Faculty, Staff & Board

Anne Griffin

Originally from New Hampshire, Anne attended both Pine Hill and Monadnock Waldorf schools. She spent many summers at Camp Glen Brook and credits her love of crickets, lake swimming, and starry nights to her time there. Anne has called Western Massachusetts home for over 20 years and has two children at the Hartsbrook School. Anne came to Hartsbrook as the Director of Development after 15 years in higher education enrollment management. As the Director of Advancement, Anne is excited to support Hartsbrook’s development, enrollment, and auxiliary programs departments.

Nicki Robb

A co-founder of Brookfield Community Farm in Amherst, Mass. NIcki has been involved in bio-dynamic agriculture and farm-based education developing an agricultural arts curriculum for students throughout all grades and abilities. She developed and administered the School-To-Farm Program at Hampshire College for 15 years. Her eldest son James was in the first class at Hartsbrook and younger son Daniel following close behind, graduating in the classes of 1993 and 1996 respectively.

Laurie Zacek

Laurie has enjoyed working with the Hartsbrook community and caring for students. Her work experience includes working in the Mercy Hospital ICU, CCU and Pulmonary Care units before coming to work at Hartsbrook.  Time flies and it seems impossible that all her five children who went to school here have graduated! She is so happy to continue to be part of this community and to be able to work with and take care of all of your children!

Rosemary McNaughton

Rosemary has served in many capacities in the school.  Having been a math and physics teacher in the high school beginning in 2010, a love of numbers and all things orderly led her towards increased administrative responsibilities through the years including service on the Board’s Strategy Committee, with the former Long Range Planning Committee, and on the Finance Committee since 2020. As Finance and Operations Director, Rosemary brings decades of volunteer financial management experience with various community organizations such as local branches of La Leche League, the University of Toronto Graduate Student Union, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, as well as financial and property management experience with the intentional communities she has lived in since graduate school: the Bain Cooperative Apartments, a complex of 260 mixed-income townhomes in Toronto, and the 28-household Rocky Hill Cohousing in Florence where she has been on the Finance Committee since 2004 and helped shepherd the community from ground-breaking through its first two decades. She and her husband brought up their two children there, who graduated in the Hartsbrook classes of 2023 and 2025. In her free time Rosemary also enjoys yoga, wild fermentation, and occasionally making use of her operatic training as a mezzo-soprano.

Melanie Whitney

Music has always been a driving force in Melanie’s life. She began conducting choirs as a high school student. Since then, she has maintained a private voice studio and has taught music in public and private school classrooms.  She has experience working with children, Pre-K to Grade 12,  as a choral director, voice specialist, general music teacher, and music theory instructor.

Melanie served as the Head of the Music Department, director of festivals, Grades 1-5 music teacher, and member of the Teacher Leadership Committee at a Waldorf-methods Charter School in Fogelsville, PA. Contributing to an educational system she believes in is extremely important to her. Melanie is a constant seeker of knowledge and enjoys learning from her students and colleagues.

Elyce Perico

Elyce loves to play!  Starting with music, she was a professional flutist and Suzuki teacher in Miami, FL before her daughter, Kiara Ana, was born.  Discovering Waldorf education led to a change in career that has provided life-enhancing opportunities, including an ever-deepening passion to learn about the connection between early development, movement and learning. She loves to play outside and inside, in movement and collaborative music.  The joy of working with children and families for over 40 years continues to be a constant source of inspiration and discovery, and Elyce is grateful to keep growing and learning in this wonderful Hartsbrook community.

Tyler Young

Maggie Testa

Maggie Testa comes to Hartsbrook with over two decades of teaching experience. She is a graduate of Penn State University with a B.S. in Elem. Education. Maggie taught in public and private schools for over a decade before discovering Waldorf education. For the next decade, she homeschooled her three children, embracing the Waldorf curriculum and its integration of academic, artistic and practical work. In addition to being a class teacher, she has since shepherded two classes, 1st-5th and is currently leading the Class of 2037. Maggie has been an outdoor educator, founded and led a nature-based preschool program and directed summer camp programs.

Heather Damon

Laura Quayle

Laura learned about Waldorf education while working on a farm in France and began teaching Spanish at the Desert Marigold School right after her graduation from college. She went on to become a class teacher at Cape Ann Waldorf School for seven years, until the birth of her daughter. As a class teacher, Laura loves deepening her relationship with children and families through the grades and the excitement of bringing a new curriculum each year. She takes joy in the breadth and variety of the curriculum–and particularly loves to see her students come together in song and movement. Laura began teaching at Hartsbrook in 2018 and lives in Amherst with her husband and daughter. Laura loves to dance, bike, play fiddle, and spend time in the woods.

Brian Jacques

After living in the UK for 23 years, Brian returned to the US to be an elementary class teacher. Brian was a co-founding class teacher of the St. Michael Steiner School in London, and then co-founded the high school in 2012, where he taught English. He was also a tutor and co-director of the London Waldorf Teacher Training Seminar. During his time in England, Brian learned blacksmithing and taught several high school classes this skill. Brian received his BA in English from UMass Lowell, a Waldorf Teaching Certificate from Emerson College, UK, and an MEd in Waldorf Education from Antioch University New England.

