HS art studio painting

MS Music performance on stage

MS Girl with garlic at farm

Specialists

HS art studio painting
MS Music performance on stage
MS Girl with garlic at farm

Middle school students choose from arts elec­tives in drama, fine art, music, and creative writing and partic­i­pate weekly in phys­i­cal educa­tion, well­ness, and farm class. Students also select their quar­terly elec­tives, choos­ing from offer­ings such as Japan­ese, film appre­ci­a­tion, strate­gic games, and quiet study, taught by the middle school core faculty.

Jack Anderson 19 20

Jack Ander­son

Jack teaches phys­i­cal educa­tion to the preschool, elemen­tary school, and middle school. Jack has a B.S. in Kine­si­ol­ogy Phys­i­cal Educa­tion Teacher Educa­tion from the Univer­sity of La Verne, and an M.S. in Kine­si­ol­ogy Curricu­lum and Instruc­tion from Cal Poly Pomona. Jack enjoys teach­ing P.E. because it allows him to work with students of all ages and lets him see them grow and develop from year to year. He feels that P.E. is a great time to not only teach students about motor skills, but inter­per­sonal skills as well. (Email)

Meg Bradbury 19 20

Meg Brad­bury

Meg teaches human devel­op­ment at the middle and elemen­tary schools, co-facil­i­­tates queer affin­ity space, and works closely with the board of trustees and head/​assistant heads of school. Certi­fied as a Body Trust coun­selor, anti-diet nutri­tion­ist, and yoga and medi­ta­tion teacher, Meg has been a member of the Waverly commu­nity since 2003. She is inspired by the school’s progres­sive peda­gogy, commit­ment to build­ing conver­gences of respect and indi­vid­u­al­ity, and students who, even at age four,​“teach me what it means to be rad, resilient, and a potent source of hope and change.” (Email)

HS Bio Photo Shelbie Kelly 2

Shelbie Kelly

Shelbie teaches creative writing at the middle and high schools as well as human devel­op­ment at the high school. Shelbie has a B.A. in English – Creative Writing from Univer­sity of Central Florida, an M.A. in Creative Writing from Full Sail Univer­sity, and teach­ing certi­fi­ca­tion in high school English and drama. She has train­ing in liter­ary editing and, in her words,​“wants to instill a fasci­na­tion with language and story­telling” in her students. (Email)

Kevin Farm Bio

Kevin Murawski

Kevin is Waverly’s envi­ron­men­tal studies and outdoor educa­tion teacher. Kevin grad­u­ated from Otis Art Insti­tute of Parsons School of Design with a degree in fine arts and worked profes­sion­ally as an artist for over 20 years. While illus­trat­ing 14 books for young readers and working as a designer on many children’s programs, Kevin began to find his passion for connect­ing with kids. A life­long learner and self-proclaimed natu­ral­ist, Kevin has always had a deep appre­ci­a­tion for our envi­ron­ment and under­stand­ing our connec­tion to it. With count­less excur­sions into the field with students and dozens of overnight school camping trips over the years, Kevin brings a wealth of expe­ri­ence and knowl­edge to our program. After 13 years of teach­ing in the class­room, Kevin is thrilled to be working outside with students getting dirty, observ­ing closely, looking deeply, reflect­ing, wonder­ing, having fun, and contin­u­ally growing. (Email)

Jim Reynolds 19 20

Jim Reynolds

Jim teaches instru­men­tal music from preschool through twelfth grade. Jim studied jazz guitar, vocal perfor­mance, and philos­o­phy in college at Oberlin, Ohio. He also has a back­ground in sound engi­neer­ing, working in the Los Angeles studio scene for over 10 years. A working musi­cian today, he has had expe­ri­ence touring in bands, working in sound studios, manag­ing live concert sound events, and song­writ­ing. His music has been licensed for film and tele­vi­sion, most notably on the tele­vi­sion show Sons of Anarchy. Currently, you can see Jim locally and on tour as The Jim Reynolds Band. During his time at Waverly, students have formed rock bands, wood­wind quin­tets, string quar­tets, and several incar­na­tions of a jazz band. Focused primar­ily on partic­i­pa­tion, Waverly students have a chance to explore all aspects of music and have many oppor­tu­ni­ties to get on stage and perform. (Email)

Faculty Bio Alyssa Sherwood

Alyssa Sher­wood

Alyssa teaches art in the upper elemen­tary, middle, and high schools. Alyssa has a B.F.A. in paint­ing and sculp­ture from Syra­cuse Univer­sity School of Visual and Perform­ing Arts and an M.F.A. in anima­tion from the Univer­sity of South­ern Cali­for­nia School of Cine­matic Arts. Alyssa’s animated films have screened and won awards at festi­vals in the U.S. and inter­na­tion­ally. Prior to coming to Waverly, Alyssa taught video art, drawing and paint­ing, and photog­ra­phy for almost eight years at Harvard-Westlake’s Middle and Upper Schools. (Email)

Bio photo Sydney

Sydney Walsh

Sydney teaches drama at all divi­sions. Syd grad­u­ated from Williams College with a B.A. in theatre and English. An expe­ri­enced actor, direc­tor, and educa­tor, Syd says, ​“I am constantly inspired by the group work ethic I see and feel in every class at Waverly. Students are inter­ested in creativ­ity and kind­ness, and they work from a place of loving support for each other’s creative processes.” Syd’s son, Harry ​‘19, grad­u­ated from Waverly. (Email)