History & English

Alaina "Lanie" Berlin 

Alaina Berlin is a Jacksonville native and lover of all things ocean related. Growing up, she was the oldest child, so automatically took on a caregiving role. Gaining a bachelor’s degree in History with a minor in Sociology from Flagler College allowed her to stay by the sand while diving deep into an overflowing cup of historical knowledge.

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Stemming from her love for the ocean, came a love for teaching. Lanie taught surfing and English lessons while living in Mexico, which ignited the fire to become a teacher full time. She taught History and Spanish at a private neurodivergent school in Orange Park before arriving at Spring River. 

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With an abundance of love for history and the appreciation of its significant role in current events, Lanie is excited to embark on the Waldorf journey.

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“History doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes.” - Mark Twain. 

Practical Arts 

Maria Calderon

Maria Calderón is a Quechua American interdisciplinary folk and traditional crafts artist whose life’s work is a vibrant tapestry of painting, fiber arts, fashion design, and natural dyeing. Her art is deeply rooted in the cultural legacies of her family and ancestors, as well as in a lifelong exploration of global folk traditions.

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Maria earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from North Park University in Chicago, where she focused on Pre-Columbian Art History and international folk art. Her studies later took her to Cortona, Italy through the University of Georgia, where she immersed herself in traditional book and paper-making, Etruscan art history, Tuscan cuisine, and early Renaissance art.

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Raised in a family devoted to preserving and sharing Andean folk arts, Maria grew up surrounded by spinners, weavers, natural dyers, painters, leather artisans, musicians, gardeners, and dancers from around the world. Her father, a traditional Andean musician and leather artisan, along with her extended family, frequently performed and represented Andean arts and culture at festivals and cultural fairs. Their extensive collection of historic textiles and folk art profoundly shaped Maria’s appreciation for the ways craft is intertwined with heritage, place, and identity.

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Maria has also shared her expertise in higher education as an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where she taught Foundation Drawing and 2D Design. Over the past 12 years, she has expanded her teaching to include yoga, meditation, natural dye workshops, and curating sacred movement, traditional dance, and martial arts programming at Spirit Weavers Gathering. As one of the founding teachers of the annual Ancestral Skills gathering, Maria has helped create spaces for people to reconnect with traditional practices and ways of knowing.

Today, Maria’s work is centered on the native ethnobotany of Northeast Florida, with a focus on preserving lost techniques related to the indigenous plants, medicines, and fiber resources of the region. Her lifelong commitment to folk arts—honoring the ways they reflect culture and locality—continues to guide her path as both an artist and a steward of ancestral knowledge.

Chemistry

Michelle Carter

Michelle received her Bachelors of Science in both Biology and Chemistry from Wilmington College and a Master’s of Science in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She began her chemistry career developing analytical methods at the FDA, and subsequently conducted and oversaw sample analysis at a contract analytical chemistry laboratory. Michelle is currently a freelance chemist.

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Michelle was introduced to Waldorf Education in 2014 and was an active member of the Playgarden Board of Directors for six years. She served as Secretary for four years, then served a two-year term as president. She played an integral part in the successful separation of Spring River from The Playgarden in 2021 and in the founding of the new organization, JEC.

Michelle has worn "many hats" at Spring River - lead forest school teacher & director, STEM teacher,  games teacher, Enrollment Director, Bookkeeper, and devoted Board Member. Michele completed the Explorations course offered by Antioch University and the Center for Anthroposophy in the spring of 2019. She has volunteered with Duval County Special Olympics Surfing Program as a surf coach for over 5 years.  

Program Director/Farm-to-Table & Culinary Arts and Sustainable Agriculture Teacher

Carrie Zarka Dooley

Carrie, the visionary founder of Shakti Life Kitchen, has been at the helm of this thriving organic plant-based food company for 15 years. Her entrepreneurial journey began as a part owner of European Street Café , a role she held for over three decades. This experience instilled in her the value of community service and the power of collaboration in achieving ambitious goals.  Carrie's academic achievements include a B.A. in Sociology, certification as a Plant-based nutritionist from Cornell, and a certificate from the Master's program in Waldorf Education at Antioch University.    

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Being raised in Northeast Florida and being immersed in the service industry for over 30 years has allowed Carrie to make supportive connections city-wide that support the mission to further Outdoor Waldorf Education and set the platform for our becoming a Biodynamic garden. She is deeply connected to the life of the land and gets her inspiration from that which grows locally. She is a mother to Zophia, a graduate of the K-8 Spring River program. Carrie was hired as Spring River School’s program director in 2021.  Her teaching experience is from 4th to 6th grade.  Carrie also served as a volunteer for the Waldorf movement for eight years where she served as Board President of The Playgarden, Inc. in 2012-2013 and board member for the following seven years.

