Lindsey Schnell Preschool Teacher - Butterfly Garden

Lindsey joined Great Oak School as an assistant for the Rose Garden in 2015 and began her Waldorf Teacher Training at Pleaides Initiative in Austin the same year.  She grew up in the West Texas town of Midland where she worked in the oil and gas industry.  Lindsey has four children ranging from 25 to 12. She has been involved in community theatre as an actor, director and stage hand.  She is also a runner, a vegetarian, a recent convert to trough gardening, and a live music fan.

Rachel Muehlmann Kindergarten Teacher - Song Bird Garden

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!

April Finn Kindergarten Teacher - Mushroom Garden

Bio coming soon.

Taylor Womac Kindergarten Teacher - Wildflower Garden

Taylor’s journey into Waldorf education began in 2018, when she and her oldest child first stepped into Great Oak School’s Parent-Child classroom.  She was immediately inspired by the beauty and intention of the Waldorf and Anthroposophical philosophies, and soon began weaving these principles into the rhythm of her home life.  In 2023, Taylor joined the faculty at Great Oak School as the Parent-Child and Bridge Assistant, also lending her warmth and care to the Kindergarten in the afternoons. The following year, she served as the First Grade Co-Lead, Parent-Child Lead, and Kindergarten Assistant.  Having moved gracefully through a variety of age groups, Taylor now finds her home in the Wildflower Garden.  A native Texan, Taylor earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Creative Studies from Texas A&M University.  She began her Waldorf Teacher Training with Gradalis in the summer of 2025.  When not in the classroom, Taylor cherishes time with her husband and three children.  She finds joy in reading, walking, cooking nourishing meals, journaling, crafting, creating a cozy home, camping under the wide western sky, and learning new skills that nurture both heart and hands.

Frances Hernandez First Grade Teacher

Frances was born in Puerto Rico and has always shown a big passion for art.  When she was younger, she spent most of her time drawing and painting.  She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American History and then began to work as an Art Teacher, where she fell in love with education.  While completing her Bachelor’s degree in Early Education, she began her Waldorf training in Cuernavaca, Mexico.  In 2018 she moved to California to teach at Live Oak Waldorf School. In 2022, Frances and her family moved to Texas to begin her new teaching journey at Great Oak Waldorf School.  Frances graduated from the Waldorf Learning Support program in 2025.

Bruna Martins Second Grade Teacher

Bruna was born in Brazil, where she acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Geology and later a Bachelor’s degree in Portuguese and French (this second Bachelor’s degree was completed by studying in the evening while she was working as a Geologist). Upon the completion of this second degree, she made the decision to change her career to become a teacher and began to teach language to adults.  In 2017, when she became a mother, she also discovered Waldorf Education, this and other pedagogical explorations led her to get her Master’s degree in Linguistic Studies.  She specifically studied Plurilingual Education which she feels aligns well with Waldorf Education by recognizing each human being as unique with an emphasis on cultural diversity.  Since beginning her teaching career, she has taught adults and children – refugees and college students – in France, Brazil, and the US.

Yelizaveta Sanchuk Third Grade Co-Teacher

Yelizaveta “Liza” Sanchuk was born and raised in Moscow, where she attended the first Waldorf school in Russia through the eighth grade before transferring to a dance school. In her early twenties, she moved to New York City and graduated from Queens College, CUNY, with a bachelor’s degree in Education. She later earned a master’s degree in History from the same institution. Since moving to the United States, Ms. Sanchuk has dedicated her career to working with children. She finds great joy in their authenticity, energy, creativity, and eagerness to explore the world.

Mara Bernal Third Grade Co-Teacher

Originally from Colombia, Mara earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education with an emphasis on language teaching.  For many years, she taught in her home country, where she developed strong connections with international schools and the IB program.  In 2009, she moved to Austin, Texas, and continued her career at an international school with a Spanish immersion program, where she taught for another ten years.  During this time, she pursued several trainings in curriculum design, assessment, inquiry-based learning, and mathematics, developing a special passion for teaching elementary math.  Afterward, she devoted a few years to raising her son.  When it was time to choose a school for him, she was drawn to a Waldorf curriculum.  Having already been studying Waldorf pedagogy, she felt deeply inspired by its gentle pace and nurturing rhythm.  While her son was in the Bridge class, she fell in love with Great Oak School, where her inspiration to dive deeper into Waldorf education led her to join the faculty.  In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening, hiking, traveling, and spending time with her family.

