Meet our Team
Meet our team of Administrative staff, instructors, navigators, and coordinators.
Administrative
Araceli Calderon
Program Director
Araceli is from Michoacan, Mexico. Since coming to Greeley, she has dedicated her life to promoting the inclusion of immigrants and refugees' voices through advocacy and community work. She enjoys spending time with her family, including her dog, Chocolate, and her cat, Felipe.
Tony Archer
Operations Manager
Tony is a native of Colorado. He has always had a passion for music. His second passion is mentoring young adults. IRC has become a second home where he welcomes everybody.
Abby Keeler
Education Manager
Abby grew up in rural Colorado. She is excited to have the opportunity to learn alongside and guide adults in their educational journey. Abby enjoys all things outdoors, language acquisition, gardening, painting, sketching and sewing!
Syukur Munaf
Navigation & Advocacy Manager
Syukur is originally from Myanmar but was born in Malaysia. As a multilingual navigator, he enjoys reading and writing. In his free time, he likes playing soccer, lifting weights, and boxing.
Instructors
Leona Brown
ELA Instructor/Online Registration Coordinator
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Leona is from Nebraska. She speaks English and Spanish. She loves to connect with our clients who are attending remote classes. She makes sure students and teachers are communicating successfully to support our clients. She is an aspiring writer who loves teaching, baking bread and getting new tattoos.
Patricia Du Toit
ELA Instructor
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Originally from Maryland, Patricia has found home around the world. She earned her B.A. in American Studies and Business from Brigham Young University and has traveled widely with her husband and children, teaching English abroad and homeschooling along the way. Passionate about cultural exchange and community building, she now teaches ESL at the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado and English literature at Ascent Classical Academy’s Homeschool program. In her free time, she enjoys soccer, mountain biking, running, and backpacking with her family.
Mariah Foster
ELA & Digital Literacy Instructor
Mariah is a multidisciplinary creative who teaches English language and technology classes at the Immigrant and Refugee Center. They are passionate about student-centered learning and creative expression, empowering students with tools, resources, and strategies to achieve their goals in an ever-changing, diverse world.
David Isley
Citizenship Instructor/Data Specialist​
David grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. He is married with two young boys. He taught High School in Greeley for 9 years. He and his family love camping and spending time together outdoors.
Kathy Langford
ELA Instructor
Kathy teaches English. She lived in Texas before moving to Colorado in 2007. When Kathy is not teaching she enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren.
Sean Mellott
Citizenship Instructor
Sean graduated from Concordia University with a BA in History/Political Science with a focus on US History and Constitutional Law. In Sean’s tenure as the Citizenship Instructor with
IRCNOCO, nearly 200 students have become American Citizens through Sean’s encouraging
instruction. Through his strong sense of advocacy, these students have felt empowered to have
their voices heard. These students participate often in their most sacred of civic duties: Voting.
Mary Orange
ELA Instructor
Mary has been teaching at IRC since 2016. She loves using her passion for teaching for an organization that does such important and meaningful work. “I feel so privileged to welcome
and teach English to students from around the world. My life is so much richer because of each of them!” Mary graduated from Hope College with an Elementary Teaching Certification and has taught children ages preschool - middle school. She also has an ABE Certification in Literacy Instruction from the State of Colorado. Besides teaching, her life's joy is time with her family (especially her grandchildren).
Rachel Turney
ELA Instructor
Dr. Rachel is a Denver-based educator, artist, and advocate for immigrant rights. A certified teacher and reading specialist, she supports teachers and supervises student teachers with Western Governors University. Her global experience spans Hungary, Poland, South Korea, and China. An award-winning poet with three published collections, Rachel brings creativity and compassion to her work with the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado.
Susan Wang
ELA Instructor
Originally from Canada, I moved to Hong Kong, where I lived and taught English for eighteen years. Now a proud new American, I enjoy teaching at IRC—an amazing organization with wonderful staff and students. In my free time, I love exploring nearby camping spots and spending time outdoors with my family.
Suellen Winstead
ELA Instructor
Suellen is originally from California and has called Colorado home for over 25 years. After a 20+ year career as a museum curator, she joined the Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado in 2024 to pursue her passion for teaching. She holds degrees in Animal Science, Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism, and a master’s in history from Colorado State University. In her free time, Suellen enjoys reading, wildlife photography, and playing games.
Kim Arnett
ELA Instructor
Kim grew up in Los Angeles surrounded by diverse cultures, inspiring her lifelong love of languages and global connections. She began teaching English over 30 years ago in South Korea and now teaches at Front Range Community College and the Immigrant and Refugee Center. After raising six children, Kim returned to the classroom with renewed passion for helping students from all backgrounds thrive.
