Ms. Mamta Kapadia

Title
Faculty – Assistant Teacher

CONTACT INFORMATION

Email
(Primary)
School Phone
847.202.8035 x475

Ms. Karen Dickerson

Title
Director of Development

CONTACT INFORMATION
School Email
(Primary)
School Phone
847.202.8035 x461

EDUCATION
Degrees(s)
B.M., Music Education, Lawrence University

BIOGRAPHY
Mrs. Dickerson has been a part of Quest Academy since 1998, when her two oldest daughters entered second grade and kindergarten. Two additional daughters later, she is now the proud alumni parent of four Quest Academy alums from the Classes of ’05, ’07, ’13, and ’17. During the time that her children were in the school, she volunteered in many volunteer positions, including PSA, Auction, as a Room Parent, and as a substitute teacher. She joined Quest Academy as the Development Director in 2018 and is thrilled to be able to devote her time to ensuring the continued success of Quest Academy, the school that she loves!

Joined Quest Academy
2018

Mrs. Diane Tovar

Title
Faculty – Kindergarten

CONTACT INFORMATION

School Email
(Primary)
School Phone
847.202.8035 x418

EDUCATION
Degree(s)
B.S. Illinois State University
M.A.T., National Louis University

BIOGRAPHY

Mrs. Tovar’s favorite part of teaching is to watch her students’ faces light up with excitement when learning something new. In her class, students learn how to show kindness to others, work independently, and discover their love of learning. One of her goals is to teach students to explore new ideas while developing their skills and talents. Before coming to Quest Academy, Mrs. Tovar taught kindergarten at Da Vinci Academy for 17 years and Summit School for nine years. Her motto is, “Work hard, dream big, and never give up!”

Joined Quest
2017

Mr. Darrell Maskell

Title
Faculty – Fifth Grade

CONTACT INFORMATION

School Email
(Primary)
School Phone
847.202.8035 x401

EDUCATION

Degree(s)
B.A., Elementary Education, Newport University, United Kingdom

BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Maskell has been teaching third, fourth, and fifth-grade students for twenty years in both the UK and US. This is his eighth year at Quest. He came from Da Vinci Academy where he taught for eight years. Prior to that, he taught at the Avery Coonley School in Downers Grove. He has worked with advanced learners for twelve years and looks forward to continuing being challenged by these kinds of students. Above all, the valuing of children, raising their self-confidence, and enhancing their love of learning are his main objectives.

Teaching Awards

2007 Postive Promotions, Midwest Teacher of the Year
Sam’s Club Teacher of the Year 2007

Joined Quest Academy
2017

MEDIA

“Class project inspires Palatine fifth grader to publish her own book.”

Ms. Bernice Lau-Paredes

Title
Faculty – Second Grade, Primary Team Leader, and DEIB Committee Co-Chair

CONTACT INFORMATION

School Email
(Primary)
School Phone
847.202.8035 x407

EDUCATION
Degree(s)
B.S., DePaul University
M.Ed., National Louis University

BIOGRAPHY

Ms. Lau-Paredes loves creating challenging opportunities and developing the growth mindset of “loving a great challenge!” She encourages a literacy-rich environment in her classroom and strives to establish a love for reading in all learners. Before coming to Quest Academy, she worked for three years at an independent early childhood school teaching kindergarten and first grade. She loves working at Quest Academy because of the opportunity to provide a creative, challenging, and nuturing environment for gifted learners. There’s no other place that offers children a more personalized learning experience in the most fun way!

Joined Quest Academy
2008

Mrs. Cathy Gruzinsky

Title
Faculty – Third Grade

CONTACT INFORMATION

School Email
(Primary)
School Phone
847.202.8035 x430

EDUCATION

Degree(s)
B.S., Illinois State University

BIOGRAPHY

Quest Academy is Mrs. Gruzinsky’s teaching home, where she creates a caring and challenging environment for her students based on who each person is as an individual. She uses her talents in music, creativity, and ingenuity to use a strong gifted-focused approach toward guiding her students along their learning path.

