The Staff of Trillium Charter School
Stephanie Hinkle (Director)
Stephanie is a co-founder of Trillium Charter School. She is a long time advocate for public schools and for public school choice. She has experience in leadership positions in other programs, and has a background in financial services. Stephanie has a BS in liberal arts, a minor in Communication, and an Urban Studies Certificate from Portland State University. She reorganized and ran the children's program at a local women's shelter, and has worked with disadvantaged children and families. Stephanie is the parent of two school age daughters, and has been interested in schools and education since childhood.
Arianne Newton (Community Development Coordinator & Garden Program Teacher)
Arianne Newton has a background in art and graphic design, with degrees in Fine Arts and Illustration and in Landscape Design and Horticulture. For 15 years she had her own landscape design business, servicing Portland and surrounding communities. She planned and executed hundreds of designs for Portland area homes and businesses. In 1999, Arianne's interest in alternative education opportunities for her daughter led her to join with Stephanie Hinkle to consider developing a charter school for all grades. Though the initial goals were ambitious, Arianne, Stephanie and other parents and teachers worked through the long process of obtaining a Charter from Portland Public Schools. The Charter for Trillium was issued in 2002 and Trillium opened its doors to 150 students that Fall. Arianne's positions at the school have ranged from Co-Founder, Co-Director, Community Development Coordinator, teacher and Board Chair. Arianne developed Trillium's Garden program over the next few years, during Trillium's greatest growth period. Her current position at Trillium continues to be Community Development Coordinator and staff teacher of the garden program.
Ramona Fischer (Secretary)
Ramona Fischer has been a part of the Trillium community from the start as both a parent and a staff member. Three out of her four children attend school here in the 6th, 9th and 11th grades. Her oldest daughter is a 12th grader at Franklin H.S. Ramona's responsibilities for the past 2 school years have included helping to run the front desk, clerical & staff support and meal program support. For her first 3 years at Trillium she was the school janitor. Before Trillium, she did daycare for 12 years.
Ramona is a native Portlander and went to Washington High School. Her main passion in life is being a mom and being a wife to her husband, Matthew, for the last 23 years. So working close to her children brings her great satisfaction. Almost as much satisfaction as snuggling around the fire with her family.
Genevieve Bouwes (Preschool Director)
It is wonderful to be working in early childhood education, the roots of my journey in the field of education. I received a Masters in Education from Bank Street School of Education in New York City 10 years ago. Although I went on to teach elementary education, my foundation and philosophy were based in the study and approach of work with young children. I enjoy children of all ages, but am finding the work of the preschool to be particularly rewarding. After years of teaching in a public school system, it is a pleasure to be on this path at Trillium in the company of 3-5 year olds who are hard at work discovering their world. As the mother of young children, I have been able to witness their natural desire to learn and experience from a new perspective. As a parent, I find my understandings as teacher have shifted or solidified in a way that cannot be compromised. Childhood is too precious a time to squander. The beauty of a young child engaging in discovery is in the forefront of my mind as I work to build the preschool program. As an educator, it has been a gift to work at a school which truly values how children learn and develop without the constraints of politics to stifle or direct this process.
Andrea Larson (Preschool Teacher)
Sarah-Luella Baker (Preschool Teacher)
Korrutai Yujaroen (Preschool Teacher)
I obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics and a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology and Guidance from Chiang Mai University. I have taught all age levels in the international schools in Thailand for over ten years.
As a bilingual teacher I feel strongly that it is mutually beneficial for both teacher and students to have exposure to the process of language acquisition. I worked at Catlin Gabel School for a year before joining Trillium team I am excited to promote a multicultural program and to build a fun and enriching learning environment for children.
In my spare time I am a Thai Language and Culture Specialist, teaching, translating and interpreting with area organizations. I also enjoy traveling and hiking.
Polly Christopher (K-1-2 Advisor)
Polly is a proud parent of six Trillium students ranging from preschool to high school and was a founding member of Trillium Charter School. She has years of leadership experience in Portland Public School special focus programs. She supported and developed non-profit educational and environmental outreach programs. She helped develop community service and service learning programs within the New York and Portland schools. She is a Midwife, a childbirth educator and has taught teenage parenting courses.
After developing Trillium Charter School's preschool program and serving as director and teacher, she now works as a member of Trillium's K-1-2 teaching team. Polly with her colleagues, work closely together to develop exciting constructivist-based learning opportunities for their students. Polly strongly believes in child centered learning that is developmentally appropriate for the wide range of children in her class.