Jan Baudendistel

Jan began her teaching career right out of college, first as a public school teacher in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and then at the Frankfurt International School in Oberursel, Germany. Following her Waldorf training in Stuttgart in the mid-eighties, she returned to the United States to become one of Hartsbrook’s first class teachers. She has led four classes from first through eighth grades, and has also spent time as the Elementary School Department Chair. Jan is married to James Pewtherer, also a long-time Waldorf teacher, and has five step children who were Waldorf students from Kindergarten through grade twelve.

Jan has been on the Board as a member of the Conference and has served as one of Hartsbrook’s delegates to AWSNA since 1988, was a member of building committees for the Homestead renovation and Hartsbrook Hall, and has served on Long-Range Planning and Buildings and Grounds (now Campus Committee).

Jessica Stark

Jessica has always been fascinated by other people and cultures. After two years in China and Japan,  she gained a much broader perspective of the world but also a deeper appreciation of the commonalities we share in being human.  Working with students in Hiroshima was the decisive point when she realized she was a born teacher, and abandoned thoughts of law school.  When she saw the curriculum for Waldorf teacher training, she was hooked on its deep, rich, meaningful approach to learning and to life, which resonated with her spiritual striving and affirmed the vital importance of creativity and the arts.
Jessica is well along her second time of bringing a class through an eight-year teaching cycle.  Jessica has worn many other hats here at Hartsbrook: subject teacher, faculty spouse, admissions coordinator.   Most importantly,  she is a Hartsbrook parent, the mother of two Hartsbrook graduates who are now in their mid-twenties.
Jessica looks back at all the educators in her family, and it is no wonder that she finds herself in the classroom.  Yet it is this education, and this beautiful school, that spoke to her and awakened her love for teaching.

Liz Bedell

Liz has worked in independent schools for over 25 years, wearing various hats. She has taught English all the way along, with some History and Latin thrown in, as well as played assorted administrative roles.  She loves teaching writing and literature, and creating space for students to discern and discover their own stories as they read and write.  Liz is also a writer, translator and editor, who is completing a novel set in post-World War I France.

Thomas Heineman

Thomas has been teaching, in one capacity or another, for the last thirty years: teaching in traveling folk schools, Japanese elementary, middle and high schools and public schools. He has been with the Hartsbrook high school faculty since 2004. 

He first came to the Pioneer Valley in 1984 to help with the construction of the Leverett Peace Pagoda and has worked for human rights and civil liberties in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Korea, traveling extensively throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas. He has guided educational tours with high school students and young adults in Europe, Japan, Central America and the Caribbean. He and his family returned to the United States in 1999 after living in Japan for several years so that his two children could attend Hartsbrook. His son Casay, and daughter Nora are both graduates from Hartsbrook, class of 2011 and class of 2014 respectively.

Naomi Henderson

Naomi holds a BA with honors in Art History from Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. She is also a Waldorf graduate, having attended Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, New York from kindergarten through twelfth grade. She completed her Waldorf teacher training at the Center for Anthroposophy in Wilton, New Hampshire.

Naomi is an artist who works in many different media, but focuses primarily on painting and collage. She has displayed her work in galleries across the Southeast.

Chip Weems

A professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Chip conducts research in high performance computer architectures and parallel algorithms, and has written 29 introductory computer science texts. He is a recipient of the University Distinguished Teaching Award, The Association for Computing Machinery has also recognized him as a Distinguished Educator, and he has received the IEEE Taylor-Booth award for outstanding contributions to computer science education.

At Hartsbrook Chip teaches Computer Science, Computer Skills, Astronomy, and Photography. He has previously taught Geology, Meteorology, Physics, Child Development, Calligraphy, and Stone Sculpture.  He spent two years in Waldorf Foundation Studies before becoming a founding member of the high school faculty. Since then he has pursued an extensive program of professional development in Waldorf Education, and is a member of the Pedagogical Section of the Anthroposophical Society. He has written extensively on computer science education in Waldorf schools, consults with other Waldorf schools on their technology curricula, and has led multiple focus group workshops at the AWSNA national conference. He advises the Yearbook Photography Club, which contributes photos to the Hartsbrook bulletin and yearbook. His two children were students at Hartsbrook.

Christa Joy Andersen

Christa spent her childhood surrounded by the forest in rural Western Massachusetts. Her love for the natural world took root in those formative early years climbing trees, overturning fallen logs, and experiencing each season unfolding. Arriving in teaching from a long lineage of educators, Christa has taught in early childhood education for over fifteen years and helped create the forest learning program at Hatfield Elementary School. 

She can’t think of a better way to spend one’s time than with children as they play, imagine, and delight in the natural world. Christa is the mother of three children. When she is not teaching, she loves spending time outdoors with her family, playing her guitar, writing songs, and baking muffins.     

