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Our Team

Our Team

Our Team of educators and administrators are fiercely dedicated to the education of children in our community. Wild River was born from devoted teachers and parents, and our team is as strong as they come because of it. We would love for you to meet our wonderful team who truly live to their fullest versions of themselves to better serve the children of our region!  

ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM

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Pedagogical Director

Bonnie River

Bonnie knew she was a teacher from age nine standing at a plant stand and asking all her siblings and cousins to listen to a story. Now, more than 50 years later, she is still telling stories and painting imaginative pictures of a bright, connected, happy world born from the struggles of becoming the best human we can be. Bonnie completed her doctoral studies in Organizational Leadership where she embraced many wonderful approaches to creating strong, committed, mission-driven organizations. These studies came after more than 30 years as a Waldorf Teacher. Bonnie has lived and studied in three countries. Her work with young adults on the spectrum, and in special education has opened her heart and will to working with individual children who have specific needs.  

 

Her three children, all received Waldorf Education and are testaments to the promise that our graduates will have purpose, meaning and direction in their lives. Bonnie is a steward of Gradalis Waldorf Teacher Training and serves as a consultant and teacher trainer throughout North America. (that is, until she came home to guide the pedagogy at Wild River). Bonnie served as a consultant to many innovative Waldorf Programs like Cyber Civics and Human Development. She is a teacher of philosophy, who truly enjoys finding synthesis in our controversies. 

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Director of Finance & Operations

Kate Panawek

Kate is a native of California and spent much of her childhood and young adult life adventuring in the mountains of the Tahoe region until in 2010 she grew roots in Truckee. Her first encounter with Waldorf education was when she was in search of a preschool for her son and was looking for a program that would give him confidence in being his own unique self, offer him immersion in imaginative and nature-based play, and embody the arts, kindness, and a strong balanced life rhythm.

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Kate has a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Regional Planning from the University of Cincinnati. Prior to starting Wild River, Kate was part of a group of parents that formed a non-profit Waldorf inspired preschool named Little Gems of the Sierra. Kate was a founding board member as the Treasurer and then moved into a Director of Finance and Operations role which she still holds today. Prior to her career in educational leadership, Kate ran an international design firm based in Dubai, Singapore, and the Bay Area. Kate has over 20+ years of professional experience working at the intersection of strategy, planning, and organizational structuring.

 

Kate has had the opportunity to live and work abroad during 5 years of her career development and has also travelled extensively throughout the world. Besides travel, Kate has a love of backpacking, skiing, handwork, and spending quality time with family in the outdoors.

EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHERS

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ASPEN CLASS - TK/K

Soma Miller

Soma Miller is a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher. She guides children through an experiential rhythm of the day, and offers a curriculum that meets the development of children age 4-6. Soma has been an inquisitive student of the Waldorf Pedagogy as well as Biodynamics since 2008. She completed her Waldorf Teacher training summer of 2023, and loves to swim, hike, and wildcraft in the local hills, mountains and riverbanks with her two children. Teaching Kindergarten makes use of her strengths as a homemaker, textile artist, and designer. She is grateful for the opportunity to join the vibrant Wild River community as both a teacher and parent.

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ASPEN CLASS - TK/K Assistant

Apryl Bracelin

Apryl Bracelin was born and raised in Northern California. She and her husband Michael began to raise their two daughters in a small town in the Bay Area. This is where she started working with children grades K-8. She has 15 years of experience as a Youth Development Professional, Instructional Assistant, and Program Coordinator. Apryl began to read about Waldorf Education when her youngest daughter was in kindergarten. In 2020 her family learned about a Waldorf school in the remarkable town of Truckee, this helped assist in the decision to move their family to the Mountains. Her daughters started their beautiful Waldorf education in 1st and 5th grade. Apryl soon realized she also wanted to be a part of the school, and in teaching this amazing group of children. She then began as a Kindergarten Assistant for what is now Wild River  and has loved every aspect of it. She enjoys cooking, exploring the outdoors with her family and two dogs, doing arts and crafts with her children and continuing to grow and learn more about the Truckee community.

Lead Teachers
Learning Groups

GRADES TEACHERS

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BOBCAT CLASS - 1ST GRADE

Madison Conarro

Maddie is originally from a small mountain town west of Colorado Springs called Manitou Springs. After she finished her undergraduate degree in Wildlife and Conservation Biology at Colorado State University, she moved to Truckee to work for the local trail crew. She quickly fell in love with Truckee-Tahoe and knew it was where she wanted to put down roots. She has spent a lot of time working in educational settings, from tutoring high-school math, leading bug camps with young children, to teaching ecology to blind and disabled students. She knew that teaching was a passion of hers.

To formalize her teaching experience, Maddie moved to McCall, Idaho so she could earn her Masters degree in Environmental Education and Science Communication. After many hours of teaching in the sunshine and the chilly winter, she left Idaho with a new degree.

