Algebra I
P.E. Co-Teacher, Pre-K – Grade 4
Eden’s Children Staff

Mary Soto joined The Imago School in 2019, along with her daughter, Hannah, who attended first grade that year. She has had several roles in her years at Imago, including teaching second grade, being the Pre-K & Kindergarten Assistant, and substitute teaching, especially for Upper School math. When Imago formed a separate Pre-K class in 2024, Mrs. Soto helped set up the new classroom and stepped into her current role of Pre-K homeroom teacher. She is thankful to Mrs. Kinney, who taught her so much about teaching, and with whom she continues to collaborate. Mrs. Soto also teaches P.E. and Algebra I. She loves the people that she works with and is grateful for this remarkable little school.

Before coming to Imago, Mary was a nanny for over 10 years. She has a BA in Mathematical Science, with a minor in Education from Colby College. She got certified to teach 7th-12th grade math, but realized she loved being with younger children. Mary is married to Jose, and they live in Natick with their two daughters, Hannah and Maria. The girls have been described as identical twins… only 11 years apart! Baby Maria is well known and loved around The Imago School. Mary is conversational in Spanish and gets to practice regularly with her Dominican in-laws, who don’t speak English. Her other skills include juggling and solving the Rubik’s cube. She enjoys board games, audiobooks, and spending time with friends and family. She also loves volleyball, and used to pole vault over 10 feet (many years ago)!

Student Support Specialist
Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher
P.E. Co-Teacher, Pre-K – Grade 4

Denise Kinney is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts. As an Imago High School graduate, she was immersed in classical, Christian education from an early age, but it was not until she became a teacher and parent that her passion for classical, Christian education became fully ignited.

Denise began teaching kindergarten at The Imago School in 2015. As a Kindergarten teacher and parent of two Imago students, she is truly blessed. Having a heart for all learners and many years of experience in the special education field, Denise is also the Student Support Specialist at the Imago School. Denise holds a master’s degree in education and is a certified Orton-Gillingham dyslexia practitioner.

Language Arts Director, Grades 1–2 Curriculum Oversight, Grades 1–3

Karin Heikkila has a degree in Elementary Education.  She was born and raised in Massachusetts, but taught in New Hampshire and Virginia before coming to teach at Imago more than 25 years ago.  She began her Imago teaching career in the second grade but was asked to make the switch to the first grade when Imago’s original first grade teacher stepped down.  She is always amazed, but grateful, that she gets paid to do a job that she loves. She enjoys spending time by the ocean, exploring new places, and hanging out with her seven nieces and nephews. 

After growing up in Maryland, Lauren VanDixhorn moved to Massachusetts for college, earning degrees in Political Science and German Area Studies before completing a Master’s in Public Health. Although she once envisioned a career in the foreign service or international missions, God led her along a different path—from project management at Mass General to full-time motherhood. Since then, Mrs. VanDixhorn has served as the Children’s Ministry Director at her church, homeschooled her four children using a classical Christian curriculum, and most recently taught three-year-olds at Mt. Calvary Christian Preschool. She also holds a certification in Early Childhood Education.

Mrs. VanDixhorn and her husband live in Acton with their four children—all Imago students—and their dog. Over the years, she has enjoyed serving in youth and children’s ministry, co-leading her church’s mom’s ministry, leading two Girl Scout troops, and becoming a licensed foster parent. Outside the classroom, she’s most likely to be cheering on the sidelines at her children’s sporting events, getting competitive during family game night, or reading a good book with her book club. 

Abigail Curran serves as a fourth grade homeroom teacher at Imago. Prior to teaching, she worked for three years as a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant in an elementary school. She enjoys pouring into her fourth grade students and befriending the families of the Imago community. When not at school, you can find her baking, learning new music, playing sports, and spending time with her family.  

Julie Weitekamp joined the Imago School faculty in 2020 as an assistant in the first grade and the second grade history teacher.  The following year, she became Imago’s fifth grade homeroom teacher. This followed years of supporting the school as a parent of three Imago students and as an occasional substitute teacher.  

Julie has a B.S. in Biology from Wheaton College (IL) and an M.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Rhode Island.  She has worked for a biotechnology company and a medical research lab as well as for a refugee resettlement agency.  After many years of parenting, foster parenting, growing vegetables and operating a market garden and CSA, Julie was delighted to begin cultivating young hearts and minds in a classroom setting.  When not at school, Julie spends time with her family and in her garden.  She also loves reading, hiking in the White Mountains, and knitting.

