PROGRAM COORDINATORS
Kate Dawson – Early Childhood Educator, Bachelor of Education
Kate spent her childhood catching frogs, digging for clay, and building snow forts in the prairie grasslands of Saskatchewan, where her empathy and appreciation for First Nations culture was nurtured by the hoop dancing, drumming, and beadwork of the Cree peoples. Social history and geography continue to be among her passions.
Kate brings a wealth of experience from her previous employment as an Early Childhood Educator with UBC Childcare Services, PACE Program, the Richmond School District, and as an Instructor in Early Childhood Education programs. Kate also loves working with families in her role as an Art Educator at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilia, Kate has a keen interest in an educational practice that builds community through collaboration. She enjoys reading, researching, and journaling as ways of critically reflecting upon her teaching and her life.
Kate lives with her husband, three children, three cats, two fish, and a bin of worms. Her family loves to eat locally, and tends a community garden plot at Terra Nova. One day Kate would like to complete a Masters degree and a marathon, learn to speak Italian, and make more art.
Emily Vera – Early Childhood Educator, Special Needs, Bachelor of Fine Arts
Emily spent many of her childhood years exploring the forest behind her rural house, creating elaborate stories of shipwrecked families, forest fairies and witches. Making snow forts, investigating life within her pond and feeding cows down the road were part of the freedom of her childhood. These early memories have inspired her lifelong passion for the outdoors and a commitment to share it with others.
Having worked in the field of Early Childhood Education for over 20 years, Emily has found a way to weave her passion for children, nature, and art together to create a supportive and exciting learning environment for children. Developing a sense of place, creating strong community and learning to respect the natural world are central in Emily’s teaching philosophy.
Hobbies including bee keeping, fermenting, natural art, and cooking have led to good stories and strong connections with a diverse community of creative and inspiring people. Fueled by these experiences, Emily continues to seek out opportunities that integrate the past, present, and future of sustainable living and creative expression. A mother of two children studying abroad, Emily lives with her husband in their now quiet home in Steveston, BC.
Shantelle Allard – Early Childhood Educator, Bachelor of Arts
Shantelle grew up in North Bay ON loving outdoor play. She pursued a BA in Environmental Studies and a diploma in Early Childhood Education which she uses to foster a connection between children and nature through shared experiences of time to run, play, sit, touch, plant, harvest, sustain, and contribute to the small patch of earth we all share. She now calls Richmond home and feels grateful to be part of the Terra Nova Nature School team where she has been playing and learning alongside children and educators for the past five years. Most recently, she has been exploring mindfulness practices with children in order to learn more about self, other and the natural world. She loves to dabble in baking, gardening, knitting, weaving and aspires to take voice lessons and learn to keep bees. She is always looking for ways to slow down and enjoys leisurely strolls with her husband and two children.
Tricia Booker – Early Childhood Educator
Tricia’s fondest memories of growing up in Richmond are of playing kick the can, hide and seek, skating on the Terra Nova ponds in the winter, and picking blackberries in her back yard with her Dad. Her summers were spent playing basketball, and camping throughout British Columbia with her family. Tricia is motivated by the outdoor environment, and she is excited to be sharing that passion with the children and families of Terra Nova Nature School.
Tricia has loved her past 13 years of employment as an Early Childhood Educator working with children of all abilities at Thompson Community Centre, Dino-mites Preschool, and with the Richmond School District as an on-call Strong Start Facilitator.
Tricia enjoys cooking, running, and exploring her neighbourhood with her family. She lives with her husband, two daughters, and her cat Lulu.
Nicole Malcolmsen – Bachelor in Education
Nicole attributes her strong connection with the outdoors to a childhood spent at her family cottage in Muskoka, ON. She was fascinated with the animals, making forts and imaginative play.
She enjoyed many years as a camper and staff member at summer camps and found a love for outdoor education. She has her Bachelors of Education with a specialty in Outdoor Education and was fortunate to spend her practicums at Stramash Outdoor nursery in Scotland and Tawingo College Outdoor Kindergarten. Nicole has spent the last couple of years teaching a Kindergarden to Grade 3 class and Physical Education.
She moved to Vancouver 2 years ago and spends her time camping, hiking and biking. With her love of the outdoors and her playful nature, Nicole has found great joy in her work with children.
Berta Martinez – Early Childhood Educator, Honours Bachelor of Child Development, Masters in Education
Berta spent her childhood climbing trees, camping, and exploring parks while growing up in Toronto, ON. Her family later moved to Guatemala, where Berta continued to develop a connection with nature through exploring the diverse landscapes of Guatemala with her Dad. She also learned a love of plants through her Grandfather. Since moving back to Canada, Berta has pursued her Bachelor in Child Development. She has enjoyed working with children and their families in daycare, afterschool care, summer camps, preschool and Nature Preschool. Berta is looking forward to exploring the natural world with the children at Terra Nova. Berta enjoys travelling, baking, and walking around Metro Vancouver. She lives in East Vancouver with her family and house plants.
