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Staff Biographies

David Heal

BRSS Full-time staff since 2004

David graduated from Moultonborough Academy, New Hampshire, in 1996 with a focus in theater and acting, professional voice and piano training. His acting included work with the professional companies Lakes Region Summer Theater and Streetcar Theater Company. But David did more than spend his school years studying; so that he could be self-sufficient, David took on summer and weekend jobs beginning at the age of twelve. Having grown up in a family of seven children, David learned at an early age the value and importance of autonomy and responsibility. He also considers the experience of growing up in a large family as the beginnings of his interest in being able to communicate with people of all ages. By the age of eighteen, David was fully responsible for his finances and the direction of his life.

While David considered the field of education early on, he was not compelled to pursue the traditional models. David attended Champlain College and studied Computer Networking. He also worked six years as an Acoustical Ceiling, Ceramic Tile and Vinyl Composition Tile Mechanic from 1997 until 2003.

The responsibility of becoming a father eventually led David to Sudbury education at BRSS. When his son was young, David received a book from a friend entitled, The Summerhill School Experience, written by Alexander Sutherland Neil. Based on a school in England with similar educational principles as Sudbury, this book moved David in a new and clear direction, both in parenting and in his career path. "Fathering pushed me to find something that I wanted that was also suitable for my son."

David has traveled the United States extensively, lived in the Northeastern United States, New York, California, and came to Lynchburg, Virginia in 1997. In April of 2003, David became Secretary of the BRSS School Assembly and began staffing the first year of the school's formation. David remarks that watching the growth in the different students is remarkable and values the challenges working at BRSS presents.

David's current interests: Photography; hiking/camping; French and German; Sanskrit pronunciations and translations; Stonework; Botany; renewable energy/solar; organic gardening; U.S., British, and Greek history; sustainable living; religious and spiritual studies; writing and composing songs for the piano.

Trudy Phillips

BRSS Full-time staff since 2003

While Trudy carries a Virginia Teacher License for Middle School Math and Science and High School Chemistry, her life experience and areas of expertise are what benefit BRSS students the most. Trudy received her BS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a MS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wyoming. As the first female Chemical Engineer in her facility with the US Department of Energy, Trudy researched wastewater treatment and solid waste disposal for synfuels. She has also worked with Babcock & Wilcox as a Senior Chemical Engineer and Project Engineer on water and wastewater treatment for alternate energy systems and nuclear systems, as well as managing radiochemical analysis programs for the company.

Trudy also has a talent and interest in music. She started college majoring in music but soon after changed to Chemical Engineering. She notes that the Music Department at that time did not allow students to take math and science courses. Even after her degree change, she continued to play in the orchestra. She currently plays oboe and English horn semi-professionally here in Lynchburg.

Trudy was in high school when she attended Rocky Ridge Music Camp just outside of the Rocky Mountain National Park. This is when she recalls falling in love with the mountains. Her love of the outdoors is mutually shared with John, her husband. She has done rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, down hill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and kayaking. Trudy has been on the National Ski Patrol, taught advanced First Aid and rock climbing.

Trudy notes that her interest in education came about after becoming a parent. After working with Central Virginia Community Services doing proposal preparation for specialized foster care services, Trudy worked as an Administrative Assistant at the Lynchburg Montessori School. She volunteered at the elementary school where her younger daughter attended. Eventually, she decided to go through the process of teacher licensure with the hopes of making a difference in children's educational experience. Trudy worked as a teacher's assistant/computer technician and then a Title I assistant. She briefly taught 6th grade math and science but felt she truly could not conform to public school limitations. "I wanted some other way to educate students who knew what they wanted to learn and did not follow the normal public school pace and pattern." She found it in Sudbury education. In 2003, Trudy joined the School Assembly as Director of BRSS and has been a staff member since.

Additional interests and accomplishments: built all the interior of a house, including plumbing, electrical, sheet rock, floors, cabinetry, finish work; maintains a section of the Appalachian Trail; bicycling; lived in France for 18 months and fluent in French; lives in a passive solar house she and her husband designed; Macintosh and Linux computer use.

Jennifer Thomas

Part-time staff since 2006

In 1986, Jennifer moved away from home at age sixteen to study ballet at the North Carolina School of the Arts. She then trained in Seattle, Washington, at Pacific Northwest Ballet School where she also danced with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company. Jennifer danced professionally from 1988-1990 with Fort Worth Ballet and has toured in the United States, Canada, and Japan.

Jennifer's schooling experience is noticeably untraditional. In 1990, injury and the desire for a change in career led her to discontinue ballet. She wanted to go on to attend University of Michigan in her home state but only had a GED and a 1.9 GPA from her high school years. She made a determination to be accepted into the university and immediately started taking classes at a community college near her family's home. "I used the Resource Lab religiously. What I learned from ballet was that if I wanted to achieve anything I had to focus, be disciplined, and continue on even when challenges arise." With only a summer and fall term of classes at the community college, Jennifer had accomplished a 4.0 GPA and was accepted into the University of Michigan. She eventually graduated with a B.A. in English Literature and Language, and later went on to receive her M.A. in Special Education from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas.

Jennifer has worked with all kinds of children in all types of settings. She has taught Special Education to 4th-6th graders in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and 7-12th graders in Italy at Aviano Air Base. She has done internship work at the Healy Murphy Center in San Antonio, Texas, a school for teenage mothers and fathers; she has worked in West Virginia at Camp High Scope for children at-risk. Jennifer has also taught English as a Second Language, worked as an independent editor and proofreader, tutored at Sylvan Learning Center and in the Writing Center at a community college.

Jennifer has lived in many parts of the country including Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Washington, Texas, New Mexico, Minnesota, New York, and Virginia. She has also lived in Italy and traveled to Egypt, Panama, Canada, Russia, Turkey, Japan, Mexico and France. In 2004, Jennifer along with her husband and four children permanently relocated to Lynchburg, Virginia, where extended family resides.

"I was attracted to Sudbury education almost immediately. I have a post-graduate degree and a GED. When I reflect on how I got to where I am now, I realize it had to do with being allowed to make choices and being responsible for the outcomes of my choices. I see this happening every day with the students at BRSS. They are in charge of their learning and their environment."

Jennifer's current interests: quilting, book group, dancing, hiking, gardening, religious studies, Asian cooking, watching Lost, listening to Discovery Radio with the kids on the way to school, walking the dog, education, parenting, laughing, learning how to play the piano, and writing.