Faculty
All of our Roman Catholic faculty take an annual, public Oath of Fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
To view this oath click here.
Father Paul Dupuis
Teacher
Tom Heaston
Current Headmaster
Tom Heaston, a native of Omaha, Nebraska received his B.A. in History from Creighton University and his M.A. in Systematic Theology from Christendom College. Currently, he is studying to complete his M.S. in Education Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Tom taught four years at Mount Michael and one year at Roncalli Catholic high schools in Nebraska. In between those two positions, he spent one year as a seminarian with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. Prior to joining St. Joseph the Just, he worked for six years in sales support at Elemental Scientific, Inc., a worldwide company specializing in lab automation products.
In his free time, Tom enjoys hiking, reading, exploring historical sites, and making pilgrimages to churches and shrines. He is also an avid fan of the Green Bay Packers, Creighton Bluejays basketball team, and world champion boxer Terence Crawford who is from his hometown.
Tom seeks to foster in his students the pursuit of wisdom and a life of virtue by lifting their minds to that which is true, good, and beautiful so that, having their faculties rightly ordered, they may be truly free young men living in the service of God’s holy will.
Christopher L. Goffos
Incoming Headmaster
Christopher L. Goffos serves as Headmaster of St. Joseph the Just School for Boys, where he aims to guide young men toward a life of beauty, adventure, and excellence. His leadership advances the school’s mission of fostering authentic masculinity through the development of mind, body, and spirit within a Catholic educational environment rooted in virtue and academic rigor.
Mr. Goffos previously served as Headmaster of Embers Academy in the Northwest Chicago suburbs (2023–2025), where he taught The Chronicles of Narnia to Kindergarten through 5th Grade students, led 5th Grade literature seminars, and instructed 3rd–5th Grade boys’ physical education. During his time at Embers, Christopher was recognized for bringing renewed clarity and vigor to the school’s mission with leadership marked by conviction and a sincere love for students and families.
His previous experience includes being a Classical School Administrator Apprentice at Hillsdale Academy, Instructional Fellow in Hillsdale College’s Department of Online Learning, Associate Director of the Faculty Division at the Federalist Society, Adjunct Instructor in the Department of History at Ashland University, and Lecturer in the Department of Politics at Hillsdale College.
Mr. Goffos holds a B.A. in Political Science and History, with minors in Philosophy and Applied Music (Voice), from Ashland University, and an M.A. in Politics from the Van Andel Graduate School of Statesmanship at Hillsdale College, where he is a PhD candidate. His distinctions include John Jay Institute Fellow, Leonine Forum Fellow with the Catholic Information Center, Ashbrook Scholar, Eagle of the Cross Award from the Diocese of Youngstown, and Eagle Scout.
Born in Warren, Ohio, Mr. Goffos met his wife, Kristine, in Washington, D.C., where they were married at St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill. Drawn to Front Royal’s vibrant Catholic community and natural beauty, they view it as an ideal hometown for their children. Mr. Goffos is privileged to lead St. Joseph the Just and to collaborate with faculty and families in advancing its mission.
John Piescik
Incoming Dean of Students
John is a native of Virginia and a product of both Catholic and Classical education. After earning degrees in Theology and Philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville he began work as a teacher at the Summit Academy, a startup independent Catholic Classical high school in its inaugural year. While teaching Latin and Scripture he started to take on administrative tasks, and after earning a Masters Degree in the Administration of Education from Marymount University he took on the role of Dean of Students for The Summit.
John married his beautiful bride Kathryn in the same year as he began his work at The Summit, and in the nine years since then they have been blessed with seven beautiful children
Fr. Daniel Gee
Spiritual Director / Head Boxing Coach
Father Daniel N. Gee, newly appointed pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish in Front Royal, VA was born Dec. 19, 1967, in Portsmouth, Va., one of four children of Rear Adm. and Mrs. George Nicholas Gee of Key West, Florida.
Raised in a military family, Father Gee attended W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax before graduating from Coronado High School in Coronado, Calif., in 1986.
Father Gee studied at the University of Oregon, where he majored in Spanish, then entered the collegiate level of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania in 1989. He was ordained in 1995 after spending his diaconate year at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Arlington.
Father Gee served as parochial vicar of All Saints Parish in Manassas, 1995-99, and Our Lady of Angels Parish in Woodbridge, 1999-2003.
In 2003, Father Gee was assigned to serve at the diocesan mission in Bánica, Dominican Republic. After five years as a missionary, he returned to Virginia in 2008 to serve as chaplain of Christendom College in Front Royal until 2010 and his last posting before returning to Front Royal was at St. Rita’s parish in Arlington.
Fr. Tom Shepanzyk
High School Religion Teacher
Father Tom is a native of Warsaw, Poland. He graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, and was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2009. He served as assistant chaplain at Christendom College prior to being assigned at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Front Royal in 2021. Father Tom pursued education in Social and Political Science, Economics and Education in the US, Belgium and China. He also worked as research analyst in East-West relations and then as teacher of economics and western history in international schools and Catholic prep-schools.
Dr. Kieran J. McGuire, Ed.D.
Algebra 2 & Trigonometry Teacher
Dr. McGuire is a retired educator with decades of experience as a teacher, secondary school principal, and central office administrator in public schools in NYC and on Long Island. McGuire received his Doctorate in Educational Administration from St. John’s University in 2007; his dissertation empirically linked and verified the necessity of the practice of the virtue of Prudence, as defined by St. Thomas Aquinas, for effective administration and supervision of secondary schools.
