Satori Staff 2026
Directors:
Mike Cantlon – Satori Camp Co-founder and Director
After nearly 40 years of teaching gifted students for Spokane School District 81, Mike retired in 2018. Now, Mike is enjoying quasi-retirement by…continuing to teach every chance he gets and to anyone who will listen.
Dr. Bruce Mitchell – Satori Camp Co-founder
Bruce was a life-long teacher who co-founded Satori with Mike Cantlon. Doc was a noted researcher and author in the areas of creativity, gifted education, and multicultural education. We are a family because of Doc and he is sorely missed by the whole Satori family.
*Sara Maleki, Esq. – Satori Camp Associate Director
She is a graduate of Gonzaga University School of Law and is an attorney and shareholder at GLP Attorneys in Spokane, WA. She has had the pleasure of being the Satori Associate Director for…several years. She is totally 25 years old.
Counselors:
Satori Camp counselors are predominantly certified teachers and students in an education program. Most of our counselors are Satori campers who have worked their way into camp counselor positions.
Instructors:
*Morocco Branting – is a multi-disciplinary designer and educator based in Seattle. He teaches in the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington.
*F. Tyler Burnet – holds a MFA from University of Georgia Athens and recently completed the national tours of West Side Story and Sister Act.
*Jaxx Chadick – is an alumni of the Lakewood Institute of Theatre, the Seattle Opera’s Youth Opera Project, and a former company dancer with the Tacoma City Ballet. They are active in signing spaces and conlanging communities, with an interest in linguistics and sociology.
*Cassidy Freeman – has a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with minors in Statistical Mathematics and Biology and is currently attending Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine with an interest in small animal emergency.
Grant Habersetzer – an associate at a small wealth management firm in Spokane. He graduated from Gonzaga University with a bachelor’s in finance and will be completing a Master of Science in Financial Planning in May 2025. He is passionate about financial literacy and thrilled to be able to help educate young people on the principles of finance so that they are equipped to manage their personal finances in the future.
Charles Hause – currently teaches basic crime scene, advanced crime scene, latent prints, crime scene photography, and courtroom testimony in the Justice Studies Program at EWU. Prior to teaching, he was a crime scene responder and latent print examiner with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.
Dr. Cameron Hays – is an instructional coach from Colorado who enjoys doing historical research for games and collecting graduate degrees like they were Pokémon.
Cara Heath – completed her bachelor’s in history as well as her secondary education teaching certificate at Gonzaga University. After teaching for a few years, she completed her master’s in curriculum design and instruction at WGU. She has been teaching history and English in Spokane Public Schools as well as coaching speech and debate since 2011.
Dr. Derek Hutchinson – is a school administrator in Kansas City. Prior to his work in leadership, Derek was a teacher of highly capable children and teens. Derek’s academic background centers on the ways people learn through their life experiences and the ways those experiences shape identity.
Bo Idsardi – is an associate professor of biology and science education at EWU whose research focuses on teaching, learning, and engaging students and teachers in scientific research.
*Monica Jensen – escaped from grad school and now lives in Seattle with too many books and a foolishly large dice collection.
*Joe Johnson – graduated from Lawrence University with a BA in Theatre Arts and Psychology, after attending Odyssey and Lewis and Clark High School. An avid supporter of the Portland arts scene, his academic interests include music, language, culture, storytelling, communication, and design.
Joe Keller – is a math instructor at EWU.
*Jeri Kopet – is a legal analyst who works for a Washington law firm.
David Lott – earned a degree in Chemistry from Gonzaga University and has spent the last 25 years working in the fuel cell industry. His work developing fuel cell technology has helped generate over 20 patents covering a wide variety of topics. He now manages a fuel cell stack development team for Plug Power.
*Jennifer Lott – holds an MS in Mental Health Counseling from Western Washington University and works as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor at Gonzaga University, where she enjoys working with students to help them thrive.
Dr. Terrance MacMullan – has loved teaching philosophy at EWU since 2002. He writes and teaches about the history of philosophy, Latin-American Pragmatism and Pop Culture and Philosophy. His current research focuses on Latin American Philosophy and philosophy for children. Terry first played D&D in 1982 and has loved it ever since! When not teaching, he enjoys being a dad, acting in local theater companies, playing D&D at Merlyn’s and cosplaying as Qui Gon Jinn.
*Emily Martin – is a graduate from the Evergreen State College. She holds a master’s in teaching degree and is currently teaches English at Orting High School.
Bruce McDavis – is a 6th degree black belt in Goju-ryu Karate who has been teaching karate since 1975 throughout the Inland Northwest..
Greg McGuire – Satori’s beloved DJ brings more than 30 years of experience of DJing Satori dances. In addition, Greg works in higher education at Spokane Community College.
Erik Ness – currently working at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC) in the Education Department. He holds a BA in History, with a minor in English that he earned from EWU. He is currently working on a master’s in history degree at Eastern Washington University.
Alexis Sampson – earned an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University and then began her career in the biotech industry. She also she earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from University of Portland. She currently teaches middle and high school math at Spokane International Academy.
Dr. Shelly Shaffer – is the interim Associate Dean at the College of Professional Programs and a Professor of Literacy in the School of Education at EWU.
Carolina Suarez-Purdum – is originally from Argentina and has been teaching art for 13 years. She has her BA in Fine Arts at WSU and her M.Ed. from Eastern.
Viktoria Taroudaki – is an associate professor of Computational Mathematics at Eastern Washington University. Her specialty is inverse problems and more specifically, Image and Acoustical Signal Processing.
*Sam Thompson – is a software engineer and industrial designer. He creates websites and digital experiences, and as a hobby he tells robots how to make furniture.
Shawn Tolley – is a music teacher in Spokane, WA. His elementary music classes focus on performing music in a culturally responsible and traditional way. He leads after school performance ensembles working in World Music and Dance (Shaura), Zimbabwean style marimba (Rutsungo), and Japanese taiko (乗り越える太鼓, Norikoeru Taiko).
*Denotes former Satori campers.
