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Teachers and Staff
Office Staff
Shelly Fox, Program Director
My background is in community-based and school-based counseling. With its foundation in human development, counseling is essentially about bearing witness to the change process in ourselves and those with whom we work. Serendipitously, Blue Mountain School’s model of Contemplative Progressive education is also grounded in values and practices that facilitate change and growth, and the model asks that everyone in our school community—parents, students, and teachers—support each other as we learn and grow from our experiences. I cannot imagine a better opportunity to bring my counseling background into practice in a daily way, than to be working at Blue Mountain School, facilitating change, growth, and learning in our students and in myself and our staff.
I am happy to be focusing my attention and energy to co-create (on a foundation that already has been established by those who came before) a small-scale educational system that fosters the development of loving human relationships, self-awareness, and self-efficacy—all of which are things that kids (and all of us!) need to be at peace in the world.
Heidi Dickens, Administrative Director
As a public school teacher and a technology integration specialist, I have lived a rich and full professional life, but one with a great deal of cognitive dissonance. Relationships impact everything we do and when I see programs, protocols, and data impacting a teacher's ability to build learning relationships, I am sad. Meaningful teacher-student relationships blossom in learning organizations that cultivate opportunities for inquiry, challenge, solving problems together, and doing work that is meaningful. In seeking coherency and consistency for my whole life, I come to Blue Mountain.
I am a native species, having been born in Patrick County and lived in the New River Valley almost my entire life. I have over 20 years of experience in schools as a teacher leader, mentor, instructional designer, program coordinator, trainer, facilitator, coach, collaborator, and consultant. I hold a MS in Education from Radford University and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech. In addition to being passionate about supporting schools that meet human needs, I am a ma, grandma, reader, gardener, cyclist, yogi, recovering marathon runner, emergent chef, hiker, and mountain lover.
Carol Volker, Office Manager
I have been working as the school's office manager since May 2011. My professional background is in technical communication, office administration, and research sponsored programs administration.
Classroom Teachers
Stefi Schafer - Early Childhood Lead Teacher
I am a native of Germany, and I settled in the New River Valley nearly 20 years ago. I found my true Heimat right here in Floyd. I have a degree in early childhood development and education from New River Community College, and I have been working in the early childhood field for about 15 years with various age groups. While my training is valuable, my experience as a teacher and as the mother of a college-bound daughter and two grown sons has taught me a lot about children that the textbooks left out. I strongly believe that children are capable collaborators in their own learning process: children are people, too! They deserve respectful and caring adults to guide them on their journey as they learn about themselves and others, and the world around them.
In addition to teaching, I also am an active member of the Floyd Humane Society and provide foster care for puppies and dogs.
Angie Barrett - Early Childhood Assistant Teacher
Born and raised on the eastern shores of North Carolina, I moved to Floyd County 11 years ago. I began working at Blue Mountain School as a substitute teacher during the 2017-18 school year while taking full-time classes to finish an Associates Degree at New River Community College, and I am happy to begin my full-time teaching career at BMS this year.
I am the mother of two daughters. Both of my girls have gone through the early childhood development program at Blue Mountain School and are current students. While enjoying my time as a stay-at-home mother since 2008, I have hosted numerous summer camps for children. For the past two years, I have also been director of the Children’s Universe at FloydFest, a local music and arts festival.
My family and I live happily in “the middle of nowhere” with our little dog George. In my free time I enjoy gardening, baking, crocheting, and traveling with my family.
Jenni Heartway - Early Learning Co-Teacher & Forest Programs Lead
My passion is educating young learners using emergent curriculum and project based learning. I began my training as a Foxfire Certified teacher and have continued my love of learning that spirals from student interests, since that time. I truly enjoy helping students develop literacy skills in an authentic, meaningful manner, and scaffolding children’s play to create learning experiences. I have taught in a variety of settings; public schools, private schools, internationally and most recently in a Forest Kindergarten. This will be my 18th year in the classroom.
I am a licensed Birth through Sixth grade teacher and have an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education. My Masters Degree is in Early Childhood Intervention and Family Support. I have completed my North Carolina Environmental Educator’s Certification, and look forward to sharing my love of the outdoors with my students.
When I'm not in the classroom you can find me in the woods with my family and our dogs. My children attend Blue Mountain, and my husband, Perrin works as a holistic veterinarian.
Amy Adams - Early Learning Co-Teacher
Tammie Sarver - Early Elementary & Forest Kindergarten
I’ve been teaching in and out of the classroom for nearly 25 years ago. I’ve worked as a preschool teacher and an art studio teacher, I've managed a Creative ReUse Center, and I taught and learned in my own Homeschooling environment with my children and a few others. I find my greatest inspirations come from the environment around me—in nature, through non-traditional materials, the arts and especially through the beautiful wonder of early childhood.