Andrea Badot Fourth Grade Teacher

Andrea completed her Waldorf grades training through Sound Circle Center in Seattle, Washington in the summer of 2022 and is thrilled to be on track to graduate her class in 2028!  Andrea’s passion for joy-filled, hands-on education started with a strong interest in the Montessori Method for her own children and finally with obtaining a certificate in Montessori Lower Elementary Education with the Houston Montessori Center in 2013.  She served as Lower Elementary Guide at Kingwood Montessori School for seven years before she discovered Waldorf education and has never looked back.  She is excited to apply wisdom from both Rudolf Steiner and Maria Montessori as she moves through the grades at Great Oak Waldorf School.  Andrea loves spending time outdoors and took an early interest in nature and portrait photography.  Originally from Colorado, she loves to ski, take nature walks, sit around campfires and cook.  One of the best gifts she ever received was Julia Child’s modestly titled book “The Way to Cook” as a young bride living in France!  She is also deeply interested in childhood development and is currently seeking a certification in Art Therapy through the Kairos Institute.

Hayley Kay Haynes Fifth Grade Teacher

Hayley joined Great Oak School in the Spring of 2014 as a child shadow in the 1st and 2nd grade classes.  Since then she has worked 2 years as an early childhood assistant and approximately 2 years as an assistant for 1st through 6th grade.  She has led a 1st grade play and a 6 grade play.  She has also taught movement, handwork, and substituted in every grade level throughout the years.  Hayley has a Bachelors of Arts in Child and Adolescent Psychology and a Master’s of Education and Waldorf Certification from Antioch University.  Hayley enjoys drawing, hand work, obstacle course training, theater, and working with children.

Tami Arndt-Beatty Eighth Grade Teacher

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.

Becky Sykes Gardening & Handwork Teacher

Becky Sykes received her Bachelor of Arts degree as a theater major with an emphasis in costume design from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota and her Masters in Waldorf Education from Antioch University New England.  Becky was introduced to handwork at age six and has continued to learn and develop new skills ever since. Her handwork repertoire includes many styles of embroidery, quilting, clothing design and construction, costume design and construction, knitting, crochet, spinning, leatherwork, natural dying, and basket making. Becky was only two when she started her first garden alongside her dad in Wisconsin.  She continued gardening when she moved to Houston in 2001.  She is particularly interested in cultivated and foraged edible plants with a growing interest in dye and medicinal plants.  Prior to joining the Great Oak Family Becky worked as a freelance costume designer and for Urban Harvest as a garden instructor and community gardens coordinator before pausing to care for her young children.  Her children brought her to Great Oak in 2014.  Shortly after Becky started volunteering in the gardens.  She joined the faculty in 2017 as the handwork teacher.  Formal garden classes were added to her schedule in 2019.  In her free time Becky enjoys reading, puttering around in her own garden, cooking, sewing the odd costume for one of her children and taking spontaneous road trips with her husband.

Dana Fleming Student Support

A German teacher since 1987, Dana pours a great deal of energy into every type of lesson.  She thrives on the versatility and flexibility teachers must demonstrate at a young school.  She enjoys teaching adults as well as children, offering classes and workshops.  Dana joined Great Oak School’s Faculty in Fall 2012, and served for 6 years on the Great Oak School’s Board of Directors.  She has taken two wonderful groups of children from first through fifth grade as a Waldorf class teacher.  Dana is married to a theoretical physicist who cooks like a chef and invents astonishing things.  Education: B.A., University of California, San Diego and M.A., M. Phil., and ABD, German Literature, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Dana completed her Waldorf Class Teacher Training at Sunbridge College while earning her Foundation Studies Certificate in Austin.  Dana serves on the Board of the Association for a Healing Education, and completed AHE’s three-year training course for Waldorf healing education.

Dawn Coe Middle School Math Teacher

Dawn received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Texas and her Waldorf teacher certification and Master’s in Education from Rudolf Steiner College in California.  For her Master’s Capstone project, Dawn created a math curriculum based on origami for grades one through eight.  Dawn feels that her greatest accomplishment has been in the homeschool education of her five daughters that spanned two and a half decades.  Having tested Waldorf methods in her own home laboratory, Dawn became convinced early on that it is the education of the future.  The top two items on Dawn’s bucket list are living long enough to celebrate her 80th wedding anniversary and assisting the birth of an accredited Waldorf school in the Houston area.  Dawn also created and currently teaches a series of adult education classes to help parents learn more about the philosophy behind Waldorf education. Dawn’s favorite artistic media are fiber arts, sand castling, origami and photomontage; and she recharges by gardening, dancing with her husband, and hacking up stacks of magazines to feed her photomontage habit.

