Faculty and Administration

Bright Water Waldorf School has an experienced and committed faculty from a variety of backgrounds. All class teachers are Waldorf-trained and all faculty are dedicated to their development as educators.

The faculty works with the conviction that childhood is sacred; that children learn naturally when the curriculum meets their developmental needs and that children's imaginations need to be nurtured and protected. Emphasis is placed on the importance of a child’s ability to find joy in learning and to experience wonder and awe in the world around them. Teachers are committed to developing students' intellectual flexibility, independent judgment, and moral courage by engaging students through active, curious participation in their learning.

The faculty and administration of Bright Water Waldorf School endeavor to work together in a spirit of cooperation and collaboration, both with each other and with the parents of their students. These committed partnerships help meet each child’s educational, developmental, and social needs.

Administration

Melissa Lang Lytle | Admissions and Enrollment Coordinator

Melissa is originally from Southern California and attended Loyola University in Chicago, where she majored in philosophy. Melissa met her husband Matt in Chicago and married in 1999. Melissa has a strong background in arts and social advocacy: from her work as a merchandiser for Nordstrom, to being an advocate for victims of domestic violence, domestic abuse, mental illness and social justice. She later became a patient advocate and birth doula. Outside of work Melissa enjoys being outdoors, discovering the beauty of the Pacific Northwest with her three boys and her husband.

Anna Stumm | Business ADMINISTRATOR

Anna lives in the Columbia City neighborhood in Seattle with her two kids, two house bunnies, and a cat. She has spent the course of her career to use her skills of learning, creating, and maintaining organizational systems and structures in different capacities, from running Starbucks stores to creating and running a learning pod during the pandemic.

Her passion finds joy in the details of life and on any given weekend she can be found cooking a great meal and sharing it with those she loves, swimming, adventuring with her kids, going for walks in her neighborhood, playing board games with friends, and finding great deals at and one of the many thrift stores of the Seattle area.

Austin Roberts | Community Administrator

Austin is originally from Mendocino, California, a small coastal town three hours north of San Francisco. He has been in Washington for the past seven years and currently resides in Tacoma. He did his undergrad at UC Davis and graduated with a degree in sociology with an emphasis in law and a minor in psychology. After graduating, Austin moved to Maui for two years and was a Program Director at a Boys and Girls Club. It was at this point that Austin decided to have a career in education and become a teacher. He attended Southern Oregon University and received his Master's degree in Teaching. Austin has taught High School and Middle School students.

He is passionate about education, music, travel, social justice, equity, and family. On the weekends you can find Austin traveling around the PNW, going to sporting events, at a show, cooking, or trying something new.

Early Childhood faculty

Jennifer Beal Quinn | Teacher, Salmonberries Classroom

Jennifer moved to Seattle in 1999 and has been active in the local Waldorf community since. She has been at Bright Water since 2006, working as a class teacher, long term substitute and math and reading tutor. Jennifer has watched Bright Water Waldorf School grow from a small first grade class in the basement of a house just up the street from where she taught first grade at Seattle Waldorf School to the mature school it is today.

Jennifer holds a Master's Degree in Education, Waldorf Certificate and Public School Credential from Antioch New England Graduate School. Drawn to the vibrancy of nature in the Northwest, Jennifer loves being active outdoors in all seasons.

Diana Murphy | Teacher, Early Childhood

Diana Murphy is an Assistant Teacher in the Early Childhood Program. She has been working at Bright Water since the Fall of 2019. While she is new to Waldorf Education, she has six years of experience working with children. Diana is also a mother and was a stay at home mom for sixteen years. When not working, she enjoys attending yoga classes, reading, hiking, running, cooking and getting together with family and friends. Diana is originally from Southern California and has lived in Seattle for seven years. She enjoys working with children because it gives her a chance to observe their capacity for kindness and how they experience the world around them.

Joe Jennings | Teacher, Early Childhood & Environmental Education

Originally from Ohio, Joe has been in the Seattle area for the past 5 years. He joined the staff of Bright Water Waldorf School in the fall of 2019. Joe worked as an early childhood educator at a Montessori school in Ohio, but his background is primarily in environmental education; teaching about nature and the environment. He has worked for various outdoor science schools, state parks and as an educator for the National Audubon Society. During the summers, he is an environmental educator for the Discovery Park Nature Day Camp.

Joe loves hiking, nature photography, disc golf, reading and writing. “I am excited to be on the staff at Bright Water and to be a part of this wonderful education program; providing a safe and comfortable place for students to learn and grow.

Grade School Faculty

TRISH BONDURANT | Interim Grade One TEACHER

Trish was born in Montana and grew up in Colorado. She attended the University of Colorado in Boulder and Rudolf Steiner College in California before starting at Bright Water Waldorf in 2004.She was a main lesson class teacher for 17 years before becoming a subject teacher. She has toured 10 countries by bicycle and recently fell in love with a dog. She now has a 75-pound mixed Pyrenees puppy who keeps her on her toes. She is passionate about empowering children to create things with tools.

Skye Chamberlain | Teacher, Combined Grades Two/Three

Skye Chamberlain was born and raised within the sound of the waves on the shores of Lake Michigan. She earned her undergraduate degree at University of Michigan, and in University of Wisconsin’s year abroad program through which she studied story-telling traditions in the Himalayas and met her husband Ramesh, an Indian national, in Kathmandu, Nepal. Their two grown daughters are also Waldorf graduates. Ms Chamberlain loves swimming, yoga, walking and wild places. She also loves telling stories to children and watching their eyes light up. Ms Chamberlain is a graduate of Sound Circle Teacher Training and one of the founding teachers of Bright Water Waldorf School.

