SCHOOL DIRECTOR & FOREST SCHOOL EDUCATOR

Born and raised in southern Maine, Glenn developed a lifelong reverence for the outdoors during her summers spent exploring Acadia National Park. That early connection to nature laid the foundation for her passion: a deep love for time spent in the natural world and exploring its endless possibilities alongside young learners. Glenn brings a rich and diverse background to her role as Program Facilitator. Holding a BS in Hospitality from Johnson & Wales University, she began her career cultivating memorable experiences in Yellowstone National Park before moving to Colorado. She subsequently spent a decade driving complex tech projects—mastering program management, community engagement, and group leadership along the way. Drawn back to her core passion for hands-on, experiential education, Glenn joined our team after her son graduated from Longleaf. She brings both an exceptional organizational skill set and a parent’s heart to her facilitation, dedicated to fostering a supportive community and learning alongside our students every day.

Outside of school, Glenn can usually be found hiking local trails, visiting the Chapel Hill Library, embarking on DIY projects, and seeking out community events with her husband, Chris, their son, Vito, and their pup, Clementine.

HEAD OF PEDAGOGY & FOREST SCHOOL EDUCATOR

Beth, originally from Pennsylvania, has lived in North Carolina for the last fourteen years and has taught preschool for the last six years. Her lifelong passion for child health and wellbeing first led her to pursue pediatric medicine. While serving as a pediatrician was fulfilling, she noticed that she was missing a rich connection with the children in her care. Her decision to shift her focus toward teaching was challenging and also deeply rewarding. She loves the way this work centers social-emotional learning, scaffolds and develops children’s sense of self-worth and confidence, and builds connections among families. Beth has a special passion for building, curating, and engaging within nature-based play spaces. She has found great joy and relevance in working and walking with young children in the natural world and the symbiotic relationships between free play and cultivating appreciation for nature. An advocate of child-directed play and play-based learning, Beth loves exploring, facilitating, and discovering alongside children and their families. She is a member of the International Play Association and is currently working on her North Carolina Environmental Educators Certificate. Beth lives with her husband, teenage twin sons, eleven year old daughter, and a very old grumpy cat. Her hobbies and interests include woodworking, birdwatching, gardening, sewing, and exploring new places.

HEAD OF GARDEN EDUCATION & FOREST SCHOOL EDUCATOR

Emily was born and raised in the foothills and spent her childhood exploring the wilds of western NC. She graduated from UNC-CH in 2006 with degrees in psychology and English literature. She has been teaching since 2007 when she got her start working alongside the phenomenal educators, researchers, and early interventionists at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. While at FPG, Emily received her Masters in Education from UNC-CH with a specialization in Early Childhood Intervention and Family Support. She remains passionate about celebrating neurodiversity and advocating for children with exceptionalities. Emily’s most recent teaching adventures took place at a Reggio-inspired, project based preschool program. Finding herself particularly at home in the “outdoor classroom,” Emily received her Nature-Based Teacher Certification in 2024. She feels very fortunate that she gets to spend her days exploring, experimenting, laughing, and learning alongside young children. In her spare time, Emily enjoys hiking, foraging, gardening, weaving, playing the ukulele, and accumulating books. Emily lives in Durham with her husband, Paul, her children, Isaac and Clara, and her hound dog, Ruby.

FOUNDER, VICE-CHAIR & TREASURER

Maddi is an educator, an artist, a scientist, and most of all a lifelong learner who is most content out of doors. Originally from New York then Florida, she moved to Durham in October 2014 with her family after 16 magical years in the Pacific Northwest. Maddi has 20+ years of professional experience working with preschoolers through adults within the field of science/nature education as a teacher, mentor and program coordinator.

Her formal education includes a BS in Nutrition through Bastyr University in WA, and two graduate degrees in Science Education and Forest Resources through the University of Washington. While at IslandWood, a national model for outdoor learning near Seattle, Maddi served as an educator, a coordinator for 4th-6th grade programming as well as a mentor for graduate student educators. She is a trained Mindful Schools educator and integrates that practice into her work with youth. After moving to Durham, Maddi spent 5 years at a Reggio-inspired preschool, before launching LFS from her back yard and local parks in 2020. In her free time you can find Maddi creating in some capacity, meandering along trails, biking around town, gardening or some other form of playing outside with her husband Pete, and son, Ollie.

