Faculty & Board

Karen has many years of experience with children of all ages in varied settings: Kindergarten, preschool, group child care, family child care, school age aftercare and institutions for developmentally delayed and emotionally disturbed/mentally ill children and adolescents.

Her undergraduate degree is in Child and Family Studies from UNH; her Masters is in Elementary and Early Childhood Education with a Waldorf Certificate from Antioch New England Graduate School.

Karen is proud to be a founding board member, administrator and teacher of Tidewater School. For the first five years of Tidewater she has held the position of Administrator and Kindergarten Teacher. She now teaches the Periwinkle Mixed-age Kindergarten. She is computer proficient and especially enjoys admissions work for Tidewater. She and her family have lived in the seacoast area since 1980. She is the mother of a college sophomore and her husband is a musician and owns a business in Portsmouth. Karen enjoys singing and is interested in human evolution and human development, handwork, nature, travel, spirituality and complimentary healing modalities. She specializes in child development.

Trained in the “classical” tradition, by apprenticeship to a master Kindergarten teacher on the Big Island of Hawaii, Ms. Beth brings many years of experience with children in a Waldorf setting. After her apprenticeship in Hawaii, she solely owned and operated a Waldorf-inspired nursery program (three to five years of age) from her home in Maine for eight years. This program, Juniper Tree, was a feeder school for the local Waldorf School in Blue Hill Maine. In 2004–2005 she was a co-teacher in the Kindergarten at the Terra Rosa Charter School in Sedona Arizona. She also taught Handwork to the upper classes there as well.

An avid student of the anthroposophical and pedagogical principles of Rudolf Steiner, she considers her work in the Kindergarten to be her life’s calling and destiny. She enjoys knitting and toy and doll making. For over thirty years she has had a deep love of natural healing methods, in particular herbal remedies, flower essences and energetic modalities such as Reiki and gemstone therapy.

Ms. Beth is the mother of five grown children, three of whom were Waldorf students, now artists, writers and musicians. She considers her family to be a very free-spirited bunch, and she loves to see them finding their wings. The 2008–09 school year is her third at Tidewater. She is Faculty Chair and a member of the Board of Trustees.

Martha has been with Tidewater School since 2002. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and a Master of Education in Early Childhood Special Needs from the University of New Hampshire. She is currently enrolled in the Waldorf Spatial Dynamics Training.

Martha’s previous experience includes over 11 years of management in both municipal and corporate sectors as well as work with children of all ages in educational, recreational and athletic programs.

Martha lives in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire with her husband Jeff and two young daughters. She is an avid gardener and loves outdoor recreation. Martha has also been a long time field hockey coach and swim instructor.

Tricia’s background is in the theater and corporate world and has only recently pursued her interest in working with children. Tricia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hofstra University in NY. She worked for 14 years as a production stage manager and actress throughout New England. She has recently completed the Lifeways Training and has been Tidewater’s extended day teacher, for two years. She has a special fondness for the very youngest children and hopes to work with babies and toddlers when Tidewater is ready to design a program for that age group.

When not at Tidewater, Tricia is a role-player at Strawberry Banke where she portrays the historical figure, Sarah Goodwin, tending her garden. She enjoys dancing—both tap and jazz—reading and swimming. She lives in Cape Neddick, very near the ocean. This is her fourth year at Tidewater.

Diana has a BA from San Jose State University, and started her Waldorf teacher training in California at Rudolf Steiner College. She is enrolling at Antioch New England Graduate School for the summer program where she will complete a Masters in Education and Waldorf Certification. In addition she is a certified doula and yoga instructor. Her teaching experience includes a variety of settings and ages including summer camps, religious studies (she directed the Sunday School program), Parent Child Groups and yoga classes.

Diana lives in South Berwick with her husband and 3 daughters. Diana likes to read, enjoys music, singing, drama and theatre. She has a keen interest in anthroposophy, the philosophical work of Rudolf Steiner, founder of Waldorf Education. This is her second year at Tidewater.

Dennis graduated from Anderson University in Indiana, with a degree in History, and minored in Art and Design. He attended Antioch New England Graduate School (Keene, NH) and graduated with a degree in Integrated Learning and Waldorf Education. Dennis is also a certified public school teacher, with four years teaching experience.

Dennis has worked in a variety of public and private teaching institutions. His most recent experiences include working as an environmental educator in the White Mountains, NH, and working with children with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. This is Dennis' fourth year at Tidewater.

Dennis lives in Portsmouth, NH, and his interests include kayaking, painting, and traveling.

Vickie loves to learn, which fuels her enthusiasm for teaching. She graduated from UNH with a BA in Mathematics and trained to be a Waldorf teacher at Rudolf Steiner College in California. Vickie previously taught at Ashwood Waldorf School in Rockport, ME for eleven years. Her first class is now in college and her second class is in high school.

Vickie’s life long passion is reading and she has at least a dozen “favorite” books. She is working towards her dream of writing books for beginning readers and is eager to share her stories with her new class. She is also writing a math resource book for teachers.

Vickie lives in Rye with her cat, Midnight. She likes to walk along the ocean and in the woods; to listen to music and dance; and to play with her niece and nephew. This is her second year at Tidewater.

Daniela Kulik has over twenty years of experience teaching children at the preschool level both here in the United States and in Europe. She is a certified Montessori Lead Teacher and has an extensive background teaching children at the preschool level.