Robyn Anderson | Teacher, Grade 4 | Middle School Math & Science, Grade School Support

Robyn is an alumni parent, mother of BWWS 2014 graduates Catherine and Christine. Robyn is a Sound Circle Teacher Training graduate, with a background in the sciences and mathematics, who worked for more than 20 years at Fred Hutchinson before shifting gears to become an educator. She has most recently been working with students age 3 to 14 at Seattle Waldorf School. Ms. Anderson is also a trained Aikido sensei!

Clovis DeMilo | Teacher, Combined Grades Four/Five | Middle school band instructor

Clovis is a graduate of Sound Circle and completed part of his teaching practicum at Bright Water Waldorf School in 2016. He joined Seattle Waldorf School as a subjects teacher and proved his flexibility and adaptability as a colleague while working with middle school students in a number of areas, including choir, woodwork and substitute teaching.

Beth Simpson | Teacher, Combined Grades seven/eight | middle school spanish

Beth grew up in a very small town with a population of ~ 4,000 people during her youth. The town is in the tri-state area of Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, and has a very strong German influence. She graduated from Indiana University-Bloomington, with a double major in Spanish and Linguistics. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Master’s Degree and her Ph.D. coursework in Spanish Linguistics. With a love of language and people, Beth has lived in Peru and Spain, and she has run study abroad and Spanish teacher-training programs in Mexico. Beth has two children of her own who have graduated from BWWS.

Beth has been teaching since she was 21 years old, beginning her teaching career as a Spanish instructor at University. After completing her Waldorf teacher training and teaching Spanish at BWWS for several years, Beth became a main lesson teacher. Beth has graduated three BWWS eighth grade classes and looks forward to graduating her third class in 2024! When not at school, Beth’s favorite pastimes are spending time with her family and creating art.

SUBJECT CLASSES Faculty

Hiromi Yonemoto | Teacher, Japanese

Hiromi was born and raised in Japan. While attending the University of Japan, she wrote a thesis about alternative education as she has always believed that education is the key to making the world a better place/ a place where there is no war. Having grown up in Hiroshima where all the children take "Peace education", a commitment of no war, the idea of changing the world for the better is an important one to her.

In 2003, Hiromi moved to the United States and attended the Rudolf Steiner College in California completing her Waldorf teacher training and joining Bright Water Waldorf School in 2005. When she is not teaching, she loves to spend time on the farm with her family and friends.

Sarah Liane Foster | Teacher, Movement and Circus Arts

Sarah Liane Foster has been teaching circus, movement, and theatre to folks of all ages since 2004 and has been teaching at Bright Water since November of 2017.

She has her BA from Brown University, trained in movement theatre and clown at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and studied and practiced movement theatre pedagogy at the Helikos International School of Theatre Creation.

Based in Portland, Oregon for many years, Sarah taught Circus Arts classes and camps at Portland Waldorf School and Cedarwood Waldorf School.

Now in Seattle, she divides her time between teaching Movement and Circus Arts at Bright Water, performing at Seattle Children’s Hospital as a healthcare clown with Laughter League, walking on stilts, gardening, running, and being a spouse and parent. Sarah’s ancestry is Jewish, Austrian, Irish, and Liverpudlian. She grew up in central New Jersey, on the land of the Lenapehoking (Lenni-Lenape) tribe.

Shawn Miller | Teacher, Aikido

Shawn was born in Stuttgart, Germany and after living many places as a child, moved to the United States where he spent his growing up years in Ohio and Seattle. Shawn started to farm and practice Aikido in 1999, which has taken him all over the world for study and practice. As a result of this immersion, he has created multiple children’s aikido programs in Seattle, and currently sits on the board and teaches at two local dojo. For Shawn aikido is critical to teaching non- violence, social justice and cooperation by working together in difficult times and tense situations. Aikido teaches

us to support and nurture our community members, an amazing practice that all Bright Water students get to engage. Shawn has also furthered his love of farming through the 2017 establishment of Tuk Muk Farm in Woodinville, WA that aims to bring healthy nutritious food to underserved communities in the Seattle area.

Jonah byrne | Teacher, Strings

Jonah Byrne has been playing violin for over 30 years, teaching, performing, recording, and composing in a wide variety of styles. He started playing the violin at age six when his mother inherited an old violin from her great uncle and wanted to keep a family tradition alive. Jonah grew up taking lessons and playing in school orchestras, youth orchestras and string quartets throughout his young life. He studied music composition at University of Colorado, and has been active in the Seattle music scene since moving here 15 years ago. In that time he has been a DJ at Seattle’s eclectic Hollow Earth Radio, played fiddle and violin in country bands, experimental bands, indie bands, post-rock bands, and more.

He plays with country band Country Lips, the folk quartet Fairground and with pop/r&b singer Sphie, and has performed live with acts including the Breeders and Jamie Wyatt.

As a teacher, Jonah believes strongly in creativity and exploration in music. He teaches a broad array of genres and styles, and encourages his students to follow their own musical interests. Jonah is a lifelong learner of music, and is thrilled to be able to share his knowledge and enthusiasm for music.