PRESIDENT (CHAIR)

In Sweden, access to nature is considered a human right. Fresh air is considered foundational to health, especially for young children who often nap outside. Each person’s right to nature is protected in the constitution, and you see evidence of this in constructed steps over fences around every pasture, inviting anyone to enter and to leave no trace. Growing up in Sweden, the importance of nature was instilled in Lina early. It’s a place she returns again and again for peace and balance. Both of her children attended Longleaf Forest School to instill in them the same love for nature. They have similarly found their own peace being in nature, observing bugs, identifying trees, or simply existing. 

Lina completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental science, followed by a career working for nonprofits that in various capacities protected the environment or provided environmental education to their local community. After nearly a decade doing this work Lina changed careers to medicine, where she has since dedicated her career to public health and infectious diseases. 

Lina joined the LFS board of directors because she feels deeply that kids need nature, and fostering that relationship sets them on a path to always come back to nature for peace and balance. 

BOARD MEMBER

Marty has been drawn to supporting kids and families since her time as a nanny while she was earning her BFA at New York University. After graduating, she moved to the Triangle and continued nannying for several families, but soon realized she wanted a clinical background to better support families in need. While pursuing her Master's in Social Work at UNC Chapel Hill, she married her best friend and started her own family.

Marty has been part of Longleaf from the very beginning — her daughter was part of the inaugural year, and her youngest is now finishing out his last year there. She's loved it so much that she chose to delay each of her children's entrance into kindergarten just to give them more time at Longleaf. Marty chose Longleaf in part to outsource what she knew was important but wasn't exactly her own strong suit — having grown up in Miami, where there's really only one season (beach!), time outdoors in North Carolina didn't come naturally to her. Watching forest school shape how her own kids grow, play, and problem-solve deepened her belief in child-led, outdoor learning and inspired her to bring her clinical background in social work to Longleaf's board.

BOARD MEMBER

Amy is a Longleaf Forest School parent and longtime Triangle community member. She is also a REALTOR® with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices York Simpson Underwood, where she enjoys helping individuals and families navigate one of life’s biggest transitions with confidence and care. Before entering real estate, Amy worked in community health as a nutritionist, supporting mothers and young children through nutrition education and wellness programs. Her work has always centered around helping families make informed decisions and build healthy, thriving lives.

Amy and her husband, Matt, chose Longleaf Forest School for both of their sons’ preschool years because they believe children thrive when they have the freedom to explore, take healthy risks, and develop a meaningful connection with the natural world. Through their family’s experience at Longleaf, Amy saw firsthand how nature-based, child-led education nurtures confidence, curiosity, creativity, resilience, problem-solving, mindfulness, and a lifelong appreciation for the outdoors.

Amy is passionate about the values Longleaf represents: connection to nature, mindful living, sustainability, and community. She joined the Board of Directors to give back to a community that has given so much to her family and to help support Longleaf’s continued ability to provide meaningful nature-based learning experiences for children and families.

BOARD MEMBER

Lesley is a proud New Jerseyan who has found a little piece of her heart in every place she’s called home. These days, she’s based in Durham, NC, where she owns and lovingly runs Kid Clover, a children’s tea company rooted in her love of herbs, nature, and the magic of working with young people.

Her path has wandered through Ithaca, NY, where she studied film and writing; Philadelphia, PA, gaining her Masters in Education; and Chicago, IL, where she explored urban agriculture and herbalism. She’s always been a gatherer of sorts—collecting ways of seeing, making, growing, and learning. She nurtures her soul through dance, painting, cooking, and, above all, time spent with people who make her laugh, wonder and see the world in new ways.

When Lesley first moved to Durham, she enrolled her four-year-old daughter at Longleaf. What began as preschool quickly became something much bigger: a true home for their whole family. Now eight, her daughter is still at Longleaf through the Homeschool Program, making her quite possibly the Longest Longleafer!

Forest School has been one of the sweetest gifts along the way—a community of learners growing together in the wild, tending to the earth and to one another, and discovering that learning doesn’t always happen in a traditional setting. Sometimes it happens with great imagination, muddy, curious, and together…as learning should be.

BOARD MEMBER

William is an educator, musician, and event organizer.  He has been a nature enthusiast and outdoorsman since childhood and holds a masters in philosophy and religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies. He also serves on the board of directors for Bynum Front Porch, a community non-profit supporting the arts in Chatham County.