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Carrie is a co-founder of the NE Florida Chapter of the Anthroposophical Society named the Sophia Circle. Her dedication to this study has helped her create a bond with the Center for Anthroposophy, our nation's premier organization supporting Waldorf teacher training and the growth of Biodynamics.

Math Teacher & Administrator

Rosie Eddy

Rosie Eddy grew up in an Army family so answering the typical “where are you from” question is always difficult! However, her parents are from the Tampa Bay Area (Seminole and Dunedin) and she grew up traveling to Florida for most school breaks and holidays, so Florida has always felt like home.

Her husband (born and raised in Alabama) recently retired from the Navy out of Mayport, NS, and they are thankful to be able to put down roots here in Jacksonville for themselves and their two sons.

Rosie graduated Cum Laude from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in December of 2016 with a degree in Secondary Math Education. She was offered a position as a math and electives teacher and started teaching a month before graduation at Liberty Middle School in Madison, AL. She achieved tenure status and then ultimately resigned in the summer of 2020 when hey husband went on active duty. The time out of the classroom was a gift to her family.

Rosie was a freelance tutor during this time and able to focus more fully on her oldest son and his learning differences, a healthy pregnancy with their youngest, their move to Mayport, a healthy delivery, and settling into the rhythm of life.

Rosie is so thankful that took that time out of the classroom to focus on her family, but she is thrilled to have this opportunity to once again work with larger groups of students and help them foster confidence in themselves as problem solvers and critical thinkers! Math can be intimidating to students for a multitude of reasons, but Rosie will be present to remind them that they CAN do hard things and that almost everything was hard before they learned how to do it.

Rosie takes a student-centric approach to teaching. A typical class might look like students taking notes and going through guided practice with her for 15-20 minutes and then working together and encouraging each other in problem solving activities and games around the room. She is very excited to work with the Spring River High School students!

Latin & Social Studies Teacher

Amy Jaskiewicz

Amy Jaskiewicz grew up in a small town outside of Jacksonville. Her family shared ten acres of land with her grandparents. Between houses, she learned about farming and homemade food while helping her grandmother make her delicious Mayhaw Jelly.  Among land to play and a large extended family, she was exposed to the beauty of the outdoors, animals, and using her imagination. After four years at Florida State University, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in English Literature. 

After working in the web design marketing field, she decided to move back to Jacksonville and pursue a teaching career. Amy taught fifth grade before moving to Texas with her husband. In Texas, she had three children and soon after moved to Colorado for her husband’s career in pharmaceutical oncology. Compromising between her husband’s need to surf and her desire to be closer to family, they moved to Atlantic Beach in 2015. Soon after, she began homeschooling her three children. Her youngest is a graduate of Spring River. Homeschooling her elementary and middle school kids was where she was introduced to Latin and began teaching it in her homeschooling CO-OP. Amy is enthusiastic to bring a love of English and Latin to the Spring River High School students.

Along with reading, a love for animals, art, and travel, Amy enjoys spending time with her family.  She is excited to teach Latin to the inaugural class of Spring River High School students. 

Science Teacher 

Jill R. Kiefer

Jill was raised in Atlantic Beach, graduated from Fletcher, and went on to graduate from the University of North Florida with her degree in education. She is certified in High School Biology and Middle Grades Science and endorsed in Gifted Education. Jill taught in Duval and St. Johns counties for 32 years. 

She has a passion for science that began in elementary school and continues. 

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Lifelong learning is important, she is pursuing certification as a Master Naturalist through UF. She is also working on a dog training program and would like to train service dogs eventually. Jill has homeschooled her granddaughters (who are Spring River students) in science.  She was very excited to learn that Spring River was adding a high school level. The emphasis on immersing students in the wonder and science of our unique environment and also fostering the responsibility we hold as its guardians is a core value she shares with the school.

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Jill served as a licensed boat captain and instructor for St Johns County Marine Science Summer Camp for several summers. She also led an annual 3 day environmental education science camp with her students to St, Simons Island, Georgia. 

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“Science is how the world works; no matter which area is being taught, it’s important to make it relatable; that’s how you draw students in.”

Engaging students is key according to Jill, then varying the methods of delivery…"there are so many ways that students can learn.” 

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Some of Jills other passions are hanging out with the grandkids, growing things, her dog Ellie, and travel. She recently traveled to Peru and visited Machu Picchu then flew over the Nazca Lines.

