New Principal, Assistant Principal At Wenatchee's Pinnacles Prep

The Wenatchee Valley's only charter school, Pinnacles Prep, will have a new principal and assistant principal in the coming school year.

On Thursday, Pinnacles announced the hiring of Gary Keeler as principal, and Jordan Wendzel as assistant principal.

Pinnacles co-founder and Chief Operations Officer, Sara Rolfs, says Keeler is a veteran educator who brings over 36 years of experience to the position.

Pinnacles Prep Principal Gary Keeler (photo credit: Pinnacles Prep)

"He applied for the position, that's how we found him. He's a local who'd been working out of the area for quite a while and was looking for an opportunity to get back to Wenatchee. With his background in project-based learning and outdoor education, it just really felt like the right fit for us. So, he found us, fortunately."

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Keeler is a Rock Island native and graduate of Eastmont High School who has spent 13 years as an upper elementary and middle school teacher, and has also served as a principal in both the Bellingham and Northshore (Kenmore) School Districts.

Rolfs says Wendzel also brings a wealth of experience at nearly every grade level of the primary education system.

Pinnacles Prep Assistant Principal Jordan Wendzel. (photo credit: Pinnacles Prep)

"She's been up at the Orondo School District for a number of years and she's young and enthusiastic and dynamite and we're very happy that she's coming to join our team and bringing all of her varied experience."

Wendzel is a native of Western Washington who relocated to the Wenatchee area six years ago and brings 15 years of experience in education to the position of assistant principal at Pinnacles.

The appointment of both Keeler and Wednzel will also be shifting the roles of Rolfs and fellow co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jill Fineis, who had also been serving as the school's principal since its inception four years ago. Rolfs says the hirings will allow both her and Fineis to focus more exclusively on their respective jobs as COO and CEO, and will also free up both to perform other required tasks related to details such as human resources and administration.

Pinnacles offers public, tuition free classes for middle and high school-aged children in the North Central Washington area.