She believes that it is her duty as a teacher to ignite a love for learning and insatiable curiosity in students.

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CHICKAREE CLASS - 3RD GRADE

Rebecca Bear

Rebecca was born in Minnesota, and grew up in a large family playing pond hockey and skiing. Rebecca has always been a maker, and earned her BFA at the University of Minnesota Duluth in Graphic Design. While working at a grocery co-op in Bloomington, Indiana, she rediscovered her passion for working with children, and was determined to become a teacher. She earned her MSEd in Elementary Education at Indiana University and completed her student teaching at Sørhåland Privatskole in Skudeneshavn, Norway. After experiencing how raw and intentional a school experience could be, Rebecca moved to California. She taught for five years at Nevada City School of the Arts, two years in Sonoma County, and is now thrilled to call Truckee her home. She enjoys carving stamps, beading, drawing, baking, music, camping, and skiing.

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NIGHTHAWK CLASS - 5/6TH GRADE

Ayla Shaw

Ayla was raised in Truckee, so she is delighted to return to her hometown to be a  part of pioneering Waldorf education in the Tahoe area. Ayla graduated with a B.A.  in Place-Based Education and Children's Book Writing and Illustrating from  Prescott College, where she first encountered Waldorf education by volunteering in  local school gardens. Before becoming a Waldorf teacher, Ayla spent a decade  working in outdoor education and wilderness trip leading in both Yosemite  National Park and Maine, as well as spending her summers rambling around  remote corners of Yosemite as a Wilderness Ranger for the National Park Service.  While traveling around South America for six months to learn Spanish and climb  rocks, Ayla visited several Waldorf schools and decided she was ready to pursue  this next step by enrolling in Antioch New England's Waldorf teacher training  program, in addition to earning a public teaching credential through Moreland  University. Ayla now lives in the expansive Sierra Valley with her dog, Topo, and  spends her weekends climbing, cross-country skiing and mountain biking, often in  tutus.

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EAGLE CLASS - 2ND GRADE

Kathleen Mumaw

Kathleen knew she was born to be an educator. When she was little she would teach her dolls and stuffed toys.  Growing older she taught in a different capacity coaching gymnastics for several years throughout middle school, high school, and college.  It was only natural to pursue an education degree in college and a master’s degree in education leadership. Twenty-eight years later, Kathleen is still dedicated to education and ready to serve where there is a need.  Over those years she taught in public main stream schools, charter schools, and private and charter Waldorf schools.  She has worked with all ages of children from preschool to eighth grade in single grade classes as well as multi age classrooms. She has been a Waldorf class teacher in both the private sector and in a public Waldorf charter school.  Kathleen has most recently served as both a pedagogical director and the head of school at a Waldorf charter school in Grand Junction, Colorado. She is thrilled to have moved to Truckee and embracing a new community of colleagues and families to continue her work providing Waldorf education to the next generation. 

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DRAGONFLY CLASS - 4TH GRADE

Emelia Legarza

Emelia was born and raised in northern Nevada. She earned a B.S. in Outdoor  Adventure Leadership at Southern Oregon University. After graduating she worked  as a part-time scuba instructor for the university and a part-time nanny which is  when she simultaneously fell in love with teaching and working with children. Not  long after moving to the Florida Keys for scuba diving in 2017, Emelia pursued a  Master of Arts in Teaching with a focus on Elementary Education through Western  Governors University. While finishing her degree she began working at a local  Montessori inspired charter school teaching kindergarten and first grade. While she  loved her school and being so close to the ocean, she began to miss the mountains  and being close to home. Following the pandemic, she decided it was time to move  back west. In search of a school that would fill her heart as much as the last, she  stumbled upon our Tahoe Truckee Waldorf Community and knew this is where she was meant to teach.  Currently, Emelia resides on the North Shore with her boyfriend, Chris, and their  two dogs, Blizzard and Benwood. When she’s not at school or doing crafts at home,  she’ll be outside doing something else she loves like climbing rocks or skiing down  mountains.

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MOUNTAIN LION CLASS - 7/8TH GRADE

Emily Desler

Emily was born in the Bay Area but spent the second half of her childhood just outside of Boise, Idaho, surrounded by raging creeks, pine trees and dirt roads. After high school, Emily earned an AA in photography from North Idaho College and then continued on to earn a BA in video production from Boise State University in 2005. Since then, Emily has had the opportunity to camp, hike, ski, climb, float, travel, guide, teach, facilitate and learn with a variety of ages, maturity levels and wisdoms across numerous countries. Europe and Australia were her home for three different stints as she guided week-long outdoor education and self-reflection trips. She continues to relish in her work outdoors and in: guiding individuals into growth-based situations. In 2015 Emily welcomed her twins, Quincy and Lincoln, into her world. Later that year Emily earned her Master's in Education and continued on to teach at Forest Charter for six years. Though her chief ambition is to one day possess the skills to keep an orchid alive more than a few weeks, Emily, in the meantime, engages, cuddles, sings, and plans adventures with her 7-year-old identical twin boys. Their dog, Olive, demands they spend most of their days outside on beaches, trails, mountains, lakes, rivers, bikes and scooters, which they don’t mind at all. Their cat, Luna, seems annoyed that she gets left behind so often. 