Beth Molenkamp (K-1-2 Advisor)
Beth looks at life as an adventure. The responsibility of a teacher is to encourage curiosity and an eagerness to learn in students. Since each and every human is unique education should be unique for each learner. Educational success is tied to emotional well-being and she works to develop a healthy community in her classroom and with other members of the school. Beth worked in Alaska in education for 10 years in the public school system. She taught child development, textiles and nutrition. She has worked with a variety of combined age groups and focused on hands-on learning with a diverse student population. She developed a comfortable haven for students in a large school to feel at home and safe even when class populations increased. She worked for six years in early childhood education developing curriculum, teaching children, and training teachers.
Beth's children have been involved in alternative education since their earliest grades. The project-based activities and room for individual differences and learning styles always appealed to her, as well as the ability to learn a subject in-depth rather than just memorizing for a test. As a parent she has experience starting a new school and working through the challenging first years.
The international focus of Trillium is an important aspect of Beth's background as well. She was an AFS student to South Africa and spent time in Sri Lanka with the Peace Corps. Beth moved frequently while growing up and that experience developed and interest in people of the world. She home-schooled her children for one school year while traveling around the United States so that they could see where history had actually occurred and experience the magic that is the tapestry of the United States.
Beth hopes to put her talents and experiences to use to help Trillium become an exemplary model of constructivist education. She looks forward to helping develop stronger ties as part of the Trillium community.
Brian Porter (K-1-2 Advisor)
Brian has over ten years of classroom teaching experience from kindergarten to high school math. Brian is a creative, enthusiastic, passionate teacher with a deep love for learning and life. His approach to teaching is to manage a rich environment that stimulates and engages the body, mind and spirit. He believes that education should support the exploration and discovery of who we are and how the world works, as we develop the skills needed to function well in our lives. Brian loves being with children and is the father of an 12 year old daughter. Brian moved from Ashland to work at Trillium. He was drawn to Trillium's educational philosophy and practices and loves being part of its vision. Besides being a classroom teacher, Brian is a licensed massage therapist. He has previously traveled around the United States teaching drum making and bodywork/healing workshops. He loves dancing and has taught folk, ceremonial and improvisational dance classes.
Billy Menz (K-1-2 Advisor)
Education is a process that needs support, independence and encouragement. Since I was in the third grade I knew that I would teach. At that point I was still holding onto the dream of playing centerfield for the Chicago Cubs, but I had a hunch that dream would soon die. It allowed me to focus my energy on a career in teaching, which is something I both cherish as a gift and value as a responsibility to society.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago I witnessed a transformation to homogeny that befuddled me. Why did everyone want to be the same? I craved an escape and went to the land of the longhorn, Texas. After completing my undergraduate studies at the University of Texas, earning a B.A. in History, I still hung onto the desire to be different. I chose to serve our country with Americorps VISTA.
I worked for three years in Austin, TX as a VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) educating the public about the horrific realities of homelessness. In my spare time I founded a street newspaper to give the homeless a voice in the local media and provide them with a source of income. Working with Austin's homeless and the community we published the Austin Homeless Advocate using the writing of local homeless people and concerned citizens. I continue to work in the street newspaper movement as board chairman with Street Roots here in Portland.
My career in education began in Austin when I was accepted to an alternative certification program. Campbell Elementary was my first assignment and much of my first year was spent learning and understanding the intricacies of African American culture in the United States. As the only white male in the school, teachers and students combined, I was forced to earn the trust of the community, my colleagues and most importantly, my students. It was a learning experience that will stay with me my entire career.
Zach Post (3-4-5 Advisor)
I was born and raised on the island of Martha's Vineyard located off the coast of Massachusetts. This was my starting point--a naturalist existence, balanced by visits to my mom--who eventually lived in Boston, the Caribbean, England and Florida. From the get go, I've been a rooted traveler. Working with kids has always been a passion--even when I was one myself. In fourth grade I became a regular improv storyteller to the primary classes.
In 1997 I graduated Hampshire College with a major in photography and minor in sustainable agriculture. Then I traveled in Asia (China, Tibet, Nepal, India, and Thailand) for a year working on a photo project, an ongoing writing experiment, and teaching English.
