Monthly Professional Affinity Group Sessions (PAG)

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Together we will explore the specific challenges and responses we are facing as an experiential school during a pandemic and beyond. Join one of the ten groups with 10-25 educators as part of an adaptive and emergent cohort, growing and learning together during this unknown year.

Each group will be led by a leader in the field; a master facilitator/teacher in each specific area, who will bring in expertise and diverse perspectives to the conversation.

Participants will join peers with like-minded values and interests to support each other and be guided in a cohort that supports collaboration, leadership, and community, while honoring the experiential nature of our schools. 

What will I get out of this? 

By the end of the year (September through June), you will have a cohort of professionals to lean on when unexpected challenges arise, to share the small wins with, and to learn from each other. 

Sessions will be structured with an agenda, resource sharing platforms, and suggested content for the year. Sessions will address program innovation and meshing experiential learning with virtual and hybrid learning and may feature guest speakers. 

The kick-off will be at the end of September 29 & 30. At the first session, you will set a schedule for the rest of the year (full launch schedule below).

Select from one of the Professional Areas: 

  1. Program Directors and Directors of Experiential Education
    Facilitator: Beth Pilsbury, Riverdale Country School
  2. Classroom Teachers
    Facilitator:     Sarah Tiamiyu, Potomac School
  3. Outdoor Education
    Facilitator: Lindsay Babbitt, Catlin Gabel School 
  4. Sustainability Coordinators & Environmental Justice 
    Facilitator: Olivia Tandon, Pingry School 
  5. Student Leadership
    Facilitator:     Ted Fish, Fish Leadership 
  6. Global Education 
    Facilitators: Miriam Piña, Riverdale School and Simon Hart, Where There Be Dragons
  7. Diversity, Equity and Justice Professionals 
    Facilitators: Emily Schorr-Lesnick and Jill Leahy, University Prep
  8. Service-Learning/Community Engagement 
    Facilitator: George Zaninovich, Catlin Gabel
  9. Upper Level Leadership/Admin- HOS, Deans, CFO’s
    Facilitator: Ted Fish, Fish Leadership 
View Full Facilitator Bio's Below

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PAGS Launch Schedule

Regular meeting time to be determined at first session. If you are unable to attend the first session, the group facilitator will contact you to let you know when the upcoming meetings will occur. 

All 2020 meetings have concluded. Thank you for joining us!

Professional Affinity Group Facilitators 2020-2021

Program Directors and Directors of Experiential Education
Elizabeth Pillsbury is the Director of Experiential Education and a history teacher at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, NY.  As Director of Experiential Education, she has worked to bring meaningful experiences to the co-curricular and curricular program, from an Urban Studies trip exploring social justice in Detroit to Hudson River School hiking trips for Juniors as a part of their American Studies Course. In the online format, she helped create social connections through book clubs and cooking classes as well as presentations from scholars on topical subjects last fall, ranging from the NY Fire Department's response to COVID to a public defender's reflection on racism within the criminal justice system in New York City.
 
Classroom Teacher
Sarah Tiamiyu is currently the Math Coordinator at the Potomac School, in McLean, Va. As she embarks on her 19th year of teaching, in both public and independent schools, she continues to make arts integration central to her teaching and experiential education work. She is deeply focused on personalizing curriculum that is adaptable to both student's needs and strengths. She has completed all Project Based Learning courses through the Buck Institute as well as being an active participant at the annual People of Color Conference (POCC) hosted by NAIS.
 
Outdoor Education
Lindsay Babbitt is the Interim Director of Outdoor Education at Catlin Gabel School in Portland, OR. She is involved in the school’s equity and anti-racist work through the Diversity Action Council, and advises the Feminism Club. Lindsay dabbles in all things outdoors, but is particularly drawn to water. You can find her paddling her kayak and mountain biking all over the Pacific Northwest.
 
Sustainability Coordinators & Environmental Justice
Olivia Tandon is an upper school science teacher and the Farm and Sustainability Coordinator at the Pingry School in New Jersey. She has worked at Pingry for three years, helping to bring a rotating drum composter, a flock of chickens and a large vegetable production garden to the school. She also collaborates with teachers to create experiential, place-based lessons on sustainability, farm to table agriculture and outdoor education. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Biology, an M.A. in Earth Science Education and an M.Ed. in Private School Leadership. In her free time, she enjoys hiking with her dogs, playing (and growing) squash, and cooking home-grown meals with her partner Kaylee.
 
Student Leadership and Upper Level Leadership/Admin(HOS, Deans, CFO’s)
Dr. Ted Fish has been immersed in the practice of leadership since he founded a private elementary and middle school at the age of 25 in Santa Fe, NM.  Most recently, for the past ten years, he served as the Executive Director of the Gardner Carney Leadership Institute (the gcLi ), a role from which he mentored hundreds of k-12 leaders from the most prestigious independent schools in North America. Under his guidance, the gcLi became one of the premiere sources of professional development for independent school educators in the country, running national symposia focused on leadership and culture with Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Fish has consulted widely with public, charter and independent schools throughout his career. He holds a Doctorate in the Department of Organizational Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an Executive MBA from the University of New Mexico.
 
Global Education
Miriam Piña is the Director of Global Studies at Riverdale Country School. She is passionate about languages and cultures and is an avid traveller. She has also been a Middle School and High School French and Spanish Teacher for 10 years in New York City. She has a Masters in French Literature from Middlebury College in Vermont and a Double Bachelor Degree in Neuroscience and French from Union College in Schenectady, NY. Her mission is to instill curiosity and tolerance in her students. She believes that experiential education is the key to learning and to making the human connections that are an essential part of life.
Simon Hart is the Director of School Partnerships for Where There Be Dragons, he works with independent schools and colleges throughout the U.S. and Canada to provide professional development training, consulting, and collaborative student programming in intercultural experiential education. Having grown up in a subsistence farming lifestyle on the South Shore of Lake Superior, Simon spent his high school years in Puebla, Mexico, and Taipei, Taiwan, where he graduated from the Taipei American School. At Carleton College, he received grants to conduct field-work in remote forest societies of Cameroon and Guatemala focusing on human-nature relationships that led to work in Costa Rica establishing farm-based experiential education programs focused on cultural ecology. Simon is a bass player, urban homesteader, an avid cyclist who has spent the past ten years developing experiential international programming, professional trainings, and innovative curriculum that engages participants in intimate relationships with the unknown.
 
Diversity, Equity and Justice Professionals
Jill Leahy (she/her) is a passionate educator currently working as the Associate Director of Diversity & Community at University Prep. She previously worked on racial equity policy and supporting basic need resources for students in Seattle Public Schools.
Emily Schorr Lesnick (she/her) is a facilitator and theater maker, currently the Director of Social Emotional Learning at University Prep in Seattle, WA. She previously worked as the Upper School Director of Service Learning and Associate Director of Community Engagement at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, NY. ogether, Jill and Emily developed a comprehensive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Social Emotional Learning framework and curriculum to foster critical connections.
 
Service-Learning/Community Engagement
George Zaninovich is the director of PLACE at the Catlin Gabel School. My mother was the Russian teacher at my high school and my dad was a professor at the University of Oregon. I had no intention of following in their footsteps. But right out of college, and desperate for a job, I fell into a teaching position at a very progressive K-8 school where I learned the importance of experiential education and student leadership. I also felt a kinship to my own learning style as I was always more engaged when a lesson was hands-on. Now at Catlin Gabel, I am lucky to work with students on real-world projects out in the Portland community.
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