OUR FACULTY
2018 - 2019 Faculty
EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM
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Kelsey Huguenin – Lead Teacher, Early Childhood
Kelsey is our Mixed-Age Kindergarten lead teacher. She joined our Riverwood community in 2016 when she enrolled her oldest daughter in the Chickadee Kindergarten. Kelsey worked as an in-home childcare provider in the past. In the beginning of her time with us, she served as a volunteer assistant in the Chickadee class for the second half of the school year as well as home-schooled her niece for a year and a half. Her niece and both daughters now attend Riverwood. Kelsey organized and led our first week-long Summer Nature Camp in August 2017 which has continued each summer. She has completed the online courses, Home as the Model - Life is the Curriculum, Observing Young Children , and Discipline with Loving Awareness with LifeWays North America. In the fall of 2018, she attended a Therapeutic Puppetry Workshop with Juniper Tree Puppetry that was held in Spokane. Kelsey was most recently enrolled in the two-year Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher Training program through Sound Circle Center, a WECAN-recognized certified training institute. She graduated with her Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher certificate July of 2019. Kelsey brings much passion for Waldorf education and a can-do attitude to Riverwood while understanding the important role she holds with the children. She relishes time outdoors with her family, enjoys handwork projects and loves to read. |
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Renata Tripp - Assistant, Early Childhood
Renata is our assistant in the Mixed Age Kindergarten. She and her family joined our Waldorf community in the fall of 2018 at Riverwood, when her daughter began her first year as a Chickadee. Her two daughters are both now in the kindergarten class . Renata is very tender-hearted and has such a love for children, it really shows in her work in the classroom. As a mother, caring for others and little ones comes very naturally and she has found such a connection to the classroom and all of the children. Renata has read various Waldorf books and has continued her education through LifeWays international completing Learning to Observe Young Children. Renata loves to read, cook, and care for others, including serving in her church and her community, which are all very close to her heart. |
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Janelle Cardenas - Parent and Child Class
Janelle is our Parent and Child Class teacher. She has home schooled using a Waldorf curriculum since her children were preschool age, and her two older children have attended Riverwood part-time since the school’s inception. Both are now full-time students. Janelle assisted in the Chickadee Kindergarten for one year and served as the lead teacher during a transitional period. When not physically present, Janelle has had her thinking, feeling, and willing involved in the school’s agenda within the greater community. In 2017, she offered a Parent and Child class in her home as an extension of Riverwood. She has been working with young children for over 20 years, first as an assistant in a mixed-age elementary class, later in a Montessori school, and when her oldest was a baby she opened a home care, Play for Peace, which was her first offering of her new found love for Waldorf education. Since 2008, she has been transforming herself and her family life with the work of Rudolf Steiner, and she loves to share this gift with any who are destined for this path. In 2015, she attended The Magic of Waldorf Summer Teacher Training Conference at Shining Star Waldorf School in Portland, Oregon. In 2016 and again in 2019, she attended Early Childhood trainings at Sound Circle Center in Seattle. In 2018, she enjoyed a workshop at Windsong School in Spokane by Suzanne Down of Juniper Tree Puppetry. When not engaged in a Waldorf endeavor, Janelle enjoys being among her family’s garden and farm animals, cooking, crafting and being active (or not) with her family and friends. |
GRADES PROGRAM
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Nicolle Stewart – First Grade Teacher + Specialty Art Teacher
Nicolle joined Riverwood in 2017 when her son began attending the fourth grade. She fell in love with the Waldorf curriculum and its focus on the child. Now both of her children attend Riverwood. In the past, Nicolle has volunteered in grades K-3 teaching art at local schools. She holds an Animation and Illustration A.A. from the Art Institute of Seattle. Nicolle completed the Waldorf Intensive Course for grades 1 and 2 through Sound Circle Center in Seattle. She also completed a grades summer intensive at Sound Circle in 2019 entitled Beyond Labels - Nurturing the Genius of Each Child and Building New Skills for Waldorf Teaching. She has a passion for creativity and art and is excited about Waldorf education and the gifts it offers to the growing child. Nicolle enjoys spending time with her family, friends and pets. Painting, creating, reading and connecting with nature are some of her favorite activities. |
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Kris Grooms - Sixth, Seventh & Eighth Grade Teacher
