Trillium Charter School

Andrea Horna (Spanish Teacher)

Andrea Rosselle (Art Teacher)

Andrea is originally from a town in upstate New York where she grew up with amazing fall colors, a lot of lakes, and a love of skiing. Instilled with a love of art at a young age from an artistic mom and a lot of classes at Munson Williams Proctor Institute School of Art, she decided at the age of fifteen her life's vocation. She attended New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University where she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts, concentrating in ceramic sculpture and minoring in secondary education. Since graduation Andrea has taught in Uijongbu South Korea, Krakow Poland, Otego New York, Kingwood & Houston Texas, and Mt Pleasant Michigan. She recently received her Masters of Arts in ceramic sculpture at Central Michigan University in the winter of 2006. Andrea moved to Portland this past summer to join her sister and father who had both previously migrated to Oregon. Andrea's free time is mostly composed of creating sculpture in her studio, developing and showing her work. She also likes to read voraciously, listen to old radio shows, and call her friends to muse about little nothings.

Meg Neal (Aftercare Program Director)

I arrive at Trillium with a degree in Early Childhood Education from Ohio University, a year of teaching 2nd/3rd grade, and two years in a preschool classroom under my belt. I loved in my college town of Athens, Ohio for almost 8 years, teaching, baking, farming, and delving into the glorious and nurturing community that Athens is.

After a bittersweet good-bye, and some time traveling around our country in between, I moved to Eugene in the early spring of 2008. I spent the year creating yummy pastries for an organic bakery and nannying for a few delightful families along the way. Though I loved Eugene, I did not feel the cozy, gritty, and eccentric vibe I felt when I visited Portland.

Summer of 2009, I traveled up and down the Pacific Northwest coast and Cascade range, took a Permaculture Design course on Orcas Island and found myself moving to sweet, sweet Portland in August. I am more than eager to wiggle and giggle with the kids, staff and community at Trillium. I feel both honored and blessed at the thought of finding such a unique and interesting community.

Michelle Gardner (Learning Center Teacher)

Growing up in Central Illinois at a time where playing in the alley was safe, wading in the slimy creek was fun, and not having to go inside until the street lights came on  made my childhood seem idyllic. My family  travelled extensively when I was young and I loved seeing new places.  I attended Eureka College, which had also been attended by Ronald Reagan and most of my relatives.  My first BA was in French and art history.  I spent my junior year abroad in Pau, France which is located in the foothills of the Pyrenees.  I lived in the Adali Stevenson house while working on my second BA in elementary education.  In 1978 I packed my Honda hatchback with all my worldly possessions and drove to Portland sight unseen.   My first teaching assignment was teaching special education at Jefferson High School.  This meant going back to school to get my special education certification.  I got my masters degree from Portland State and hold a standard handicapped learners certificate.

I taught for 17 years at Jefferson.  I co-taught freshman English and sophomore global studies.  I enjoyed working closely with my co-teachers modifying curriculum for the more challenged learners in the classrooms.  I developed a course called "Family Literacy" when I noticed that Jefferson had too many students who were parents and who admitted that they never read to their children because, "they are just kids".  I enjoyed exposing the high school parents to children's literature and the importance to reading to babies and small children.

When the numbers of special education students at Jefferson started to dwindle I was transferred to Vernon Elementary School where I taught for 11 years.  I throughly enjoyed working with the elementary aged children.  I developed curriculum for the special education students that not only taught them skills in reading, writing, and math, but that also helped boost their self-esteem.  It was very rewarding to work with students  who were struggling academically and to watch them absorb learning and increase their skill levels.  I worked with the half time learning center teacher to develop a consistent and structured writing curriculum.  We presented this writing curriculum to many special education workshops in the district and it was used school-wide by the Vernon staff.  I miss my students at Vernon and hope that they are continuing to love learning!

I have a twenty year old son who is attending Lake Forest College which is north of Chicago.  He plays both ice hockey (goalie) and lacrosse (long pole) and I miss going to his games!  I also miss his music but I don't miss his laundry!  My husband teaches ballet in the Portland area.  He danced with major companies in the US and in Europe before returning to Portland to teach.

I am enjoying being at Trillium and am looking forward to working more closely with the students, but knowing me I'll once again work myself out of a job!