Threefold Village staff educators and instructors are an incredible group of passionate individuals. Each is committed to our unique mission of nurturing our community, children and their parents, as well as advancing their own understanding every day.
We are fortunate to embrace an experienced staff including seasoned Waldorf Certified teachers, instructors who are expert in their fields, alongside talented upstarts committed to delivering the highest quality and most authentic educational enrichments available.
Threefold Village Staff
Leigh Hart
An excitedly welcomed member to the staff at Threefold Village, Joan has a Bachelor degree in Voice and Comparative Literature from Indiana University. She obtained her Waldorf Teacher’s certificate from the Waldorf Institute of Southern California and subsequently taught at Highland Hall Waldorf School for 20 years in music and several years in 6th grade English. For the past several years Joan has mentored teachers in music at Highland Hall, Westside Waldorf, and Ocean Charter Schools. Most recently, Joan helped the 8th graders at Ocean Charter School select and begin their 8th-grade projects and taught the 4th grade as a class teacher from January to June 2018.
Joan is also a ceramic artist and is highly trained in Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication. She looks forward to her experience as a member of the community at Threefold Village.
Camille Hines-Parker
Camille Hines-Parker has a long history of developing her skills toward the highest standards of quality. Whether as a young elite rhythmic gymnast, a dramatic artist trained at The Juilliard School, or a homeschooling Mom, she has never settled for less than the best. Discovering Waldorf education through a midwife assisting with the birth preparations of her second child, Camille’s view of education was changed for good. After enrolling her children into traditional Waldorf schools, Camille realized that a difference existed between the elements she held most dear and what was being emphasized at these private institutions. With this realization in mind, Camille turned to homeschooling and took up her study of Waldorf education and Anthroposophical studies at the Waldorf Institute of Southern California.
After years of homeschooling, enjoying the freedom and connection that it offers, another need arose. Something in between the homeschool and the conventional institution. Through a close partnership with like-minded individuals, Camille was able to envision and cofound what we now call Threefold Village. And in her tradition of constant growth and evolution, she is leading our Main Lesson sessions of the Early Grades class.
Jessica Lawson
With a BFA from California Institute of the Arts and a lengthy list of accomplishments in TV, film, and pattern making, Jessica’s experience proves both practical and inspirational for students she instructs. In addition, Jessica’s passion for the art and instruction led her to a single-subject credential from the state of California and on-going Waldorf handwork training. As a devoted mother and skilled artisan, Jessica now contributes many wonderful points of view at Threefold Village.
Tami Ordonez
Tami holds an MA in Education (Waldorf Emphasis) from Touro University & Rudolf Steiner College, Vallejo, CA; a BA in History from Allegheny College, Meadville, PA; and is a Level 1 graduate of the Spacial Dynamics Institute, Mechanicville NY.
Tami bringsher passion for teaching and depth of experience to the classroom (yard, field, gym). She has been teaching her whole life. First, as a teenager, she taught gymnastics to little girls who wanted to be just like Mary Lou Retton. Then, as a college student, teaching dance and gymnastics to students in various afterschool programs. As a young adult, Tami taught ballroom dance to singles and couples who wanted to learn.
Eventually, she studied movement and “the space we live in” at the Spacial Dynamics Institute and Waldorf Teaching at Touro University & Rudolf Steiner College and began teaching in Waldorf Schools. For the past two decades, Tami has been teaching in Waldorf Schools in IL and CA serving as games teacher, circus camp director, and class teacher. She has consulted with Mariposa School of Global Education to help them develop their games program and 5th grade Pentathlon / culmination of elementary school experience. Games / Movement Education through the grades is her first love, and what she is happy to return to, now.
Tami also operates The Tutors Table, an online tutoring and test preparation company started in 2016 to help middle and high school students in math and test prep for the PSAT/NMSQT, the SAT, and AP tests in a variety of subject. Tami relates, “The best thing about working with these students is seeing their whole attitude about learning change from ‘Why do I have to do this?’ to one of excitement and self-confidence. ”
Niv Ashkenazi
Praised for his “lush sound…[and] passionate playing” (CASA Magazine) and “formidable technical powers” (Santa Barbara News-Press), classical violinist Niv Ashkenazi is an active soloist and chamber musician. He has made several Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center appearances, and has performed in Europe, the Middle East, and across the United States.
Highlights of his past season include an appearance as a guest artist at La Sierra University and a residency with the Perlman Music Program performing on the Violins of Hope in Sarasota, Florida. Mr. Ashkenazi was invited to perform and speak at the Jewish Funders Network Conference and collaborated with TranscenDanceGroup as the music arranger and featured soloist on the multimedia show, G*D. Other recent performances include recitals at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara, and as a guest artist at Westmont College, as well as solo appearances with the Los Angeles Doctors Symphony Orchestra and the California State University, Northridge Orchestra. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Juilliard String Quartet, Cavani Quartet, and Ariel Quartet. Mr. Ashkenazi holds both a B.M. and an M.M. from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Itzhak Perlman and Glenn Dicterow.
Jensen Talmo was raised in the garden. His first experiences included working in, and eating from his family’s home garden, growing strawberries and helping his mother at various gardens she maintained. In 3rd grade, along with his classmates, he attended the Roots & Shoots school gardening program at the Los Angeles County Arboretum. Currently, he is the co-curator and co-teacher for that same program.
Along with teaching children, Jensen is co-curator of 2 “food forests”, a California native wilderness habitat garden, and Arlington Garden of Pasadena.
Jensen understands that children are the future. Teaching them skills such as growing their own food, building healthy soil, observing and identifying insects and wildlife, and saving seeds, he believes, will have many benefits to the individuals, the community, the economy, and the climate.
In his spare time, Jensen enjoys growing his own food, motorsports & go kart racing, hiking & backpacking, fishing, surfing, art, music, and picking up litter!
