SCHS District Leadership Team

Amy's educational philosophy is based on her uncompromising belief that all students can learn given a positive learning environment, strong and knowledgeable leadership, and a committed, student-focused team. Prior to working as the administrator for quality programs, Amy joined Student Choice High School as the principal of the Glendale Campus in 2019 following 20 years of experience in school administration, instructional coaching, classroom teaching, and curriculum writing for school districts, state organizations, and national publishers. In addition to her work at Student Choice, she is an adjunct faculty member at Rio Salado College in the Teacher Certification Department supporting post-baccalaureate adult learners in their quest to become impactful, certified teachers. She has been the recipient of awards in many areas including the National Great Books, Great Teacher award by The Great Books Foundation, elementary teacher honoree by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and several all-star recognitions for her work at Rio Salado College.

Amy received her bachelor’s degree in education from the State University of New York College at Cortland. Over the years, she has earned additional credentials including an Arizona reading endorsement, her master's degree from Northern Arizona University with a specialization in educational counseling, an Arizona k–12 principal certificate, and a k–12 CTE teaching certificate in business and marketing.

Her educational experiences have provided her with opportunities to collaborate with diverse groups of people and to increase student achievement and well being. She is thrilled to bring her experiences to the Student Choice High School District where supporting students in powering through challenges, removing obstacles, and finding pathways to success is her passion.

Lauren Diesner – Administrator for Exceptional Students at Student Choice High School

Lauren Diesner enters her second full year with Student Choice High School and just completed her first full school year as the administrator for exceptional students. Since taking over the administrator for exceptional students role, Diesner has accomplished the establishment of special ed policies and procedures, created a tracking system for incoming students, established compliance of all IEPs, evaluations, and 504 plans, increased the members of the special education department, ensured specially designed instruction for all students, and individualized each learning experience by providing students with the accommodations and modifications necessary for their success.

Lauren also currently works weekends as an inpatient therapist at Copper Springs Behavioral Health Hospital in Avondale.

Prior to her arrival with Student Choice High School, Diesner has spent over a decade working in both public schools and mental health.

In the spring of 2018, Diesner graduated from Grand Canyon University with a double master’s in psychology and professional counseling.

Prior to that, she graduated from Arizona State University in 2012 with a bachelor of arts in a dual program of general and special education.

Diesner currently resides in Litchfield Park with her husband Derek and their four adorable fur-babies: Pippen (German Shepherd), Admiral (Golden Retriever), and their two cats Milly and Oliver.

John Sands currently serves as administrator for innovation and technology at Student Choice High School. John has over 35 years’ experience in the information technology field. Johns obtained his training in information technology while serving in the United States Air Force. He served for ten years where he was involved in programming and setting up inventory control within the commissary system. For the past 25 years he has served as an I.T. administrator, with over-site of exchanges server, Office 365, Active Directory, Cisco Phones, Smooth wall content filter, Schoolmaster Data base administrator, Over site and set up of district SharePoint site, Networking. John hold certificates in Microsoft, Cisco. John is excited to be part of the growing team!

Samantha Thompson is the administrator for leadership and accountability. She has been in education for 20 years and supports principals at all Student Choice locations. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University in elementary education and her master’s degree in administration and supervision from the University of Phoenix. Samantha has experience teaching multiple grade levels, as an ELL coordinator, an instructional coach, an AdvancED evaluator, a principal, and currently as a district administrator. She has contributed her talents towards developing and leading professional development to district leaders, parents, community, and staff. She has been involved in a variety of committees working with curriculum, state standards, data, extracurricular clubs, and college and career readiness programs. She has completed various training for Kagan engagement structures, positive behavior intervention and supports (PBIS), gifted and talented, conscious discipline, and AdvancED. She has attended conferences such as the Arizona School Administrators Summer Session and the PLC Summit Conference both focused on collaboration within a professional learning community utilizing the response to intervention (RTI) framework. Among her greatest achievements is being a principal to an NAEA exemplary model school, contributions to an A+ awarded school, and receiving the Westside Impact Teacher of the Year in 2012.

Mrs. Thompson’s most admired quote is by Maya Angelo, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Andrea Wilson is the director of student information here at Student Choice High School. Andrea obtained her bachelor’s degree in k–8 education from Arizona State University in 2005. She earned her master’s degree in early education with a k–12 reading specialist endorsement and a k–12 structured English immersion endorsement from Northern State University in 2009.

Andrea started her career as a kindergarten teacher in the Fowler School District. During her time at Tuscano Elementary she taught kindergarten and first grade. She was awarded teacher of the year and was a lead teacher. She was highly involved in the leadership teams and the parent-teacher organization on campus. During her teaching career at the Fowler School District she was trained extensively under a program called Reading First and was able to have 100% of her students on grade level.

