Kori is excited to join Syringa Mountain School. She was born and raised in the Wood River Valley and enjoys all it has to offer. After college, she returned back home and has been involved in education through schools and coaching ever since. Kori loves spending time with her daughter and family, being outside, and traveling. She is looking forward to jumping in and seeing what this year brings!
Kori holds her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration but soon figured out she wanted to be a teacher through previous roles in schools and coaching. She worked to achieve her teaching credential for the State of Idaho. Prior to Syringa, Kori taught in Shoshone and work in the Blaine County School District.
Crystal was raised in the suburbs of Minneapolis, MN. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies with a major in Environmental Education. Crystal knew she loved teaching and enjoyed doing it outdoors. She pursued her career as an Interpretive Naturalist for over 10 years.
In 2012, she moved to Hailey, Idaho to live and raise her family. Looking for similar career and school options for her daughter, she investigated more into the Mountain School and came when Syringa was just evolving! She became a key part of the foundation of Syringa Mountain School in 2014. She served as the Sustainability Committee chair. She designed the nature playscape and garden space. With the help of the students, she built the Farm and Garden program from the ground up. She created the curriculum to align with Waldorf methods and practices while matching the common core science standards. She taught at SMS as the Science Teacher for three years before giving First Grade a try. Crystal quickly realized her desire for teaching was stronger than ever. Being a classroom teacher provided more opportunities to build relationships and support students’ needs.
She has obtained an Idaho State Educator Certificate and continues to actively study education, Waldorf pedagogy, principles, and child development. Crystal is genuinely passionate about making a difference in each child’s life. She brings to her classroom a blend of experiential, project, and place-based learning, inspired Waldorf pedagogy, and outdoor education while meeting the state standards.
When she is not teaching, Crystal loves to hike, camp, boat, fish, soak in the hot springs and garden. She has two daughters, two stepsons and a loving husband. When they are all together you would consider them the “Deck-Land Bunch!” She says, “It takes a village to raise your kids. Syringa is that village and I am happy to be part of the community-family!”
Shawn was born and raised in the Wood River Valley and has a rich family history in this area dating back many generations. She was a Wood River High graduate and received her Elementary Education degree from Boise State University. After college, she did some teaching and some traveling and finally came back to the valley to raise a family. She has two sons that were raised here and are Wood River High graduates as well. Shawn loves all this valley has to offer and truly appreciates each season here. She is happiest in the mountains either exploring, running trails, hiking, camping or skiing. Shawn says she has found her dream job teaching at Syringa and feels blessed to be a part of such a dynamic community.
Pat grew up in rural New England, just a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean. He then had the opportunity to become landlocked at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. In Bozeman, he found his love for the mountains and culture of the Northern Rockies. After graduating with a degree in Geography, Pat spent a winter living deep in the Swiss Alps, immersing himself in the Swiss way of life. The following summer, he lived and worked on an organic sheep ranch in Montana. Here, he learned the values of sustainable land practices, but also the challenges of running a successful agricultural business. Soon after, he found himself in Jackson Hole, WY where he coached youth ski racing and guided ecology tours in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Thanks to his Geography studies and time spent in the field, Pat has an incredible talent to think and see the world holistically. Pat spent a year teaching Math and Human Ecology at The Sage School. Falling in love with the youth and recreation within the Wood River Valley, Pat enjoys immersing himself in the unique energy of Syringa Mountain School. He believes that the best way to learn about your environment is by planting yourself right in the middle of it and observing using all five of your senses. When not teaching, Pat plants himself in the environment by backcountry skiing, biking, and fly-fishing.
Ashley was born and raised in rural, northern Illinois. Ashley and her husband Keith felt drawn to move to the mountains of Idaho after a cross-country road trip in the summer of 2019. They have been living in the Wood River Valley since November of 2019. They have two puppy children who enjoy hiking adventures with Ashley.
Ashley holds a Bachelor’s of Music Education and a Master of Arts degree in Piano Performance from the University of Iowa. She holds a certified teaching license in the state of Idaho. Ashley is also enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Prior to teaching at Syringa, Ashley taught K-12 music in Shoshone, Idaho, piano at several music academies, also a community college back in Illinois. Ashley looks forward to watching her students grow as musicians.