Joined Quest Academy
1988

Mrs. Kristin Fiore

Title
Faculty – Second Grade

CONTACT INFORMATION

School Email
(Primary)
School Phone
847.202.8035 x463

EDUCATION
Degree(s)
B.S., Merchandising, Eastern Illinois University
M.A., Elementary Education, Roosevelt University

BIOGRAPHY

Mrs. Fiore has been teaching kindergarten, first grade, and second grade gifted students at Quest Academy for the last 20 years. Prior to her teaching career, she was a merchandiser for J.C. Penney. As she proceeded in her different careers, her love of helping others and teaching children took over as she discovered her lifelong dedication to education. She continues to enjoy teaching gifted children the ability to understand themselves as learners, as well as expanding their knowledge in all interests.

Joined Quest Academy
2003

Mrs. Deanna Armentrout

Title
Faculty – Lower School Performing Arts

CONTACT INFORMATION

School Email
(Primary)
School Phone
847.202.8035 x492

EDUCATION
Degree(s)
B.F.A, Theatre, University of Detroit Mercy
M.F.A., Performance, University of Texas at Austin

BIOGRAPHY
Mrs. Armentrout is passionate about drama and its impact on people’s lives. She remains committed to nurturing people’s gifts and abilities to communicate clearly and creatively. She is dedicated to inspiring others to love the actor’s process and to direct each student toward authenticity through disciplined practice. Mrs. Armentrout performed in the drama ministry at Willow Creek Community Church where she trained and developed student and adult actors and upfront communicators. She has directed and performed for various organizations across the U.S. and the world, with the goal to entertain and demonstrate how the arts can bring clarity to content and engage the listener.

Joined Quest Academy
2013

Privacy Policy

Home 9 Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Protecting your private information is our priority. This Statement of Privacy applies to the www.questacademy.org website and Creative Children’s Academy and governs data collection and usage. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, unless otherwise noted, all references to Creative Children’s Academy include www.questacademy.org and Quest. The Quest website is a school site. By using the Quest website, you consent to the data practices described in this statement.

Collection of your Personal Information
Quest may collect personally identifiable information, such as your name. Quest may also collect demographic information, for the purposes of following up and scheduling tours of our institution. We may gather additional personal or non-personal information in the future.

Quest encourages you to review the privacy statements of websites you choose to link to from Quest so that you can understand how those websites collect, use and share your information. Quest is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on websites outside of the Quest website.

Use of your Personal Information
Quest collects and uses your personal information to schedule tours, events, and other institution-related activities.

Quest may also use your personally identifiable information to inform you of other products or services available from Quest and its affiliates. Quest may also contact you via surveys to conduct research about your opinion of current services or of potential new services that may be offered.

Quest does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties.

Quest may share data with trusted partners to help perform statistical analysis, send you email or postal mail, provide customer support, or arrange for deliveries. All such third parties are prohibited from using your personal information except to provide these services to Quest, and they are required to maintain the confidentiality of your information.

Quest will disclose your personal information, without notice, only if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) conform to the edicts of the law or comply with legal process served on Quest or the site; (b) protect and defend the rights or property of Quest; and, (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of Quest, or the public.

Contact for Marketing & Information Purposes

By not opting out of the first and subsequent text messages from Quest Academy, you expressly consent and authorize Quest Academy to contact you at the phone number and email address used for registration, including by email, automatic telephone dialing system, text message, or artificial voice or pre-recorded message, to provide recurring promotional material, informational material and notices of events from Quest Academy. You understand that standard message and data rates may apply to texts, and that you can reply STOP to a text message to end all further text messages or reply to text messages to receive answers to questions.

Opt-Out & Unsubscribe

We respect your privacy and give you an opportunity to opt-out of receiving announcements of certain information. Users may opt-out of receiving any or all communications from Quest by contacting us here:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 847.202.8035

Security of your Personal Information
Quest secures your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When personal information (such as a credit card number) is transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.

Children Under Thirteen
Quest does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of thirteen. If you are under the age of thirteen, you must ask your parent or guardian for permission to use this website.

Changes to this Statement
Quest will occasionally update this Statement of Privacy to reflect company and customer feedback. Quest encourages you to periodically review this Statement to be informed of how Quest is protecting your information.

Contact Information
Quest welcomes your questions or comments regarding this Statement of Privacy. If you believe that Quest has not adhered to this Statement, please contact Quest at:

Creative Children’s Academy
DBA Quest Academy
500 North Benton Street
Palatine, Illinois 60067

Email Address: [email protected]

Telephone number: 847.202.8035

Effective as of March 1st, 2023