Jimmarie Rodriguez Language Arts - 4th Grade

Bio coming soon.

Farrah Godfrey Art Teacher

Farrah has been part of the Great Oak community since 2017, first as a volunteer and, more recently, as an assistant in our Early Childhood program.  Her creative spirit and nurturing presence have enriched our classrooms for years, and she now looks forward to guiding middle school students as they explore artistic expression and develop new skills.  As an active member of the local Karankawa tribe, Farrah brings a unique perspective rooted in cultural tradition, a deep connection to the natural world, and a reverence for the creative process.  She is also the mother of a Great Oak graduate and a 6th grader, giving her a meaningful understanding of the Waldorf journey.

Heather Matthews Strings Teacher

Heather grew up in the Houston area and graduated from Klein High School.  She and her husband have been married for over 20 years and have 3 children.  Mrs. Matthews holds a degree in Music from Pensacola Christian College where she studied violin under Dr. Alberto Jaffé. She has been playing professionally and teaching strings classes and private lessons since 1994.  Over the years, she has been hired to play in concert halls, recording studios, musical theater orchestras, weddings, and other special events.  She has taught strings in both public and private schools as well as college pedagogy courses.  Many of her students have received music scholarships.  Mrs. Matthews enjoys being involved in her church where she plays violin and piano and sings in the choir. She also plays violin with the Symphony North of Houston.

Julieta Récamier Spanish Teacher

Julieta is an experienced educator with over 20 years of teaching in private schools. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Interpretation and Translation, a Teacher’s Certificate, and a TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test) Certificate.  In addition, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Development, deepening her understanding of how children learn, grow, and thrive.  Beyond the classroom, she is passionate about supporting students’ emotional and social growth.  For the past three years, she has co-led children’s workshops on Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness alongside her daughter, Mariana, helping young learners build resilience, empathy, and self-awareness.  Her teaching philosophy centers on nurturing the whole child—academically, emotionally, and socially—while fostering a love of learning that lasts a lifetime.

Natalie Housley Mandarin Teacher

Natalie Housley is a native of Austin, Texas, and attended Austin Waldorf School from first through eighth grade. After college, she spent four years living in China, where she taught English as a foreign language while studying Mandarin at both the university level and in private language schools. Her studies culminated in earning a Certificate of Chinese Proficiency. Upon returning to the United States, she worked in the Oil and Gas industry for ten years before becoming a mother. In recent years, she has devoted herself to family life while incorporating the early childhood philosophy of Rudolf Steiner into her home and parenting.

Kaydance Christensen Movement Teacher

Kaydance brings over 20 years of experience in movement, body awareness, and holistic education to her role as Movement Teacher at Great Oak School.  With a foundation in exercise science from the National Personal Training Institute in Chicago and years of experience teaching snowboarding, she weaves strength, rhythm, balance, and imagination into every class.  Her additional training through TIBIA Massage School and the IntuAction Program deepens her understanding of alignment, structure, and the whole child.  In 2023, she earned her Pentathlon Certificate through Spacial Dynamics and has since trained two 5th-grade classes for the Austin Waldorf School Pentathlon.  Now in her fourth year assisting and third year leading movement, she supports 1st–8th graders in building coordination, confidence, and joyful embodiment through games, rhythm work, spatial challenges, yoga-inspired activities, and Pentathlon training.

Marine Kojanyan Eurythmy Teacher

Marine, born and raised in Yerevan, Armenia, holds a B.A. in Chemistry and an M.A.
in Biology from Yerevan State University.  She received her professional Eurythmy training at the Eurythmy School in Stuttgart, Germany, completing a four-year program and three years of artistic work. Marine has performed with the Else-Klink and Goetheanum Ensembles, bringing Eurythmy to audiences across Europe.  Also, she was involved in “fairy-tails” projects in Eurythmy and performed a spiritual word and “visible” music to help and support the physical, emotional, and cognitive growth of the children with special needs.  In addition to her Eurythmy work, Marine has a deep love for handcrafts, visual art, and icon painting. Her acrylic works have been featured in art exhibitions.  She also brings experience in natural science research, having worked at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.  She speaks four languages: Armenian, Russian, German, and English. Marine joined Great Oak in 2013.

Angela Harris Administrative Director ~ Grades Program

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.  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 had the honor of graduating the school’s first five 8th grade classes.  Angela earned her Waldorf teaching certificate through Gradalis in 2022.  In 2024, she became the Administrative Director for the Grades program.