Mrs. Wilson moved to the Litchfield School District in 2013 and became the English language coordinator for Scott Libby Elementary. During this time she oversaw students from kindergarten to Fifth grade supporting their development in the English language and also oversaw the ELL testing for the school. During her time with Scott Libby Elementary she was involved and trained in professional learning communities, she was a part of the leadership teams, and was lucky enough to help the school be awarded the A+ school of excellence.

While Andrea had two little ones at home she was able to make her schedule a little bit more flexible and became a guest teacher for classrooms all over the Litchfield School District and taught in classrooms kindergarten through fifth grade.

In 2018, Mrs. Wilson was given the amazing opportunity to join the Student Choice High School district office as the EL coordinator and oversaw the AZELLA testing, individual language learner plans, and EL standards for all the students who qualify for EL services district wide. As SCHS has grown and needs have changed, Andrea became the director of student information in 2020. Mrs. Wilson oversees enrollments, our registrar team, and submits mandatory documents that support our school label for ADE. She is a secondary evaluator for all the administrative assistants on campuses, is a part of the operational team at the district, and works closely with many district departments to make sure our systems are embedded and sustainable.

Andrea Wilson resides in Litchfield Park, Arizona with her husband and spends most of her time watching her two beautiful children on the golf course, baseball field, soccer field, or on the dance stage!

Kim Powers has served as the executive secretary at the district office for two years here at Student Choice High School. Since establishing her role as executive secretary, Kim has provided administrative and executive support-related tasks to all employees throughout the district. While working alongside the chief financial officer, Kim has successfully embedded the processes for onboarding, the benefits of human resources, and managing the district finances.

Prior to her arrival at Student Choice High School, Powers spent 12 years managing the office of a preschool through fifth-grade elementary school. Kim brings years of experience and a level of expertise with her organizational skills, attention to detail, and efficiency within our office operations.

Kim is a native of Arizona where she lives with her husband of 29 years and their two fur babies, Dakoda and Frankie. Both Kim and her husband enjoy their time watching their twins' continued success at Grand Canyon University.

Lisa Kemper-Martin joined the Student Choice family in 2019 as a district instructional specialist. She is a graduate of Arizona State University and continued her graduate-level education through Grand Canyon University and Northern Arizona University. After graduation, she accepted a teaching position in the Peoria Unified School District. After seven years in PUSD, she accepted a teaching position closer to home in the Litchfield Elementary School District and remained in the Litchfield District until joining Student Choice. Lisa’s 27 years of service in education include teaching 8th grade ELA, serving as the Litchfield Elementary middle school writing instructional coach and Verrado Heritage Elementary 5–8 site instructional coach, and currently, leading as the SCHS district instructional specialist. She has contributed her talents towards developing and leading professional development to district leaders, parents, community, and staff. Among Lisa’s greatest achievements are co-authoring Western Sky Middle School’s A+ School of Excellence, which was awarded to Western Sky; authoring and facilitating multiple district-level professional development training; and earning the Westside Impact Teacher of the Year award in 2009. Mrs. Kemper-Martin has a passion for students and is dedicated to excellence in education.

I have been in education for over 26 years

I was a captain in the U.S. Army-4.5 years in U.S.Army (reserves)

and ten years in the U.S. Army (active duty)

I graduated with a B.A. in literature, science & arts (English literature) from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) and a Master of Arts in guidance & counseling (School of Education) from Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti, MI)

As a principal and school guidance counselor, it has always been my calling to build a meaningful relationship with all of my students which would help them flourish into successful, young, and amazing adults. I have an old adage, “Give me the children that no one else believes in and we’ll show you what can truly happen when given the necessary tools to help our students succeed”.

I have been married for 30 wonderful years to my wonderful husband (Larry) and we have three beautiful children (Jeffrey, Jamaica, and Jovi)

...THIS IS US!

Karen Williams is the principal at our Student Choice High School (SCHS) Glendale location and has been in education for 29 years. She earned a master’s degree in elementary education from Northern Arizona University along with her principal certification from Brandman University. She received her bachelor's degree in elementary education at Arizona State University. Over the course of her career, Karen has been a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and assistant principal. Prior to joining the SCHS team, Karen served as the principal of a west valley middle school for seven years.

Among Karen's accomplishments are receiving the A+ Exemplary School Award during her tenure as principal. She also served on the Association of School Administrators during which time she planned and attended several leadership conferences. Karen is a certified trainer for Kagan Cooperative Learning, Thinking Maps, Write from the Beginning, and Conscious Discipline. She has also been trained on Building Trauma Sensitive Classrooms, Suicide and Self Harm Prevention, Professional Learning Communities, and Response to Intervention (RTI).

Karen is a servant leader who is dedicated to supporting students in their educational pursuits and preparing them for a successful future.