Dole Institute announces inaugural cohort of the IDEA Program

November 25, 2025 - Features

by Travis Lamb | Program Development Officer

The Dole Institute recently named four Kansas educators to serve as the Institute’s inaugural cohort of the Innovative Dole Education Ambassador (IDEA) Program. The program is designed to empower exceptional K-12 educators to advance the Institute’s mission while also providing them opportunities to enhance their leadership skills, collaborate with like-minded professionals, and contribute to the advancement of their profession.

These educators are committed to teaching new generations of leaders – inspired by the legacies of Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole – and to creating vibrant communities through the Institute’s educational programming. Over the course of their two-year membership in the program, they’ll have opportunities to advance their leadership skills, collaborate with like-minded professionals, and contribute to the advancement of their profession.

Learn more about these educators’ backgrounds below, and get in touch with us if you’re interested in learning more about the program.

Sonja Czarnecki

Bishop Seabury Academy (HS) | Lawrence, KS

Sonja Czarnecki has been working in education for over twenty-five years, both in the classroom and as an administrator. Sonja got interested in history education by working on the Valley of the Shadow, a digital archive about the Civil War, housed at the Virginia Center for Digital History. After graduating from the University of Virginia honors program in history, she helped develop the online primary source reader for American Passages, a U.S. History textbook by Edward L. Ayers. Sonja taught Humanities at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire and then moved to Seattle, where she taught history at Lakeside School, also serving as department chair. At Lakeside, Sonja began teaching world history and has presented at several World History Association conferences. Sonja and her family moved to Kansas in 2009, where she was Head of the Middle School at Topeka Collegiate for two years, before becoming Dean of Students at Bishop Seabury Academy in Lawrence. Sonja currently teaches World History I, U.S. History, U.S. Politics and Government, and Global Studies at Seabury.

Sonja was a fellow with the James Madison Memorial Foundation, and completed her master’s degree in American History and Government in 2022. In addition to teaching, Sonja enjoys reading and research. She has published her scholarly work in Chronicles of Oklahoma and Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains. Currently, Sonja and her colleague Dr. Vanessa Eicher co-host a podcast called In Walks A Woman: Women, History, and the Stories that Shaped Us. Sonja is vice-President of the Lawrence-Douglas County League of Women Voters, and is the Lawrence Exchange Manager with the American Exchange Project, a free domestic exchange program for high school seniors.

Sonja and her husband Eric McHenry have two grown children, Evan and Sage. They live in Lawrence with a Chinese guest student, Xiadiyaer, and a tuxedo cat named Lina. 

Dave McIntire

Pembroke Hill School (MS) | Kansas City, MO

Dave McIntire is excited to join the Dole Institute for Politics’ inaugural class of IDEA ambassadors. Dave is in his fifth year at Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City, his twentieth in the classroom. He currently teaches Sixth Grade American History and 7th Grade Civics. He is a 2021 Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year (KS), 2018 BP-Ford’s Theater-Leader Award recipient, and 2015 Kansas Council for the Social Studies Middle School Teacher of the Year. He also serves on the board of the Kansas Council for History Education and is a former teacher-advisor to the Wichita Art Museum. Dave is in his 13th year as a Ford’s Theater National Oratory Master Fellow. In addition to being a NOF master fellow, he has also worked with Ford’s as a summer Teacher-In-Residence and as a teacher collaborator for their Remembering Lincoln project.

Jessica Miescher-Lerner

West Middle School (MS) | Lawrence, KS

Originally from California, Jessica Miescher-Lerner now calls Kansas her home. She was lured to Lawrence by its turn of the century homes and rolling hills. In college Jessica volunteered for Food Not Bombs and was a DJ at KJHK. Before teaching she primarily worked in social services and helped the indigent and veterans obtain benefits, was a Crisis Case Manager at a Community Mental Health Center, and ran a retirement day program for adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Jessica has been a teacher in USD 497 (Lawrence Public Schools) for 12 years, and has degrees in K-6 Generalist – Elementary Education, K-12 Special Education, K-12 Library Media Studies, and K-12 Gifted Education. Her favorite subjects to teach are STEAM, debate, diplomacy, and current/world events.  

For the last 6 years she has been a Gifted Facilitator at West Middle School and has lead countless Future City teams, National History groups, and taught Model United Nations Delegates. She lives in Lawrence with her husband and two youngest sons.

Phillip Wrigley

Topeka High School (HS) | Topeka, KS

Phillip Wrigley is a National Board Certified Teacher, enjoying his 18th year in public education, the last 13 of which have been at historic Topeka High School (THS). He serves as Social Studies Department Chair, and is a member of the THS School Improvement Leadership Team and Topeka Public Schools (TPS) Social Studies Curriculum and Assessment Team. Skilled in both Social Studies and ESOL, he teaches Government, US History, Sociology, Hispanic Studies, and Current Social Issues, and has previously taught World History, AVID, and English for Speakers of Other Languages. He founded the THS Voting Club, which encourages student civic engagement; they get students to vote and serve as election workers, compete in the Kansas Civics Games. The student organization has also hosted the Kansas Governor. In years prior, he coached the THS Scholars Bowl team.

He works to make education in Kansas better for all as Chair of the Kansas Teaching and School Administration Professional Standards Board. He serves on the Kansas First Amendment Foundation’s Teacher Advisory Board, and recently concluded six years as an elected Board Director for the Kansas National Education Association. In 2025 he became the first Kansan to receive the American Civic Education Teacher Award. Before joining the team in Topeka, he taught in Lawrence and Kansas City, coached swimming, and had a lot of fun as an outdoor educator. He graduated with honors from the University of Kansas, where he earned a B.A. in Anthropology and History, and earned his M.Ed. at Rockhurst University, where he was recognized with the Ignatian Award. He serves as the Cubmaster of his daughters’ Cub Scout pack and is a Supervising Election Judge. He lives in Lawrence with his wife Paula – the Medical Laboratory Scientist Supervisor of the Flow Cytometry and Bone Marrow Labs at the KU Health System – and their two amazing daughters. Both girls call the Dole Institute “the place with bunnies” because they so enjoy the Easter Egg Roll with Dole every year.

Travis Lamb is an award-winning educator with over two decades of experience in education, administration, and law. At the Dole Institute, he leads civic education programs for schools and community groups, including tours, workshops, and virtual classes. He holds a BA in English Literature from the University of North Texas and a JD from Washburn School of Law. His work has earned recognition from organizations such as Kids Voting, Kansas History Day, and the Bill of Rights Institute.

About the Dole Institute
Inspired by the leadership legacies of Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole, and the enduring civic contributions of the Greatest Generation, the Dole Institute of Politics strives to promote a new era of leadership that uses politics to bring people together through opportunities that emphasize bipartisan cooperation, public service, and civic education and engagement.