Kris began teaching at Riverwood as a substitute in 2018 and is now a full-time faculty member. She holds a B.S. in Architectural Studies and a Bachelor of Architecture, professional degree from Washington State University. She also attended the University of Nevada for one year and completed introductory music courses and learned the basic playing of instruments in the brass, woodwinds, reeds, and percussion categories. She has been playing piano since she was six years old, has taken 14 years of lessons, and has taught piano for two years. She designed and bid landscape construction for several years before beginning a nine-year homeschooling journey using Waldorf methods with her three children. In 2019, she completed a grades summer intensive at Sound Circle Center entitled Beyond Labels - Nurturing the Genius of Each Child and Building New Skills for Waldorf Teaching. In addition, she completed a Waldorf Sixth Grade Teacher Training Intensive. Kris’s oldest son has graduated high school, and she lives with her husband, one son who attends high school, her youngest daughter who attends Riverwood, and their two cats, Louie and Marlin. Her hobbies include sewing, quilting, reading, landscape design, downhill skiing, boating, camping, hiking, and coaching soccer and basketball. |
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Aja Bridge – Fourth & Fifth Grade Teacher + Literature Specialty Teacher
Aja home schooled her children for six years, and they attended Riverwood part-time since the school’s inception. Since 2016, she has been a full-time faculty member. Her oldest son graduated from Riverwood and is now attending high school. Her youngest son is a student at Riverwood. Aja holds an A.A. from Tacoma Community College. She has completed Waldorf Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grade Teacher Training Intensives. In addition, she has completed a Fourth and Fifth Grade Math Intensive. When her children were younger, she volunteered and worked with children for two years at the Greenwood Institute d'Art in Chewelah. She enjoys spending time with her family, crafting, and managing the local farmers’ market during the summer. |
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Monica Voltz – Second & Third Grade Teacher + Handwork Specialty Teacher + Co-Administrator
Monica is one of the founders of Riverwood, and has been a teacher, administrator, and board member since the school’s inception. She led her class from second through eighth grade and will begin with a new class of second and third graders this year. Prior to Riverwood, she operated a home preschool for two years, and prior to that was a founding member of Fingerprints Preschool in Chewelah, Washington. She holds a B.A. in Scandinavian Studies and a B.B.A in Business/Marketing from Pacific Lutheran University. Since she discovered Waldorf education in 2008, she has completed a wide variety of Waldorf teacher training courses and conferences throughout the country including: Grade 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 Teacher Conferences; Math Intensives for Grades 1 – 3 and Grades 6 – 7; a grades summer intensive at Sound Circle Center in 2019 entitled Beyond Labels - Nurturing the Genius of Each Child and Building New Skills for Waldorf Teaching; a one year online course - Thinking, Feeling, Willing – with Waldorf Essentials; the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) Summer Conference in Austin, Texas; The Magic of Waldorf Summer Teacher Training Conferences at Shining Star Waldorf School in Portland, Oregon, from 2010 to 2013; Early Childhood Symposiums at Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento, California in 2010 and 2011; Juniper Tree Puppetry Workshop at Windsong School in Spokane; Helle Heckmann Workshop for Educators at Seattle Waldorf School; and a workshop with Rahima Baldwin-Dancy, author of You are Your Child’s First Teacher at Portland Waldorf School. Her oldest daughter graduated from Riverwood, and her youngest still attends. She enjoys skiing locally and around the world with her family, playing with the family dog, reading and knitting. |
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Marci Bravo - Yoga Specialty Teacher
Marci joined our faculty in 2016. She focuses on movement and mindfulness as tools to center, calm and resolve conflict. She completed her RYT200 teaching certification at Harmony Yoga in Spokane in 2015 and has training in Prenatal Yoga from the Seattle Holistic Center as well. She has practiced various styles of yoga for more than ten years. She also completed a grades summer intensive at Sound Circle in 2019 entitled Beyond Labels - Nurturing the Genius of Each Child and Building New Skills for Waldorf Teaching. Marci has worked with children in the fields of education, childcare, and the CASA organization since 2008. She holds a M.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Tulane University. |
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Stazya Richman – Music & Singing Specialty Teacher
Stazya has been on our faculty since 2011 and teaches singing and music to all grades. She is a conservatory trained vocalist with a B.F.A. from the State University of New York. In addition to singing at the Northwest Bach Festival for seven years, she has produced two CD’s, one a solo album of world music, and the other jazz music with her band Stazya and the Naturals. She is the vocal director for the Kettle Falls Woodland Theater and has also acted in several of the theater’s productions. She has been giving private lessons as a vocal instructor since 2004. |
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Mo Oliver - Violin Specialty Teacher
