It was there that she became familiar with the multiple principles of the Rudolf Steiner such as anthroposophy, pedagogy and biodynamic farming. She realized that she had found the education and community for her son that she wholeheartedly would have loved to have had for herself as a young child.

In 2000, she began working as a teacher at Youth Initiative High School, a private Waldorf-inspired secondary school, where she discovered her love of teaching and working with the youth. She began her training in Waldorf Education and in 2001, she accepted a position as a 1st Grade classroom teacher at Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School while simultaneously teaching a variety of block and path classes at the high school such as Art History, Life Skills: Teen Issues, Dance, Fiber Arts, Jam Band, and Italian 101 Independent Study over the course of 13 years. Pursuing a longtime dream to live in California, she moved to Nevada County in 2014 to work at Yuba River Charter School where she was employed as a rotating middle school teacher until shifting roles into her current position as the Pedagogical Administrator and Home Study Specialist for Grades 4-8. Joyfully and courageously, she has had classroom teaching experience in Grades 1 – 12 as well as specialty classes such as theatre arts, chorus, ancient movement and dance, and human fertility/rites of passage.

Throughout her career in education, she has served on boards, hiring committees and faculty councils, taught workshops, provided mentoring and held leadership roles for various festivals. Over the decades, she has attended various trainings, workshops and lectures with Kim John Payne, Dennis Klocek, Jamie York, Leo Klein, George Hoffecker, Betty Staley, Eugene Schwartz, Mikko and Antje Borjarsky, Torin Finser, David Barham, and other Waldorf greats.

For rejuvenation, she spends time organic gardening and farming, cooking, hiking, learning languages, traveling, spending time with family and friends, writing and performing music, dance and theatre.

“Throughout my experience in the classroom, I see the children shifting rapidly with our fast-changing world, presenting new situations and challenges. I feel it important to foster imaginative, innovative ways as well as draw on the roots of Waldorf Education to build resiliency and adaptability amidst the teachers, parents, and children to meet our future in a creative and conscious way. From contact with alumni students to seeing my own son and bonus daughter flourish, I know Waldorf works!” ~ Jacquelynn

He held lead recording studio instructor positions at both California Recording Institute and Expressions College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA. Michael taught recording session engineering and studio maintenance at Emeryville’s Expression’s College for New Media and California Recording Institute. Michael co-produced and engineered a nationally syndicated radio show called “25 years Of Hits”. Additionally, Michael worked with a great variety of musicians including international award-winning artists. He brings his wealth of knowledge & experience to all his sessions and his classes.

After working as a researcher at the “Leonard Bernstein Center for Education Through The Arts,” Michael began to develop a deeper appreciation for the role of arts in education. As Alexander Bernstein (son of Leonard) states, “My father understood that education must be engaging and driven by imagination and curiosity in order to develop students who can think creatively and solve the world’s most complex problems.” This led to Michael’s interest in Rudolph Steiner’s philosophies and the role of arts-based education. He was led to the Waldorf community in 2008. When Michael chose to enroll his daughter in a Waldorf Charter school in 2014, he knew he was investing in her ability to use her imagination and grow into a “wholistic” individual. Michael has felt a deep sense of connection with Rudolph Steiner as they share many of the same interests and the same birth date, along with George Harrison of the Beatles.

Currently Michael is the IT Manager at The California College of Ayurveda Michael. Michael also enjoys learning languages and is currently studying French, Spanish and Italian,. Other interests include: qigong, tai chi, hiking, biking, playing guitar on stages and along the shores of rivers & oceans,