Samantha Fox Associate Early Childhood Administrative Director

Samantha’s family has been part of the Great Oak community since the spring of 2016 when she enrolled her then-2.5 year old daughter in the Parent-Child program, and immediately fell in love with Waldorf education and the people at Great Oak.  Sam joined the administrative staff at Great Oak in the fall of 2022.  Sam was born in Michigan, but grew up in Virginia, and spent her high school years in Iowa and Minnesota.  She holds a BA in History and also studied French, and worked for Delta Airlines as a gate agent and at the Minneapolis headquarters in the Sales Support department.  She has also at times worn the hat of bookseller, travel school intern, holistic health coach, and personal trainer.  Sam moved to Tomball in 2015 with her husband and daughter to be closer to her parents, and to escape MN winters.  In her free time, she enjoys doing her nails, reading, yoga, weightlifting, traveling, and spending time near any body of water, but especially the ocean.  She has a strong relationship with coffee, and a large collection of crystals, special edition books, and nail polish.

Lindsey Schnell Early Childhood Pedagogical Co-Chair

Lindsey joined Great Oak School as an assistant for the Rose Garden in 2015 and began her Waldorf Teacher Training at Pleaides Initiative in Austin the same year.  She grew up in the West Texas town of Midland where she worked in the oil and gas industry.  Lindsey has four children ranging from 25 to 12. She has been involved in community theatre as an actor, director and stage hand.  She is also a runner, a vegetarian, a recent convert to trough gardening, and a live music fan.

Rachel Muehlmann Early Childhood Pedagogical Co-Chair

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!

Didianne Gilman Pedagogical Consultant

Before joining Great Oak School in 2020, Didianne was a Waldorf grades teacher in Colorado.  She taught one class 4th grade through 8th grade and a second class 1st grade through 8th grade.  After graduating her second class, Didianne became a Faculty Administrator before her family was relocated to Houston for her husband’s work in late 2019.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Education and a Waldorf Education Teaching Certificate.  Prior to her career in Waldorf Education, Didianne worked in human resources for corporate and start-up high-tech companies.  She has lived on the east coast, west coast and in between.  She has been married for 30 years and has three grown children who are still grateful for their Waldorf educations.  Her joys include any and all family time, travel (she has been to all 48 contiguous US states and 5 foreign countries), water and mountains in major doses, reading, gardening and just taking in the world in all of its complexities and wonders.

Zuzana Leckova Finance Director

Zuzana grew up in the former Czechoslovakia and came to the United States as a high school exchange student.  She went on to earn her undergraduate degree and two master’s degrees in Accounting and Taxation, all in New York.  During the first decade of her career, Zuzana worked in corporate tax for a Big Four accounting firm and a multinational financial institution.  She fell in love with Waldorf education after the birth of her first daughter, when she enrolled her in a Waldorf parent–child program.  In 2009, Zuzana’s family moved to Texas, where her daughters joined the newly formed Great Oak mixed-age kindergarten.  She became an active volunteer and later joined the Board of Directors as a Treasurer.  In 2014, she took on the role of Finance Director, where she continues to serve part-time while also working in corporate tax.  Zuzana’s daughters are proud Great Oak graduates.  Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, photography, watching movies, spending time outdoors, and exploring local bakeries and cafés.

Toby Rolf Administrative Assistant

Toby is a native Houstonian and a graduate of the University of Houston, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree. Her family joined Great Oak School in the fall of 2012, immediately drawn to the warm, nourishing atmosphere — the smell of freshly baked bread, the emphasis on natural materials, and the sense of community that resonated deeply with their family. Toby began her journey at the school as a dedicated parent volunteer. Over the years, she supported the aftercare program, assisted with summer camps, and served both as a kindergarten and preschool assistant. In the fall of 2018, she moved into her current role. Outside of school, Toby loves spending time at the beach, traveling, reading, and enjoying time with family and friends. She also enjoys cooking nourishing vegetarian meals for her family and hosting guests at her family’s Airbnbs in Galveston.

Melissa Stokes Administrative Assistant

Melissa discovered Great Oak School in 2016 while searching for a play-based, community-led kindergarten for her young daughter.  After several years as a parent, she began assisting in the Early Childhood program, primarily preschool, before joining the admin team in 2025.  Melissa is a native Texan (8th generation) and a graduate of Texas A&M University.  She lives in Tomball with her daughter, who graduated from Great Oak in 2025, and loves gift giving, throwing parties, antiquing and wandering off the beaten path.