Rob Rich, Mathematics

Rob Rich joined the EWS Faculty in 2003, and teaches math in the High School. He previously taught in the suburban Boston area, and is in the process of completing his Waldorf High School teacher training with the Center for Anthroposophy in Wilton, New Hampshire. Mr. Rich has a B.A. in anthropology from Dartmouth College, and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University. He has nineteen years of professional engineering experience designing, manufacturing and testing high precision electro-mechanical devices for spacecraft and is currently working with a local architect on the design of a solar greenhouse. Among his many other accomplishments is the fact that he has hitchhiked from Paris to the Arctic Circle.

Nancy Balasubramanian, History

Ms. Balasubramanian (or Ms. B) teaches history, current events, and a senior elective. She received her B.A. from the College of William and Mary, and her M.A. from the University of Maryland. Her professional experience includes teaching at private high schools in California and at the North Carolina School of Science and Math. She joined the EWS Faculty in 2005.   She is currently enrolled in the Center for Anthroposophy’s Waldorf High School Teacher Training Program.  Ms. B lives in Pittsboro, with her beloved menagerie, and tries to find more time to pursue her interests in music and pottery.

Dan Moise, Science

Mr. Moise holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and Physics from the University of Bucharest, Romania. He completed his Foundation Year in Anthroposophy in Dornach, Switzerland, and has completed the Waldorf High School Teacher Training. He was a Pioneer teacher at one of the first Waldorf schools in Eastern Europe. Most recently he taught Chemistry, Climatology and Math at the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, New York. In addition to his Waldorf training and teaching, he brings industry experience in toxicology and lab science. He speaks English, Romanian, German and French, and is highly accomplished at the strategic board game ‘Go’.

Angelo Sphere, Humanities

Mr. Sphere teaches literature and dramatic arts. He holds a BA in Japanese, MA in Comparative Literature and graduated from the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training in 2009. Before coming to Emerson, Mr. Sphere taught English composition and literature at community colleges in Louisiana and California. He has traveled extensively in Japan, Greece and Scotland, among other countries. In 2006 he decided he would make a pilgrimage of all the sites of Herakles’ labors- so far he has visited six of the twelve locations.

Jessie Ericson Onuf-Rabius, Humanities and High School Sectional Chair

Ms. Onuf-Rabius was born in Washington D.C., but grew up in the Virginia countryside where she was enchanted by rolling hills and beautiful changing seasons. In high school she discovered one of her life long passions: theatre. She found that she actually preferred being behind the scenes as a director, stage manager, lighting crew, etc. Ms. Onuf-Rabius attended the New School for Social Education, earning three degrees including an MA in psychology and an MFA in theater direction. She came to Los Angeles after getting married in 1998, received her teaching credentials from Los Angeles Unified School District in special education and taught in the district for seven and a half years. In 2004, Ms. Onuf-Rabius gave birth to fraternal twins, Nicky and Julia, and began searching for the kind of education she wanted for her children. She discovered Waldorf Education, and in January of 2006 joined the Waldorf Institute of Southern California. In January of 2007, Ms. Onuf-Rabius began a long term substitution assignment at the Westside Waldorf School and did practice teaching there. She continued to teach at Westside, both as a class teacher and as middle school support teacher, from 2008-2010. In 2010, she joins our High School Faculty as Humanities teacher.

Lisa Krogh, Mathematics

Ms. Krogh moved to the Chapel Hill area from Buffalo, New York, where she was the third grade teacher at the Aurora Waldorf School. She received her BA honors in computer science and mathematics from the University of Waterloo, in Ontario Canada, and a Masters of Science in Education from Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York, and did Foundation Studies at Aurora. She is enrolled in the Center for Anthroposophy’s Waldorf High School Teacher Training Program Ms. Krogh and her family love living in North Carolina: “The weather, the people, the trees…we love it all!”

Special Subjects

Peter Moyers, Practical Arts

Mr. Moyers joined the EWS faculty in 1992, and took a class from Grade 1-8. He then took a year’s sabbatical in Europe, and returned to EWS to take the 6th grade class through to 8th grade. In August 2005, he began teaching the 5th grade and took this class through 8th grade. In the fall of 2009, he became our Practical Arts teacher and also teaches Circus Arts and helps direct many class plays. Mr. Moyers was born in England, spent his first three years in the Sudan and the next ten years of his childhood in Ireland. He then moved back to England, finished school and University there and in France. He did his Waldorf teacher training at Emerson College. Mr. Moyers has also worked as a carpenter and in a professional theater company. He is married with four children, two of whom are EWS alumnae and two of whom are students at EWS.