I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Tech, with minors in Education and Psychology, and I just completed a Masters Certificate in Emergent Inquiry from East Tennessee State University. I’ve been inspired by philosophers like Dewey, Vygotsky, Paley and especially the philosophies of Reggio Emilia. I am especially proud to have traveled to Reggio Emilia, Italy for training. In reflecting on my educational philosophies, I feel I’ve been a constructivist educator my entire adult life.
I believe learning grows best in a nurturing environment where everyone feels secure in expressing our unique gifts, where aesthetics and peace are emphasized, and where community and social development are the foundation for all good learning. I strive to create a learning environment where children feel valued, respected, and honored for their unique insights in a place where they are given the space to express their curiosity and explore their answers.
When I am away from my classroom, I love spending time with my family, hiking, gardening, writing, cooking and being with my 2 dogs. I have 5 children, Eva Rose, here at Blue Mountain School; Jeremiah, Elias, Emily Grace and Sarah. My husband, Eric, is an Endangered Species Manager for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Most recently in my free time I have been volunteering with a local group to support families and young children in a nearby county. I’ve been going through the many steps of putting Little Friendly Libraries in deserving communities to help get books into homes that may not have access to them. I have also spent part of my summer volunteering with an art studio at a free lunch program in the same county. If anyone has any great books you would like to share with deserving readers you can share them with me!
I look forward to learning, laughing and growing with everyone at Blue Mountain School this year!
Shelly Sherman - Middle Elementary
I began my teaching career in Mesa (AZ) Public Schools as a kindergarten and first grade classroom teacher. The school to which I was first assigned sat on the edge of the Pima Indian Reservation where many of my students lived. The experience of working with a culture different from mine was invaluable to me as a young teacher.
I love teaching at the middle-school level. I teach a curriculum that weaves a tapestry of experiences in the classroom, the BMS woods, and the wider region as my students begin to expand their vision and enlarge their worlds. Through games, exercises, discussions, assignments, and activities, I actively share my love for plants and animals; for geography and maps; for poetry and literature; for storytelling; for contemplative practice; for art; for the creative process. My approach to education is holistic; I seek to explore the connections between all fields of study and to prompt students to make connections and think big. I seek to foster respect for all living things and to emphasize the individual’s connection to the greater whole. I believe in bioregional education and a consideration of one’s home ground. I am a deep believer in place-based learning that engages students directly with the world in which they live.
I bring a diversity of experiences to my teaching at Blue Mountain. After college, I was an Americorps VISTA volunteer in the small mountain town of Ruidoso, New Mexico, where I practiced environmental education in collaboration with educators on the Mescalero Apache reservation. I worked as an organic farmer in northern New Mexico and on the Mexican Gray Wolf reintroduction in the Gila National Forest, for the Center for Biological Diversity; in that position, I became a student of land rights, public lands issues, the history of wildlife extermination in the West, and top-predator ecology. I have worked as an activist and educator in the coal fields of Tennessee and for two years edited a newspaper about the effects of mountaintop removal coal mining in Appalachia; in that position, I expanded my understanding of environmental policy and law and practiced education and outreach. In 2012, I received the Middlebury Fellowship in Environmental Journalism, which gave me the support to complete a year-long investigative reporting project. I earned a certificate as a Southern Appalachian Naturalist at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute in 2014. I earned a master’s degree in creative writing from Hollins University, where I was a Jackson Fellow. In 2015, I was the Artist-in-Residence at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. When not in the classroom, I am a freelance writer and journalist. My work appears in Orion, Oxford American, and Lapham’s Quarterly, among other places.
Enrichment Programs
Sarah McCarthy, Yoga and PE
I am an artist and mother who has loves being part of the community in Floyd. I have been practicing yoga and meditation for over fifteen years and received my children's yoga teacher certification from the Asheville Yoga Center. In my classes, I encourage students to look within themselves and learn more about their world through yoga, meditation, and cooperative games. I love to experience the calming, grounding effect that yoga and mindfulness have on myself and my students. I practice Zen meditation and participate in silent and family retreats at Great Tree Zen Center in Asheville, NC.
Jagadisha, Contemplative Studies
Jagadisha has been involved with the contemplative arts for over 30 years. He practices and teaches Nada Yoga, the yoga of sound, an ancient form of Classical Indian Music. He is a lover of bonsai, the art of tea, cooking, and simple, mindful living. As well as teaching at BMS, Jagadisha teaches environmental education and team building at Apple Ridge Farm, a local non-profit organization.
Corey Avellar, Drama & Art
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Blue Mountain School is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.