Staff Information
From Bill Alsdurf’s first teaching
assignment within a small rural school
district located in Southern Oregon in
1985 to his current decision to fulfill
a twenty-year-long dream by founding
Tall Cedars Academy in downtown Duvall,
Mr. Alsdurf’s own constant throughout
his two-decade-long professional career
has been his ability to inspire many
hundreds of students through the use of
an outstanding humanities-based academic
curriculum of compassionate excellence.
Since earning his M.Ed. from Lewis and
Clark College in Portland, Oregon in
1989, Bill Alsdurf has been fortunate
enough to have had the opportunity to
teach within a rich and varied array of
educational environments. Over the
years, he has gained invaluable and
broadly-based experience in teaching
theory and in the practical
implementation and personalization of
those theories -- and gained, too, a firm
foundation in educational administration
and practice.
A passion for creating,
organizing, developing, and implementing
a challenging multi-age curriculum has
enabled Bill to fine-tune and further
develop his own teaching philosophies
and strengths as a multi-age educator.
It is from within that belief system and
those philosophies that Tall Cedars
Academy has now been founded. Tall Cedars officially
opened its doors in September
2006 in time to welcome its first class
of incoming students for the
2006/2007 Academic Year .
Tall Cedars Academy -- and all that it
stands for -- is the culmination of twenty
years of working with and learning from
children and their families.
We warmly invite you to become a
member of Tall Cedars Academy’s small
and growing community of families during
these critically important foundation
years of your own child's intellectual
and developmental life.
We are here to help, and welcome your
questions!
“Do not train children to learning
by force and harshness, but direct them
to it by what amuses their minds, so
that you may be better able to discover
with accuracy the peculiar bent of the
genius of each.” -- Plato
Kirsten has been a resident of Duvall
since early 1992, shortly after her
graduation from Western Washington
University, where she obtained her B.A.
in Speech Pathology. She spent five
years in the child care field before
becoming a stay-at-home mom when her
oldest was born. She and her husband,
Marty, have three daughters - Kenzie,
Rylie and Lexie.
Kirsten's daughter, Kenzie, had the
good fortune to have "Mr. A" for second
and third grades, so they have seen
firsthand what a special and
life-changing teacher Bill Alsdurf is.
Volunteering in that classroom was a
heartwarming experience, and Kirsten is
thrilled to be a part of the staff since
TCA's opening day.
Mary Ellen has lived in Duvall for
the past 16 years, with her husband
Parry and children Kylie & Colton. She
graduated from Western Washington
University with a BA in Education. Her
first job was in Goldendale, WA as a 5th
grade teacher. Mary Ellen took some time
away from teaching until Kylie started
preschool. She went to work at
Braithburn Academy as the
pre-k/kindergarten teacher where she
taught for 5 years. Both Kylie and
Colton attended Eagle Rock Multi-Age
where Mary Ellen volunteered many hours
in the classrooms during their 7 years
in the program. She first had the
pleasure of working with Mr. A when
Colton was a 5th grader at Eagle Rock.
For the past 7 years, she has been
employed by the Riverview School
District.
Kari brings 30 years of experience as
a music educator, as well as a strong
commitment to the growth and education
of children to her position as music
specialist at Tall Cedars Academy. As a
college student she determined that
music would be her life’s work and
obtained a Bachelor’s degree in piano
pedagogy. Kari has worked with children
of all ages in school and church
settings, but most regularly in the
music lessons and classes she has
offered through the years from her home.
A few years ago she began to realize
that, as a piano teacher, she was
frustrated that so many students came
for their very first piano lesson
without the very basic musical skills,
and, therefore, found learning to play
the piano very difficult. As she
pondered and researched this problem,
she discovered the field of early
childhood music education. She enrolled
in training, became a licensed
Musikgarten instructor and opened her
own “Musikgarten” studio.
Kari continues to enroll in classes
to stay current on music education
training, classroom management and
instructional methods and has recently
achieved Level II certification with the
Early Childhood Music and Movement
Association. Kari feels that her
experience as a musician, her passion
for teaching, and her experience with
children have prepared her for her
position at Tall Cedars Academy.
Mel Orellana
Spanish Teacher
Born and raised in southern
California, Mel feels fortunate to have
grown up as a bilingual and native
Spanish speaker. He took an interest in
studying foreign language early on in
middle school, where he
started with French. After switching to
Spanish and even Japanese at one
point, he decided to stick with his
roots once he got to college. Mel
graduated from San Diego State
University, where he got his B.A in
International Business and Spanish. He
was lucky to have studying abroad as one
of his graduation requirements, spending
a semester living and going to school in
Madrid, Spain.
Mel's love for teaching started early
on with the helping of friends and
classmates. He took his love of
education further by becoming a
private tutor, eventually working for
Academic Advantage in California. Once
in Washington, he could not pass on the
opportunity to be part of the local
community by becoming a Spanish
Instructor here at Tall Cedars Academy
and Carnation's PARADE program. His
approach to teaching is interactive and
engaging, where the goal is to
make learning Spanish a fun and
memorable experience.
Bill Alsdurf Jr., M. Ed.
Kirsten Gunderson 
Mary Ellen Rekers 
Kari Cullimore