Anna Romer

Anna has been an educator for nearly two decades and has taught in both public schools and progressive independent schools. Anna is drawn to the Waldorf pedagogy for the space it holds for children to slow down and stay curious and playful as they develop into their unique and authentic selves. She is drawn to Hartsbrook for the service-oriented and inclusive community and the stewardship of the land. Anna holds a Masters in Education focused on early childhood education from Bank Street College and studied Literature and Gender Studies at Bard College as an undergraduate. Born in New York City, Anna spent her middle school and high school years in Sag Harbor, a small town on the East End of Long Island, where her parents have run an organic vegetable farm for the past 30 years. From this experience Anna has a deep appreciation for the land and the work of bringing food to the table. Anna and her family are avid hikers and bikers, and love camping and adventures in nature. Anna loves a good wilderness picnic, and her favorite cool weather hiking lunch is tacos kept warm in a lunchbox along with a thermos of mint tea.

Valerie Poplawski

Valerie’s youthful idealism led her to pursue a BA in Social Administration and Politics at the University of Lancaster, England. After college she rekindled her love for the arts, particularly dance, music, literature and poetry. Whilst working in Bristol, England, Valerie was introduced to the work of Rudolf Steiner through its many practical applications – in Waldorf education, therapeutic education for children with disabilities, medicine, and commerce among others. She was at once intrigued and inspired for here was work that synthesized her idealism, artistry, her wish to be of service and her zeal to bring change and goodness to the world. Valerie completed a four year Eurythmy training at the Ringwood Botton Camphill Eurythmy School, followed by a pedagogical eurythmy training at Emerson College, in Sussex, England.

Valerie came to Hartsbrook in 1988 and taught Eurythmy in kindergarten and grades 1 – 8, and Handwork in grades 1 – 6. In 1993 she took some time away from teaching when her children were young, and in 1996 she co-founded our Cricket on the Hearth program. From there she began to teach Nursery and then Kindergarten, and in 2001 returned to full time work in the Early Childhood programs. Valerie feels blessed and deeply grateful to have spent most of her adult working life in this wonderful school community. To be in the presence of the youngest children in our school is to be surrounded with joy, laughter, love and sweetness – what a gift!

Chris Shaw

Chris came to Hartsbrook in 1995 when her eldest child was just four years old and she was studying environmental science at UMASS Amherst. Chris very quickly fell in love with the community and with Anthroposophy. She began working as an assistant in the kindergarten when her second child came to Hartsbrook school in 2000. In 2006, when her third and final child was just 9 months old, Chris earned her masters degree in Waldorf early childhood education., She joined the full faculty as a lead kindergarten teacher in 2016 and as a Board Member in 2024.

In her spare time, Chris enjoys wandering in the forest with her two dogs,  puttering in the garden, and caring for her unruly flock of free-range chickens.

Catherine Hopkins

Catherine has been a long-time class teacher at Hartsbrook, having promoted her third class from 1st through 8th grade in 2014.  Catherine has served many roles at Hartsbrook including co-teaching the sustainability block in the high school, developing our teacher mentoring and review program, mentored elementary school teachers and is currently the Fifth Grade Class Teacher.

Catherine graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a BA in history and education and a M.Ed in counseling and community development. She taught in public schools and at an international school in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia. She has a certificate in graduate studies in Waldorf Education from Antioch University New England.

Catherine has enjoyed traveling with her husband and is dedicated to connecting young people to the land, whether canoeing the Connecticut or exploring our local food-scape.

Bettina Jungen

Knowing five languages, Bettina emphasizes the importance of language skills as a key to different cultures and ways of thinking. As an art and poetry enthusiast and former ballet dancer, Bettina often embeds language learning into a synthesis of the arts. Bettina has been teaching for many years starting by teaching German in Russia, and Russian and Art History in Switzerland. Locally Bettina has been the curator at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College.

Mao Mao Liebert

My interest in Waldorf education has grown, and continues to grow, over the last 15 years while my children have attended the Hartsbrook School. Years ago, in order to deepen my understanding of Waldorf Education, I started attending many different Waldorf foundation studies, and also various workshops for parent-child classes. From 2021-2023 I completed my Waldorf early childhood teacher training and received my Birth-to-Three Certificate from Sophia’s Hearth, a nonprofit organization specializing in Waldorf early child education. 

I started working at the Hartsbrook School in 2016 as an early childhood substitute teacher and then as an assistant teacher for Cricket on the Hearth, our parent/child program. Since 2020, I have been a lead teacher, offering both indoor and outdoor classes. I am very passionate to share what I have learned, and continue to learn, with the families who come to my classes. 

Before teaching at Hartsbrook, I was a professional dancer for 10 years in China. I moved to the United States in 2006, and in 2012, I completed my BA in Anthropology at UMass Amherst. 

Outside school, I love spending time with my family.  I also love cooking, doing pottery, tending my gardens and taking walks with my dog in nature. Although dancing is not my usual routine anymore, movement is still very important to me. I love to do yoga and dance at home for fun.

Amanda McNamara

Katharine Payne

Katharine earned her degree in Music and German from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and then went on to complete her Waldorf teacher training at Emerson College in Forest Row, UK. She has taught as a class teacher at the Hartsbrook School, and handwork at the Hawthorne Valley School. When she is not in the shop at Hartsbrook, she can be found at home with her family in Ashfield in stewardship of a beautiful colonial farmstead.

