Gradalis Collegium & Adjunct Faculty
The Collegium of Gradalis is made up of Waldorf educators who have dedicated their lives as teachers, administrators and innovators in Waldorf trainings, as well as both public and independent schools in the Waldorf movement. these experienced instructors are here to support students on their journey as they become Waldorf teachers, artists and leaders within their schools and school communities.
Click faculty photo or name for full bio.
Education Stewards Collegium
Donna Newberg-Long, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Donna Newberg-Long joined Gradalis in 2015 while teaching at Rudolf Steiner College. She founded an independent Waldorf School in Hawaii while receiving her Waldorf training and M.Ed. at Antioch University. She was a class teacher for 24 years, a school administrator, as well as a principal in the public Waldorf school movement. Donna received her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Denver.
Thom Schaefer, M.A.
Director of Elementary Education
Thom Schaefer, also a founding member of Gradalis, has been a lifelong educator, teaching and administering from elementary school through college. He has taught at elementary and high school levels both public and private Waldorf settings. Thom is currently Pedagogical Director at Credo, a Public Waldorf High School in California.
Bonnie River, M.Ed.
Steward
Bonnie River has led numerous teacher-candidates over a 40-year career in Waldorf education. She designed the Gradalis Teacher Training implemented at Rudolf Steiner College (RSC) where she directed this program as RSC Hybrid Teacher Training motivated to meet the world’s demand for trained Waldorf teachers.
Martha Gollogy, B.A.
Director of Early Childhood
Martha grew up in Austria & completed her Waldorf Early Childhood Training in Germany. She has been a kindergarten teacher & director in independent and public Waldorf education. She shares her love of music with students in the training.
Alice Stamm
Director of the Arts
Alice has been teaching eurythmy since 1975. She began her eurythmy training in Eckwalden, Germany and finished with Else Klink in Stuttgart.
Tim Long, M.B.A.
Director of Finance
Tim Long, MBA, spent his career in Healthcare Administration and hospital development both domestically and internationally. He provides financial insights for Gradalis and supports schools through strategic planning, Board Training, bond development and financial consulting.
Collegium
Lin Welch M.A.
Early Childhood & Field Mentor
Lin has been teaching for 27 years. She has taught Kindergarten in private and charter Waldorf Schools. She has an M.A. degree in Transpersonal Counseling and Education from Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Cristina Drews, M.S.Ed.
Grade One & Elementary Field Mentor
Cristina has been an educator since 1975 & has taught in public and private elementary & Waldorf schools, adult literacy programs, and teacher trainings. She did her Remedial Training at RSC and completed her Master’s in Curriculum/Instruction, Reading & Children’s Literature.
Ireneo De Leon
Grade Two
In 2015, Ireneo and his family moved to the United States to join the Prairie Moon Waldorf community. In the same year, he took the Waldorf teacher training course in Antioch University, New England and pursued his Masters in Education in the same institution which he completed in 2020.
Catalina De Luna Garza, M.Ed.
Grade Three & Field Mentor
Catalina was born and raised in Mexico. She moved to the USA in 2010 with her two daughters. She has been an educator for over 30 years, 20 of those in Waldorf Schools, including Atlanta Waldorf School, as a Class Teacher as well as teaching foreign language.
Sandra Kirschner, B.A.
Grade Four & Field Mentor
Sandra led two classes (1-8) at Shepherd Valley Waldorf School. She is currently teaching at Shining Mountain Waldorf School.
Thesa Callinicos
Grade Five & Visual Arts
Born and raised in South Africa, Thesa attended Johannesburg Teachers’ Training College before graduating from Emerson College in Sussex England. She’s been a Class Teacher & mentor for 35 years.
Karl Johnson, M.A.
Grade Six & Field Mentor
Karl has been an educator for 35 years and has taught in the Waldorf movement since 1986. He is currently Pedagogical Director at Santa Fe Waldorf School. Karl teaches science and music in the Gradalis training program. He has a B.A. in Music and is passionate about Outdoor Education.
Vernon Dewey
Grade Seven & Field Mentor
Vernon moved to Hawaii in 2022. He taught for 14 years at The Denver Waldorf School, first as an assistant, then serving as a class teacher for two classes, one from grades 1-8 and another from grades 6-8. He then served as Education Director for the 2021-22 school year.
Roel Op’Tende
Grade Eight
Roel began teaching in 2011 at the Rudolf Steiner College in Rotterdam. His dedication to Waldorf education transcended borders, leading him to teach at the Wasatch Waldorf Charter School in the United States. Having previously served as a social science teacher at Credo High School, Roel now holds the position of Education Director.
Helen Lubin
Speech Arts
Speech artist/educator Helen Lubin has taught in Waldorf teacher education and worked with anthroposophic therapeutic speech arts for 35 years. She has brought some 250 ‘school speech visits’ to dozens of Waldorf schools, where she works with classes, teachers, individual students, faculty groups, office staff and parents. Helen also has 10 years experience in anthroposophical curative education, is a certified TESOL instructor, and freelance editor/translator.
Martina Simunek-Suarez
Foreign Language
I have been a class teacher at Boulder Valley Waldorf School in Niwot for 7 years and a foreign language teacher since 2004, though currently I only teach German to middle school students; well, and enough to my second graders to satisfy their curiosity about my mother tongue.
Andrea Pronto
Singing & Instrumental Music
Andrea Pronto was born and raised in Germany and has been a music teacher in the Waldorf School Movement in North America for over 30 years in both a private and public Waldorf School.
Jennie Baudhuin
Watercolor Painting Grades 1-8
As both a founder and teacher at Santa Fe Waldorf School, Jennie Baudhuin has dedicated her adult life to Waldorf education for over 35 years.
Thomas Baudhuin
Clay Modeling & Field Mentor
With over 39 years of teaching and using beeswax, plasticine, clay, wood, and alabaster, Thomas has created a developmentally appropriate curriculum for use from kindergarten through grade eight.
Nationally accredited anthroposophically based training.
Gradalis Professional Development Training is a nationally accredited institution. Gradalis Training Programs qualify across state lines for required hours to maintain teaching certifications.
WECAN Associate Member Institute.
The mission of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America is to foster a new cultural impulse for the work with the young child from pre-birth to age seven.
“Receive the children in reverence, educate them in love, and send them forth in freedom.”
–Rudolf Steiner
CONTACT
(720)464-4557
info@gradalis.edu
TEACHING CAMPUS
4725 Miller Street
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
OFFICE ADDRESS
10661 Utrillo Lane
Northglenn, CO 80234