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
Scott Farrar
Interim Headmaster
Born into a military family, Scott moved often as a child before eventually attending high school in St Louis, MO. After graduating from the Naval Academy with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, he served as a Marine AV-8B Harrier pilot, retiring in 2023 after 20 years. He currently flies with Southwest Airlines.
Scott’s professional experience is primarily in aviation planning and operations, safety, training and standardization, acquisitions, administration, and maintenance management. He is most passionate about flight instructing and teaching. He is also a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, KS.
Scott, his wife Susan, and their three children relocated to Front Royal in 2024 seeking a strong community where they can continue to deepen their Catholic faith. When he is not working or running around with the family, Scott hopes to find more time to enjoy outdoor activities, play music, and train.
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.
Michael Cena
Theology and Middle School Humanities Teacher
A Virginia native, Michael was raised in Fairfax and moved to Front Royal to pursue a theology degree after studying psychology at Northern Virginia Community College. While taking online courses at Franciscan University, he fell in love with woodworking, and stepped away from academia for a few years. His passion for theology and philosophy is matched only by his passion for the native trees and flowers of the Shenandoah Valley. A frequent substitute teacher at St Joseph the Just, he is excited to be a full time member of the faculty.
William Rosson
Latin and High School Humanities Teacher
William Rosson was born in Kansas and grew up in a military family. He converted to the Catholic Faith at the age of 14, after discovering and reading about Catholicism online. He spent one year as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, studying at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in Saint Louis. Afterwards, he finished his degree at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, majoring in Classics and and minoring in History and Military Science. At Benedictine College, he participated in the Great Books Program and the Army ROTC program, through which he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army Reserve. While at Benedictine, he was instilled with a love of classical education and a desire to spread it with others. William is passionate about the spoken use of Latin in education and a proponent of the education philosophy of John Senior. Now living in Front Royal, he is happy to be part of the mission of Saint Joseph the Just to form young men in the beauty of our Classical, Catholic, Liberal Arts tradition.
Deacon David Wallace
Religion Teacher
Deacon David Wallace is a deacon of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia. He serves the parish of Saints Joachim and Anna in Front Royal and he is employed at the parish of Saint John the Baptist in Front Royal as Business Manager and Director of Religious Education. For two decades he has contributed to and supported multiple educational and catechetical initiatives throughout the Diocese of Arlington and the Archeparchy of Philadelphia. He received his BA and MA in theological studies from Christendom College (where he is also an adjunct lecturer), has studied ecclesial administration and financial management, and completed diaconal formation through the Mission Institute of the Eparchy of Chicago and the faculty of Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv. He resides in Front Royal with his wife and their eight children, as well as numerous chickens, cats, rabbits, and ducks.
Matthew McShurley
Math & Latin Instructor
Richard Terry
Humanities and Science Teacher
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.
Elijah Kim
Latin Instructor
Michael Knighten
Administrative Assistant
Michael comes from a large Catholic military family in Manassas, VA, and graduated from the Franciscan University of Steubenville where he studied History and German. After teaching at Holy Family Academy in Manassas, he went on to teach English and study for his MA in Transatlantic Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Back in America and having worked for years in corporate abroad, he has always loved the peace and community of Front Royal since he was a teen and is pleased to be here to help administer at both St. Joseph the Just and St. Edith Stein schools.
Kathryn Blicharz
Art Instructor
Dian Schmiedicke
Founder
Dian Schmiedicke is the founder of Divinum Auxilium Academy. A California native raised in an evangelical Christian home, she discovered and entered the Catholic Church in 1995. As a new mother, she encountered Montessori and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd while searching for truth and beauty in education and never looked back.
Dian holds a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Warren Wilson College, an AMI Primary Diploma from The Washington Montessori Institute, a Master’s Degree in Education from Loyola University, and Levels I, II, and III Certifications from the Association of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. She is currently working on a second Master’s Degree in Psychology with a concentration in Organizational Leadership through Divine Mercy University.
Dian founded Divinum Auxilium Elementary in 2012, St. Edith Stein School for Girls in 2018, and St. Joseph the Just School for Boys in 2022. She is passionate about pairing her love of nature with athletics and competes in equestrian sports, triathlon, CrossFit, and is an avid foxhunter, skier, backpacker, mountain biker, and hiker. She lives with her husband of 25 years and their four children in Front Royal, VA.
TBD
Head Rugby Coach
TBD