Chloe Nakata
Chloe spent her younger years with terra nova rural park as her backyard. Her favourite activity was catching crickets with her younger brother, while her parents tended to their community garden plot. With inspiration from many years of family camping, Chloe joined an outdoor-based mini school program throughout her high school years; where she learned to windsurf, Kick box, sail, and fence among other activities. One of her fondest memories is a week long backpacking trip over Garibaldi Mountain. As both of her parents are Early Childhood Educators, Chloe one day hopes to follow in their footsteps.
Katharina Scharnweber – Early Childhood Educator Assistant, Degree in Business Economics, Degree in Graphic design
Katharina grew up in a small town in East Germany with the abundance of fresh meadow surrounded by the adjacent old forest. When she entered the forest, she felt like entering a different world. A world with scents and noises could only be found in nature. A world she believed where gnomes, fairies and kings of the forest reside. After completing her university and working for years in Berlin she hardly comparable to the excitement in searching for gnomes and fairies and hopefully a chance to meet the king, but they armed her with courage and confidence to explore the world beyond Germany. Katharina headed east to discover where the horizon ends. In every country she traversed, she found fulfilment in helping out at the local social projects for children. She enjoyed learning the traditional arts and crafts of different regions.
Katharina has vast knowledge in felting, carving, natural colour dying, and various arts and crafts making. She believes that it is important for the young minds to be free to follow their curiosity by interacting with the nature through art making.
Sarah Yaugo – Early Childhood Educator, Bachelor of Arts
Sarah is a licensed early childhood educator and graduate of Vancouver Community College with 14 years of experience working with children aged 0-11 years in a variety of settings.
She was born in Southern California where she completed a B.A. in Psychology and several courses in primary(K-5) education pedagogy. Sarah immigrated to Richmond, B.C. to join her husband in 2010, and became a Canadian citizen in 2015.
Some of Sarah’s fondest childhood memories include exploring her Anaheim, California neighborhood, using natural materials to create miniature worlds inhabited by twig people, dressed in flower petals and leaves, swimming in tiny pools around sprinkler heads and sailing down sidewalk rivers.
Sarah’s favourite pastimes include outdoor adventures with her toddler son, 7 year old daughter, and husband, as well as sculpture, inline skating, swimming, and cooking.
Penny Chan- Early Childhood Educator
Penny spent the first part of her childhood growing up in Thailand, where she loved exploring nature, learning, and playing with her eight siblings. Her love for nature and knowledge continued after moving to Canada, she has since visited over 18 countries learning about different cultures and customs.
Penny is fluent in four languages including English, Thai, Mandarin, Cantonese, and is learning her 5th language, French. She is a licensed Early Childhood Educator and in the process of completing her diploma in Infant/Toddler and Special Needs education. Over the past four years, she has worked with infants to children school aged children, in a variety of childcare settings.
Penny believes in the importance of being active and healthy. Her hobbies include traveling, hiking, reading and yoga, which she plans on incorporating into daily activities with young children. Her goal is to help inspire children to discover their passion while supporting their curiosity and growth.
Audrey Paugh- Bachelor in Global Resource Systems
Audrey spent the early years of her childhood in the mountains of Colorado – racing barefoot in the snow, building miniature campfires in the forest, hiking mountains, collecting rocks and feathers, and creating musical shows with her two sisters. While Colorado has always been home base, she moved overseas with her family when she was eight years old, as both of her parents began working for an international school company. From 8 to 18, Audrey lived in various places with her family from Slovakia, Macedonia, China, and Ukraine, until she finally reached Vancouver for university.
The diversity of landscapes and people that Audrey has encountered in her travels and outdoor excursions have given form to her outlook on the world and have further ignited her curiosity for different forms of education. Her teaching experience ranges from English teaching in Nepal to developing food system workshops for youth and elderly in Vancouver. In her free time, she loves to sing and make music with friends, hike, canoe, and experiment with home-crafts, such as fermentation and candle-making.
As a recent graduate from Global Resource Systems at UBC, where she focused on Nutrition and Sustainability, Audrey aims to weave in her knowledge of food systems and planetary health with the interests of the students at Terra Nova that she is excited to meet.
Fatema Al-Shaeel- Bachelor in Political Science & Psychology
A registered kids yoga teacher, Fati wants to shed light on yogic ‘moral codes’ such as Aparigraha (non-greed or non-hoarding) and Ahimsa (non-harming or non-violence in thought, word and deed) towards ourselves, others and the environment. She holds a unique interdisciplinary approach to observation. Connecting between her chosen majors in Political Science and Psychology, completed at UBC, her past & current experiences explore the intersection of yoga, education, mental health, spirit plant medicines and public policy. Her passion lay in environmental sustainability, often reflective in her endeavours. She is hoping to cultivate a learning experience that stems from her love for the environment.