Executive Team 2007-08 Although the Ministry of Education likes to have a principal running each school, our Learning Community is anchored by a group of elders that work collaboratively to hold the vision and ensure the purpose and praxis of our community. The following 5 people are the core team that meet electronically and weekly to maintain the integrity of the program. Amalia Cook, Pucky Loucks, Lisa Housden, Janet Letourneau, Regina Dirk and Rebecca McClure are members of our extended Executive Team. Executive Team 2007-08 Brent Cameron - Principal Kathleen Forsythe - Vice Principal Michael Maser - Program Coordinator Darrell Letourneau - Learning Consultant Coordinator Barbara Meyer - Family Liaison Brent Cameron M.A. (Ph.D.) Principal of SelfDesign Learning Community (Co-founder Wondertree, Virtual High and SelfDesign Learning Community and author of the SelfDesign book) Brent was inspired by his daugther's natural ability to learn from the day of her birth in 1977. In 1983 when she walked out of school after two weeks Brent and Ilana began an experiment that became Wondertree. For the next 13 years they worked together including many other people to develop a number of programs and to develop a body of work to describe a methodology of SelfDesign. Brent has been working with Wondertree for 21 years and working to sustain the rights of children to be legitimate in their desires to design their own learning path. Brent has created many workshops and presentations that feature multimedia presentations of the Wondertree experience. His focus is on understanding who we really really are and on how we naturally learn as an enthusiastic process. His current passion is to work with communities who are planning sustainable learning communities. He is consulting to a project in Colorado called VISION, and he has recently finished writing a book on his discoveries in SelfDesign. Kathleen Forsythe Ph.D. Vice-Principal (Co-founder of the SelfDesign Learning Community and Past President of the Foundation for 14 years) Kathleen is one of the first 'knowledge architects' in the world and has been instrumental in introducing the concept of open learning to North America over the past twenty-five years. Her work has always put original ideas into practice in a practical and cost effective manner. She has been a Wondertree Board member for over 10 years and through her work in the epistemology of the imagination and the biology of love, has contributed to the foundational work in Natural Learning. A passionate educator, Kathleen Forsythe has worked with learners of all ages. Michael Maser B.A. B.Sc. B.Ed. M.A. Program Director (Co-founder of Virtual High and SelfDesign Learning Community) Michael began his teacher career after working as a geologist, journalist and researcher. His varied career and life experience caused him to search for a meaningful educational opportunity though he felt constrained and frustrated in pursuing conventional classroom teaching. He then joined with Wondertree and invested 5 years in co-creating the award-winning and innovative 'Virtual High' program for teens in Vancouver, with Brent Cameron, from 1993-97. Concurrently, Michael completed his Master's through Simon Fraser University on this pioneering, remarkable learning community. Michael, like Brent before him, is inspired by his  daughter's innate intelligence and ability to learn. Michael has a wealth of knowledge of educational methodology that supports natural learning and is currently writing and researching the field. Since helping to co-design SelfDesign in 2002, Michael has completed Executive and Learning Consultant duties and he is a science mentor in SelfDesign's 'Village of Conversations.' In July 2007 Michael will initiate SURPASS, a leadership training workshop for teens, 13 - 17 years. Darrell Letourneau M.Ed. Learning Consultant Coordinator Through nearly two decades of learning experiences with his four children who have always learned at home, Darrell has been actively exploring natural learning in a variety of settings. A teacher with experience from kindergarten to college, Darrell has worked in the classroom, in gifted education, as a librarian, as a learning assistance teacher and as a distributed learning program coordinator. He also works as a consultant to business and education for organizations hoping to maximize their potential through e-learning opportunities. A most enriching influence was "learning about learning" during four years in an alternative school modeled on Summerhill. His greatest thrill in education has occurred these last four years, helping SelfDesign sprout wings and begin to fly. Barbara Meyer M.A. - Family Liaison SelfDesign book co-author and Family Liaison for SelfDesign Learning Community Barbara Meyer, M.A., has worked with children and families for 30 years in a variety of capacities including family support services for special needs