Meet our Wonderful Faculty

A New Leaf and Pip and Pickles Farm

Hélène "Elle" Harvey – Teacher, director, Founder

Welcome! A New Leaf opened its doors in May 2005 with the first season of summer camps, and in the fall I welcomed our first preschool students. It has been an amazing journey alongside many fantastic Nashville families. Some of the children are now grown and have been working with us. This fills me with so much joy! My coming into the role of teacher sneaked up on me by surprise. It began in the early 1980s during my Bachelor’s at L’Université de Montréal where I enjoyed teaching a class titled Fresh Water Ecology to local SCUBA diving groups. I guess I was following in the footsteps of my hero, Jacques Cousteau. Becoming a teaching assistant during my Master’s degree at Simon Fraser University, and my Ph.D. at the University of Arizona was also filled with satisfying experiences sharing research and ideas. But it is when I began to work with the National Science Foundation to develop science inquiry curriculum at the K-12 levels working with teachers in their classrooms that my interest in education really began to take center stage. At the tail end of this work, my family moved to Austin, Texas and we were lucky to be able to enroll our 2 year old son in the All Austin Cooperative Nursery School. There I fell in love with the Reggio way of teaching and discovered how much I adore working with younger students. I have now gone to Reggio Emilia, Italy, and visited many Reggio inspired schools in the USA as well as trained with the Italian educators here. Being co-researchers with children, within the stimulating context of developing an emergent curriculum while exploring one hundred languages of expression, is a celebration of life itself!

In addition to Reggio, A New Leaf is also inspired by the Forest Kindergarten and Outdoor Education movements. Being in nature to study our environment, and our relationship with it, is fascinating and crucial for the future of humanity on Earth. Our campus at the Charlotte location and our work at Pip and Pickles Farm have been instrumental in propelling educational experiences for children that speak to bridge the gap of “The Nature Deficit Disorder” coined by Richard Louv, and raise children who see themselves as part of nature with respect and love. All of these experiences combine to educate the whole child in all developmental domains for a joyful lifelong learning journey. This year we are adding a group of younger students, starting at 18 months, and growing to include 4th and 5th graders. Let’s travel together!

Catherine Borman – Arboretum campus director

Catherine was born and raised in Nashville. She attended Ensworth and Harpeth Hall, then graduated from the Corcoran College of Art and Design – George Washington University’s Art College. During and after college, Catherine worked as a nanny while she was a freelance illustrator. She realized that she loved working with children and decided to substitute at local preschools.

Catherine has worked in Early Childhood Education for over five years, and has been a member of the TN Reggio Study Group for four years. At Eastern Tennessee State University, Catherine received a Masters in Teaching and a Master Certificate in Emergent Curriculum. She believes children are capable, and that as a teacher her role is to act as co-explorer, guide, observer, documentation taker, and mentor. While pursuing her masters, Catherine completed a practicum at Ferntop Nature Preschool in Fairview, Tennessee. It was at Ferntop where she fell in love with teaching outdoors. Teaching children to appreciate nature and how to be stewards of the Earth is very important to her.

Catherine is the lucky mother of two beautiful girls: Maggie, 1; and Rosie, 2. In her free time Catherine loves to paint, draw, hike, cook, ride her bike, and read. She loves spending time with her family and going on walks at the Harpeth River Greenway.

She is so excited to teach and support this group of young learners, and have fun learning, growing, laughing, exploring, and playing together.

LISA WELGREEN – director of communications and admissions

Lisa moved to Nashville from Tel Aviv Israel at the beginning of 2019 with her husband and two daughters. She has a Bachelor of Design degree and is happiest when she is creating things with her hands.

She first encountered the Reggio Emilia way when looking for a preschool for her oldest daughter and fell in love with it. She also worked in a Reggio inspired preschool in Tel Aviv with 4- and 5-year-olds.

Lisa grew up in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She spent a lot of her childhood outdoors, and one of her favorite memories is the sweet smell and the dark grey clouds that gathered before a summer rainstorm. 

Some of her favorite things about living in Nashville are the gorgeous landscape, the parks, the nature, and the hiking trails. Being able to work on the farm every day, surrounded by the trees and the animals and the happy sounds of children, is a true gift!

liz meeks – outdoor educator

Liz has been working with nature-based education for many years now. She traces her love of nature back to her childhood summers at Camp Marymount in Fairview, Tennessee, and growing up in a time when backyard play and long hours outdoors were the norm. She spent her college years in the Appalachian Mountains while earning a Bachelor of Science in Cultural Anthropology from Appalachian State University. She became fascinated with the interconnectedness of human culture and the land, and she continues to infuse that into her work in early childhood today. Farming and gardening for many years has also informed her work as an educator, and one of her passions is supporting playful, educational gardening experiences for children.

