Specialty Teachers
Nevin Bender
Director of Music, 1988
BA, French, Piano Performance, Eastern Mennonite University; MM, Piano Performance, Catholic University of America; Waldorf Music Teacher Training, Sunbridge College; Werbeck Singing Certificate, Sebastopol, CA
Originally from Vermont, Nevin has lived in this area for over 25 years. Among his previous professions, he has been a freelance pianist and accompanist, an organist at a Lutheran Church, and a singer in the Washington Opera chorus. Before becoming a music teacher, he spent many years in the eurythmy room as an accompanist. His interests include ballroom dancing, tennis, and skiing. Nevin has two children in college and an 8th grader.
Mary Brauer
Resource Specialist, 1992
Undergraduate studies at Trinity College and American University. Teacher training internship at WWS, Waldorf Educational Support certificate from the Association for Healing in Education and Sunbridge College. Graduate of Spacial Dynamics In-Service Training Program and certificate in Spacial Dynamics Movement Therapy.
Mary was introduced to WWS and Waldorf Education in 1973 and has never looked back. She has been an educational support teacher here since 1992, and in earlier years worked as WWS High School Registrar and as Community Development Coordinator. Mary has a particular interest in the seasonal festival life of the school, in the games and activities of childhood, in folk dance, gardening and crafts, all of which provide a joyful, natural, and social opening for growth and development.
Barbara Buchman
Lower School Handwork, 1987
Education: BA in Humanities from Case Western University, Cleveland, Ohio, MEd in Special Education University of Pittsburgh, Applied Arts Certificate Sunbridge College, Teacher Training Certificate, NOVA Institute Silver Spring, MD, Foundation Studies Certificate Center for Anthroposophy, Keene, NH, Trustees Council, College of Teachers, AWSNA Delegate
Originally from Pittsburgh, Pa, Barbara has lived in the Washington, DC area for over 30 years. She first came to WWS looking for Waldorf Education for her two sons (who graduated from WWS High School in 1998, 2001) . Her employment as the front office receptionist began 5 years after becoming a parent at the school. Shortly after joining the staff she was asked to teach knitting and crochet in addition to her office duties to students in grades 1, 2 and 3. Upon the completion of her handwork training at Sunbridge College, Barbara became the full time handwork teacher and has now taught at the school for almost 25 years. She has also taught adults for the NOVA Institute Teacher Training, the Center for Anthroposophy and has given a workshop at the AWSNA teachers conference. Her hobbies include knitting, reading fiction and listening to folk music.
Corinna Clark
Eurythmy Teacher, 2002
Eurythmy Diploma, Stuttgart, Germany; Graduate Course with Novalis Eurythmy
Corinna was born and grew up in Augsburg, Germany, where she attended and graduated from the "Freie Waldorfschule Augsburg." After graduating from the Eurythmeum Stuttgart in 1996, she joined the post-graduate course in pedagogical and artistic eurythmy at WWS, led by Christina Beck. What was intended to be a one year stay in the US has turned into 15 years and counting. By the time she was in the 8th grade, Corinna knew that she was going to be a eurythmist, much to the puzzlement of all her classmates. Movement and dance of all forms are Corinna's passions. She also enjoys baking Mr. Elfstrom's cinnamon rolls and taking strolls on the canal with her two dogs. Together with her son, Corinna spends time in Germany with her family whenever possible.
Ksenia Danylevich
Middle School Math, 2006
BS, Mathematics, University of Maryland; MEd, Secondary Mathematics, University of Maryland; enrolled in NOVA Waldorf Teacher Training program (graduating class of 2014).
Ksenia attended Waldorf Kindergarten at Acorn Hill and returned to her roots to teach math at WWS in 2003. She loves languages and speaks several fluently (French, Russian) and has dabbled in a few others. She also enjoys singing, and appreciates young adult literature and picture books. Ksenia has recently developed a taste for artisanal gelato and can be found scooping such and making espresso drinks on Saturday nights at Dolcezza in Georgetown. She loves nature, beautiful skies, and French pastries.
Tove Elfstrom
Woodwork, 1985
SWEDEN: Pedagogical studies, University of Gothenburg; Municipal recreation management, Karlskoga Ledarinstitute; USA: MEd., University of Georgia, Athens; Waldorf Teacher Training, Rudolf Steinder Institute; Waldorf Teacher Certification, State of Maryland teacher certification
Tove hails from Sweden where he received the equivalent of a BA in municipal recreation management. He continued his studies in the US after two summers of camp counseling in New Jersey with physically handicapped children and disadvantaged youth from Brooklyn, Bronx and Newark. Tove received a M.Ed. from University of Georgia where he focused on wilderness management and the philosophy of work and leisure in a resource-restrained society. His Waldorf Education certification is from the State of Maryland after studies at the Rudolf Steiner Institute. He is the current Chair of the Lower School and teaches grades 4 – 11 in woodworking and offers one blacksmithing elective in the High School. Outside of WWS, he teaches at the Swedish School for Children on Saturdays in Falls Church, where he is also the principal. All three of his children attended and graduated from the WWS and are Waldorf Lifers. He finds it is difficult to state one interest because everything is so interesting: his family and his children at the corners of the world; biking and city planning, literature, politics, the arts, the sunsets over the river. Ask him again for an update on interests - they change!
