Patterson Haden Cunningham is the Head of Renaissance School. She is a native of Albemarle County, a graduate of James Madison University, and holds a M.Ed. from the University of Virginia where she is currently a doctoral candidate. For eleven years, she taught creative writing and language arts at The Miller School of Albemarle, serving as Department Chair, Curriculum Coordinator, and Chair of the Faculty Forum. She has taught at the University of Virginia in the Curry School of Education, served as an Adjunct Professor for the University’s Tempo Reading Program, and supervised teaching associates for the Office of Teacher Education. Ms. Cunningham is a published poet and has written extensively on education, English pedagogy, and the effects of popular culture on adolescents. She is a member and past president of Rho Chapter, Delta Kappa Gamma International, a member of the American Academy of Poets, and is listed with Who's Who Among America's Teachers. She lives on a farm near Batesville, Virginia with her husband, Allen Cunningham, and two young children.
Justin Esposito is an accomplished violinist and performer. He holds a B.M. in string performance from Boston University . While in Boston, Justin studied with Boston Symphony violinist Lucia Lin. He also has studied with associate concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Michael Ludwig. A native of the Philadelphia area and graduate of The Hill School, Justin grew up playing in numerous chamber groups and orchestras including the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, and served as concertmaster of the Philadelphia Sinfonia. He has spent numerous summers at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. Upon graduating from college, Justin moved with three college friends to the Charlottesville area to play in a progressive rock band Trees on Fire. Trees has since gained much regional acclaim and has sold out audiences in both Charlottesville and Atlanta. In the winter of 2006 they released their first e.p. titled The Green Room and have since sold over 1000 copies. Recently they were featured as one of Charlottesville’s “Best of” in the C-Ville Weekly. They are on their way to release their next album in the spring of 2008 and aim to reach an international audience. Justin also enjoys teaching private lessons for the Boyd Tinsley Scholarship Fund and plays in the local string trio Sognando. He also maintains a private studio in Charlottesville.
Jennifer Ediss was born in Great Britain where she received a B.A. in German and French from Durham University and a Postgraduate qualification in education from Exeter University. She began teaching in London before marrying and moving to Bonn, Germany. She did further studies at the Goethe Institute in Hamburg and the Universite de Poitiers. She taught French at the British High School and English, French and German at Bonn International School, where she was also coordinator for community service and a member of the Middle Years Program cross-curricular development team. During this time, Mrs. Ediss also worked as an examiner for Oxford and Cambridge university boards. Throughout her years as a teacher she has organized language trips to France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Whilst in Bonn, she gained an understanding of different cultures and traveled throughout Europe. Since moving to Charlottesville Mrs. Ediss has worked as a free-lance translator, a docent at the University of Virginia Art Museum and as a reader for “Reading and Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic”. She has tutored students in French and German from high school to college level. In her free time she enjoys playing the piano, gardening, hiking, dance and photography.
Nell Halladay is originally from New Jersey where she lived for 39 years. She is a graduate from Glassboro State College with a B.S. in chemistry and also holds M.S. and Ph. D. degrees in chemistry from Seton Hall University. Following a postdoctoral position at City University of New York, Nell began a 12 year career as a pharmaceutical chemist. She switched gears in June of 2000, moved to Charlottesville and attended the Virginia School of Massage. Nell received her national certification as a massage therapist in December 2001. She opened her massage therapy business in February 2002 and loves doing massage. She also does message therapy as a volunteer for Hospice of the Piedmont and works on both patients as well as their caregivers. She has taught introductory level chemistry classes at Seton Hall University and Piedmont Virginia Community College and tutored chemistry and math at both the high school and college level. She lives in town and has two very affectionate cats and one rambunctious dog. Nell enjoys reading, hiking, and gardening.
Sara C. Johnson grew up in southern Indiana. She graduated with honors from Indiana State University where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Art degree in painting and photography, with a minor in art history. Sara continued her studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she earned a Master of Fine Art degree in media art (photo, video, film). Sara moved to Charlottesville nearly five years ago when she began working as a professional video editor. After three years, Sara accepted a position as Director of Marketing with Crystalphonic Recording Studio where she worked for nearly a year before turning all of her energy towards teaching, making art, and running her privately owned business, Ambrial Media. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US in galleries and public spaces including the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Swope Museum of American Art, and Period Gallery. Sara is the recipient of numerous awards and grants for her media work including the Knoxville Legacy Grant Award for Interdisciplinary Art. Currently Sara teaches art at Charlottesville's Village School and is entering her fourth year of teaching art at the Renaissance School.
John Hermsmeier is the director and founder of the Environmental Education Center, a non-profit organization located in Charlottesville. Through over a decade of Center programming, John has explored the connection between the community’s environmental choices, the role citizens play in these choices and the environmental education curriculum of its schools. Before establishing the Center, he pursued this connection as the earth science teacher at Tandem School. Since teaching AP Environmental Science at Renaissance School for the 2001-2002 school year, John has served as a teaching assistant at Mary Baldwin College and has continued the development of the EEC’s Consortium for Interdependent Education, most recently through a partnership with the UVA Summer Enrichment Program. John’s interest in the environment began with childhood visits to his grandparents’ farm near Marion in Southwest Virginia, and this interest was shaped as he grew up in Fairfax County, where his natural surroundings were continually altered. These life experiences inspired him to obtain a degree in environmental science at the University of Virginia. John enjoys sharing his home environment with his wife Kimberly and three children.
