Los Angeles Prototype Team

Kenya Strong

With a varied and eclectic background that includes dog groomer to oil rig roughneck to private investigator, and financial advisor, Kenya finds her deepest joy in helping others reach their greatest potential. She carries all of her life experiences into her services to help her connect with her students and colleagues. She has a Masters degree in Education and a Waldorf certification. She is also a certified archery trainer, fitness instructor and Access Bars Practitioner. As a Certified Life Coach and consultant to support families adjusting to our shifting social paradigm, she brings more than twenty five years of teaching and service experience. During her Waldorf teaching years, Kenya founded and chaired her school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee to help move her community into relevant and timely transformation. She continues her growth and work to bring equality and social justice to the forefront of education.

Joan Jaeckel

I’ve been following and pondering trends in the holistic education space and its growth and struggles vis a vis the mainstream education project since the 90’s. I was part of founding teams for the first two public Waldorf charter schools in Los Angeles. My focus with the u.lab 2x 2021 project is the goal of creating societal awareness about whole child education practice as the essential leap towards humanity’s great evolutionary challenges. 

Cathy O’Neill

I am Cathy O’Neill. I was board chair of Westside Waldorf for 5 years and just stepped off about 2 months ago.  I am still on the board.  I am a WISC graduate and a graduate of Biography and Social Art and have co led a biography group for quite a few years.  I was a member of the Shade Tree host board with Joan Jaeckel until we went on Covid hiatus.  Formerly: other non – profit boards, dancer, actor, bodymind integration therapist, diversity trainer, prayer practitioner. More studying and volunteering….

Tami Ordoñez

Tami is driven by an insatiable desire for knowledge, she’s an adventurous spirit, and has a passion for dance. She has spent a lifetime studying how we humans learn, make connections and move our bodies. Years of classroom teaching in Waldorf Schools, Charter Schools, and Homeschool enrichment centers have given her a highly developed intuition for what students need and how to really reach them. She continues to develop connected ways of learning through private tutoring and in micro classes. Whether tutoring math, writing, science or history, supporting organization and study strategies, or preparing students for SAT, AP, ISEE or SSAT tests, the same methodology underlies it all – what is our destination, where are we now and how do we get from here to there.