Rami Baglio

Rami is an artist and educator who spent years studying classical drawing and painting in France, New York City, and Santa Fe, NM. She’s worked with adults and children of all ages, and she loves to share her love of learning and to work with the myriad of ways that different individuals learn.

Having returned to the Pioneer Valley in 2021, Rami is thrilled to be joining the Hartsbrook School and community. She is an alumna of the Aurora Waldorf School in East Aurora, New York, and an avid supporter of Waldorf education which has had a tremendous impact in shaping her as a person and providing her with the tools she needed to navigate the world with thoughtfulness, ingenuity, and an open heart and positive mind.

Catherine Linberg

Catherine Linberg is leading the Early Risers program at Hartsbrook, supporting a fourth-grade student, and acting as the librarian in Hartsbrook Hall. She also substitutes in the grades, early childhood, our extended day program, and the main office.

Catherine has degrees in English and Theatre, including a Master’s from Brown University. She has worked in theatre, college textbook publishing, and as a public school librarian. Catherine also volunteers as the archivist at St. John’s Northampton, volunteers in the Eric Carle Museum Library, and works in the Emily Dickinson Museum gardens. She enjoys shapenote singing, gardening, and has criss-crossed the country: living in Northern Kentucky, Southern California, Southern Rhode Island, Northern California, and Northern Virginia— before settling in Western Massachusetts for the last decade, embracing Waldorf education.

Angela Leclerc

Before moving to the Pioneer Valley Angela taught for seven years in a charter school in Queens, NY. In this highly multi-cultural environment, she found great fulfillment connecting with young people and their families. After taking time off to bring two children of her own into the world, she is pursuing her certification in Waldorf teaching. She has traded in the celebration of the city for the beauty of the rural countryside. In her spare moments, when she is not spending time with her husband and children, you can find her gardening or crafting.

Nathalie Lewis

Nathalie’s love of children, nature, and creative expression brought her to The Hartsbrook School.  She has been teaching young children for seventeen years and has worked in a variety of program curriculums but ultimately found that Waldorf pedagogy resonates with her the most as it allows for holistic and unhurried development of the individual. In her spare time, Nathalie enjoys hiking, camping, gardening, yoga, and artwork.

Jamie Rochon

Jamie is a licensed art educator (Pre-K – 12) and has been teaching art at various grade levels for over 10 years – with a particular passion for fiber arts! With her own children entering school age, Jamie developed a deep interest in finding an education system that focused on the human gifts of individual students and was drawn to Hartsbrook. Jamie obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies from Mount Holyoke College, post-baccalaureate in Art Education from Westfield State, and Master’s in Art Education from Boston University. She is currently the Handwork Teacher for grades 1-4 and a Teaching Assistant.

Kayoko Sugahara Rodriguez

Kayo moved from her native Tokyo to Massachusetts several years ago.  Of all of her professional experiences, she has enjoyed being with children the most, and so she feels fortunate to be in the Early Childhood program. In Japan, she pursued her interest in Waldorf Education through study and working as an assistant in Eurythmy, watercolor and music classes.  She enjoys relaxing with her family and cats.

Paule Sustick

Originally from northern Virginia, Paule moved to this area to attend UMass Amherst, where she earned a BA in Landscape Architecture.  After graduation, Paule worked in Springfield designing residential and commercial landscapes.  As the Land Stewardship Assistant Director, she enjoys working with students, animals and spending time on our land. Outside of school Paule enjoys yoga, gardening, hiking, swimming and spending a lot of outdoor time with her family. Paule has 3 children who all attend Hartsbrook and her husband is an alum of the 8th grade class of 1993.

When Paule was a student she had a part-time job at Bruegger’s bagels where she had to wear a sandwich board that said: “ try our eggs”.  Perhaps the Hartsbrook chickens would like the same PR!

Ed Mann

Ed is a quiet presence at Hartsbrook, but his work has a substantial effect on everyone. He builds, fixes, and improves everything on campus, including, leaky sinks, clogged drainage pipes, broken thermostats, crooked chairs, and so much more. Ed is quite a celebrity in the Early Childhood classes and a chorus of “Hi Mr. Mann!” can be heard whenever he walks by the play yard. We are grateful to Ed who has kept Hartsbrook running smoothly for the last fifteen years.

Vesna Vasovic

Krista Wathne

 Krista Wathne, Advancement Assistant, feels lucky to work with our lovely Hartsbrook families, staff and faculty. She worked as a massage therapist in New Jersey and San Francisco before moving to the beautiful Pioneer Valley with her family. Years before, she was a student at Smith College and babysat for a boy who went to Hartsbrook. Now, her own boys are graduates of the high school and she still loves welcoming new families to the school.

Janis Abbingsole

Board of Trustees, Chair

Janis is Board Chair, and serves as a member of the Strategy Committee. She is also the Chief Operating Officer of King Arthur Baking Company, a 100% employee-owned founding BCorp headquartered in Vermont. Her hobbies include trail running/hiking, gardening, baking, and making cocktails.

