Meet the Presenters: Pedagogical Storytelling for Early Childhood

As we prepare for our six-session Pedagogical Storytelling for Early Childhood workshop series beginning on July 30th, it has been such a joy to connect with this year’s presenters. In this blog post, we wanted to take some time to introduce them to you! We are excited about this lineup of very special guests who will be generously sharing with us.

Be sure to register for the course by the July 21st deadline!

Celestine Stadnick

Celestine Stadnick, an Oglala Lakota Sioux tribal member, was born on November 12th, 1990, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Her mother, a Swiss Waldorf School alumni, and her father, a traditional Lakota man, raised her on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Switzerland.

She received a Bachelor degree in Waldorf pedagogy from the Academy for Anthroposophical Pedagogy in Dornach, taught in Switzerland and at the Lakota Waldorf School. During her time at the Lakota Waldorf School she founded the Academy for Indigenous Waldorf Pedagogy, an in-house teacher training for the school’s teachers. Within that process she developed culturally relevant teaching methods and created a culturally relevant Waldorf curriculum based on the Lakota culture. Following this, she received her Master of Education in Educational Administration and Leadership from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. The importance of learners’ cultural identity has been her striving force in creating spaces wherein students can reconnect to their culture that colonization and assimilation has removed them from.

It is her strong belief that Waldorf education has strong potential to pursue social and climate justice in ways many other educational systems can only dream of. At this time she is the Education Specialist at the Oglala Sioux Tribe Tribal Education Agency on the Pine RidgeReservation.

Nancy Blanning

A member of the Sunbridge Institute faculty since 1994, Nancy assumed the title of Early Childhood co-director in 2015. Nancy has also been on the faculty of The Denver Waldorf School for the past 25 years, where her teaching experience includes 17 years as lead Kindergarten teacher. For the past 12 years, she has been the school’s Educational Support Teacher; she also travels to schools in the US and Canada to provide teacher mentoring and evaluation and conducts developmental observations. Nancy’s main focus is therapeutic education with a special emphasis on developmental movement as supporting young children’s physical incarnation and sensory development.

A longtime Board member of WECAN (the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, based in Chestnut Ridge, NY), Nancy is also a frequent keynote speaker at national and international early childhood conferences. Her writing credits include contributor to Gateways, contributor and collaborator to “You’re Not the Boss of Me” (WECAN publication), Editor of WECAN’s First Grade Readiness, Editor of WECAN Journal, regular columnist for Lilipoh, and co-author, with Laurie Clark, of Movement Journeys and Circle Adventures, a collection of original movement imaginations for the classroom. She holds a BA from the University of Colorado in English, with teaching credentials. She also earned a certificate as Extra Lesson provider and therapeutic educator from Gradalis Seminars, where she attended four-year anthroposophical therapeutic/remedial training in Extra Lesson and supplementary therapies and academic support strategies.

Keelah Helwig

Keelah Helwig (she/her/hers) is currently an early childhood educator, and chair of the EC program at the Waldorf School of Garden City (WSGC). There she has served as Chair of the College of Teachers and is a founding and continuing member of the WSGC's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. Keelah is proud to be a founding member of the Sunbridge Institute Diversity Scholarship Fund Committee.

Keelah’s journey with WSGC started when she was a kindergartener herself. Later attending Spelman College, she obtained her BA in Theatre. In 2009, Keelah Helwig received her Masters Degree in early childhood education at Sunbridge Institute.

Keelah Helwig is a reverent adorer of the world around her. She relishes opportunities to explore and appreciate the majesty of nature on the shores of her home on Long Island. Reading, gardening, and baking for loved ones all bring warmth and joy to Keelah’s daily life.

A skilled facilitator, mentor, evaluator and shepherd, Keelah is passionate about motivating school communities and inspiring lasting and meaningful change. Keelah is interested in partnering with leadership circles who are ready to examine, name and transform the obstacles of bias and systemic racism, that prevent them from being communities where all children and families can thrive.

Melody Birdsong-Shubert

Melody participated in a three-year long Waldorf Early Childhood Teacher Training with Sunbridge Institute in NY. It was during this time that she internalized that Waldorf educators must be committed to responding with great intentionality as they embrace the responsibility to present an atmosphere of opportunity and truth where children and community may thrive. She combines an anti-bias and anti-racist practice (ABAR) with Waldorf education to serve the early childhood and River Valley Waldorf School community, where compassion and being an affirming and contributing community member is continually developed.

Chinyelu Kunz

Chinyelu was born and mostly raised in Enugu, Nigeria. Upon graduating she attended university in the United States where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Interior Architecture followed by a Master’s in Architecture.  She went on to earn her Waldorf Early Childhood teaching certificate after receiving her LifeWays North America training certificate in Child Development.  A year before leaving classroom teaching in 2020, Chinyelu created We Nurture Collective, her online platform. Her website, wenurturecollective.com, hosts her podcast episodes, Blog, parenting coaching support, and mentoring for early childhood educators. You can also find her on instagram @we_nurture. With a focus on the early years, Chinyelu is passionate about supporting parents and teachers. 

Christa Joy Andersen

Christa Joy Andersen is Forest Kindergarten teacher at The Hartsbrook Waldorf School in Hadley, MA. She began her career in education teaching in the Bay Area, California, after finishing her M.Ed at UC Berkeley in Developmental Teacher Education in 2009. Christa has spent fifteen years teaching in early childhood education, primarily developing forest programming in public schools. She is deeply committed to bringing equitable practice and anti-racist pedagogy into her teaching and classroom culture. Christa is a Mom of three children, a musician and Buddhist practitioner. She is so happy to participate in further conversation with Alma Partners and colleagues around this topic of pedagogical storytelling.