I moved to Portland in 1999 and settled into the Alberta neighborhood. Shortly after moving here, I earned a Masters in Teaching at the University of Portland. I joined the Trillium team in my second year of teaching and have been involved in nearly every aspect of the school since its very first days in the spring of 2002.
My classroom instruction is driven by a belief that real learning occurs from self-discovery. At the core of my educational approach is the support of students' individual curiosities and emotional development within a democratic and community based setting.
I currently serve on Trillium's Board of Directors in an effort to help Trillium establish itself in a sustainable way. I'm also part of the school's administrative support team. Please feel free to talk to me about either of these roles.
When I'm not at my "Trillium home," I am most likely doing one of the following activities: biking to the school, gardening, white water kayaking (a bit of a fanatic about this one), mountain biking, traveling, or spending time with my wonderful girl friend.
Rob van Nood (3-4-5 Advisor)
I grew up thinking about the world. My parents, both Dutch, moved to Minnesota 3 years before I was born, and from the moment I was old enough to start traveling we did. Until I was 10 years old summers were spent at a variety of campgrounds, riding horses around the Grand Tetons or visiting family in Holland. My formative middle school years were spent in Brussels, Belgium. From there I had the great fortune to see much of Europe, a sliver of the Middle East and a few countries in Africa. Each country I visited gave me deeper understandings of our planet's interconnectedness. Those experiences germinated my desire to help make the world at least a little better for others.
I fell into teaching after I graduated from Lewis & Clark in 1993 with a degree in English/creative writing. I worked as a VISTA volunteer in two SE Portland schools running the newly established SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) program. That experience revealed that working with kids, especially in schools, was what I really wanted to do with my life. Since graduate school I have worked in many different settings: summer arts camps, small private schools, and large public ones. I feel so fortunate to have been part of Trillium since we opened the doors for the first time 6 years ago. Working in this community has been a labor of love. It is my work (and my wife Genevieve's work, as she runs the preschool), my extended family, and now the school to my own two children (Violet will be starting preschool this year and Huxley will be in the baby room two days a week).
There is no other place like Trillium. As a teacher it has given me the freedom to explore those things that make me passionate about working with kids. It has given me the chance to really be with kids, to have the time to understand them, and see what will help them as they explore the world. Trillium has allowed me to make my teaching an art form. Each year I explore, and create, and change and grow right along with my students. This year, after a long summer, I bring with me a newfound excitement to help the kids of Trillium explore the world with their minds and to open up to the world with their hearts.
And what is it that I do outside of Trillium you ask? When I have time, I love to ride my bike (a century anyone?), write, paint, cook, play guitar and sitar, play soccer, do yoga, read (mostly non-fiction), work in my yard (building things, taking things apart or just pulling things out of the ground) and I have this little known desire to take a stand up comedy class.
Jenny Shotts (3-4-5 Advisor)
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Portland, Northern California, and Central Oregon all feel like home to me. In high school and college, I traveled east to school in Boston and New York. I also visited Mexico, Spain, France, and China. Missing the trees, mountains and coastline of the West, I returned to Seattle and then Central Oregon and worked in real estate sales and marketing after college. In 1998, I moved to Portland to pursue teaching.
In addition to my Masters in Teaching focusing on early childhood and elementary education, I have a reading specialist endorsement for grades K-12. I see my role as a teacher is that of a guide. By valuing the goal-setting process, I seek to develop a student's social, emotional and intellectual achievement at his own level and pacing. My goal is to encourage each child to explore her passions and work toward individual learning goals. I model the traits of a learner and a researcher, asking questions and sharing discoveries, and encourage my students to do the same.
My research area links sign language with literacy, adding a hands-on connection to spelling. I also seek ways to integrate literacy with scientific inquiry and mathematical thinking. Last year, I joined OMSI's Expedition Northwest team to offer hands-on science in my classroom. I then worked over the summer to develop engaging math activities tied to award winning picture books. This year, I conducted a trial unit for Lawrence Hall of Science's (UC, Berkeley) newest Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading program. Students investigated chemical changes and designed their own inquiry projects. This summer I taught Camp Invention programs through the National Inventors Hall of Fame and developed a teaching unit with open source computers in the classroom. Using kid friendly programming languages, students animate, design, and interact with multimedia programs and share projects with other students around the world.
I spend my free time chasing my own young children around. I enjoy running, biking, swimming, and bouldering. I am also renewing my 'skills' at golf this summer. I practice yoga regularly, and am trained as a Yoga Calm instructor, teaching balance and strength poses to engage the body and the brain together. I continually seek out varied ways to integrate mind, body and heart in learning.