Jessica McCormack

Board of Trustees, Secretary

Jessica is Board Secretary and a member of the IDEA Committee. She has two children at Hartsbrook and works as Sr. Counsel, Director Global Ethics and Compliance. She enjoys spending time in nature, listening to audiobooks, knitting, and baking.

Brennan Smith

Brennan is a Board Member and Trusteeship Chair. He is also a permaculture food forest grower, organizational leadership consultant, Aikido practitioner and frisbee-thrower.

Nicole Roma Thurrell

Nicole is a recipient of the Massachusetts Excellence in Science Education Award for curriculum developed for and delivered to Hartsbrook High School students. She is also Chair of the Enrollment Committee for the 5th year, and CEO and Director of Education at Institute for Wild Med, an emergency response preparedness company that specializes in delivering the most accessible, current, well-organized, useful, and painless CPR, First Aid, and Wilderness Medicine trainings so our students can feel ready for anything. She holds bachelor degrees from the University of North Carolina in Recreation Therapy and Psychology, and is a Wilderness EMT. She has worked in all aspects of Wilderness Therapy for almost 10 years.

Olivia Stokes Dreier

Olivia’s eldest son graduated Hartsbrook in first 8th grade; was an active early parent and board member; third board chair. She is a member of Major Donors sub-committee of the Development Committee and of the Land Stewardship Committee. Olivia is also Senior Advisor to Karuna Center for Peacebuilding (retired ED); and an independent consultant in international peace-building.

Robin Harris

Robin is active in the school community as a Board Member and longtime member of the Enrollment Committee. Her son graduated Hartsbrook with the class of 2022. Robin also attended Waldorf School where her father, Junius Harris, was a founding member of the The Detroit Waldorf School, one of the first nine Waldorf schools in North America, and a founding member of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA).

Michelle Ong-Hendrick

Michelle Ong-Hendrick is a Board Member as well as an accomplished director, teacher, producer and actor. She spends her days as a Trinity College Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance.

Maria José Botelho

Maria José is a board member, IDEA committee member, and parent of two former Hartsbrook students (K-8). She also is Professor of Language, Literacy & Culture at the UMass Amherst College of Education where she teaches graduate courses in K-12 critical literacy education, multicultural literature, ethnographic ways of knowing and doing, and writing.

Swansea Benham Bleicher

Swansea is a Board Member and parent of two Hartsbrook graduates. She is in her 18th year as Director of Northampton Parents Center and is currently working on her Masters in Social Work at Boston University; For fun she plays fiddle and sings with Kingfisher Duo.

Jillian McLeod

Jillian McLeod is a Vice Chair of the Board of Directors and associate professor of mathematics at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, who has also spent time at UMass Amherst as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow.

Lisa Chodos

Lisa is tasked with managing the administrative aspects of summer camps, before & after-school programs, and other student centered enrichment programs. She ensures the smooth running of camps and additional program offerings, while providing logistical support to Faculty and Staff.

Alex Lester

Alex comes to Hartsbrook with 12 years of experience teaching science and math in independent and public schools. While attending graduate school at Princeton for environmental engineering, Alex discovered a passion for teaching and working with students. He was selected to be a part of the Knowles Teacher Initiative, completed a Masters in Teaching at Smith College, and has been in high school classrooms ever since. In addition to his work in the classroom, he has also led youth outdoors programs and now serves as a senior fellow with the Knowles Teacher Initiative. A particular interest of his is student dialogue in the science classroom and using it as an avenue for sense-making.

When he is not teaching, Alex enjoys spending time with his spouse and two children (age 8 and 14) and getting outdoors to hike, bike, and cross-country ski.

Dina Levi

Dina Levi (she/they) joined Hartsbrook as the High School Chair with over 20 years of experience as an educator. Dina has served as a high school Director of College Counseling, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, teacher and administrator. Dina has created and led teacher education and leadership development programs and facilitated parent educational workshops, but her true passion lies in helping to cultivate in students a sense of identity, purpose, and connection to the community. Dina’s commitment to meeting students and families where they are, creating mission-driven, developmentally appropriate learning opportunities, and helping students connect what they are learning in the classroom to making a difference in their community has drawn Dina to Waldorf education and Hartsbrook. Born and raised in Cleveland, OH, Dina has also lived in Connecticut, Oakland, CA, and Chicago, IL before making a home in Northampton where they currently live with their wife, two kids and two cats.

Art Middleton

Art Middleton is a writer and educator who has been teaching for over a decade in colleges and universities here in Western Massachusetts and in the Bay Area of California. Art’s teaching is centered on the belief that reading and writing draw us deeper into the world rather than offer an escape from it, and is committed to literature’s potential to enlarge our sense of who we are, who we’ve been, and what we can become. When not teaching, Art is parenting, reading, listening, walking, and thinking, often accompanied by a dog and a strong cup of coffee.

Courtney Castañeda

Courtney Castañeda is an active teacher and performer. She is the former Orchestra Director at the University of Texas Elementary School where she taught for eight years, and is the former Assistant Director of the UT Austin String Project. She holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in both cello performance and psychology from the University of California, Davis and a Master of Music degree in cello performance from California State University, Sacramento where she was a teacher in the Sacramento State String Project.

