Board of Trustees
Buck Holden President
Buck’s family joined Great Oak School in Spring 2015. He formally joined the board in December of 2018. Buck holds BA’s in Psychology and Sociology from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, has a CPMR designation from Arizona State University and studies Electrical Engineering through Penn Foster. For the past 18 years, he has owned and operated Holden Technologies Inc, a technical sales and design company primarily focused on the Oil and Gas and Military/Aerospace sectors. Buck was born in Texas and grew up in The Woodlands. In his free time he enjoys training and competing in triathlons and is an avid cyclist and swimmer. He and his wife, Beth, have three children at Great Oak School (Travis, Wyatt, and Silas).
Jessica Tan Secretary
Jessica is a Waldorf graduate, who attended K-12 at Highland Hall in Northridge, California. During her 10th grade year, she also spent 7 months on a foreign exchange program in the Freie Waldorfschule Freiburg – St. Georgen. She graduated as valedictorian of her class and went on to University in Durham, UK where she earned her BA with Honours in Psychology. Jessica has worked in a variety of roles from Human Resources and Risk Management, and is currently the Risk Manager for Cast & Crew Entertainment Services where she manages a team focused on preserving shareholder value by analyzing, mitigating, and insuring risks to the organization’s operations. Her Waldorf experience inspired a commitment to lifelong learning, and Jessica has continued to learn throughout her career, both on the job and in classroom settings. Jessica is applying her experience and love of learning to share opportunities with future Risk Managers through a Spencer Educational Foundation sponsored internship and by giving guest lectures to Risk Management students.
Diana Araos Treasurer
Diana graduated from USC with a degree in Accounting and has worked in various industries from retail to telecom. She is an experienced finance leader with a background in Financial Planning and Analysis, Accounting and Franchise Finance. She has spent years developing her experience in director and managerial roles in companies such as California Pizza Kitchen, IHOP, and Coffee Bean. She currently works for Wetzel’s Pretzels as Director of Finance.
Steven Pratt Member at Large
Bio coming soon.Tomislav Gracanin Member at Large
Bio coming soon.Brenda Tapia Member at Large
Bio coming soon.
Tami Arndt-Beatty Grades Faculty Representative
Tami was born and raised in the small Northern California coastal village of Point Reyes Station. As a young adult she was employed as a nanny in Hawaii where she discovered Waldorf education. This discovery lead her to pursue a study in anthroposophy on the islands and ultimately to return to California to enroll in the Bay Area Waldorf Teacher Training. Tami graduated in 2002 and started her family in West Marin. Over the course of her teaching career, Tami has taught as an assistant and lead teacher in a home preschool using Waldorf principles, was an assistant at Marin Waldorf School for four years and eventually created and opened her own home-based preschool inspired by Waldorf education once her two sons were born. In January 2015 Tami moved to the Houston area with her husband and three children. Tami taught as a Lead Kindergarten Teacher at Bayou Village School in Houston for two years. Tami is an active runner, enjoys crafts and creative work and is devoted to her family.
Rachel Muehlmann EC Faculty Representative
Rachel grew up in Canada and New England, and has lived in the Houston area for 6 years. A Waldorf student from kindergarten through 12th grade, she loves the Waldorf curriculum and strives to bring some of the wonder, beauty, and goodness of her own kindergarten experience to the classroom today. Rachel holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and an MFA in Creative Writing in Poetry and completed her Waldorf Early Childhood teacher training in the summer of 2022. She lives with her librarian husband and twin sons, and enjoys swimming in large bodies of water, staring into tree canopies, cooking, reading and singing, among so many other things!Angela Harris Admin Representative
Angela was born in Southern California and has since lived in or near five major cities, including San Francisco and New York. Growing up, she enjoyed a bit of an unconventional education and, together with her husband, decided to homeschool their two boys. In 2011, Angela co-founded a learning community for homeschoolers in Northern New Jersey and began teaching a variety of subjects such as world history, literature, and writing. She has contributed articles to online magazines such as Education Revolution (AERO) and The Homeschool Post. Before moving to Texas in 2013, she piloted a course for a fellow homeschool mom and former NASA Goddard rocket scientist which focused on teaching math concepts to young children through play and exploration. In 2015, she became a writing instructor for Brave Writer, LLC. During the 2018 academic year, Angela served Great Oak School as an after-care teacher and then as the Preschool Assistant in the Butterfly Garden before becoming a middle school teacher in the fall of 2019. She earned her Waldorf teaching certificate through Gradalis in 2022. Angela enjoys yoga, theater, and watching her sons and students play baseball and other sports.