infants and toddlers and for alternative learning programs, guardian ad litem for minors, counseling and mediation, and currently as Family Liaison for SDLC and writer for SelfDesign. She is co-author of Brent's book SelfDesign: Nurturing Genius through Natural Learning. Her current passions include expanding SelfDesign concepts throughout North America and internationally, exploring the interface between environmental languaging and the development of self, and deepening her understanding and use of SelfDesign by creating an emergent-learning home atmosphere with daughter Lia. Extended Executive Team Extended Executive Team 07-08 Pucky Loucks - Director of IT Amalia Cook - Executive Coordinator Regina Dirk - Financial Management Rebecca McClure - Special Education Lisa Housden - Program Assistant Janet Letourneau - Learning Consultant Assistant Pucky Loucks    Director of IT Pucky Loucks is a technology mentor who helps businesses and people implement strategies to move their technology needs/systems forward. Prior to joining SelfDesign, Pucky spent 10 years running his own computer networking business, designing global e-commerce systems for   large corporations, and helping a startup that he co-founded raise 6.5 million in Venture Capital funding.  With a strong love of technology   and passion for helping people with technology he says that "SelfDesign is the perfect fit". When Pucky isn't punching the keys on his keyboard he's spending time with his wife and 2 boys of 5 and 3 years of age in beautiful Parksville, BC. Amalia Cook Executive Coordinator Regina Dirk Bookkeeping and Financial Management I love learning (especially anything to do with numbers), being outdoors, spending time with my kids, philosophy, yoga, athletic activities and meditation.   Over the last 10 years, IÕve consulted for a variety of small business owners, developing their ideas, planning courses of action, organizing effective systems and controlling the financial aspects of business management. IÕm passionate about the joy of having freedom to learn, whatever we want, when we want, how we want and to measure our learning ourselves by our enthusiasm for what weÕve engaged with. With these skills and passions, I am committed to collaborating with an inspiring team of people to spread the experience of SelfDesigning. Rebecca McClure M.Ed. Special Education Coordinator Rebecca has been teaching and counselling children in educational and therapeutic settings since 1987. While completing her degree in Education, Rebecca was introduced to the writing of Paulo Freire, the Brazilian educationalist. His work has inspired her to move beyond top-down approaches of teaching to respectful, non-coercive, and learner-focused pedagogical interactions. As a result of this shift, Rebecca has actively looked for other ways of working with children and their families within educational environments. She discovered Wondertree in 1993, where she worked for three years as a Learning Consultant. Rebecca has also worked within the public school system as an elementary school counsellor and an educator in specialized programs. Janet Letourneau Learning Consultant Assistant Janet has always been attracted to alternative ideas in education. When Janet found out about homelearning, she immediately knew that this was the right fit for her oldest son- to remain at home where he had been learning very successfully already for a couple of years! Janet now has four children aged 17, 15, 8, and 2 and feels very fortunate to continue this experience of learning at home with all of them. She has found it extremely rewarding to have the opportunity to work as a learning consultant with other homelearning families in the SelfDesign environment for the past three years. Recently, she has enjoyed her leadership support role in growing SelfDesign which has involved interviewing, training, and mentoring learning consultants. Lisa Housden  Program Assistant Lisa has been working with and for the benefit of children for the past 25 years wearing a variety of different hats. She has  worked as a professional actress touring educational puppet and live theater shows in English and French to elementary schools; taught high school English and Drama, ESL, Social Studies and Life Skills in public and independent schools; run a family day care; assisted in a French pre-school; and was the Children's Librarian at the Gibsons Public Library where she planned and implemented programming for children and youth (ages 2-18), toured puppet shows to the schools and provided readers advisory and reference services to patrons of all ages. In 2007 Lisa joined the SelfDesign Learning Community as a learning consultant and program assistant. Most importantly, she is the mother of Robin, a home learner for 12 of her 14 years, and the inspiration behind Lisa's commitment to natural learning and to supporting and recognizing the genius in all children.