Prior to his career in education, Dr. McGuire was employed as an Exploration Geologist by a major oil company and later gained a decade of professional experience in financial markets at the institutional level in New York and Tokyo. He and Colleen, his bride of 40+ years, combined home-schooling and formal education for their large family and are now the proud grandparents of two dozen +. He worked as an oceanfront lifeguard for decades, remains an avid swimmer, and loves to watch rugby.
Dr. Matthew Tsakanikas
Middle School Religion Teacher
Matthew completed his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD) in Rome at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. His studies concentrated in moral theology. Since 2015, he has been a professor at Christendom College where he served as the chair of the theology department. Before teaching at Christendom, he served as an academic dean for permanent diaconate formation in New Ulm under Bishop LeVoir. He also taught graduate courses in theology to transitional deacons and seminarians preparing for the priesthood at Saint Paul Seminary and School of Divinity. He directed theological institutes at Benedictine College for teachers and taught theology to undergraduates for six years in Kansas.
Dr. Tsakanikas has served as a theological advisor and ghostwriter for Catholic leaders. He has published under his own name in academic theological journals including Communio: International Catholic Review which was founded by Joseph Ratzinger. He has contributed frequently to Homiletic and Pastoral Review and the Adoremus Bulletin. His work with Robert Spitzer’s Magis Center received “Best Podcast-Single Episode” at the 2024 Catholic Media Association awards in Atlanta, Georgia. His Substack articles are carried by various Catholic media including New Advent.
He is grateful to help at Saint Joseph the Just where his son goes to school. He taught middle school 20 years ago. Matthew enjoys going to the shooting range with his sons and a little hunting. His wife Miriam is definitely his better half and they have 5 sons.
Richard Terry
Humanities and Science Teacher
Cross Country Coach
Richard Terry hails from Steubenville, Ohio, where he earned his B.A. in English from Franciscan University. He reveres knowledge of all kinds but holds a particular aptitude for Poetry and Narrative Prose. This led him to pursue stage and screen acting, as well as being published in several literary journals. With this passion and experience, he hopes to cultivate in students a zeal for the spoken and written word. For God began everything with a Word, so it is fitting that we should praise Him through words, and learn to do that well.
Jose Gbaba
Student Mentor
Jose originally hails from Liberia, West Africa and grew up in Pennsylvania. He spent several years discerning a priestly and religious vocation as a Franciscan Friar. During this time, he was immersed in studying the liberal arts, serving the poor, and working with youth and young adults. He is very passionate about educating the whole person from a worldview immersed in the Catholic intellectual, moral, human, and spiritual life. Jose has a profound love for theology, history, literature, and philosophy. He believes that these subjects assist one in growing in human virtue and can be a stimulus to advance in supernatural virtue. He looks forward to instilling in his pupils the love of Holy Wisdom which will keep their eyes always fixed on God, The Beautiful One.
Jose is a graduate student studying Clinical Mental Health Counseling, which he hopes to use to serve young people and their families. He credits this in part to his devotion to the Holy Family and wanting to see the Domestic Church come to full statue in the Son of God who died so that we might have life more abundantly. Jose believes that God has made us for greatness and that true human flourishing results in living a fully integrated life.
For fun, Jose enjoys reading, writing, playing basketball and soccer, hiking, and having game nights with family and friends. Jose also enjoys listening to music, seeing beautiful artwork, and exploring nature. He looks forward to living in Front Royal with all its scenic beauty.
Angela Dugas
Art Instructor
Holding an art history degree from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, Miss Dugas worked as the young adult campus minister at her alma mater before giving two years at the Institute of Catholic Culture, wearing many hats at the far-reaching, educational resource.
Throughout her high school and college years, Miss Dugas had the honor of studying under Mr. Henry Wingate as his first student, learning traditional representational drawing and painting in the style of the Boston and Florence ateliers. Their friendship and collaboration has continued on many projects since. In addition to teaching at St. Joseph the Just and Chelsea Academy, she busies herself with painting commissions. She has taught art at Divinum Auxilium Academy.
Dian Schmiedicke
Founder
Dian Schmiedicke grew up in the coastal community of Santa Cruz, California, the eldest daughter of Bohemian and German immigrant parents. Raised as an evangelical Christian, she discovered and entered the Catholic Church while attending college in Asheville, North Carolina in 1995.
Dian discovered Montessori and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd as a new mother searching for truth and beauty in parenting and began to study. She holds a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Warren Wilson College, an Association Montessori Internationale Primary Diploma from The Washington Montessori Institute, and a Masters Degree in Education from Loyola University. Dian also holds Levels I, II and III Certifications from The Association of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.
In 2012, Dian founded Divinum Auxilium Academy, a flourishing Montessori to Classical elementary farm school in Front Royal. In 2018, she established an all girls junior high and high school, St. Edith Stein School for Girls, of which she is Headmistress, and in 2022, founded its brother school, St. Joseph the Just School for Boys.
Dian lives with her husband and their four children in Linden, VA with their horses, pigs, sheep, chickens, dogs, cats, and bees. She enjoys raising and growing food and tinkering in her laboratory kitchen. Dian is passionate about pairing her love of nature with athletics.
She has competed in a variety of equestrian sports as well as swimming, mountain biking, triathlon, CrossFit and adventure racing. For fun she enjoys reading, hiking, fox hunting, running, scuba diving, skiing, rock climbing and backpacking with her family.
TBD
Head Rugby Coach
TBD