SINGLE-SUBJECT SPECIALTY ENRICHMENT

Single subject enrichment
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ECO LITERACY - CURRICULUM 1st-4th

Liz Sheppard

Liz Sheppard was born and raised in Atlanta, GA where she learned the power of an incredible and supportive education, the magic of southern hospitality and the beauty of a family meal. Her love of being outdoors was kindled by the time she spent as a child in the Southern Appalachian mountains and the Wilds of Maine. She has led wilderness trips from the wild tropical jungles of Costa Rica to the barren tundra of Alaska. She has always liked going to school and has a dual BA from Tufts University in Environmental Science and International Relations, and Master in Education from UNR.

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Liz has worked in Outdoor Education for over two decades and is excited to have designed this curriculum and the opportunity to offer this amazing program to the greater Truckee community. Liz loves supporting children with hands on learning experiences in the outdoors where they discover how all living things are interconnected. She teaches children about science, math, english, cooperation, communication, empowerment, empathy, cause and effect and wonderment in real time while exploring the world around them. She most loves how Waldorf education teaches children to find beauty in the world and believe in themselves. 

 

When she is not educating people in the outdoors, Liz loves spending time with her family, being outside, camping, traveling, snowboarding, doing yoga, sleeping, and finding time and space to explore her inner artist.

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ECO LITERACY - 5th-8th

Mia Andler

Originally from Finland, Mia has studied the regenerative practices of earth-based cultures around the world and has been teaching children and adults for over 20 years. She directed and co-founded the Bay Area branch of Trackers Earth, managed several outdoor education programs, and taught nature education in many California schools. She is author of “The Bay Area Forager” and Sierra Forager, guidebooks to edible wild plants. She has served on the board of many non-profits including Sustainable Fairfax and CircleCenter and been an elected member of the Fairfax Open Space Committee. She currently sits on the board of Friends of Tahoe Truckee Waldorf. Mia’s deep knowledge of the local environment stems from hands-on experience outdoors. She has spent countless hours studying the flora, fauna and ecology of California. 

 

Mia brings a rich background of life-skills to her classes and has taught a variety of topics including animal tracking, nature awareness, survival skills, bird language, art, music, english as a second language, special education and conflict resolution to name just a few. Mia lives in Truckee with her two children and is passionate about meeting our basic needs of food, water, shelter and connection in a balanced way with our environment.

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UKULELE

Ben Fuller

Bio coming soon. 

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SPANISH

Giovanni Ortega

Bio coming soon. 

PROGRAM SUPPORT

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MOVEMENT TEACHER & ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Rachel Bauer

Rachel grew up in Clovis, CA on an almond farm with her parents and younger brother. To pass the time she rode bikes and ski raced through high school and ran track and cross country in college. In 2004, she moved to Aspen, CO, with a degree in Liberal Studies and a CA Realtor license to work as the Senior Property Manager for the Snowmass Village Mall (a 77,000 sqft outdoor shopping mall).

 

Rachel has enjoyed spending her time as an instructor on the weekends working with all ages and abilities, attending training and exams to finally obtaining a full certification. Rachel has represented the USA Cycling Team in the Pan American Continental Mountain Biking Championships, is an Alpine Examiner for over 11 years in the Western Division, and ran the largest training program in the west of over 450 employees at Heavenly Mountain Resort. In the winter months, she maintains various positions at local ski resorts as a Tech Team member, training manager and kids ski school manager. In the summer months, she runs her own cleaning business and works with mountain bike riders both at national levels and local levels. She currently resides in Olympic Valley with her 10year old Aussi Mix passing the time with music, indoor gardening, and yoga.

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SUPPORT STAFF

Serenity Enriquez

Serenity was born in Texas and spent her first 5 years living in Mexico. From age 10 to 16, she lived in a school bus with her family, traveling full-time throughout the US as unschoolers. She left home at 16 when they came to San Francisco, where she entered foster care and became a bike messenger. She attended college for emergency medicine and fire science, then merged her two passions, by training bike messengers to form a disaster response team for the City of San Francisco.

 

Serenity moved to North Lake Tahoe in 2003, and became an avid kayaker, telemark skier, mountain biker and licensed airplane pilot. She home birthed two daughters and homeschooled them in the Waldorf method until enrolling her youngest in our program in 2021. They moved to Sierra Valley in 2019, where she is an active volunteer firefighter and medical responder. She gardens, rides her dirt bike and studies anthropology when at home.

Office Staff
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WOODWORKING / PRIMATIVE SKILLS

Nick LaHaise

Bio coming soon. 

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VIOLIN

Julie Mellon

Bio coming soon. 

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