Jeremy Neldon (3-4-5 Advisor)
The important thing about growing up in the NJ/NYC metro area, no matter how far North and West my journey has taken me or how arguably little of the accent remains, the very open, honest and, at times, animated communication style that flourishes there still resides with me like an old, loved pair of beat up jeans. With so many different cultures living in such density, it's no wonder that sharing ideas can be like vying for the last seat in a game of musical chairs. Ideas often pour out of me in a torrent as I recount stories of my former life in the Alaskan wilderness or as I passionately affirm the creative and unique ideas bubbling up from my students. But the important thing about growing up in "Jersey" is that we love to talk!
The important thing about my life in Alaska was that wilderness adventure and peronal growth required participation in the community. I wanted to climb craggy mountains and ski down them; I wanted to paddle my kayak around the misty fjords and barren capes in waves and wind and live off the land. So rather than go "Into the Wild" on my own, I volunteered with the local conservation council and with an adaptive wilderness recreation organization, where I made lasting friends and mentors who taught me how. I wanted to become more expressive as a storyteller, an actor and a community activist. So I volunteered and worked with our regional theater and GLBT organization, where again I gave countless hours and beads of sweat for the benefit of the community while simultaneously gaining nourishment for my soul. I wanted to share my passion for adventure and learning, so I worked in the schools and with the help of my small group of peers and mentor teachers, completed a Masters in Teaching. But the most important thing about my life in Alaska is that personal growth and success requires participation in the community.
The most important thing about teaching is collaborating with others. I began my teaching career as a "Specialist," a Gifted and Talented Teacher for a public elementary school in Alaska and later as an Art and Drama teacher for a K - 8 public school in Beaverton. I was "special" because I, like the gym teacher or the music teacher, had the pleasure of working with most if not all the school's students, yet I had no teaching partner with whom to share ideas and create powerful learning experiences. Luckily, I have always found other educators who wanted to put their heads together and share the work of planning and prepping lessons. But most importantly, it has been my experience that remarkable student learning happens when many educators on a staff and in a community plan, teach and reflect together.
And the most important thing about Trillium is that I feel I belong here! Moving to Portland just a few years ago, I am relieved to have found such a spiffy new profesional home that is only a five minute bike ride from the house I share with my spouse, Chris. At Trillium I have found new friends who love to laugh and share stories. Here I have found a community of willing collaborators with whom I am excited to tinker and create!
Nick Fenger (Middle School Teacher)
At Trillium, all of us wear a multitude of hats and my hats include: middle school math and technology teacher, information systems analyst, database programmer and technology coordinator. Prior to joining Trillium during the 02-03 school year (the school's second year), I was employed in the private sector as an engineer, technical trainer and project manager at several different companies. I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Milwaukee School of Engineering ('94) and a Master of Education from Portland State University ('02) with a focus on Math and Science Education. I also hold an Oregon Teaching License in High School Physics and Middle School Science.
I am a strong advocate for the open community both in my teaching and technological pursuits. In education, the open community believes that information should be accessible by all and not held by commercial entities. In the technological community, open relates to tools for our students and teachers to use including open source software, operating systems and tools that are free and supported by the open source community. As teachers, we have access to a tremendous number of free lessons, wiki's and online content provided by individuals and institutions throughout the world. Technologically, we employ a wide variety of open source software technologies including K12LTSP, K12Linux, Fedora Linux, Ubuntu Linux, OpenOffice, Drupal, Moodle, Apache, Open LDAP and many others. This generation of students is the first ever to have this kind of access to information and open source tools and Trillium is the perfect place to reinvent education in this new paradigm.
Kirk Ellis (Middle School Advisor)
I was lucky enough to have started at Trillium in its first year. I came to it with a background that included a degree in theater arts (with the typicalsad story of "poor-working-actor days"), as a musician, a yoga instructor, a professional writer and teacher, and eventually my Master's Degree in Writing. All of these interests found a home at Trillium and I have marvelled at how the community has supported me and the learning of every student, encouraging us all to play, explore, and express ourselves at school. This job has become a labor of love and a place of personal transformation. I am grateful to every student that I have worked with, and will work with, as we unlock our evolving interests and create an environment that lets us grow into life-long learners. Trillium is unique is its ability to flexibly reinvent itself, through an amazing and loving staff and parent community, to be a place that works for students from so many backgrounds. I was born in San Diego, and I moved to Portland in 1994. I'm married and have a young daughter named Leia. Over the course of my life I have fallen back on one essential point again and again that allows me to teach - no matter what we show and tell other people in our lives, it is really reflecting back to us some truth about ourselves. I like to believe this allowsme to look at each student in a new, fresh light every day and look at myself as having changed alongside them with each of their discoveries, making it a great adventure. I have too many interests to name and too many wonderful experiences to share only a few. I look forward to working with and learning from kids every day.