Music Teacher

Linda Minke

Music has always been important to Linda. Her grandpa played piano by ear and founded the Barbershop Quartet Society in Toledo in the 1930s. Growing up in Michigan, Linda and her sisters played their player piano (and also school) in their basement for countless hours. She joined the junior choir in second grade and (after some begging) was allowed to take piano lessons beginning in third grade.  Linda studied viola and cello and played bass in the high school Jazz Band. To march in the high school Marching Band, she took up glockenspiel to play in the Pep Band, cowbell! Linda also sang in the Madrigal Choir and had leads in the high school Musicals. More recently, Linda has played Irish music on fiddle and Celtic harp. For twenty years, she’s been a faculty member at The Walker Family Band Fiddle Camp in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, whe teaches ukulele and creative movement.

Linda obtained her bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and in Music Performance from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan and her Master’s degree in Cello Performance from University of Memphis. Before moving to Jacksonville Linda played as assistant principal cellist with the Memphis Symphony, created a Suzuki Cello program and was a cofounder of the Rhodes College Piano Trio.

During those years, Linda discovered Rudolf Steiner’s writings and learned about Waldorf Education. She was one of the founding members of The Jacksonville Waldorf Initiative in the early 1990’s. Her son Victor attended Seaside Playgarden preschool groups along with our dear K teacher, Sierra Humphreys. He was homeschooled K-8 with the Waldorf Without Walls curriculum, Oak Meadow, and attended Douglas Anderson Performing Arts High School.

Linda completed the Center for Anthroposophy’s  Explorations and the Building Bridges courses. She is a member of the JEC Sophia Circle Anthroposophical Study Group and often partakes in Holistic Biography courses online. She has been enjoying teaching music for the third through eighth graders for two years at Spring River School.

Administrative & Teaching Assistant

Lori Smith

Coming Soon

PE Teacher

Bobby Spahn

Bobby Spahn grew up in the Chicagoland area reading books all day and being deeply emotionally invested in the Jordan-era Chicago Bulls. He spent every single afternoon of his high school years playing 1-on-1 basketball in his driveway vs. his freakishly talented neighbor.

He got destroyed in nearly every game and he couldn’t be more grateful for all that taught him. Bobby has been married for 19 years and has two sons with whom he loves to play (& sometimes coach) the sports of basketball, baseball and football.

Fine Art Teacher

Jess Spahn

With a magnetic interest in living from inner freedom, Jess has always been drawn to the arts and that which allows for depth. 

Born and raised in Bradenton, FL, Jess moved to Jax Beach in 2000 to attend UNF, graduating in 2004 with a degree in Sociology. She then traveled to Hawaii and around Southeast Asia, appreciating the variety in cultural and artistic expression. Shortly thereafter, she married her now hubby of 20 years - Bobby!

The stars aligned for their sons, August and Arlo, to join the Spring River Waldorf magic early on. They continue to enjoy and benefit greatly from the unique environment all these years later, as both boys will be in middle school this year.

Jess has been involved in many different roles over the years, related to her draw to the arts and community. In every role, she sought to create spaces where everyone might feel free to be and inspired to grow. So this opportunity to teach HS Art Class at Spring River is the icing on the cake! She’s blessed by the opportunity to offer such a space for SR’s High Schoolers to learn and create art, together this year.

Substitute Teacher

Dana Salerno

Dana's affinity for working with children led her to teaching as a second career after a successful stint in advertising sales and management in New York City. Following the events of 9/11, she felt compelled to make a more meaningful contribution to society. Dana was accepted into the NYC Teaching Fellows program, where she began teaching in a high-need public school in the Bronx the following September. Juggling teaching during the day and pursuing her master’s degree in the evenings, Dana found deep satisfaction in her newfound career path. She graduated summa cum laude with a Master's of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Mercy College and a Bachelor's Degree in Communications, with a minor in English Literature from Susquehanna University.

In 2015, Dana and her family relocated to Atlantic Beach. There, she began homeschooling her two children, both of whom had attended Spring River School during their middle school years. During that time, Dana taught middle school Mathematics and Creative Writing, as well as leading an after school literature study program. Dana believes in a child centered, holistic approach to education, focusing on nurturing the whole child. Dana understands that each student is an individual with distinct needs and talents, and when nurtured leads to growth: intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. It is this philosophy that has attracted her to Waldorf education.

In addition to homeschooling her own children, Dana is actively involved in advocating for children in Jacksonville. She recently graduated from the parent leadership program, Parents Who Lead - Cohort IV. The overarching goal of this leadership program is to develop civic-minded community members who explore a realm of possibilities that will positively impact the city and the children who reside in it.