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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.