Tim Cavanaugh
ELA Instructor
Tim lives in Greeley with his wife, Julie. He has taught English as a second language to students from all over the world and loves experiencing different cultures.
Tawni Wingstrom
ELA Instructor
Tawni is a native-born Coloradoan. She has been married to her husband for thirty-seven years, and Taylor, her daughter, is twenty-six years old. She also has a son who is twenty-nine years old and married to his beautiful bride, Zanna. Tawni is a passionate ESL teacher, and she enjoys spending time with her family and friends.
Navigators
Karim Munaf
Community Navigator
Karim is from Terengganu, Malaysia. He speaks. Rohingya, Malay and English. He does his work with love, care and professionalism because for him it is a way to pay back the help he received from others when he arrived in the USA. He enjoys learning about new cultures, new traditional foods, clothes, camping, and soccer. He is a new dad.
Ardo Daher
Community Navigator
Ardo is from Djibouti, a small country in East Africa. She speaks Somali, French and English. Ardo's linguistic capacity and educational background have helped her build strong interpersonal relationships personally and professionally.She enjoys learning new things every day, and loves to spend time with my family. She also likes to travel and visit around the world.
Habiz Ahmed
Community Navigator
Habiz is from Maungdaw Rakhine State, Burma. He speaks Rohingya, Hindi, Urdu and Malay. He loves working in a multicultural environment and learning different languages. He is a gardener and likes hunting and sports. He is a new dad.
Georgia Coats
Community Navigator
Georgia grew up in a Greek immigrant family and also resided in a Middle Eastern community for 17 years.She values language learning as a pathway to empowerment. As community navigator her goal is to help remove barriers and advocate for others so they can thrive together in a multicultural environment.
Manuela Cibrian
Community Navigator
Manuela is from Texas. She speaks English and Spanish. She enjoys providing direct services to clients. She welcomes challenges and values team effort. She is very friendly, an outgoing person. And, she loves to spend time with her family and enjoys singing and dancing.
Rodrigue Joanes
Community Navigator
Rodrigue is from Haiti. He speaks English, Creole and French. He enjoys bringing the community together. He is always ready to support. He is a professional photographer & Boy Scout. He enjoys cooking, reading books , listening to music and writing poems.
Su Meh
Community Navigator
Su Meh is from Karenni state, Burma. She speaks Karenni, Burmese & English. She is very quiet and sweet when she works with clients and staff. She is always available to help whoever needs it. She enjoys cooking, exploring nature, and loves to play volleyball.
Yomaira Aguilera
Community Navigator
Yomaria is from Zacatecas, Mexico. She speaks English and Spanish. Her passion is to support her community. She understands how a small task can be difficult when there is a language barrier. She likes to empower others through information on community services. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, dancing and going to the mountains.
Little Learners
Yodit Abraha
Little Learners Instructor
Yodit is from Eritrea. She speaks Tigrinya and Amharic and English. She loves to help her community. She strives to achieve her goals and her journey has taught her the value of hard work. Yodit enjoys spending time with her family and watching Tigrinya dramas on television.
Kunteang Som Haskins
Little Learners Coordinator
Kunteang (she/her) is a Khmer-American daughter and sister of refugees, guided by a deep commitment to equity and justice. Passionate about the intersection of child development and refugee empowerment, she finds joy in serving her community. In her free time, she enjoys sewing, knitting, ice skating, and spending time with her family.
Morgan Nudelman
Little Learners Instructor​​​
Morgan (she/her) is a Reisher and Cumbres Scholar at the University of Northern Colorado, pursuing Elementary Education with a CLD endorsement. Fluent in English and ASL, she’s passionate about empowering multilingual children to feel seen and confident in their classrooms. A proud New Yorker from a Hispanic and Jewish family, she values language, culture, and community. Outside of school, Morgan enjoys advocacy work, journaling, and walking her dogs.
Coordinators
Wil Smith
Assistant Lead Instructor & ELA Instructor
Will is originally from the Chicago area but has lived and taught across the world—in California, Hawaii, Mexico, Mongolia, Japan, and Russia—and is happy to once again call Colorado home. He’s inspired by the incredible community at IRCNOCO, where he loves learning from his students and supporting fellow instructors. In his free time, Will enjoys reading, biking, fishing, playing sports, traveling, and spending time with his wife and friends.
Karen Jamshidi
Volunteer Coordinator
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Karen Jamshidi is from Kentucky. She speaks English, farsi and basic German. She loves to support our staff and volunteers organizing what are the needs and looking for the resources for all to be able to do their jobs. She loves dancing, hiking, painting, playing pickleball, and socializing with friends and family.