AJ Lee (pronouns are he/him/his) arrives at UPWS with 11 years of experience in independent schools. Most recently, he co-founded The Stone Independent School as a progressive, ind...Read More

Jennifer Kang (pronouns are she/her/hers) is an educational leader who has led and taught for 15 years in American public schools and in international schools in Morocco, Lebanon, ...Read More

Karen Trine (pronouns are she/her/hers)

Valerie Fairchild (pronouns are she/her/hers)

Mike Grill (pronouns are he/him/his) has served as the Secretary of the Board of Trustees since 2018. He joined the Urban Prairie community in 2015 when his oldest child began firs...Read More

Rachel Manigault (pronouns are she/her/hers) joined the Board of Trustees at Urban Prairie Waldorf School in the Summer of 2020, where her husband of 9+ years, Dan Galat, co-direct...Read More

Ravi Parakkat (pronouns are he/him/his) with his degrees in engineering and business, has built a career in consulting, solving complex business problems. Ravi has managed multimil...Read More

Caitlin Flannery (pronouns are she/her/hers) is the lead teacher in the Hummingbird Garden and the Director of the Early Childhood program.

Jenn Zielinski (pronouns are she/her/hers) comes to us with over 10 years of experience working in Enrollment Management at the Chicago Waldorf School. She and her husband currentl...Read More

Indra Lively-Hatcher (pronouns are she/her/hers) attended the Olympia Waldorf School grades five to eight and worked at OWS for five years. Then she worked as an assistant teacher ...Read More

Kelly Quesada (pronouns are she/her/hers) is a cellist and educator based in Chicago. Active as both an orchestral and chamber musician, she has been playing in professional ensemb...Read More

Sherry Diaz (pronouns are she/her/hers).

Heather La Riviere (pronouns are she/her/hers) is a native of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and grew up in an Army family. She earned a BA/MA from the University of Chicago with genera...Read More

Sharla Paul (pronouns are she/her/hers) is Urban Prairie's Head of School, a new leadership position created in Spring of 2019 and approved by the Board in June of 2019 as part of ...Read More

Nisreen Al-Qamari (pronouns are she/her/hers) joined the Board in the Fall of 2018 and has been a member of the City Garden-Urban Prairie community since 2014. Her background is in...Read More

Danila Miranda (pronouns she/ella) is the project coordinator and bookkeeper for Gonzalez Liquors, which has long donated to our fundraising events. For over a decade, she was a pr...Read More

Dan Galat (pronouns are he/him/his) started playing violin when he was 7 years old. Seven years later, he began teaching violin. Tweleve years and many thousands of hours practice ...Read More

Rob Welcher (pronouns are he/him/his) is the class teacher for the class of 2027.

Catherine Francis (pronouns are she/her/hers) joined the Board in June 2017 and has been a member of the Urban Prairie Waldorf School Facilities Committee and the American Waldorf ...Read More

Shannon Callahan (pronouns are she/her/hers) is a senior non-profit executive with international experience in strategic and financial planning, fundraising, communications, board ...Read More

Megan Rotko (pronouns are she/her/hers) is the class teacher for the class of 2024. She began teaching English as a Second Language while living in Chiapas, Mexico between 1995-199...Read More

Mathew Riendeau (pronouns are he/him/his) was the class teacher for the class of 2020. He trained as a teacher at the Arcturus Rudolf Steiner Education Program in Chicago. Before c...Read More

Erica Moriarty (pronouns are she/her/hers) is the lead Toddler Playgroup and Prairie Roots teacher. She strives to offer families an introduction to Waldorf education in a warm, cr...Read More

Adriana Kondrat (pronouns are she/her/hers) is a Chicago Waldorf School(CWS) graduate and studied at the Arcturus Rudolf Steiner Education Program in Chicago. She was the Assistant...Read More

Sophie Baumgartner (pronouns are she/her/hers) attended the Chicago Waldorf School from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating in 2005. She earned a BA in Political Science an...Read More

Xuefen (Glenda) Ding (pronouns are she/her/hers) is a native of Lanzhou, in northwest China. Glenda was a college professor for ten years and taught foreign languages at a global e...Read More

Candace Choma (pronouns are she/her/hers) received her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Washington University in St. Louis. Upon graduating, Candace became the foun...Read More

Megan Cather (pronouns are she/her/hers) is the class teacher for the class of 2022. Megan received her BA in Spanish and Writing/Communications from Maryville College and her MS i...Read More

Liz Avila (pronouns are she/her) is currently a mentor teacher, after being the teacher for the class of 2026. Liz joined the teaching team at Urban Prairie Waldorf School after wo...Read More

Hannah Avellone (pronouns are she/her/hers) is the class teacher for the class of 2023. She received her BA from Bard College and her Waldorf teacher certificate from the Arcturus ...Read More