She completed her Master of Music degree in Music and Human Learning from the University of Texas, Austin, and she also earned her K-12 teaching certification. A native Texan, Courtney began playing violin and cello thanks to her public elementary school in Houston, and she is a strong supporter of public school music education. She taught privately for seven years in northern California, coached chamber music for the Sacramento Youth Symphony’s Summer Chamber Music Workshop, and played in music festivals in Paris and Eisenstadt.  Courtney was the Operations Manager for the Sacramento School of Music, and served as the Business Administrator for the Suzuki Music Institute of Dallas for two years.

She received her Suzuki Cello Teacher Training (books 1-6) from Dr. Tanya Carey, and her Suzuki in the Schools training from Dr. Laurie Scott. Courtney plays cello in the Austin-based indie-folk band, American Dreamer, and with acclaimed singer/songwriter Ray Prim. She currently lives in Easthampton with her husband and two year old.

Genilson DoCarmo

Genilson DoCarmo is a Brazilian-American, originally from Aracaju. In 2005, he relocated to the United States, but his commitment to youth development dates back to 2002 in Bolivia where he dedicated a year in varying roles. 2005 marked a significant transition in Genilson’s life as he moved to the U.S. to marry his wife, Tania. The couple set up their initial residence in California, then went to Cambodia. In Phnom Penh, Genilson coached soccer, taught life skills and conversational English to young Cambodians getting ready for the job market. DoCarmo speaks Spanish, English and has a superficial knowledge of the Khmer language.

In 2019, DoCarmo completed his B.A. in Social Policy and Public Service with a minor in Chicano-Latino Studies from the University of California Irvine in the School of Social Sciences. He discovered Waldorf education while looking for a more holistic approach to education for one of his sons and discovered The Hartsbrook School.

In 2020, the DoCarmo family moved to Massachusetts where their children became students at The Hartsbrook School, and DoCarmo went to work in Holyoke Public Schools as Student Support and Special Education Teacher working with students in grade 1-12. While at Holyoke Public Schools, he completed a Master’s program from Mount Holyoke College.

Since enrolling his children at Hartsbrook, DoCarmo’s appreciation for Waldorf principles has grown. Today, he is an esteemed part of the Hartsbrook community, exuding enthusiasm in his role as Academic Support Coordinator, with an ambition to leave a lasting positive impact on the lives of the students he interacts with.

Tahlia “Tai” Mclelland

Emmett Wald

Emmett Wald (they/them) has been enthusiastically teaching people things they find interesting since age 3. Emmett is a passionate high school math teacher with a lifelong love for mathematics and a growing enthusiasm for math pedagogy. Their goal is to make math more approachable, engaging, and meaningful for all students.

With a diverse range of interests including botany, cats, cooking, fanfiction, fractals, ice skating, programming, repairing old sewing machines, singing, spreadsheets, and snow, Emmett brings a unique perspective to their teaching.

Emmett holds a degree in Mathematics and Landscape Studies from Smith College and recently completed their Master of Education at Westfield State University.  They teach Algebra I, Geometry, Computer Science, and Sustainability, while also contributing to the ACTS team. 

Susan Tinsley Daily

Susan has spent her entire adult life working with adolescents, from teaching in traditional and experiential high schools to wilderness and international guiding to professional consulting with those who work with teens. She’s grateful to have taught at such places as Shady Hill School, The Athenian School, The Fayerweather Street School, The Asheville School, Warren Wilson College and the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison. Her journey includes being  an Instructor, Course Director, and Education Director at the North Carolina Outward Bound School, an Instructor and Risk Management Director in Southeast Asia for Where There Be Dragons, the Dean of Students at the Outdoor Academy and the Director of Counseling and Wellness at The Putney School. 

In addition to being an educator, Susan is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor focusing on adolescent mental health. She is most interested in the transformation that occurs when adolescents discover their grit, creativity, and ability to create meaning, thereby illuminating their authentic selves and their belonging within a  community. Her clinical interests include healthy relationships and ethical sexuality education, supporting LGBTQIA+ youth, developing post-COVID interpersonal and resilience skills, and trauma-informed care. She has designed comprehensive, developmentally appropriate Health and Wellness curriculum for middle and high schools, and finds great joy in teaching teenagers how to feel empowered in their emotional, relational, sexual, ethical and physical identity formation.. Susan has great respect and curiosity for all the strengths and challenges that teenagers experience in their journey. While not working, Susan enjoys being outdoors on rock faces, rivers, and woods, writing poetry and hand-crafting, and spending time with her two teens and her black-and-white therapy dog, Moonshine. 

Seema Racela

Seema brings dedication and passion to her work as the Student Support Director for Grades 1-8. For almost 2 decades, she served as the Speech Language Pathologist at the Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School in Cambridge, MA, providing  support to students and families from diverse backgrounds. She earned her Master’s degree from MGH Institute of Health Professions and Bachelor’s degree from Emerson College in Boston. Having graduated from both the Honolulu Waldorf School and the Waldorf School of Garden City, Seema developed an appreciation for Waldorf education at a young age and recognizes its relevance in today’s complex world. Seema’s interests include spending time in nature, camping with her family, and any day at the beach.

