Class Information
Site Managers
We have site managers who are your go-to person if you have questions while your student(s) attends our classes. Please reach out to them with questions.
Marie Burke
Site Manager, West Education Center
Marie Burke has been in education for the past 24 years and has experience as a science specialist, an instructional coach, and as a classroom teacher. She’s taught a variety of grade levels from 1st through 8th grade. She is currently a teacher at Edinbrook Elementary school in the Osseo School District. She graduated from Bethel University with a degree in Elementary and Middle School education and has a masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She joined West Suburban Summer School in 2021 as a teacher and then became a site manager. Every year she looks forward to summers and her time supporting staff and students at WSSS. Marie is married and also a proud mom of a college senior, a high school sophomore, and a ‘senior citizen’ dog named Dash. When she’s not having fun in the classroom, she loves baking, gardening, and spending time with her family.
Cory Knudtson
Site Manager, Wayzata East Middle School
Cory Knudtson has been involved in West Suburban Summer School for over a decade. He started by teaching one class, Mock Trial 1. Since then, he has added mock trial classes, an aviation class, and currently serves as a site supervisor. During the normal school year, Cory teaches at Wayzata High School in the Social Studies department teaching 9th grade Human Geography and 10th grade World History. In addition to teaching, he enjoys spending time with his family, going for runs, and flying airplanes.
Sam Snidarich
Site Manager, Brooklyn Center Elementary
Sam Snidarich is a a Site Manager with West Suburban Summer School. This is Sam’s eighth year working with West Suburban Summer School. She was born and raised in Minnesota, but moved to Washington, DC five years ago. During the school year, Sam is a 6th grade math teacher in DC Public Schools. When she is not teaching, she enjoys going to concerts, watching football, reading, and spending time with family and friends.
Alexandra Swanson
Site Manager, Ann Bremer Education Center
Alexandra Swanson is excited to return again for another summer as a Site Manager with West Suburban Summer School! She has been a student, a teaching assistant, a teacher and now a site manager with West Suburban Summer School; you can say that she has been "attending" West Suburban Summer School since 2003.
Alexandra has served in public education for 10 years in various roles from teaching to administration. Currently, during the academic school year, she teaches Pre-Algebra at Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (ACGC). Her educational background started at the College of Saint Benedict, and continued with Bethel, Concordia Saint Paul, and Mankato State University. She possesses a MN Teaching License, K-12 Principal License, and a MN District Superintendent License.
Mrs. Swanson who recently married, lives in Hutchinson with her husband Dylan and Golden Retriever Finn.