Our Team
We are excited to meet you!
The Skola comes to life with the efforts of our outstanding staff. As a student at Skola, your child will truly grow in many ways—finding the joy of learning and exploration with a group of mindful educators.
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Director / Board Member / FounderBrooke Ober has been a speech-language pathologist for almost 20 years. She is co-owner of MindBright Therapy, specializing in social-emotional learning and executive functioning. She is passionate about helping children understand the brilliance of their unique minds and enhance connection and communication.
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Lead Teacher, Larks
Kimberly Poore has a Masters in both Educational Leadership and Teaching. She is an experienced educator who has previously worked in public, private, and charter schools. Driven by a passion for reading, teaching, and community, she takes pride in providing the best experience possible for her students. In addition to her primary job functions, Kimberly has been a keynote speaker at the New Tech Annual Conference and Teacher of the Year in her former school district for her commitment to project-based learning in the classroom.
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Foxtail Teacher
kali@theskola.org
Kali believes that young children learn through play, by exploring the natural and creative arts. She trusts that by offering gentle guidance, a world of connection and imagination can unfurl from its protective cocoon. With a bachelor's degree in Communication with a minor in Nonprofit Administration from the University of Montana, she has been involved with a number organizations concerning access to the arts, public lands, and mental health services. With The Skola, she hopes to foster a lifelong love of learning that blossoms in the great outdoors.
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Assistant Lark Teacher
Anna is a passionate environmentalist, artist, and learner. With a deep background in field wildlife research, and a degree in Environmental Studies - Arts & Humanities from St. Olaf College, she draws inspiration from the landscapes she inhabits and those which are small and less spoken for. She has worked in Arctic Alaskan tundra, northern Minnesota taiga, and is excited to work with The Skola to inspire young minds about the wonders of science and the outdoors.
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Assistant Fox Teacher
Elly comes to us with a strong background in both preschool leadership and environmental education. A Montana native, she grew up exploring the forests of the Eureka area, and guiding backpacking trips in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. Elly is passionate about helping young people connect with the heart of nature, especially in community with one another. She is excited to join the team!
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Curriculum Director, FounderPatty Johnson is an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist and co-owner of MindBright therapy center. Patty has worked for years in public schools and private practice. Through intention, play, and imagination, Patty strives to find the topics that spark students' interests to help them learn and build self-confidence. She is completing a Certificate in Advanced Graduate Studies in Language and Literacy. Patty is also on the board of The Reading League MT.
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Lead Teacher, Larkskrista@theskola.org
Krista Booher has been a certified elementary teacher with over ten years of experience in the classroom, primarily with grades K-3. When her two young daughters became school age, she realized she wanted something different from the typical public school offerings for her girls. After spending a couple of years homeschooling, she found the Skola. She is excited to work with the Skola team to offer many wonderful learning opportunities for the children, including bringing nature and projects into everyday learning, particularly with mathematics which is where her passion lies.
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Outdoor Educator
I was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. I graduated from New College of CA with a degree in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community in 2005, and went on to study naturalist skills, animal tracking, and nature awareness through the Regenerative Design Institute and Weaving Earth from 2007-2010. I attended Lynx Vilden’s Living Wild Stone-Age project in 2013, where I lived in the woods under a tarp in Eastern Washington for six months while learning wildcrafting and stone-age living skills, and finished the program with a month of stone-age living, eating only wild foods and using only stone-age technology.
I have worked as a nature educator and ancestral skills artist since 2007, with organizations such as the Regenerative Design Institute, Weaving Earth, the Riekes Center, Rewild Portland, Trackers Northwest, Wild Earth, the Buckeye Gathering, and Ravenwood Outdoor Learning Center.
I believe it is every person’s birthright to connect to nature because nature offers good medicine for our modern ills and helps us come back into balance with being human. I also think that everyone deserves a chance to have a ton of fun, and since nature is an endless source of challenge, exhilaration, fascination and amusement, we all deserve nature in our lives.
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Community and Culture CoordinatorKyle has more than 10 years of experience creating and facilitating educational programming in the outdoors, most recently as the Program Director at a therapeutic boarding school. She believes that adults have much to learn from children, and that intergenerational spaces encourage empathy, growth and play for all. Kyle is passionate about community care and strives to model compassion, honesty and gratitude in her life as a teacher. She believes deeply in the vision of the Skola and is honored to be part of the team.
She recharges her soul with live music, lake swims, chilly ski days, and time in the kitchen with friends.
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Assistant Owl Teacher
My name is Adrianna! I recently moved to the Flathead Valley with my husband early this year and am so excited to begin my teaching career here at The Skola! I am originally from Ohio and I graduated with my degree in Early Childhood Education this May from Pennsylvania Western University. I am passionate about childhood development and the importance of nature-based play throughout all stages of life. I love to hike, backpack, spend time outdoors, and try new ice cream flavors whenever I can.
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Lead Owl Teacher
Valerie is a licensed clinical social worker who proudly hails from Akron, Ohio. She received her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in social work from The Ohio State University.
Valerie has been working with children for as long as she can remember, starting with babysitting the neighborhood kids for $2 an hour!
Valerie is passionate about helping students gain both competence and confidence in their abilities both inside and out of the classroom. Valerie believes in the power of nature and movement as a means to reconnecting to our bodies and minds.
In her free time, Valerie enjoys spending time outdoors (hopefully near a body of water), and playing with her five adorable pets.
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Assistant Fox Teacher
Kai grew up in the Chicago area and attended Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa) to obtain a BS Degree in Environmental Science with minors in Spanish Language & Culture, Leadership Education & Development, and Entrepreneurial Management. She has spent time traveling in South America and spent one year after college teaching English in southern China. She continued to become a passionate outdoor environmental educator in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. She has also worked as a Wilderness Ranger in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and an Interpretive Ranger in Glacier Park and Voyageurs National Park (Minnesota). Kai is a lifelong learner and loves to explore new places and meet new people. She finds solace in going on adventures with her partner and dog, knitting, traveling, Latin dancing, and attending live music events. Kai is looking forward to working with kids at the Skola to meet them where they are at and to help them grow, and to help them develop deeper connections with themselves, others, and the natural world around them.
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Music Teacher
Alongside her ukulele, Toni crafts a unique harmony with her students. With a background in early childhood music, piano pedagogy, and outdoor education, Toni weaves her skills throughout the Skola community. Toni is nourished by writing songs with her students about tadpoles, seasons of change, and social skills!
Outside of school, Toni competes in pinball tournaments and explores the wild with her cat, Miyazaki.