

Mandy believes in the power of family and educator partnerships. She was a classroom teacher for 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades before transitioning to a literacy interventionist for grades K-5. As an educator, she focused on systems improvements and strengthening support for all learners. She is a certified academic language practitioner trained in Texas Scottish Rite’s Take Flight dyslexia program and various other programs based in Orton-Gillingham. She currently works as a literacy consultant and is a 4H program volunteer at her local chapter. 

Prior to her career in education, she worked in the mental health field as a counselor for at-risk teens and was a licensed social worker. Mandy strives to be both a resource and a support person for teachers and families. She was drawn to serving on the board because of VSA’s dedication in cultivating an engaging, challenging, and rewarding learning environment that honors the individual. She loves everything Colorado has to offer and enjoys spending time with her husband, two teenagers, extended family, and, of course, her 100-pound dog, Sooner. 

Lindsay is a dedicated leader and professional problem solver with a career in Project Management. She has many years of experience developing high performing teams in fast-paced, complex environments. Lindsay thrives when establishing new processes, systems, and tools that improve operational efficiency. She looks forward to collaborating with her VSA co-board members, staff, and families to implement solutions that help achieve VSA’s organizational goals and growth.

Lindsay is a proud mother of three, including a set of twins and a daughter with dyslexia and ADHD, who proudly calls dyslexia her “superpower” thanks to the confidence and empowerment she has gained from being a student at VSA. She feels lucky to have stumbled upon VSA in her search for a school that offers specialized hands-on, multi-sensory curriculum, while also focusing on building the “whole person” through social emotional learning and executive functioning skill development. Lindsay joined the board with the hope that she can help spread the word about VSA to other families struggling to find solutions that better support their neurodiverse learners.

During her free time, Lindsay enjoys interior design, exploring the outdoor playground that Colorado has to offer, and traveling with family and friends. Although she’s grateful to live close to the mountains, the beach is her true happy place.