Trillium Charter School

Rob van Nood (3-4-5 Advisor)

I grew up thinking about the world. My parents, both Dutch, moved to Minnesota 3 years before I was born, and from the moment I was old enough to start traveling we did. Until I was 10 years old summers were spent at a variety of campgrounds, riding horses around the Grand Tetons or visiting family in Holland. My formative middle school years were spent in Brussels, Belgium. From there I had the great fortune to see much of Europe, a sliver of the Middle East and a few countries in Africa. Each country I visited gave me deeper understandings of our planet's interconnectedness. Those experiences germinated my desire to help make the world at least a little better for others.

I fell into teaching after I graduated from Lewis & Clark in 1993 with a degree in English/creative writing. I worked as a VISTA volunteer in two SE Portland schools running the newly established SMART (Start Making A Reader Today) program. That experience revealed that working with kids, especially in schools, was what I really wanted to do with my life. Since graduate school I have worked in many different settings: summer arts camps, small private schools, and large public ones. I feel so fortunate to have been part of Trillium since we opened the doors for the first time 6 years ago. Working in this community has been a labor of love. It is my work (and my wife Genevieve's work, as she runs the preschool), my extended family, and now the school to my own two children (Violet will be starting preschool this year and Huxley will be in the baby room two days a week).

There is no other place like Trillium. As a teacher it has given me the freedom to explore those things that make me passionate about working with kids. It has given me the chance to really be with kids, to have the time to understand them, and see what will help them as they explore the world. Trillium has allowed me to make my teaching an art form. Each year I explore, and create, and change and grow right along with my students. This year, after a long summer, I bring with me a newfound excitement to help the kids of Trillium explore the world with their minds and to open up to the world with their hearts.

And what is it that I do outside of Trillium you ask? When I have time, I love to ride my bike (a century anyone?), write, paint, cook, play guitar and sitar, play soccer, do yoga, read (mostly non-fiction), work in my yard (building things, taking things apart or just pulling things out of the ground) and I have this little known desire to take a stand up comedy class.

Jeremy Neldon (3-4-5 Advisor)

The important thing about growing up in the NJ/NYC metro area, no matter how far North and West my journey has taken me or how arguably little of the accent remains, the very open, honest and, at times, animated communication style that flourishes there still resides with me like an old, loved pair of beat up jeans. With so many different cultures living in such density, it's no wonder that sharing ideas can be like vying for the last seat in a game of musical chairs. Ideas often pour out of me in a torrent as I recount stories of my former life in the Alaskan wilderness or as I passionately affirm the creative and unique ideas bubbling up from my students. But the important thing about growing up in "Jersey" is that we love to talk!

The important thing about my life in Alaska was that wilderness adventure and peronal growth required participation in the community. I wanted to climb craggy mountains and ski down them; I wanted to paddle my kayak around the misty fjords and barren capes in waves and wind and live off the land. So rather than go "Into the Wild" on my own, I volunteered with the local conservation council and with an adaptive wilderness recreation organization, where I made lasting friends and mentors who taught me how. I wanted to become more expressive as a storyteller, an actor and a community activist. So I volunteered and worked with our regional theater and GLBT organization, where again I gave countless hours and beads of sweat for the benefit of the community while simultaneously gaining nourishment for my soul. I wanted to share my passion for adventure and learning, so I worked in the schools and with the help of my small group of peers and mentor teachers, completed a Masters in Teaching. But the most important thing about my life in Alaska is that personal growth and success requires participation in the community.

The most important thing about teaching is collaborating with others. I began my teaching career as a "Specialist," a Gifted and Talented Teacher for a public elementary school in Alaska and later as an Art and Drama teacher for a K - 8 public school in Beaverton. I was "special" because I, like the gym teacher or the music teacher, had the pleasure of working with most if not all the school's students, yet I had no teaching partner with whom to share ideas and create powerful learning experiences. Luckily, I have always found other educators who wanted to put their heads together and share the work of planning and prepping lessons. But most importantly, it has been my experience that remarkable student learning happens when many educators on a staff and in a community plan, teach and reflect together.

And the most important thing about Trillium is that I feel I belong here! Moving to Portland just a few years ago, I am relieved to have found such a spiffy new profesional home that is only a five minute bike ride from the house I share with my spouse, Chris. At Trillium I have found new friends who love to laugh and share stories. Here I have found a community of willing collaborators with whom I am excited to tinker and create!