Zoe lives in Worcester with her husband Jai, who is a filmmaker. Together, they are preparingfor a new chapter in life as they are expecting their first baby boy.  Zoe moved to the Worcester area with her family as a freshman in high school and has called the city home ever since. She studied at Worcester State University, and got her Bachelor’s in Public Health with a minor in
Art.

Creativity has always been an important part of Zoe’s life and is something she shares with both sides of her family. Several members of her family have pursued fashion design, while her husband’s family is also full of creative people, and everyone has encouraged her own love for creating. Zoe enjoys drawing and fell in love with ceramics during high school. She also loves
floral arranging, baking (especially sourdough), and gardening as other creative outlets.

Outside of her creative pursuits, Zoe works at her church, and as a Birth Doula. She enjoys finding ways to serve others, be creative, and connect with the community around her.

Kathy and her husband Stan reside in Westford and have two daughters who were well educated at Imago. Kathy grew up learning commercial art in her father’s printing business and earned a B.A. in Art and Psychology from Bates College, where she was able to study in Paris for a short term. With teaching certification and an M.Ed., she taught elementary and middle school Art for 11 years in NH Public Schools as well as continuing education for adults. After establishing an Art program at Dayspring Christian Academy, Kathy came to Imago, and has taught Art for 25+ years. She has had articles published in Arts & Activities (now School Arts) magazine; the last featuring the work of an Imago student. Kathy’s students have been successful in national as well as regional Art competitions, and several have gone on to have careers in Art.

Worship Leader, Lower School
Grade 8 Homeroom
Pre-Algebra & Algebra II
Upper School Activities Coordinator

Nathaniel de Vries has been teaching various mathematics and science classes at the Imago School since 2020.  From 6th grade to the Upper School, he loves showing students beautiful mathematical concepts and captivating their wonder with the intricate design found in God’s creation, teaching them about His “two books” of revelation.  In 2020, Nathaniel received a Bachelor of Science in traditional mathematics with minors in physics and music from Worcester State University.  Outside of school he enjoys time with his wife and family, growing vegetables, observing stars, planets, and other astronomical phenomena, and walking in the woods in search of ferns and fungi.

Drama, Grades 6-8 | Latin I 

Steven James Weibley began directing music and drama at the Imago school in 1996, with four years off when his responsibilities as pastor required more of his time. He graduated with a B.S in Music from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, teaching music in the Lancaster, PA city schools, and later continuing his studies in preparation for ministry as a Byington Fellow at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. He took post-graduate courses at Reformed Theological Seminary (ABD) under RC Sproul among others. His two sabbatical terms at Cambridge University enabled him to take theology, exegesis, and advanced Hebrew in the British context, and theology of music under Jeremy Begbie.  Upon retirement, after 35 years as Associate Pastor and then Senior Pastor at Carlisle Congregational Church in Carlisle, MA, he was blessed to return and take on additional hours as our Latin I teacher.

Steve Weibley has delivered and published papers on the writings of his favorite author, the British Congregationalist John Owen, and serves on the Executive Council of the New England Reformed Fellowship, leading music at their annual Bolton Conference. 

He and his wife Deb have been married for 41 years in 2024 and live in Clinton (he finds Deb to be God’s very greatest blessing to him). They enjoy visiting their son Joshua Caleb, an Imago graduate, in Brooklyn, where he works as a professional artist.  

He is a composer of several orchestral works, orchestrator and arranger of the music for our Lessons and Carols program, author of some 20 choir anthems and 50 scripture songs, announcer and third clarinetist for the Chelmsford Community Band, and creator of intricate Scherenschnitte (paper “scissors cuttings”), a 17th century Pennsylvania German folk art. 

Insert bio here.

Latin II

Coleman Rafferty taught a variety of subjects for three years in a classical parochial school in Dallas before moving to Boston to commence a graduate program in theology at Boston College. Although born in Massachusetts, Coleman grew up in Northern Virginia. He is happy to be back in the place of his birth and to experience once again the manifold beauties of the New England seasons. When he is not reading theology — preferably in Latin! — he enjoys going on hikes with his wife and newborn daughter, reading fiction, and playing any and all manner of sports.