New to our faculty in 2019, he brings over 35 years of strings teaching experience to Riverwood. Mo studied the “Sukuki” Talent Education Method pedagogy and philosophy and earned his book-levels by attending SAA-approved Summer Institutes at various colleges including Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon; Western Washington University in Bellingham; and University of Montana in Missoula. His passion for music began when he received a ¾ violin for his eighth birthday, and it has never stopped. In 1983, he established studios in Chewelah, Colville, and Kettle Falls, as well as Grand Forks, B.C. There, he helped the Selkirk College start a music department where he taught from 1994 to 2000. With the late Alex Starr, a Cuban-born composer, Mo produced two CDs of original music, Midnight Cactus and Castanet, and performed at many venues throughout Washington and British Columbia between 1995 and 2004. Concurrently, he also played violin and viola in the Woodlands Orchestra in Kettle Falls and later served as its concertmaster. While living in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, he started the Celtic band Turning Tide which performed in Idaho, Washington, and Montana. With Turning Tide, Mo produced a CD, Ebb & Flo. From 2010 to 2015, Mo taught violin, viola, and guitar at Music Conservatory Sandpoint, during which he also performed as a violinist with the trio, “Triolet.” While living in Sandpoint, he was instrumental in designing the strings program at Sandpoint Waldorf School. Mo retired from MCS in 2015 to care for his mother. He currently teaches violin and guitar at Post Falls Music Academy. In addition to teaching violin and guitar, he instructs all levels of viola and ukulele students. |
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Cathy Terrill - Spanish Specialty Teacher
Cathy joined Riverwood Community School in 2018. Her experience comes from many years of self-study of Spanish and attending class whenever offered. She taught Spanish at Onion Creek Elementary School for a number of years, inspired by a satellite program the school was using which didn’t seem to interest the children very much. She introduced the idea that she could be the Spanish teacher just as well as something coming through the television. Through the use of a variety of materials and studying intently, her teaching was a success. Cathy traveled to Peru twice. The first time was to satisfy her curiosity of the country, its people and history. The second time was to explore and experience living in a place for longer than a week. During this time, she had Spanish classes and other cultural experiences. Cathy worked for the Onion Creek School for 25 years performing many duties as a para-educator and office secretary. She has some experience with Waldorf education through interactions with friends and reading. She enjoys teaching, sewing, gardening, making candles, reading, the company of her grown children, and her little dachshund, Millie. |
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Walter Stichart - Latin Specialty Teacher
Walt joined our faculty in 2018 as our second foreign language teacher. He holds an AA degree from St. Lawrence Seminary in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin and a BA degree in Philosophy from St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His passion for theology and classical studies led him to become fluent in both Latin and Greek. Later, in Oregon, he obtained an Oregon K-8 teaching certificate at Portland State University. His diverse job history includes being a teacher in elementary schools for three years, the Administrative Assistant for a large Parish in Northeast Portland for eleven years, and the Administrator of St. Michael’s Mission in Inchelium for about three years. In 2001, he entered the home schooling movement and taught Latin and Greek in the HomeLink programs of Kettle Falls, Colville, Chewelah and Valley School Districts. He has been married for thirty-one years, has two grown children, and has lived in Washington for the past twenty years. He enjoys summer gardening and winter forest-thinning on their twenty acres. Their 3000-volume library reveals his interest in academia – research, reading, studying, and teaching. He favors classical music, movies that inspire, stamp collecting, playing board games and doing crossword puzzles. He is involved in church activities and continues to tutor homeschoolers on a regular basis. Walt is honored to teach Latin at Riverwood and be a part of our vibrant community. |
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Molly LeCaire - Games and P.E. Specialty Teacher
Molly received her degree in Elementary Education in 2011. She has a passion for working with children and feels as though she becomes the best version of herself when teaching. Molly ran our first Arts & Adventure Summer camp in June 2019. In edition to her education background, Molly has taught gymnastics to all ages for the past thirteen years. Born and raised in Colville, she is excited to give back to the local community of children at Riverwood and to help create lifelong learners. She finds the Waldorf method intriguing and inspiring and can't wait to learn more. Her daughter currently attends the Chickadee class at Riverwood. |
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ADMINISTRATION
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Courtney Smoke - Bookkeeper
Courtney joined the Riverwood staff the same way many of the faculty did, as a parent first. In 2015 she enrolled her oldest child in the Chickadee class and loved the feeling Waldorf education brought her family. Always looking for ways to help, she found her place as the bookkeeper in the spring of 2018. Courtney brings to this role an Associate's Degree with accounting courses, five years of experience working for the state legislature on Capitol Campus in Olympia, and training with the former bookkeeper. She's very excited for her second child to be joining the Chickadee program this fall and is excited to continue seeing the benefits of Waldorf education. When she's not making spreadsheets and balancing budgets, Courtney is using her creative side in floral design for her flower farm business, spending time with her family and pets, and exploring the beautiful area where she lives. |