Lakeside School: Gregg VanDeusen Hired as Kindergarten Teacher

Lakeside School at Black Kettle Farm offers birth –3rd grade education and Farm and Forest Summer Camp based on the Waldorf philosophy on a working farm in Essex, NY.

Gregg VanDeusen Hired as Kindergarten Teacher

It is with great pleasure that we announce that Lakeside School at Black Kettle Farm has hired Gregg VanDeusen as Robin Gucker’s replacement for the Kindergarten lead teacher.

Gregg VanDeusen leading a canoeing trip for Northwaters & Langskib Wilderness Programs

Gregg had already secured his legacy at Lakeside as the Kindergarten Assistant – tirelessly brainstorming new ways to bring out the inner explorer in our children. Gregg can always be found with a backpack loaded with gear, and some makeshift nature gadgetry in hand to make a fire, mark a trail or play a game with his eager students. His handiwork has largely kept our school functional and fluid – taking his weekends to fix this or that, boil sap, paint siding, clear brush or mend leaks. His calm and upright demeanor is reflected in the eyes of the children, who both adore and respect him with equal weight.

Gregg has volunteered countless hours of his free time to support and expand the vitality of the school community. He offered a free Play Gym at the Grange throughout the winter, assumes before and after-school care for the overflow need, crafted hundreds of amazing wildcrafted ‘critters’, leant his tenor to a broad lineage of puppet characters, facilitates the Kid’s Carnival booth in Plattsburgh, and has guided children and adults alike on the trails behind the school on Owl Prowls.

Gregg has also taken many steps to advance his personal understanding of Waldorf education. Most notibly, Gregg begins his Waldorf teacher training this summer at Sophia’s Hearth in Keene, NH. In addition to this, he has attended the yearly WECAN early childhood conferences in Spring Valley, NY.

In 2015, Gregg was unanimously voted in as the Faculty representative at Lakeside. In this role, he accepted the

Gregg sledding with children at Lakeside

responsibility of creating the agendas for each faculty/community meeting, as well as facilitating these meetings to ensure that they remain timely and in-line with our talking points. This is NO small task, and Gregg excelled at creating form to these meetings. Gregg also served on the rigorous Personnel Committee, which is the Lakeside Committee responsible for resolving staff conflicts, creating employee mandates, and for setting policies for personnel management. In January, Gregg also took over for Julie as our faculty representative at Board meetings, a 3-pillar hat-trick, fostering insight and responsibility into all three pillars of our school governance – Parent, Faculty and Board.

Gregg brings to this position a BS in Natural History/Residential Outdoor Education from Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin and an AA Rural Resource Management/Environmental Education from Sterling College in Craftsbury Common, Vermont. He has over 20 years of professional experience as an outdoor guide, naturalist and interpretive environmental educator. He is a state licensed EMT with CPR, Wilderness Lifeguard, and canoe training certification.

Both in character and experience, we simply could not have asked for a better fit. Through all of his professional accolades, his personal gestures of community building, his eight years developing the unique Kindergarten program with Robin, and his future as a certified Waldorf early childhood teacher, we are thrilled, honored and grateful that Gregg has accepted the role of Lead Kindergarten teacher.

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