Kurt Maier (Middle School Advisor)
Nina Thompson (Middle School Advisor)
Amy Stuhr (Middle School Advisor)
Elizabeth Johnson (High School Advisor)
As the first person in my working-class family to go to college, I believe strongly in the personal and academic potential in everybody. My personal experience deeply informs my view that equal access to a free and enriching school experience is the right of every young person. As an educator, I work to develop respectful relationships with my students and their families that honor where they come from and support them in achieving their goals. While I recognize the strengths and needs that are unique to each of my students, and develop personalized education accordingly, I balance individualization with the development of a strong cooperative learning environment where we recognize our responsibilities to each other. My efforts in this are guided by my commitment to multicultural education, the facilitation of a social justice classroom, and constructivist learning.
As a third year classroom teacher I bring to Trillium eight years of experience in social work and education. After earning my BA in American Studies at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, I left New England and moved to New Mexico to begin a year of service with AmeriCorps. Working in a drop-out prevention program in Albuquerque's impoverished South Valley, I widened my world view, increased my cultural competency, and focused my energies on gaining the skills necessary to help empower marginalized youth. I continued these efforts while working at a residential program for homeless teen parents and at the Albuquerque Rape Crisis Center, where I specialized in crisis intervention, support services, and violence prevention education with young people. In Albuquerque I met my partner of nine years while doing community-based organizing in low-income neighborhoods.
For the last six years my husband and I have made our home in Northeast Portland. While working as the Program Assistant at Open Meadow Middle School I completed the Graduate Teacher Education Program at Portland State University. My student teaching allowed me to continue to work in small, alternative, relationship-based programs and I spent the 2004-05 school year at Madison High Schools FOCUS program teaching social studies, health, and art appreciation. For the last four years I have balanced reaching my professional goals with the joys of creating a loving home for my daughter, Nora.
Ken Gadbow (High School Advisor)
When I was twelve years old, a friend and I started a bicycle shop in his dads garage in North Carolina. Pulling bikes apart and trying again and again to get them back together provided me with a rewarding and exciting self-directed project that was unlike anything being supported by my school. I could not have guessed at the time that this exploration would carry me through nearly two decades of working in bicycle shops, designing maintenance classes, and helping kids learn about bicycles. Facilitating after school and vocational education programs for Portland Community College, the Community Cycling Center, Outside In, and the Portland Yellow Bike Program allowed me to explore my desire to help others learn about the world in front of them. Desiring to continue my development as a teacher, and broaden my horizons as a learner, I returned to college in 1996, starting at Portland Community College and later graduating from Portland State University. During this time, I studied ceramics, welding, and Spanish, finally finding my greatest interest in the study of world history. I came to appreciate how the study of history provides a platform from which to explore the social parameters within which societies agree to live. A social studies classroom has the potential to create engaging, relevant, and meaningful discussions about the process of history and its connection to the role of the individual in the present and in the future. When I returned to public education as a teacher, it was with a sense of what is fundamentally important about learning that the purpose of education is to create life-long learners. The classroom should be a place where students are encouraged to think critically when given the boundaries and support in which to do so. And, like my days in that garage in North Carolina a students need to become active participants in their learning in order to make it meaningful. Lasting learning is based upon the ability to connect seemingly abstract ideas to real world experience. My responsibility as a teacher is to help forge links between students personal lives and the concepts introduced in the classroom. I have always been an active and curious learner. Today, as a facilitator of learning, I am a strong advocate of alternative schools as a solution to many of the problems faced by larger public schools today. I believe that the smaller, more intimate structure of Trillium fosters a responsive and caring community of teachers, students, and their parents. The emphasis on self-directed learning provides a network of support for students to explore and develop their own areas of interest. School should be a place where we can have heated discussions about the past, explore ideas that fascinate us in the present, and be encouraged to take ownership of our learning, digging our hands in, when necessary, and getting greasy.
