Portland Forest School Teachers, Staff & Board

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Forest School Staff: Kindergarten-2nd Pod

Madeline Boyer

she/her
Lead Teacher: Grades K-2
Madeline was born and raised in Portland. She attended Northwestern University where she studied Anthropology and Environmental Policy. Madeline served two years as an AmeriCorps member and became a Master Gardener, then returned to school to earn a Master’s in Leadership for Sustainability Education at Portland State University. She worked in the farm- and garden-based education field for several years, mainly in elementary school gardens, before deciding to become a certified classroom teacher.

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Jessa Sergi

she/her
Lead Teacher: Grades K-2 & Our School Wide Literacy Specialist
Jessa’s roots spread from the deep woods of Downeast Maine, the natural areas of Central Florida, the cities of Madrid, Spain and Santiago, Chile, the island of Taiwan and the Pacific Northwest. Her educator journey began at the ripe age of 12 where she taught young kids how to figure skate and fell in love with sharing her skills.
This love of teaching sparked her to pursue a degree in Elementary Education with concentrations in math and outdoor education from the University of Maine.

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Hannah Mack

she/her
Teaching Assistant: Grades K-2
Hannah grew up on the Central Coast of California and spent a few years of adolescence in Hawaii. From the English countryside of Agatha Christie, the depth of lore and heroics by Tolkien, to her 3rd grade teacher reading Hatchet, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Sign of the Beaver to the class, Hannah’s love of the outdoors began in books. A few home school camps exploring survival skills and history of indigenous peoples of California reinforced this desire.

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Forest School Staff: 3rd - 5th grade Pod

Brian Leonard

he/him
Lead Teacher: Grades 3-5
Brian grew up among the blue oaks and manzanitas of his family farm in Northern California. His childhood was spent getting lost, building forts out of sticks, and being mentored by a pride of house cats. Hmm, upon reflection that is mostly how he spends his time now as well.
Sandwiched between his childhood and the present, Brian took many exciting turns and advances in his journey toward the Portland Forest School.

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Dale Williams

they/she
Lead Techer: Grades 3-5
Dale grew up along a gully near Vernonia, Oregon, with a menagerie of farm animals and a strong passion for adventure and guinea pigs. For her eighth birthday, Dale asked to be enrolled in the local Taekwondo studio. Dale’s mother begrudgingly complied and, after ten years, this resulted in her becoming an assistant instructor. Three blackbelts later, Dale gained a lifelong passion for teaching.

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Jamie Hellerman

they/them
Transportation & Educational Support
Jamie grew up among the oaks and sycamore trees of Southern California and spent their childhood exploring Ladyface Mountain in the Santa Monica Coast range.
They were fascinated with plants and stories and could most often be found after school halfway up a tree with a book in hand. This love for stories translated into a life of theater, and later, both Tabletop and Live Action Roleplaying Games.

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Forest School Staff: Middle School 6-8th

Brianna Graw

she/her
Middle School Humanities
Bri grew up in the grand mountains of Colorado and Oregon. She loved the outdoors from a young age and was often found exploring the local forests trying to catch frogs. She holds a Bachelors from Portland State in Art and Literature. After graduation she went on many adventures exploring the world and participating in art residencies. From the arctic of Iceland to the Cloud Forest of Costa Rica, Bri began her journey of truly understanding the sanctuary nature has to offer and the wisdom of spending time in new cultures.

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Jian Rossi

he/him
Middle School STEM
Since 2019, Jian has been dedicated to teaching grade level students. Working as the 6th grade teacher at Orleans Elementary, he witnessed each student’s growth and transformation into confident eighth-graders! Jian worked at Orleans Elementary, amid a predominantly indigenous population. His experiences with the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council and outdoor programs underscore the benefits of alternative learning environments.

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Art Teacher & After Care

Anna Van Rooy

Anna Van Rooy is a native Oregonian who has been making her marks since she was a toddler. She graduated with a printmaking major and an art education minor from California College of Arts and Crafts in 2007. Anna has taught art at summer camps, community centers, schools, and parks, in foreign countries and here in the States. She has taught all ages of humans and believes strongly that making art is an important part of living a fulfilled life. Most recently, Anna has been an art instructor for Portland Parks and Recreation’s Free Art in the Park summer program where she led a team providing daily art lessons.

In her personal work she explores various printmaking techniques, cyanotype, and graphic design. She likes to discover and play with a variety of materials to see how they act and what they do — and what she can do with them. Her work is heavily influenced by her travels. She recently went to Barcelona to take a ceramics class and to immerse herself in the architecture and design of Gaudi. She looks forward to presenting known and little-known artists to your budding artists.

Anna’s art teaching style is a little different. She likes to introduce materials, how they work, some of their possibilities, and how to take care of them. Then, she facilitates open studio time, much like in a college art school. She knows when to step in with additional options. She has developed successful methods for teaching students to investigate ideas and express their feelings. She makes every art day a fun day.

Portland Forest School Staff

Head of School

Ian Abraham

Ian has been teaching within the Portland Metropolitan area since 1999. He holds an MA in Environment and Community through Antioch University and has taught for many outdoor education programs, including M.E.S.D. Outdoor School, Cascadia Wild, Wolftree Inc., Tryon Creek and the Oregon Zoo. He spent 15 years at Portland Audubon as an Environmental Educator, Camp Director, and the Youth Programs Manager. He was our Forest School Principal from 2019-2021 and comes to us, most recently, from Trackers Earth as the General Manager.

His passions lie in the arts and science of bird language and wilderness living skills. Ian views the vision of Forest School as the present and future role model for academics wherein students learn Oregon core curriculum standards through immersive outdoor skills. He is excited to support the massive amount of talent that the Forest School teachers bring to each and every day while also working with our parents that trust the school with their child’s socio-emotional well-being and academic experience.