Ben Sirulnik

Ben has a BA in chemistry from Carleton College. After a year of postgraduate research at Northeastern University on Biological Nanosensors, Ben embraced his passion for teaching through math and science tutoring. Before joining Hartsbrook, Ben worked at Morse Hill Outdoor Education facilitating creative team building challenges and helping youth practice teamwork, communication, and mutual respect. Ben is excited to foster students’ curiosity and inquiry in math and science, and is passionate about making math and science exciting, accessible, and feel relevant to our everyday lives. In his free time, Ben can be found cycling, canoeing, or hiking, running with his dog Stitch, or making pizza in his homemade pizza oven. 

Scott Percy

Scott is a thoughtful, respected, and highly organized supervisor with over 15 years of management and leadership experience. To his role as Director of Building & Grounds, he brings 30+ years of expertise in carpentry, masonry, and grounds maintenance, coupled with strong project management skills and high-quality craftsmanship. Known for his commitment to excellent customer service and communication, Scott’s leadership style treats everyone equally and with respect. Scott is praised for his intelligence, quick thinking, and ability to help others progress. Scott is also a 5th grade Hartsbrook parent.

Stephanie Haas

Stephanie has a love for nature based education and joined the Forest Kindergarten teaching team at Hartsbrook in 2024. She has worked in various roles at Waldorf schools in Cincinnati and New Hampshire, both as an assistant and Grade One class teacher. 

Stephanie cares deeply about our pedagogy and its incorporation of the arts, connection to the natural world, and child-centered curriculum.

When not in the classroom, Stephanie loves to spend time outdoors, paint, draw, do handwork, and peruse antique stores that feel like museums. 

Oscar Gavilán Ortiz

Oscar (he/him) moved from his native Chile a few years ago to Massachusetts. He studied pedagogy in philosophy at the University of Concepción in his country. He also has studies in acting, contemporary art, and creativity. He is currently a postgraduate student of cultural management and communication at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences.

His professional experience of more than 20 years is a constant intersection between education, management of arts and culture programs, and his practice as a performance artist with community engagement. Oscar has presented his research and artistic productions at festivals, museums, and art galleries in Spain, South and North America. Oscar lives in Pelham, MA with his wife and their dachshund dog Lupe.

“I am happy to join The Hartsbrook because I will be able to learn and also work on my great passion, which is teaching by playing with words.”

Jared Cruz

Jared Cruz is our High School Jazz Ensemble and Middle School Guitar Teacher. Jared is also a guitarist that performs regularly around the area in several different groups. Cruz holds an Associates Degree in Music from Holyoke Community College. During his time there he played in several small groups, and their jazz guitar ensemble.

He recently earned a bachelor of arts in jazz performance at University of Massachusetts Amherst where he participated in several varying jazz combo groups, the Vocal Jazz Ensemble and the UMass Brazilian Jazz Combo. Additionally, he has received several downbeat awards playing with Jazz Ensemble 1 and Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

In his downtime you can find him giving private lessons to guitarists in the area, arranging music for one of many ensembles he leads, or listening to Grant Green.

Cassandra Sutter

Cassie is the Lead Teacher in the Meadowlark Early Childhood classroom, advancing from her role as an Assistant in the Song Sparrow class. Cassie grew up right here in the Valley. While studying Photography at the Hartford Art School, her eldest, who is now in his twenties, attended Hartsbrook in our old Ben Smith building. Now she is currently doing her Waldorf teacher training at Sophia’s Hearth in Keene New Hampshire and has two children currently in 2nd and 6th grade. She is a long-time parent at the school and has worked in many capacities at Hartsbrook including administration, Farm Camp, substituting for the grades and early childhood. Cassie loves working with her hands, in the garden, doing various fiber arts, plant dying, knitting and creating something beautiful from nature’s offerings. She sees working with the land as an opportunity to appreciate the natural world and really see how one can make a difference in their own backyard. She says, “The happiest moments are when work is being done. Whether we are planting flowers, growing food or working on a project, we sing, we work, we play and share in something that is meaningful.” She is also deeply committed to living a more sustainable lifestyle, especially slow fashion. When not at school, Cassie is doing hot yoga, taking photos or at her favorite thrift shop.

Prema Kelley

Prema is an alum of the Waldorf School of Garden City and has worked in the field of education for nearly two decades. She has taught in International schools in Beijing, Mexico City, as well as in public schools in New York City and served on faculty at Hunter College. She holds a masters degree in Bilingual and Bicultural Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Prema spends most of her time with her two young children, husband, and cats. She enjoys cooking, gardening, and reading and is also active in contemporary dance, improvisation and performance.

Elizabeth Yon

A native of eastern Massachusetts, Elizabeth has always enjoyed sharing her curiosity for the world and love of the outdoors with young people. She has been teaching children for almost two decades in public and private schools, indoors and outdoors, nationally and internationally and feels honored to guide children in deepening their confidence and self-knowledge. She discovered Steiner Education her senior year at Kenyon College in Ohio, where she earned a B.A. in Sociology in 2005. It was then that she decided she would become a Waldorf teacher. She moved overseas and spent the next five years teaching English in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She moved to Havelock North, New Zealand to earn her Steiner Teacher Certification at Taruna College in 2011.