Prior to joining A New Leaf, Liz taught for three years at Fern Top Nature Preschool while earning her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. While in this role, Liz also became certified as a forest kindergarten teacher through Cedarsong Nature School. She also has a Journeys into Nature certification from nature pedagogy expert Claire Warden from Scotland. Liz believes that the natural world is a vital backdrop to educating young children. Teaching in a way that builds children’s capacities for creativity, resilience, care for the earth and one another are what she loves about this model. Liz believes that when the educational foundation is rooted in nature, the skills children need to progress as learners come naturally. Liz is from Nashville, Tennessee, and has a 10-year-old daughter named Raina.

Mary Seppamaki – Preschool Teacher

madelyn durand — preschool teacher

Madelyn developed her passion of guiding people through nature while growing up in a small farming community along the Ohio River. She grew up with a motocross track in her backyard, helping run the family business and developing a love for community and working with others. From picking squash in her Grandma's backyard to foraging morels with her dad and cooking meals alongside her mom for her family of seven, this small town girl had an immense love for learning and teaching others. 

In 2015, she made the move to Bowling Green to obtain her degree at WKU. She spent her years in college working during the school year for the after-school program, and during the Summers she worked as a Direct Support Provider for students with disabilities. By 2019, she had graduated with her dual bachelor's in Elementary Education and Special Education. Post-graduation, she dove right into her first year of teaching as a special education teacher at Alvaton Elementary School, adapting to her first year teaching during the pandemic and learning ways to deliver education in a not-so-traditional sense.

Through her teaching during the pandemic, Madelyn gained a new view of what education had the potential to be. She loved making connections with her students, building a community with her colleagues and families, and taking every opportunity to learn alongside her students while finding alternative ways to teach traditional standards. Through her own hobbies—hiking, kayaking, camping, reading, and gardening—she saw that there was an opportunity to weave her passion for nature with her love of education. Now, as a teacher at A New Leaf, she's grateful for the chance to foster the next generation of outdoor lovers and instill the respect and care that nature deserves. Madelyn believes strongly in the teachings that can be gained just by being immersed in the outdoors. She herself has learned how life can be sustained with so few resources, to be present and aware, to have confidence in herself and in collaborating with others, and she's gained strength and flexibility from her days wading through creeks and climbing up mountains—all lessons she cannot wait to share with her students at A New Leaf.

Elizabeth hamilton — preschool teacher

Elizabeth is originally from Birmingham, Alabama. She fell in love with nature and the outdoors during her childhood attending summer camp in northwest Alabama and while on a backpacking trip through the Pyrenees and Alps Mountains one summer in high school. Elizabeth was a competitive swimmer from the time she could doggy paddle all the way through high school and while working as a lifeguard and swim coach for a local swim club decided that she wanted a career working with young children.

In the spring of 2023, Elizabeth graduated from the University of the South : Sewanee with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Environmental Studies. During her time at Sewanee she studied childhood education and spent a lot of time outdoors with her professors and fellow students learning about the many geological features throughout the Cumberland Plateau. She was an active volunteer with the outing program on campus, leading other students on outdoor adventures throughout the Plateau. Additionally, she spent 4 months in Copenhagen, Denmark studying European Clinical Psychology and many different European environmental practices.

Elizabeth is excited about embracing the Reggio way of teaching and looks forward to growing and learning with her students. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors with friends and family and cooking for others using the herbs from her garden in her recipes.

AMANDA RESCHKE – farm education director

Amanda brings many strengths as an educator. She is passionate about outdoor education, having been born and raised in Wisconsin. She spent her childhood in the north woods riding horses, camping, fishing, and building forts, while role playing elaborate storylines that carried on for months. She moved to Nashville with her husband in 2007, and the two have a young son.

With more than 10 years of experience teaching in a classroom, Amanda is excited to be a part of Pip & Pickles Farm and the Reggio approach. She believes children have a vast and deep understanding of our shared world, and that we can learn a lot from them – all you have to do is pull up a chair at their table, enjoy some chocolate mud cake and rain water tea, and listen.

Kim Whitaker – farm Preschool teacher

Kim grew up in Plant City, Florida, but has lived in Nashville since 2003. She grew up riding horses, tending cattle, and helping in her family's orange grove. Even though she now lives in the city, her favorite activities are spending time outdoors with her family. Kim joins A New Leaf with over a decade of teaching experience. After studying political science and Spanish during undergrad at the University of Florida, Kim spent several years working in politics in Washington, D.C., and Nashville. Deciding that the hustle of political life was not for her, she returned to school and earned a Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish from MTSU. She began her teaching career as a Spanish teacher in a pre-K through eighth grade setting. Kim spent five years working as the lead pre-K teacher at a bilingual preschool. It was there that she fell in love with early childhood education, and exploring and learning alongside her students. She is excited to grow as an educator in the Reggio setting and to also share her experience in language teaching with the children.

