Joined SWS 2025

My teaching philosophy, as well as my administrative work, is focused on supporting others to develop their own capacities to serve the world. For staff, that looks like helping to create systems and decision-making that supports individual growth and creates community. For students, breaking down learning into action items is essential, so kids know what they know and can understand how the world works around them. I have taught social studies in high school, and I have been an administrator for 21 years. My formal education includes a Doctor of Education degree from UC Davis, a Master of Arts in Political Science from San Francisco State University, a BA in Political Science/German Literature from San Francisco State University, and Waldorf High School Teacher training from the Center for Anthroposophy.

I was inspired to teach because I began to tutor middle school students and believed I could make a difference in creating more opportunities for them. Later, I got involved in starting the high school program at the Austin Waldorf School. 

All the way through graduate school at San Francisco State University, I have sought learning experiences that are based on diversity as a sign of strength. Twice I lived overseas, and I have worked in New York City. The future waiting for our children is one of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities, and when we complement this culture with justice and understanding, we create a better society. Diversity gives everything the ability to adapt and grow, not just for learning but for our whole ecosystem. 

Waldorf education is the most relevant to the 21st century because it is based on a child development model that is shared by the faculty. As we move into a technological picture of the human being, through AI, it is even more important to develop a sense of imagination and creativity. One has to be more human to set ourselves apart from the revolution in technology. 

My goal in my career has been to learn from both the Public Waldorf and the Independent School Movement, to take best practices across the Waldorf Movement, and create excellent learning environments that are true to the impulse for education given by Rudolf Steiner. 

My greatest accomplishment is recognizing, the more that I learn, how little I truly know. I am equally proud of the dissertation I wrote as well as when to pick a pear that is perfectly ripe from my fruit trees. In Austin and in Grass Valley, I ran capital campaigns to build new school buildings, and I feel grateful that they will be there for generations of future students. The biggest accomplishments are yet to come. 

I live in Orangevale with my two children, who are in 5th and 7th grades this year. My parents moved from New Jersey to the Bay Area many years ago, and I have four sisters nearby.  Our household also consists of ducks, chickens, turkeys, a cat, and a golden retriever.