Career
We are always looking for qualified candidates for our roster of substitute teachers, so please feel free to submit your application. Please apply online at http://bit.ly/gspapplication or send your CV and a cover letter to recruiting at german school phoenix dot org – we look forward to hearing from you!
“The Best Little German School in the West”
NOW HIRING FOR: Teaching Positions and Executive Director
Please check out the job ad for Executive Director and job ad for Part-Time German Teacher!
Staff
[Your Name Here] – Executive Director
Executive Director
[Your bio here]
Teachers
[Your Name Here] – Teacher
Executive Director
[Your bio here]
Arun Ryan – Teacher
Arun Ryan developed an interest in the German language early on, and began to study German in his native India before coming to the U.S. He completed his education here by earning an M.S. from Drexel University. He is also certified in Instructional Systems Design, and his teaching experience includes being a Six Sigma Black Belt trainer and doing private tutoring.
Arun joined German School Phoenix in 2013 and has taught both beginner and intermediate classes. Though he lives in Phoenix, he has been running the Tempe Stammtisch for the last 30 years. His favorite way to relax is to watch TV.
Gagan Jasuja – Teacher
Gagan Jasuja was born and raised in Frankfurt, Germany, and lived there until she got married and moved to the United States in 2015. Gagan completed her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus in Sales and Marketing from Hochschule Damstadt in Germany. Along with working as a teacher at German School Phoenix, she is a sales professional at Pandora Jewelry. Besides her professional career, she enjoys being a wife and the busy mother of a beautiful baby girl.
Sarah Hashish – Teacher
Sarah Hashish was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Arizona. She is a sophomore student at Arizona State University, where she is majoring in German and Russian and minoring in Asian Languages with a concentration in Chinese. She began learning German in high school and has since taken part in two exchange trips to Germany; her last trip was a year-long exchange in Cologne, where she lived with a family and attended school. During high school, she worked as a teacher’s assistant for her then German teacher and was also president of her school’s German Club for two years.
Sarah currently works as a part-time grader for German faculty at Arizona State University and is being mentored by professors there with the goal of someday entering German academia. In her free time, Sarah enjoys reading, language learning, and bike riding.
Andrew Eledge – Teacher
Andrew Eledge was born and raised in Tennessee, where he lived until coming to the Honors College at Arizona State University, where he earned a B.S. in Accounting with a minor in German Language and Culture summa cum laude. He grew up in an American-German household, with a heavy influence in dialected German, giving him a well-rounded appreciation of the language.
Andrew’s teaching experience includes being a private tutor for ASU’s D-1 athletes. He was ranked #1 and #2 German student in the state of Tennessee in high school. Further, he was recognized as Outstanding German Student Year 4 his final year at ASU.
He currently is continuing his studies at ASU as a Masters student in Taxation while sitting for his Certified Public Accounting (CPA) license. He visits German-speaking Europe frequently, and he plans to pursue a career in international tax law.
In his freetime, Andrew enjoys learning about transportation logistics, hiking, and flying in his flight simulator.
Substitute Teachers
Elke Duncan – Teacher
Elke Duncan was born and raised in Bavaria, Germany. She has a B.A in Education from the University of Regensburg, Germany. Her majors are in German Literature and Geography. She has taught German at the International School of Arizona over the past three years and is now the Curriculum Coordinator at BASIS Phoenix Central.
Elke has three girls, is married and enjoys spending time with her family. She is very excited to be part of the German School Phoenix.
Kerstin Hipper – Teacher
Kerstin Hipper was born and raised in Mainz, Germany, and has a degree in Speech and Language-Pathology. While she has worked with patients ranging in age from one to 88, her emphasis was mostly on treating children will all types of speech and language issues. Because of this experience, she has extensive knowledge about children’s language development and age appropriate conversational approaches, and this enhances her ability to teach German to children and adolescents and to help them build their language skills.
In addition to her teaching duties at German School Phoenix, Kerstin owns a small tutoring business in Gilbert, serving clients ranging in age from elementary school to college level.
She moved from Germany to Arizona in 2011, and now thinks it’s quite the best place to live. In her free time she enjoys cooking, knitting and sharing time with her daughters.
Marketing/Community
Marketing Associate
[Your Name Here] – Marketing
[Your bio here]
Board of Directors
Dierk (pronounced like deer, but with a ‘k’ at the end) taught the Advanced class at German School Phoenix for two years starting at the beginning of 2012, and then in 2014 was appointed Director of the school. He continued to teach for another year and in the fall of 2015 passed on his teaching duties to other teachers to focus on directing the school. Dierk is currently a resident of Scottsdale, but grew up in Marburg, Germany, and came to the U.S. via the German American Exchange Student Club scholarship program. He attended Bowling Green State University (BGSU) where he received an M.S. degree, and also holds a college teaching certificate from Maricopa Community Colleges (MCC).
Dierk was awarded the Arizona State University Graduate Student Council Excellence in Teaching Award while serving as a teaching assistant and associate at ASU. He held a similar position at BGSU, has had experience as a personal tutor, and was a group tutor at The Princeton Review. Dierk was also an associate faculty member at MCC.
When he’s not busy leading the school and working at his daytime job his favorite thing is to spend time with his wife and three children.
Founders
German School Phoenix was established in 1997 by Helen and Merle Pipho.
In 1970, Helen and Merle became members of King of Glory Lutheran Church in Tempe after moving to Arizona from northeast Iowa. Merle grew up speaking German at home, so when church members expressed a desire to have their children learn German, the Piphos took the initiative and made that happen. Since then over 500 students, both children and adults, have attended German classes presented by what is now named German School Phoenix.
Merle passed away in 2018 and Helen in 2020 after retiring from her role in the administration of the school in 2018. We are very grateful to them for their role in starting German classes over 20 years ago.
Directors Emeriti
Heike Davis – Director Emeritus
Heike Davis was the immediate past director of the German School Phoenix from 2007-2014. On weekdays, Heike still teaches private German lessons to pre-school and school-age children – if interested, please contact her at Heike.s.davis@gmail.com.
Jerry Wood – Director Emeritus
Jerry Wood was the first director of the German School Phoenix from 1999-2007. Jerry still teaches German classes at Glendale Community College and serves as substitute teacher and guest speaker.
German School Phoenix 
I am of German/Polish descent and I met Stefanie Cerron-Palomino and she was a very nice woman. We shared our respective histories of our ancestry and families’ immigration history and we had a lovely chat. She encouraged me to join the school, something which I am considering very much.
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