We are a consortium of professional naturalists, teachers, historians, and artists who come together to teach and learn. Our instructors are selected for their love of nature and their ability to relate to students of all ages. We are lifelong learners who seek to learn directly from the natural world.
Executive Director
Shel Anderson first learned to love the natural world in her grandma’s garden when she was a small child. People fascinate her, too. She has earned degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology, and done fieldwork in Mexico and Bolivia. Her enduring interest is in how landscape forms and influences politics and economics—and how human cultures have transformed landscapes.
Shel grew up on the plains of Nebraska, and has lived in inner city Detroit, the Bay Area of California, on a tidal river in Nova Scotia, near the Puget Sound in Washington, in the Andes of South America, and spent many years in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon. She was a part of environmental advocacy and education in the great spotted owl controversies in Oregon, working to keep the wilderness and roadless areas whole and undamaged.
Shel has also worked for years in social justice advocacy. She’s very excited about the growing emphasis on green jobs, which could help solve the global warming crisis while providing an economic basis for working people. Shel brings many years of experience working in non-profit management and development to Schoolhouse of Wonder. She says, “How could you not love a group that puts Wonder in its name?” She came to North Carolina to be closer to her daughter, who lives in Durham. She says she loves tall mountains, old trees, and the little wildflowers that are so small that you have to bow down to greet them.
Program Director
A co-founder of the Schoolhouse of Wonder, Dave returns from a five year sabbatical teaching in public school, specializing in A.I.G. Language Arts and Math, at Forest View School in Durham. Several of the life gains from this experience were: a summer excursion to the Four Corners region for the teachers’ program Seeking the Center Place: the Pueblo World in Continuity and Change, and the more recent Teacher’s Academy: A Revolutionary Approach to Education at the Oak Grove School in Ojai, California. These experiences have shaped Dave’s natural curiosity and interest in inquiry, authentic learning, and the art of listening. Dave ever-continues to be a spiritual naturalist.
A child of the Piedmont, Dave lives on Huckleberry Heights near the Eno River with his partner Joanna Haymore, two cats, and his dog Tucker. Other loves include song-writing, banjo and fiddle-playing, boomerangs, biking, mushrooms, bagels, and birds. He is author of the Piedmont Almanac: A Guide to the Natural World; a work of new mythology, The Adventure of Crow-boy; and the Fabri Literary Prize-winning novel Reservation Nation.
Administrative Coordinator
Mary brings skills in office administration and customer service to Schoolhouse of Wonder. She has a degree in Economics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mary loves West Point on the Eno Park and has been an officer for the nonprofit citizen’s board, Friends of West Point. As a volunteer stream watcher for Durham’s Stormwater Management Department she has adopted Black Meadow Branch which flows into the park. With two grown children she has been an active volunteer in both the Girl Scout Program and the Boy Scout Program. Her hobbies include wood carving, hand drumming, and hiking and paddling around the rivers and streams of North Carolina.
Program Specialist
Andy comes to Schoolhouse with a variety of experience in nature programming and working with kids. He has worked for such organizations as the Boys and Girls Club, the YMCA, Raleigh Parks and Recreation and Wake County Parks. He also helped form a local Tracking and Wilderness Survival Group. A student of Tom Brown, Jr.’s Tracking, Nature and Wilderness Survival School, Andy enjoys practicing skills and playing in the woods. His passions include nature poetry, feeling the wind, smiling, and jumping in the water on a cold day.
Wayne Poole
Teacher
Wayne Poole, co-founder of Schoolhouse of Wonder, has been a storyteller, naturalist, and cultural interpreter for more than two decades. His tales, taken from the legendary and the personal are drawn from his love of nature and local culture. He also performs annually at the Festival for the Eno, Haw River Festival, Durham Earth Day, and Green River Preserve as well as the Durham and Raleigh Arts Councils.
Megan Goodrich
Teacher
Megan grew up in the rural town of Wakefield, VA exploring the forest and pond behind her house. Her interest in experiential education motivated her to study psychology at Elon University. After working for several outdoor and experiential education programs, Megan pursued her Master of Education degree from Boston University with concentrations in human development and community education. The focus of her graduate work was the importance of wonder in learning - an interest that led her here, to Schoolhouse of Wonder. When Megan is not exploring the woods and river with Schoolhouse students, she loves to read, cook, and spend time at the beach in the middle of winter.
Eli Carley
Nature School Intern and Camp Counselor
Eli originally comes from the great frozen north of Wisconsin (the state that looks like a mitten right next to the other state that looks like a mitten). Eli recently moved to Durham to learn what it’s like to be warm! After learning that he was too old to participate in outdoor camp programs, Eli took the next best option and decided to work for Schoolhouse of Wonder. When not playing games at work, he is usually playing games like ultimate frisbee somewhere else. Eli has a degree in sculpture from Lawrence University, but his passion has always been sharing joy with children of all ages.
Jagmeet Mac
Nature School Intern
Hailing all the way from Richfield, NC, Jagmeet weighs in at one hundred and forty-five pounds, and stands a small notch under six feet tall. His parents, and parent’s parents come from a distant land of mangoes and spiritual teachers around every fifth street corner. He enjoys being blown away: blown away by ideas, spiders building intricate webs, amazing people.... He also enjoys stimulating flavors, and he’ll probably do the dishes if you cook for him.
Oh, and he loves getting people excited, both big and little people, through stories, songs and interactions. Jagmeet strives to share a deep appreciation of the natural world with people.
Board of Directors
Deborah Jakubs
Deborah is the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs for the Duke University Libraries. She has been a supporter of the Schoolhouse of Wonder from its very beginning: her older son took part in the first camps, and he and his younger brother have both been campers, then interns, and then counselors at summer camps.
Josie McNeil-Owen
Josie joined the Board in 2003. She has been a member of the Eno River Association and volunteer for the Festival for the Eno since 1996. She and her husband Dave Owen are partners in Wafting the Eno nature observation, environmental education, relaxation paddling trips on the Eno. She is a member of Friends of West Point, a citizens group that serves as advisors to the City of Durham on matters related to the park.
Steve Cameron
Steve is a lifelong native of eastern North Carolina. A graduate of Duke University with a B.A. in English Literature, he has lived at times in a lean-to, a log cabin, and a tipi, but is now utilizing more conventional means of shelter. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa from 1989-1991. Currently he supervises a wholesale bakery facility for Whole Foods Market. His favorite pastimes are hiking, gardening, and being outside with his wife, Barbara, and daughters Maggie and Anna. He has been a Board member since 1998.