Amy was born and raised in Hamilton, Ohio. Receiving the insight early in life that her path was to become a teacher, she followed this by earning a bachelor’s degree at Wittenberg University. Her childhood, combined with a humbling collegiate swimming career, helped Amy gain an appreciation for industriousness, discipline, self-reliance, and friendship.
After college, the coast and mountains called Amy away from the Midwest. Basing out of Cardiff by the Sea, her travels took her through Europe, Costa Rica, and Peru before settling in Ketchum, Idaho where Hemingway Elementary invited her to teach a third-grade classroom for many years. During these years she served on many district committees, helping shape the curriculum, environmental practices, and wellness policies of BCSD. Living amidst the beauty of the Sawtooth Mountains and simultaneously discovering yoga created a longing in Amy to further her connection with spiritual experiences and the rhythms of the Earth. During the evenings, Amy pursued a Master’s degree in Holistic Nutrition with a minor in herbalism. Her goal was to link this branch of knowledge to her teachings and workings with families.
Starting a family pulled Amy out of the classroom for a few years, but opened her schedule to be able to work for Nurture, a local nonprofit, teaching nutrition education for Blaine County Schools. In 2008, Amy met a woman in a coffee shop who invited her to a Beltane Festival, which turned out to be held at the future site of a Waldorf Elementary. This opened the door to a discovered passion for Waldorf education. Now with three children, this philosophy resonated deeply for her family. Fueled by the values acquired in childhood, Amy became instrumental in helping found Syringa Mountain School, Idaho’s first Public Waldorf Charter School. She finds daily inspiration from her students, family, co-workers, music, dance, hiking, skiing, meditation, gardening, nutritious food, and the wonders of nature. Amy dreams of opening a biodynamic, permaculture farm/Waldorf school in Bali in her retirement years.
Keith lives in Hailey, with his two sons, Quincy and Zachary. His hobbies are woodworking, art, surfing, skiing, snowboarding and pretty much any outdoor activity. Keith grew up in a ranching family in Nevada, where his family raised horses, sheep, and beef cattle, as well as an assortment of smaller birds and animals. Keith worked in the mining and exploration industry until moving to the Wood River Valley in 1997. Mr. Davis started his teacher education in 2003 at CSI and moved with his family to the San Francisco Bay area in 2006 to complete his training. Keith received his bachelor’s degree in humanities and cultural studies at Dominican University of California in 2009 and completed my credential program there in 2010, the same year that his oldest son entered kindergarten in a Waldorf-inspired school in Marin County. Mr. Davis had researched the different avenues for his children’s education and intuitively decided that the Waldorf pedagogy had more to offer than the other schools in the area, even though it was quite different from how Keith had been trained in my credential program. Mr. Davis has worked in the Marin County School District in a variety of capacities, teaching in both the special education department and kindergarten, as well as volunteering at his son’s school whenever possible. Keith’s oldest son went through the 3rd grade and his youngest son spent a year in kindergarten at a Waldorf-inspired charter school. During that time Keith gained a great appreciation for all that a Waldorf school had to offer. When his family moved back to Ketchum in July of 2013, Keith was very excited to hear about Syringa Mountain School and wanted to be a part of it. Mr. Davis is very happy to be a member of such a wonderful and dedicated team going forward.
Crystal is so excited to continue her work with the library program and Kindergarten at Syringa. She worked very hard to open our very own Syringa Library. Crystal used to spend winters in St. Thomas, USVI, and lived in the Wood River Valley part-time, but now she calls Hailey, Idaho her permanent year-round home. Crystal and her husband Matt have three children Samuel, Sarah, and Mabel.
Crystal has her associate’s degree in education and library science. She is finishing her bachelor’s this year in General Studies. She is also enrolled in the Sophia Institute in the Waldorf teacher trainer program.
Crystal is passionate about encouraging all children to love reading. “Everyone is a reader…. Some just haven’t found their favorite book yet.”