Returning back home to the Boston area, she earned a M.Ed from Cambridge College in Cambridge, MA while teaching at a Waldkindergarten at the Natick Community Organic Farm. She began class teaching at the Waldorf School of Lexington, MA in 2016. Elizabeth now has three young children of her own and is looking forward to watching them grow and thrive in the warmth of the Hartsbrook community.

Elizabeth enjoys taking her children out into the forest to explore, getting out onto the water to paddle, and dancing and crafting.

Christine Eaton

Christine has hiked, lived, taught, and raised three children in the Andes, Appalachian, Pocono, Sierra Nevada, Santa Cruz, San Jacinto and Petchabun Mountains, and along the northern and southern Pacific coast of California.  She and her husband raised their three children in Waldorf Communities, Eco-Villages and urban and rural communities around the world. She has taught in international schools, public high schools, Waldorf schools, and homeschooled her children at various ages.  She has been a yoga teacher and somatic therapist for over 25 years. She has experienced the insights of Waldorf education and especially values the striving for a dynamic and engaged community. She lives with her family in Great Falls.

Isadora Harper

Growing up Isadora attended the Chicago Waldorf School, then moved to Western Massachusetts to pursue a degree in Sustainable Food and Farming. She first learned of Hartsbrook while completing teacher observation hours for a class on agriculture education, and was enthralled by the interweaving of farm and school campus that she found here.

After farming in the area for several years Isadora began providing childcare for individual families, as well as working at Hampshire Farm and Garden Camp. She is excited to be back in a Waldorf setting and a part of the Hartsbrook community.

Diego Sharon

Diego Sharon was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and immigrated to Southern California at the age of 4. Moving to the United States as a non-English speaker, his early experiences of schooling were deeply challenging; he distinctly remembers the consequential impact of compassionate, remarkable teachers as critical to his learning and development. Diego has worked for over 30 years as both a teacher and administrator in varied educational settings ranging from public and independent schools, rural poor and migrant services educational programs, and universities. He has also been a Waldorf class teacher, Waldorf high school teacher, and a Waldorf Administrator, bringing diverse perspectives and practices through a social equity based lens.. Throughout his career, he has straddled a dual-path as a social equity educator, committed to the practice of Critical Pedagogy in the tradition of Paulo Freire, and a proponent of the merits and potentials of Waldorf education. He believes that liberation is an active, collective process, and that Waldorf schools can be places of intentional and creative transformation.

Diego is the blessed parent of three remarkable adults, all of whom attended various Waldorf schools. He has lived with his wife and children throughout the world, and in several  sustainability-based communities. He brings these experiences and his commitment to young people and their future to the Hartsbrook School and its dynamic, growing community.  

In addition to his work as an educator, Diego is a visual artist and musician and enjoys being outside mountain biking, snowboarding, skateboarding, hiking, and spending time in his garden. He and his family live in Great Falls, on a hill above the Connecticut River.

Chenoa Albertson

Chenoa was fortunate to attend a Waldorf school in northern California for 13 years. As a child she discovered a love of circus arts and after completing a double BA in studio art and Norwegian language in Minnesota, went on to a professional circus program in the UK. She spent a little over a year performing professionally in a traveling circus over there before relocating to New England. Chenoa has been teaching circus skills at SHOW Circus Studio in Easthampton, MA since 2014 and still occasionally performs. She also was an assistant at Hartsbrook in various capacities from 2014-2020 when she entered graduate school at UMass Amherst for costume design. She is excited to be rejoining the Hartsbrook Community as a classroom assistant this year.

MaryBeth Sargent

MaryBeth was born and raised in upstate NY. She received her BS in Special Education and has worked in the field of Special Education with young children through adults. MaryBeth also has extensive experience working as a professional baker. She enjoys foraging, hiking, fishing and cooking. Sharing homemade food with others brings great joy.

James Pewtherer

TBA

Jessica Ruvalcaba

Jessica was born and raised in Southern California. She attended the University of California, Riverside where she received a double major in theater and studio art. As a child of Mexican Immigrants, she is committed to making Waldorf a more inclusive and accessible education for all. After years of working in the film and art world in Los Angeles, Jessica was looking for something new to do with her life, it was then that she stumbled onto the Waldorf Institute of Southern California. She loved what Waldorf offered her both intellectual and spiritual rigor as a way of deepening her understanding of our time on this planet. Jessica has worked in a few different Waldorf Schools and initiatives as Head of aftercare, grades assistant, Spanish Teacher, Handwork Teacher, Parent Education Teacher, and grades teacher. Before moving to Massachusetts Jessica was teaching 4th grade at a El Rio Community school, a charter Waldorf initiative she helped found in North East Los Angeles. 

Jessica has 3 children, all of which attend Hartsbrook. On the weekends you can find her and her husband and kids all biking, hiking, and enjoying all of the nature and wonder that the Pioneer Valley has to offer.