Laura Guinan,  Art

Ms. Guinan came to the Emerson Waldorf School as a parent wanting meaningful education for her children. This interest has blossomed into the study of anthroposophy and a desire to integrate her profession as an artist and teacher with its ideals. Laura grew up in Texas where she obtained a B.F.A. in studio art from the University of Texas. Her love of travel, culture and art has led her throughout most of the United States, much of Europe, Mexico and Canada. After meeting her husband (a Texan living in Italy) she earned her M.S. in Art Education at the Pennsylvania State University then settled down in Wyoming for 8 years making and teaching art. While there she won a Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship as well as a Ucross Foundation Residency.  She is enrolled in the Center for Anthroposophy’s Waldorf High School Teacher Training Program.  Laura and her husband Val Martinez left the West for Chapel Hill in 2001. Currently, they are happily raising their two children Luci and Nico.

Jason Child, Music

Our Music Director, Jason Child, came to EWS in 2005, with 12 years experience teaching music to kids from 6 months old through 12th grade. He grew up in Virginia, has a BA in Music from Earlham College, and a Master’s in Music Education from Florida State University and has done Foundation Studies at the Center for Anthroposophy, Wilton, NH. He began teaching music in 1988 and became a fulltime music teacher in the public schools of Philadelphia in 1994. He has also been a professional singer, and plays the guitar and the trombone. Immediately before coming to EWS, he was teaching music, language arts and social science in a private school in Tallahassee, Florida. Mr Child teaches music classes 1st–8th and chorus 5th – 12th.  He is the Vice-President of the Association of North American Music Educators, and has 4 children at EWS.

Mary Kirchoff, Physical Education

Mary Dee Kirchoff has been affiliated with Emerson Waldorf School as a parent and volunteer since 2000. She has a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education from the University of Vermont, and a Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from the University of New England. She has been a licensed Physical Therapist for the past twenty years and has been involved in coaching athletes since the mid 1970’s including field hockey, soccer, basketball, tennis, and racquetball. She has experience teaching physical education in a private and public school, coached Emerson Waldorf High School girls’ basketball, and coached the U.S. Racquetball Team. Her recent book Finding the Answer, chronicles her outer and inner path toward success as an athlete: winning many titles including the 1984 World Racquetball Championship. She joined the EWS Faculty as our Physical Education Teacher, Grades 1-12, in 2010.

Brigida Baldszun,  Eurythmy

Brigida Baldszun was born in Bremen, Germany. She went to Waldorf schools until she was 20 years old, and then studied the cello intensively until starting her eurythmy training in Vienna, Austria. She was a founding member of the Waldorf School in Darmstadt, Germany, and worked there for 9 years, when she moved to the US and to the Spring Valley Waldorf School in New York to learn eurythmy in the English language. She then worked for 7 years as a eurythmist in Detroit and Chicago before returning to Spring Valley in 1996 to join the performance group. Ms. Baldszun continues to be intrigued by the balance between performing and pedagogical work, and teaches children in Waldorf Schools as well as adults at Sunbridge College in N.Y. She visits EWS twice a year, teaching Eurythmy blocks Grades 1-12.

Kathleen Jackson, College Counselor

Kathleen Jackson came to EWS in 2008 as College Counselor for the High School. She grew up in the Washington, DC area with a passion for ballet and French, and graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in French and anthropology. Subsequent graduate study at the University of South Florida led to a Master of Education degree in Library and Information Science, followed by eleven years’ work in the libraries of Rice and Duke Universities. As an administrator in the Duke Libraries, Ms. Jackson also received intensive training in organizational development. She left library work to stay home with her two young sons, and her family home schooled from 1996 to 2007. During those years she freelanced in management consulting and worked seasonally as a reader for Duke University’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions. She is passionate about contra dancing, Quebecois culture and language, and running.

Lower School Teacher Kim D’Angelo also teaches Spanish in the High School and Lauren Nyland provides Educational Support.  Please see the Grades School section of the website for their biographies.