Meet_Our_Staff

About the Willowell Foundation

Meet Our Staff

The work that we do here at Willowell would not be possible

without the dedication and commitment of our devoted Board of Directors and our staff team. We are very excited to introduce ourselves to you, and look forward to connecting with you in the future.

Board of Directors:

Board Chair, Melita Bass Glidden

Secretary, Andrea Grayson

Vice-President, Greg Koelhert

Board Member, Gregor Masefield

Board Member, Pamela Swatkins

Staff:

Executive Director, Matt Schlein

Melita Bass Glidden, Board Chair

Melita is a farmer and horticulturist. She thrives on tending plants and

animals alike, growing them for both food and beauty. She understands the world as one of cycles: food to consumer to compost; growth to harvest to nourishment.

Melita was born and raised in Vermont, growing up on a farm where her family produced beef for an organic market. She received vocational education in horticulture in high school, and earned a BS in Ornamental Horticulture from the University of Illinois. She is a Vermont Certified Horticulturist, and works as a landscape gardener. She serves on the Planning Commission in Lincoln, Vermont, where she lives with her husband, several animal companions, and a small herd of cattle.

Andrea Grayson, M.A., Willowell Foundation Secretary

For over 20 years, Andrea Grayson has been pursuing parallel interests in education and media through both television production projects and academic study. Her involvement in the television industry includes positions at Sesame Street and Channel One, and many years as a freelance producer. She has been teaching about television and the social effects of technology as an Adjunct Instructor of Communications on the college level since 1994, and has developed the curricula for numerous courses. She also gives presentations and workshops on various aspects of media literacy for both teachers and students. Her ongoing academic interests, in addition to the pedagogical uses of media in the classroom, include alternative education, and using video as a means to disseminate best practices in applied educational theory.

Grayson holds an M.A. in Media Ecology from New York University, and is currently a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program at the University of Vermont. She lives in the woods outside of Burlington, Vermont with her husband Woody, cat Chico, and the amazingly talented dog Bella.

Greg Koelhert, Vice President

Greg grew up in Baltimore, and graduated undergrad from College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor Maine, with a BA in Human Ecology. He focused on sustainable business and ecologically responsible production of paper from trees. He spent some time in the clothing industry designing and manufacturing clothing produced in Asia using cooperative labor factories. He went to graduate school at St. John's College in Santa Fe for their Great Books / Classics program. Greg is a life long hiker and camper, and began working with Search and Rescue in Santa Fe.

Greg held his first teaching job in Georgia, where he began running Outdoor Education trips with groups of students from the school. He then moved to New York City to work at an independent school for students with learning disabilities. Greg now teaches Language and Literature and history there, and is the coordinator of the school’s Outdoor Education program. He also coaches a cross country team that has won two championships in the last three years. Greg lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with his wife, a painter and part-time art teacher at the school, and their 2 1/2 year old daughter.

Matt Schlein, President and Executive Director

Matt is an avid amateur naturalist and student of philosophy. His range of professional experience includes work as a juvenile court counselor, psychology professor, English teacher, drama teacher, actor, writer, and director. In conjunction with these experiences, he has traveled extensively in Europe and Asia wrestling with issues of time, being, epistemology, and how to find a good Chinese restaurant.

Matt has his Master of Social Work and Master of Arts in Education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has taught English, Drama, and Psychology in the public schools since 1992. He currently teaches at the Vergennes Union High School, where he established and directed the Drama Program from 1994-2000, before designing the Walden Project. He has received a number of awards for his work in education including Dewitt Wallace and Upjohn Fellowships. He is also the founder and Executive Director of the Willowell Foundation, Inc. He lives in New Haven, VT with his wife, three children, two dogs and a cat.