Cornelia Florescu
Lower School Instrumental Music, 2002
MME, Music Education, University of Bucharest
Cornelia is a second generation musician. She studied violin for 12 years in a school for the Performing Arts and has an MA in pedagogical music from the University of Music in Bucharest. She specializes in flute, studying for 8 years with the first flutist of the Jerusalem orchestra and an additional 2 years of Musicology at the University of Har Hatsofim in Jerusalm. Her career includes flute performing and teaching in Israel and Washington D.C.. Cornelia currently teaches at three different schools and keeps a private studio at her home.
Debbi Kolender
Lower School Reading Tutor, 2005
BA, Special Education and Elementary Education, MA Special Education; EdS, Special Education, George Washington University. Training in Phonographix, Wilson Reading, and Read Naturally
Brian Lake
Middle School English, 1990
Interdisciplinary Studies, Western College of Miami University; B.A. Peace Studies and Intercultural Studies, Manchester College; Waldorf Teacher Training, Rudolf Steiner College; Certificate in Waldorf Administration and Community Development, Sunbridge College.
Brian has been at the Washington Waldorf School since 1990 and has been teaching Middle School English since 2007. Prior to this, he graduated two Eighth Grades (classes of 2002 and 2011), and served as the school’s first Administrator from 1999 to 2003. Brian enjoys art and music making, reading and whitewater rafting. His various interests have taken him abroad for study and travel in India, Costa Rica, Brazil, France and Ireland. He has two daughters, Eryn and Alanna, who attended Washington Waldorf. A lifelong soccer enthusiast and Quaker, he began his teaching career in 1978 at Olney Friends School in Ohio which is his home state.
Marcel Maican
Lower School and High School Jazz Band 2002
MM, Doctorate, Trombone and Conducting, Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory, Bucharest
Gabriele Schilz
German Teacher (gr 7-12), HS Book Arts Teacher, 2009
BA, History & German, University of Konstanz, Germany; MA, Social & Cultural Anthropology, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA.
When she specialized in teaching German as a foreign language during her undergraduate studies, she envisioned herself traveling around the world teaching German. Originally from Köln, Gabriele has lived in the Southwest of Germany, Boulder, CO, and San Francisco, CA, before moving to DC. She has taught people of all ages, from preschool to adults, in subjects including German, calligraphy, and childbirth preparation, and throughout, has loved working with adolescents the most. Some of her favorite ways of engaging are: making things with paper or fibers, discussing anything, playing group games. And a few of her favorite things: books, goats, documentary films, home births, puppet shows, languages and alphabets, the circus!
Susan Walsh
Librarian, Therapeutic Eurythmist, 2006
BA, German, Franklin and Marshall College; MLS, Library Science, Drexel University; Foundation Year, Sunbridge College; Artistic Eurythmy Training, Eurythmy Spring Valley; Pedagogical Eurythmy Training, Antioch New England Graduate School; Therapeutic Eurythmy Training, Peredur Centre for the Arts, East Grinstead, England. Member, Eurythmy Association of North America; Member, Association for Therapeutic Eurythmy in North America (ATHENA).
Originally from New Jersey, Susan grew up in Arlington, VA, and, after many years away, returned in 2006 to the D.C. area. As librarian, she worked at the Art Institute of Chicago Library, the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City, Sunbridge College Library, and several New York State public libraries. Her most unusual jobs during college were in a potato chip factory and at the Oktoberfest in Munich! Her interests include bookbinding, swimming, walking, and travel. Travels have taken her around the United States and Europe (especially to Germany thanks to a German mother), to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, to northern India and Katmandu, Nepal, and to Turkey where she has visited more than five times. Susan speaks German and has studied French, Latin, and Turkish.
Yoli Zamora
Spanish Teacher, 2010
BA, Universidad Surcolombiana (Colombia); English classes at Pasadena City College (California), English classes at Montgomery College, Certificate in Montessori for 3 to 6 years olds at IAMS (Maryland), 4 years experience as Montessori Teacher for 3 to 6 year olds, 1 year experience as Montessori Teacher for 3 year olds; second grade teaching experience at Rock Creek Forest (Chevy Chase) for the Spanish Immersion Program, more than 15 years teaching experience, Certification as Spanish Teacher at Santiago de Compostela University (Spain), Real Estate License (Maryland), Daycare license (Maryland).
Originally from Colombia and moved to the US in 1988. Her interests include dancing, making jewelry, gardening, reading, walking, and traveling with her son and husband. Travels have taken her around the United States, Europe, China, Spain, France, Belgium, Japan, Austria, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Colombia, some islands like San Andres and Bahamas. Yoli speaks Spanish and English. And is the mother of 20 year old, who is a sophomore at the Catholic University. Yoli loves art and all kinds of music (especially for dancing).
