Meet Our Staff

Staff genuinely care about each and every child in our ACES After School and Summer Program.
​Get to know them better by reading their bios!

Cathy Hay - 'Big Boss', Site Coordinator

Cathy Hay has been teaching kids for over 30 years! In 1994 she began her own gymnastics program and conducted four different programs in Bigfork, Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls. In 2007, the first afterschool program in Bigfork began under her direction. Cathy has two grown children, an Australian Shepherd, and is married to her biggest supporter, Jon!

Robyn Paulson

Robyn is originally from Libby, MT and have been living in Bigfork, Montana for the past 20+ years. She graduated from Montana State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, Health and Human Development and an emphasis in Counseling. She has worked at a number of Summer and After School programs throughout the years and have served in the Bigfork School District as a Behavioral and Mental Health Professional, most recently.  Robyn has two grown children, one middle schooler and one, precious grandson! She loves being outdoors and reading!  She looks forward to supporting the community the best way she knows how, nurturing children!​

 Amanda Potts - kindergarten group

Amanda, your kids may know her as Panda, will be going on her fifth year at ACES. Amanda is an essential part of our team caring for our building, keeping things in order, as well as being the brave leader for our Flying ACES group (grades pk-1). Her free time is spent in the mountains, near a body of water, or playing in the trees. Regardless of where, she is happy as long as she has her two boys with her.

Jon hay - food program director

Jon, also known as Cookie, is our food program director and maintenance man. He has the very important job of making sure your kids are not only fed but are y ifed nutritious foods that they also enjoy, not an easy feat. Jon Hay is the husband of Executive Director Cathy Hay so he also has the important job of being her #1 support system. Jon and Cathy began building their own home a few years back on 5 glorious acres outside of Bigfork. His hobby is working on the house, garden and taking care of the goats, chickens and mini Aussie, Bea. ​

Constance see

Constance grew up in the Mid-West. She was honored with the WF Chamber of Commerce Award for Ambassador of the Year in 2020 for supporting volunteers and local businesses. In the workforce for more than 50 years, occupations range from hypnotherapist, au pair, map maker and journalist. She has published more than 300 magazine and newspaper articles. Her favorite job was teaching 4th graders at Sunday school. Her hobby is live theatre and her greatest joys are inspiring others to believe in themselves and guiding them to find their strengths.

Aspen Britt 

Aspen is a junior at Bigfork High School. She has wonderful, creative ideas, full of ambition and has a quiet assertiveness about her.  You can often find her making art messes in our library with a group of young artists. She was just inducted into the National Honor Society.
Aspen works Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays and is a huge asset to our program and pretty much always has a smile for the rest of the staff and kids. 

nancy henckel

Nancy is new to the program this year and we are lucky to have her and her set of assets to add to our team. Nancy is recently retired and lives in Bigfork with her husband and four dogs. Her resume includes being a Navy Nurse Corps Officer, Firefighting for Ferndale Fire Department, as well as an RN with plenty of experience with kids in pediatrics and family practice jobs. She also is able to teach the kids all about livestock as she was a 4H leader farming and raising sheep, cows, goats, chickens, and miniature donkeys. In Nancy's free time she loves to travel to visit her children, walk her dogs, ski, hike, swim, bike, and spend timeout on the water. ​

 kayley campbell - kitchen assistant

Kayley starting attending ACES as a kindergartener back in 2013!  She began working for ACES when she turned 14 years old. Over the years Kayley has been a huge asset working within ACES food program. It has been wonderful to witness her grow and become the strong, dependable worker that she is. When Kayley is not at ACES you might catch her riding her electric bike around, hanging at home or participating in school activities.