Grades Faculty

1st Grade, Larry Cohen
Larry grew up on Long Island. Following his graduation from State University of NY in Binghamton with a Bachelors of Science, he traveled the country and settled in Seattle. Ten years later having discovered Waldorf education, he attended Antioch New England Graduate School where he received a Masters of Education with a dual certification in Waldorf Education and Elementary licensure. He taught in a Waldorf inspired preschool in Putney Vermont and then returned to the West Coast to take a class from Kindergarten through grade 3 at the Olympia Waldorf School. While living in the Pacific Northwest and Vacouver Island, British Columbia, Larry took some time off from teaching to develop another love, food production – with a micro-bakery and most recently working as a chocolatier. He felt the call to return to teaching and is excited to be back in New England and Central Vermont.

2nd Grade, Libby Case
Teaching has always been the career of choice for Libby. She began teaching in her teens, both gymnastics and swimming for after school and summer programs. After college she led teens on educational summer biking and hiking trips. Her work on these trips inspired her to earn a master’s degree in Environmental Education. Following her graduation in May 1982, she spent the next ten years directing and teaching for Lesley College in an Environmental Education BA and MS program. This program took her back and forth across the country each year with her students to examine environmental issues and meet the people who were addressing them. It was during this time that she first was introduced to Waldorf Education and found its holistic approach to be a match to her ideals about education. When her own children were ready to begin school, Libby and her husband Ben chose a Waldorf school. After completing a Foundations Studies program, Libby began assisting in the Kindergarten and running a summer program for 4 – 8 year olds in Massachusetts. Ben’s job eventually brought the family to Vermont in 2000 and in 2001 Libby became the lead Kindergarten teacher for the Montpelier Waldorf Child’s Garden. The next few years were spent administering and teaching at the Child’s Garden, adding a nursery program to the established kindergarten and helping facilitate the creation of the Orchard Valley Waldorf School in 2004. In 2010, after 14 years of early childhood education, Libby turned her love of teaching in a new direction and gratefully began her career as a class teacher with the 1st graders who will become OVWS’s graduating class of 2018.

3rd Grade, Eric Picard
Eric came to Waldorf Education twenty years ago when he entered the teacher training program at Sunbridge College. Following his training he became the class teacher for a first grade class at a small Waldorf school in New York state. In 1997, Eric and his family moved to Vermont where he worked at the Lake Champlain Waldorf School; taking a class from first through fifth grade. In 2002, Eric took some time off to be an at-home Dad with his two daughters. While at home he stayed involved as a substitute teacher and parent of two Waldorf students. Several years ago the classroom and love of children called him back to teaching. Eric first offered his services at OVWS as a substitute teacher and then stepped in to teach Earth Crafts for half a year. In 2010, Eric accepted the position as a class teacher at OVWS and picked up his current class of very energetic and enthusiastic students. The school has also benefited from his carpentry and landscaping skills.

4th Grade, Kay Gibson
Katharine has returned to The Orchard Valley Waldorf School after serving in the Peace Corps in Macedonia. She brings a deep connection to Waldorf education having taught in the grade school at the Green Mountain Waldorf School. She taught in Early Childhood for three years at the Child’s Garden/OVWS before leaving to go to Eastern Europe to serve in the Peace Corps as a middle grade and English Language teacher. She brings strong academic skills in math and language arts, music skills, a solid foundation in art and a commitment to working out of anthroposophy. She is a native Vermonter with strong roots here in Central Vermont. Katharine earned a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont and a Master of Education from Antioch New England. Her other educational tasks have included natural science, home-schooling, library resources for an elementary school, and teaching English to speakers of other languages, (TESOL). Her passions include hiking, reading, knitting, and following a spiritual path!

5th Grade, Cathie Ely
Cathie has an early childhood memory of declaring to her father that someday she would become a teacher. She never strayed from this goal, remaining in her beloved Green Mountains for teacher training and the start of her career. Cathie first taught third and fourth grade at the Orange Center School and then entered the Peace Corps, serving in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Here she met her husband, Ken. Upon returning to the states, Cathie continued teaching public school fourth and fifth grade in Hartland and Quechee, Vermont until the birth of her first child, Hannah. Soon thereafter her family moved to the Adirondacks where their second child, Audrey, was born. It was through a parent / child playgroup that Cathie was introduced to Waldorf Education. She appreciated the beauty, love of nature and the view of the whole child that are the cornerstones of Waldorf pedagogy. From here Cathie entered trainings and became a first grade teacher at Northern Lights School in Wilmington, New York. The discovery of Orchard Valley Waldorf School called Cathie and her family back to Vermont in 2007 when she joined the faculty as a first grade teacher.

6th Grade, Nancy Crowe
Nancy has been a Waldorf teacher for more than 20 years and joined the OVWS faculty in 2005 as a skills teacher for the sixth grade. The following fall she began her third teaching cycle and has enthusiastically launched on the inspiring journey towards eighth grade. Prior to Waldorf teaching, Nancy was a free-lance journalist, raising her daughters Katy and Colleen, and assisting with the founding of the Green Mountain Waldorf School in Wolcott, where she later taught. She especially enjoys the performing arts – storytelling, music, drama – and is delighted to share them with her class. Her class has climbed several Vermont peaks and she looks forward to more outdoor adventures. She lives part-time in Montpelier with friends and at her home in Jeffersonville with husband Tom, enjoying gardening, hiking and cross-country skiing.

7th Grade, Jacqueline Gabe
Jacqueline came to Waldorf Education with an interest in the arts and a joy in working with people. Prior to teaching at OVWS, which began for her in 2000 (Jacqueline was the founding teacher of the Three Rivers School), she ran an arts program for adults with special needs, a small modern dance company and taught various types of movement education. She received her Waldorf certificate in 2000. Jacqueline grew up in Ottawa, Canada where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. She moved to Vermont in 1992 to be with her husband. She lives in Barre and is grateful to be a part of OVWS.

8th Grade, Mary Fettig
Mary has been involved in Waldorf Education for over 15 years. She is a graduate of Goddard College and the Antioch New England Waldorf Teacher Training Program. Her childhood years on Cape Cod instilled in her a deep love and respect for the natural world and this, coupled with her interests in arts and in child development, led her to explore teaching as a career. “Once I had explored Waldorf education with its rich pedagogy and creative impulses, along with its deep spiritual aspects, I knew I had found my calling. Waldorf school teaching has given deep meaning to my life and to lives of my three children. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”