Jess Brooks (High School Advisor)
After Alfred, for some unknown reason, Jess traveled west with a college friend for the city of Portland. Then, as it turns out, Portland agreed with her and she's been there since. Here she's fallen in love, created a pottery studio and obtained a healthy bike collection. Her first job here was as a bike mechanic, before plummeting into the world of Math tutoring and education. She began taking Graduate Math Education classes at PSU in 2005. Also in 2005 she began working for Pacific Crest Community School as their Algebra 2 teacher and in 2006 she started working for Trillium Charter School.
Will Watts (High School Advisor)
Adjunct Staff
Yoko Niki-Breyfogle (Japanese Language Teacher)
Yoko is the Japanese teacher at the Elementary, middle, and High School level.
She was born in Okayama, Japan and graduated from Sakuyo Music University with a degree in music and music education (major: classical voice). At the recommendation of her voice professor, she went to Germany and studied German and worked as a Japanese-German interpreter for an environmental consulting company in Freiburg and interpreted at environmental seminars. The city of Freiburg is well known for its environmental policies. She was also hired as a choir singer and soloist at Freiburgs cathedral and went on concert trips to several cities in Europe. She has taught Japanese and voice to adults in private lessons.
Yoko moved to Portland from Germany when she married her husband. Shes been experiencing how kids are in the U.S., and is eager to share with kids the idea that learning a foreign language is a fundamental step towards getting a global education and having a broad vision of the world. Yoko encourages her students to see that their knowledge and experiences will be their strength in life.
She brought high school students to Japan in Nov. 2003 for a home study program with the cooperation of Tom Fast, who has been living in Okayama, Japan and is a former Trillium teacher.
Vickie Frick (Full-Time Learning Specialist)
This is my third year of supporting Trillium students and staff, as a full-time employee, working for the Portland Public School District.
I began my career as a speech pathologist in the Reynolds School District working in a developmental preschool. From there I moved to a classroom at Jefferson High School, where I taught for 10 years. During the 1992-1996 school years, I worked in a transition classroom, at PCC, with adult students who needed more help in developing independence and job skills. Other buildings, where I served students on Individual Education Plans were, Concord, Kelly and Lent Elementary, Portsmouth Middle School, Columbia, Benson and Marshall High School.
Andrea Horna (Spanish Teacher)
Andrea Rosselle (Art Teacher)
Belinda Gannett (Aftercare Program Director)
I grew up in a SW Portland suburb, with a huge forested yard that I called the "Hundred Acre Wood" and a house filled with books. It was there that I learned about the richness and value of imagination.
I raised two sons who are now 17 and 23. I spent many years volunteering in classrooms and fundraising with elaborately creative events. The magical atmosphere of school, the smell of cinnamon rolls and the sound of kids singing was an environment I loved. I went to school with my kids and stayed to work in classrooms nearly every day for nine years!
From 1995 until 2007 I directed an onsite after school childcare program. The program provided many opportunities for child-directed activities. I found that the most successful environment for an Aftercare Program is a wide variety of child-directed activities and a positive, enthusiastic teacher.
I refer to Trillium as the "thunderegg" of North Portland because the outer shell is cinderblock but inside is filled with its own "Chalcedony": classrooms and people who come in every color imaginable.
I spend my free time reading, painting, taking pictures with my Digital SLR, riding my bike and playing with my dog, Minnie, a hungry Welsh Corgi who adores children almost as much as I.
Ryan Hofrichter (Adjunct Middle and High School Teacher: Life Sciences, Conflict Resolution)
I arrived at Trillium in 2007, just after relocating from the central coast of California. I spent four years there working with plants through garden education, habitat restoration, and agriculture - affections encouraged by earlier relationships with the botanical abundance of South Florida and Central America. Trillium's existing Food and Garden Program, and general receptivity toward all things growing, offered a natural opportunity to teach adjunct classes in Agroecology, Botany, and Environmental Science. I also have a strong interest in Conflict Resolution and teach related high school classes here.
I have been very moved by the authenticity, commitment level, and creativity of Trillium staff and students. In the short time I've been here, these dynamics have really nourished my sense of what it means to build common purpose and connection, and I feel honored to be a part of it. Outside my time here, I'm one of the many gardeners managing Zenger Farm in outer Southeast Portland, and teach Jazz Piano privately.