Daniela was born and grew up in Austria. She has always enjoyed working with children and while in high school decided to pursue a teaching career. Upon achieving her diploma with certificate for teaching preschool children from the Federal Institute for Kindergarten Education in Oberwart, Austria Daniela set out on her career. She worked in numerous teaching positions in Austria at both the preschool and elementary levels. For over ten years she worked as the directress of the Kindergarten Europahaus in Wiener Neustadt, Austria where she was responsible for 40 children ages 3-6 years old and a team of seven teachers and assistants.

While on a biking vacation in the Greek Islands, Daniela met her future husband—an American from New Hampshire. After getting married Daniela moved to the United States in 2004 where she began a new career. Most recently Daniela worked as Directress/Lead Teacher for a multi classroom Montessori school with 50 children in New Hampshire.

Daniela is delighted to be part of the Tidewater school as their new German teacher. This is a very special opportunity for her to share her language, culture and materials from her home country. On her spare time Daniela also provides private German classes for both children from Europe as well as the United States.

In addition to her teaching background Daniela loves practicing and studying Yoga. Fifteen years ago she finished her Sivanada Yoga teacher training in Austria and is currently enrolled in a 500-hour Classical Yoga teacher training. Daniela provides Yoga classes to both adults and children.

Daniela loves the outdoors and nature as well as singing, music and cooking healthy food.

Jennifer has been teaching, in one form or another, for over 18 yrs. She holds a BA with a double major in Theater and Marketing from James Madison University and an MEd in Special Ed from George Washington University. She taught inner-city elementary ed, as a lead teacher & reading teacher, for 10 years in the cities of Washington D.C. & Seattle Wa. She has written grants for and supervised a regional after-school enrichment program, serving over 120 public school students. She apprenticed under 2 master inner-city teachers of interdisciplinary studies, and tries to live by their credo: People Never Care How Much You Know Until They Know How Much You Care. All the while she had been reading & studying Waldorf education, finding it to be the most wholesome educational approach to date. She was thrilled to find Tidewater School, when she moved to N.H. Seacoast in 2002.

Since 2002, she has been a parent at Tidewater, focusing on her most important job, raising her 2 children. After her second child was born with significant health needs, she slowed way down & dove deeply into applying the heart & hands of the Waldorf approach at home: allowing space & silence, more time with her children in nature, and in the practical arts of life. Today she is excited to be on staff at Tidewater, soaking up the next layer of pedagogical studies, supporting the other teachers & holding a classroom of children with greater depth. In her spare time she is rejuvenated teaching African dance, taking Latin dance, doing Improv comedy & personal coaching for people, singing, doing yoga, reading, cooking, and getting into the woods or by the ocean with her family. She lives in Dover NH with her husband & 2 children Otto & Ava, who are both students at Tidewater School.

Jessica Moore graduated from New England College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and a minor in Fine and Graphic Arts and Costume Design. After working for more than ten years in Corporate Advertising, Jess decided to return to school to get a Master Herbalist, Diploma in Herbal Studies from the Australasian College of Health Sciences. Since graduating, Jess has started Moore Naturally, LLC, a thriving business of proprietary medicinal herbal remedies for common ailments. Still a lover of theatre and performance, Jess has starred in and worked as costume designer for many regional theatrical productions and has done voiceovers for radio. She had also worked with school-aged children in writing, producing and directing one-act plays.

Jess loves to sing as well as do many types of crafts including: knitting; felting; needle felting; traditional rug hooking and more. She enjoys spending time in the woods, at the lake and under the light of the moon. She lives in Berwick with her husband Dana and her 6-year-old daughter Brenna, who is a 1st grader at Tidewater.

Gayle has a long history of working with young children. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education with a specialty in Early Childhood Development from Plymouth State College and has taught in N.H. schools from 1986 through 2002. The past six years have been spent exploring Waldorf practices at home with her young daughter and providing home-based childcare. For 10 years, Gayle has also provided tutoring services and curriculum support and evaluations to NH Homeschoolers.

Gayle has a passionate interest in the fiber arts. She finds hours every day to knit, needle felt and wet felt. She creates fairy dolls, imaginative toys, felted bags and clothing. Gayle lives in New Durham, N.H. with her husband, Jim, and has three children; Chris, studying at the University of Alaska, Sam, a high school senior, and Charlotte, a free-spirited first grader.

Amy is happy to be back in a classroom in the role of assistant, where she can learn as much as the children may this year. Amy graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2008 with her Master's is in Elementary Education, she also received her Bachelor's of Arts in English with a minor in Education. She spent the last school year with a fun and exciting first grade class at Mast Way Elementary in Lee, NH, interning with a masterful educator. After spending the summer spinning dough and serving the wonderful families of the seacoast at Flatbread Company in Portsmouth, she found she could not bear to stray too far from the ocean- one of her greatest inspirations.

Amy loves writing, children, trees and transitions. This fall, Amy will be volunteering some of her time at Mountain of Hope, working with grieving children. She enjoys bicycling, baking and creating many other things from scratch, making people laugh, reading and learning, teaching her puppy tricks, and traveling with her partner, Brian. She cannot wait to learn more about the Waldorf environment and Anthroposophic teachings.

Karen owned and operated a popular restaurant for years in Portsmouth prior to working at Tidewater. She has worked in our aftercare program, was Administrative Assistant for a number of years and recently was appointed Office Manager. She is one of the founding families; her son, Sam attended Tidewater from Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Karen is an avid reader, walker, house fixer-upper and loves to travel when she gets the chance.