Becky Wilburgrew up in the Midwest (Minnesota), went to college on the west coast (Stanford University, BS Biology), spent some time north of the border (Canadian Outward Bound Wilderness School Assistant Instructor), and went to graduate school on the east coast (Duke University, PhD Botany). In 1991, she and her husband and two daughters moved to Charlottesville where Henry assumed the directorship of the University of Virginia’s Mountain Lake Biological Station. During the past 16 summers she has been a mentor, teacher, and researcher at the station. Her main interests are Forest Ecology and Ecosystem Function and she has also taught Biodiversity of the Southern Appalachians. During the last 16 winters, she has worked with the Environmental Education Center and Ivy Creek Foundation, helped teach science at the elementary school level, taught a non-majors Biology class at UVA, tutored math and science at the Learning Center of Charlottesville and coached many Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination teams. In her spare time, she enjoys whitewater canoeing, volleyball, playing the cello, baking bread, reading and taking long walks in the woods with the family dog.
Nancy Knorr is the financial and business manager of Renaissance School and Village School. Ms. Knorr is a Certified Public Accountant with many years of financial management experience. She has been Assistant Vice President of Finance at J.P. Morgan and Citicorp in New York City and Associate Director of Finance at the UVA Medical Center, with emphasis on budgeting, management reporting, and cost accounting. She holds a B.A. in Ancient Greek and an M.A. in Classics. She plays the piano, loves to read, and is studying the violin. Her Jack Russell Terrier, Sahib, has received awards for his untiring service as the Renaissance School Dog.
Miki Liszt is founder and director of Miki Liszt Dance Company which is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization based at McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville. She attended Sarah Lawrence College in New York where she studied choreography with Bessie Schonberg for whom the Bessie Schonberg Theater and the “Bessie” Awards in choreography have been named. Miki’s work has been shown in Seattle, Atlanta, New York, and Washington D.C., as well as venues in Virginial. When in New York, the New York Times praised her work for “finding deep reality in ordinary movement.” Miki recently attended the University of Virginia to complete alternative teacher licensure, and the University of Seattle to study brain-compatible dance education. She lives in Charlottesville with her husband Harvey and her Puli Tosca where she looks forward to visits from her two sons and daughter-in-law.
Stephen Buckner grew up in Chicago, Illinois and spent two years in the United States Army Infantry at Fort Benning, Georgia. He graduated with honors from the University of Georgia where he earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree with a minor in theater and was a recipient of the prestigious President’s Award. After a brief stint in the advertising world and journalism, Stephen continued his studies at the University of Georgia where he earned a Master of English degree and continued his theater and performing arts studies. As a veteran drama teacher he brings over forty directing credits to Renaissance School and a wealth of experience as a film and stage actor and radio personality in Atlanta. Stephen also has extensive professional experience on the other side of the camera, having been a casting director, voiceover, film and commercial talent agent and private acting coach. He is also owner and founder of Apex Casting and has written several screenplays that, unlike him, are currently looking for a place to call home. He is currently working on opening his own theater company called Life Theatre - a creative environment and outlet where 14-18 year olds could use the theater to learn about life and theater and have a place with absolute and undeniable acceptance. Stephen is also an accomplished soccer coach, having earned the highest licenses from both the United States Soccer Federation and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America’s Premier Diploma with distinction. He was selected as the Region III Coach of the Year in both 2000 and 2002 after guiding his high school team to a state championship with undefeated seasons and top ten national rankings. Stephen is a voracious reader with a perpetual desire to write about anything and everything that applies to life and learning by any means necessary, and he is avidly addicted to the alphabet.
Michael Morgan was born in western New York State and has lived in Charlottesville since 1988. While in high school he attended the Eastman School of Music, with an emphasis on piano, composition, and music theory, and later attended the Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut, as a theory/composition major. He received a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut; a Certificate in Publishing Procedures from the University of Denver; and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School, where he was the Topics and Citations Editor of the Boston College Third World Law Journal. Mike was a lawyer in private practice in the Boston area for five years before entering publishing. He is a devoted jazz fan and has a collection of over 5000 records and cds, some rare, most not-so-rare.
Lou Tanner, a native of Virginia, has lived in Charlottesville for much of the last twenty years. He attended UVA as an undergraduate and later completed or audited 50 graduate courses there in American, Modern European, and Russian history. With his Australian-born wife Stephanie, whom he met while traveling in Tasmania in 1978, he has traveled extensively in Europe, the Middle East, India, and China. In addition, he has twice lived in Australia for a total of over four years, where he taught school, played and coached basketball, and spent much time exploring that country. He reads widely, especially in history and natural history, speaks French and Russian, and has studied Latin and Spanish. Other interests include bird watching, gardening, hiking, and folklore.
