Staff & Board

Kroka enjoys the support and governance of  a Board of Advisors and a Board of Trustees:

All board members support and steward the ongoing life of the organization and the work of bringing its mission into fruition for the world.   Our board is built on interpersonal relationships and being in community with each other virtually and in person. We find joy in our shared commitment to Kroka’s mission and in the work that we do with each other.  When we gather on campus, we participate as fully as we can in the life of the community:  sleeping in yurts, cooking out over the open fire, working on the farm and garden, and sharing meals together. 

Throughout the year, we provide guidance, advice, and support when called upon – and we are always reaching out to the wider world to generate and steward connections that can bring new resources and energy to Kroka.  In addition to addressing the formal responsibilities of a non-profit board, we also study together from topics in education and philosophy to continue our own learning in a small group.

Jon McAlice has worked in the international Waldorf schools movement for many years as a teacher and lecturer. He has been involved in teacher training institutes throughout Europe and in the United States, focusing primarily on questions of human development and the psychology of learning. For many years a fellow at the Goetheanum in Switzerland, he headed up research projects on curricular development, collegial leadership, and the relationship between Waldorf education and today’s work world. A co-founder of the Center for Contextual Studies, his research in contemporary education (contextualization, the experience of meaning, the role of self-directed activity in learning) have borne fruit throughout the Waldorf educational movement in the growing recognition of the significance of direct experience in the learning process. He continues to work with Waldorf schools around the world on questions of teacher development, organizational development and generally finding new ways to meet new questions.

Elizabeth (“Bet”) Dews first came to Kroka through her leadership role with the Lake Champlain Waldorf High School.   She returned year after year bringing many classes of students on adventurous wilderness expeditions throughout all seasons of the year – and gained a reputation as Kroka’s most dedicated visiting class teacher.    Her two children, Rosa and Nicholas also participated as Kroka summer and semester students.  Bet lives in Ferrisburgh VT with her partner Wendy.

Clayton L. Walton has spent the last 20 years designing community engaged initiatives that challenge participants to intentionally engage their personal and professional development. As the Executive Director of Globally Engaged Experiential Learning and an Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in the School of Arts and Sciences. Clayton promotes a holistic educational philosophy that informs the design and implementation of his coursework, experiential learning initiatives and an unique series of field study programs. His most recent work introduces faculty and university administrators to advising and programming strategies that prepare students to be social change agents and competitive professionals in the global workforce.

Sarah Scherschel is a Kroka summer program alumni parent. While her educational background is in the field of geography, she has spent the past 25 years as a “jack of all trades and master of none”. Her career started at Rice University as an academic coordinator. After the birth of her daughter, she changed career paths and became a successful professional volunteer. Over the past 19 years she has served on numerous committees and leadership boards, overseen 100+ ministries at Palmer Memorial Episcopal church, and filled a myriad of roles at St. Catherine’s Montessori and Epiphany Church. In addition to serving on the Kroka board, she also serves as a board member and volunteer with Epiphany Community Health Outreach Services which provides a variety of services to help families on their path to self-sufficiency while addressing social determinants of health. She and her spouse live in Houston, TX & Alstead, NH. Their daughter is currently attending Whitman College.

Lauren Farnsworth was a student on the 2009 Vermont winter semester and she worked for several summers at Kroka following her semester. Lauren studied Geology as an undergraduate in Maine and graduate student in New Hampshire, where her research took her on long field expeditions to Svalbard and Greenland. Lauren currently is a research physical scientist at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire where she studies the physical properties of high latitude and alpine snowpacks. Lauren largely credits her field skills to her time on the winter trail during the VSP ’09. When Lauren is not working she enjoys skiing, running, gardening, playing music, and spending time with her dog, cats, partner and family.

Daniella Malin is a proud parent of two Kroka-loving children, alumni of many summer programs and one 2022 Fall Legends of the Southwest semester. In this media and device saturated world, she credits Kroka with helping her children orient around the touch of serenity and the freedom of belonging. Daniella has spent the last 20 years at the Sustainable Food Lab where she and her colleagues have been working within existing corporate and commodity market dynamics to shift sustainable food “from niche to mainstream.” Daniella’s focus is on the role that agriculture can play in climate change mitigation. In 2008, she helped design and co-found the Cool Farm Alliance and Cool Farm Tool, an on-farm greenhouse gas calculator now used by most of the world’s largest food and beverage companies to reveal changes that farmers can make to reduce emissions and sequester carbon with co-benefits for soil quality, water, biodiversity, and farm economics. Daniella lives in Sharon Vermont with her husband and two children.

Missy Bahret grew up without screens, tending to a menagerie of animals, swimming and climbing, and helping her dad with research counting snakes in the Shawangunk Mountains.  She earned an undergraduate degree in Environmental Education (UVM ’98) and worked as a trip leader before becoming absorbed with the rhythm of farming.  Missy is a systems-thinker, and enjoys the gestalt of teamwork.  Since 2003, she has co-owned and managed a 38 acre Certified Organic farm with an incredible team of co-workers.  She is also active on the Land Stewardship Committee at the Hartsbrook Waldorf School.  Missy and her two Kroka-loving kids live in Amherst, MA and, when not on an adventure, they can be found nibbling their way around the farm, puttering in the garden with their beloved flock of hens, crafting, or at a local square or contra-dance.  Missy is energized by working with wonderful people in inspiring places.

Lela McCaffrey grew up in New Jersey, but moved to Vermont for college, attending St. Michael’s College for Philosophy. After several years of moving around the country seasonally, Lela returned to Vermont to work at the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, first as a Park Ranger, and then moving into the office and ultimately becoming Business Manager. It was here that Lela’s love for numbers showed itself, and back to classes she went, taking classes to allow her to sit the CPA exam, and becoming licensed in 2006. After many years working in public accounting, Lela got tired of having to refer clients out when they were looking for financial planning services, and again returned to classes to enable her to sit the CFP® exam and attained that designation in 2019. Through all of this office work, Lela continued to enjoy all that Vermont outdoors has to offer, and indoctrinated her younger daughter into the joys of being outside, resulting in her participating in a Kroka winter semester.  She is thrilled to be able to use her skills to support an organization that has been so transformative for her daughter.