Kim enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, and two sons. Her favorite outdoor activities include hiking and kayaking. She also loves traveling, reading, and watching movies.

Carson Kreidler - Farm Preschool teacher

Carson was born and raised in Northeast Ohio and moved to Nashville in 2018. Their childhood was spent largely outdoors climbing trees, taking long barefoot hikes through streams and tending to horses, sheep, and chickens. With a background of attending Homeschool, Montessori School, and Public School, Carson has grown to love the myriad of ways educators can work to support child development and strives to make education accessible to as many students as possible.

Carson comes to A New Leaf with a Bachelor's in Special Education from Kent State University and nearly a decade of experience in a variety of childcare and education settings. Prior to joining A New Leaf, Carson was a foundational teacher in Vanderbilt University's Art Adventures enrichment program for students K-5 in the early days of the pandemic, providing arts programming throughout the day for students who were learning virtually via Zoom. They also took the lead in the pilot year of Vanderbilt's Owls Kindergarten program, a Reggio-inspired program that has become a successful extension of the Vanderbilt University Acorn School.

Outside of A New Leaf, Carson is a published writer and poet who leads virtual writing workshops for college students and adults across the globe.

Maggie Roszko – FARM Kindergarten TEACHER

Maggie was born and raised in a small town just outside of Baltimore. From an early age she developed profound love for nature and animals. As a child she eagerly immersed herself in activities that reflected her passions such as joining 4-H , starting her own garden and even advocating recycling at her house .

She went to college in Western MD. Frostburg is nestled in the beautiful Allegheny mountains. There she played lacrosse and earned her Bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education. During her college career she reached a pivotal moment where she realized that teaching in a traditional public school setting was not aligned with her visions and aspirations. Driven by a desire to explore alternative approaches to education that resonated with her love for nature and experimental learning she discovered nature schools.

For the past two years Maggie has been teaching at a small nature school located in Pennsylvania. Her experience has allowed her to witness firsthand the remarkable impact of immersive nature base education on young minds.  She has fallen in love seeing the students curiosity blossom, and their connection to the world around them strengthen.

With a love for exploration, she has always had the desire to move outside of her hometown. It was during one of her exploratory journeys where she stumbled upon Nashville and A New Leaf. Maggie fell in love with the city’s energy and was captivated by the schools unique educational approach. As she prepares to embark on this exciting new adventure she is eagerly anticipating meeting everyone and forming meaningful connections with the school community .

Beyond school she is eager to immerse herself with the many wonders Nashville has to offer such as new hiking spots, coffee shops and the music scene. In her free time she enjoys being outside , soaking up the sun and finding new places to take her paddle board out.

As she embarks this new chapter of her life , she is filled with gratitude for the opportunities that lie ahead. She is most excited to join a community that shares her love for education , nature and the joy of discovering the world around us.

Cato Abbot – farm MANAGER

Cato grew up in Nashville, moving from Tucson, Arizona, when he was 5 years old. He has been attending A New Leaf since its inception and has been involved on and off with the school throughout its life. He attended Hume-Fogg Academic High School in downtown Nashville. After graduating high school, Cato took a gap year to volunteer with Americorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). During this year, Cato worked to restore a historic African American cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, helped with disaster relief in northern Florida, and participated in an effort to revitalize the Mississippi River Basin Model in Jackson, Mississippi. Through NCCC, Cato gained his appreciation for volunteer work and community service.

Cato graduated from the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in 2021 with a degree in International Politics and Government, and a concentration in International Relations. During his undergraduate career, he studied abroad twice – once in Seoul, South Korea, and in Rome, Italy. Through these experiences, he gained his love for travel and exploration, in addition to a passion for geography, politics, history, and culture. While in Italy, Cato visited Reggio Emilia and the Loris Malaguzzi International Center – the birthplace of the Reggio teaching philosophy.

Cato hopes to volunteer for Peace Corps in the future. For now, he is a lover of the outdoors, and enjoys taking hikes and being in nature. He loves to read, watch movies, car races, and above all –- spend time with his mother.

Maria TeSelle – Consultant

Maria has a Masters of Education in early childhood education and 15 years experience teaching preschool. Maria combines her knowledge of young children and how they learn with a lifelong love for the natural world. She values A New Leaf’s collaborative environment and using the Reggio way to bring all students at A New Leaf in closer communion with the world around them.