Kingston Mosaic Teachers
(PA days and Summer Camp)
Lead Teacher, Laura Gerrity: Laura has over 20 years teaching experience, fourteen years in a Waldorf setting. She has a master's degree in elementary education, and excerpts from her master's thesis were published in the book Out of the Classroom and Into the World. Laura has taught in Kingston, New York City, Poland, and Costa Rica. She worked as the Assistant Director of the Monteverde Friends School and Grade School Faculty Chair of the Mulberry Waldorf School. She is fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language. She is drawn to the art, music, appreciation of the natural world, and spirituality that are integral to Waldorf education.
Alex Rochon-Terry is an artist-educator who has spent the last year in Kingston working at Mulberry Waldorf School teaching music and phys-ed. He holds his B.Ed from Queens University where he specialized in outdoor education. He also holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies from York University. He has worked with children of a wide variety of exceptionalities and abilities. He uses music and song to connect with children and has been fortunate enough to perform songs at the H’art Centre and New Leaf Link for special needs adults.
Lead Teacher (occasional):
Caela Bolton completed her Bachelor of Education in 2011 from Queen’s University. She holds a Joint Honors Bachelor of Science in Health Studies and Psychology from the University of Waterloo and has furthered her professional development by taking an AQ course of Special Education Behaviour and levels 101 and 102 of Sign Language from the Canadian Hearing Society. Over the years she has combined her love of working with children and her love of travel, resulting in being a teacher, teaching assistant, respite worker and nanny in Ireland, England and Canada. She is also a great lover of the outdoors, whether it is taking intensive hiking and camping trips in places like Peru and Iceland, being part of a hill walking club that goes rain or shine in Ireland, or simply taking a walk through a wonderful lake side area in Kingston. Caela also comes from a very friendly, energetic and eclectic family and as such has really enjoyed and felt at home in the wonderfully inclusive family community that she has found with the Mulberry Waldorf School and extended community.
Curative programming and consultation:
Karen Holmes is an Ontario certified teacher (K-12, Special Education) working in the Limestone District School Board with children with special needs, and is committed to the well-being and development of each child. She has trained and worked as a Waldorf remedial teacher and has provided arts education programming (music, speech, drama & story-telling) for children of all ages for a decade.
Summer Camp Instructor: Clara Troje (Clara is seated and shown admiring snake with child)
Clara Troje graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Music, with minors in Psychology and Music Education, and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music Therapy at Capilano University. She is extremely interested in family-therapy, and in working with children and adolescents. She is an enthusiastic early childhood music teacher, teaching classes at Montessori Preschools across Vancouver, and used to teach at the McGill Conservatory of Music. She also has a background in Outdoor Education, having taught canoeing, kayaking, and leadership skills to adolescents at Gould Lake Outdoor Centre since 2014. She loves playing clarinet, guitar, piano, and singing, as well as visual art.
Summer Camp Instructor: Elena Heighton graduated with a BA in psychology from McGill University and is currently completing her MSc in Occupational Therapy at Queens University. She is interested in “alternative” therapies and has worked on projects at McGill studying various therapeutic programs including mindfulness based therapies, wilderness therapy, horticulture therapy, other “green therapies” and nutrition and mental health. Elena spent one year teaching handwork skills at a Waldorf school and has been working with children both one on one and in camps for many years. Elena believes in having a holistic and child/family-centred approach to understanding and addressing individual children's needs. She loves learning, being outdoors and doing arts and crafts. Elena is also interested in agriculture and has worked for several local organic farms. Elena says “I am grateful to have been a part of Mosaic for the past 3 years and am looking forward to continuing to see it grow. It's so fulfilling to see the happiness the camp brings to children and their families".
