Course Listing - by Instructor
Join us for one of our classes! Early registration is encouraged. Have a question about a class? Call us at 215.843.6333 or email us at info@mtairylearningtree.org.
NOTE: Mt. Airy Learning Tree has a non-refundable $6 registration fee that is applied once per term, per person, regardless of how you register. This fee is automatically added to your registration.
MALT accepts Visa or Mastercard only online.
| Name | Biography |
|---|---|
| B-Luv | , a Choreographer/Instructor is a 31 year pioneer, trailblazer in the line dance community. She has won a plethora of awards including 2 Lifetime Achievement Awards, Choreographer of The Year and Philadelphia Dance Legend! She has worked with several artists in the music industry which include Grammy Award Winner Peabo Bryson! She has to been given the gift to do what she truly LOVES to do.....choreography and dance and it is her passion! |
| Joan Adler | is the former Director of APPRISE Medicare Counseling at the Mayor's Commission on Aging in Philadelphia. She has been a Medicare counselor in the community for the last 6 years. |
| Liz Aubry | began her restaurant career as a host and busser in order to put herself through college. Her experiences in the hospitality industry led to her infatuation with it. At 22 she became a bartender and never looked back. She loves the creativity, sounds, smells, and tastes involved in mixing a drink, and the fast paced yet family-like vibe of restaurants. She sees making cocktails akin to cooking: an emotionally rewarding way to bring people together. She is a bartender at Mt. Airy's own Commodore Barry Club and Bar Lizette. |
| Dorothy Bauer | spent most of her adult life in Berkeley, California where she was able to take classes at Living Light Culinary Institute and study with world renowned raw chef and author, Elaina Love. |
| Glenn Bergman | is the former Executive Director of Philabundance, and previously served for 11 years as the General Manager of the Weavers Way Co-Op. He has led food tours of Chinatown for MALT and this term is also eager to share his food explorations to Northeast Philly. Glenn is donating his faculty fee to the nonprofit Ukraine Trust Train, providing humanitarian relief to people in the war. No funds will go towards military equipment. |
| Lynn Berkowitz | , MFA, BFA, with a career in art museums, has developed an array of award-winning gallery tours, experiences, and apps aimed at helping audiences of all ages and abilities engage with a diversity of art 'isms' and approaches. |
| Sophie Bernard | has been doing yoga for nearly 18 years. In 2007, she obtained her 200 hour yoga certification in Inner Fire Yoga from Yoga on Main. She is certified in Ericksonian hypnosis to deepen her students' experiences while following her guided meditations. She is also a Reiki Master. Her website is: www.voilawellness.com. FRENCH: grew up in the beautiful suburbs of Paris, France before she moved stateside to study International Commerce. She speaks 5 languages and loves to share her love of her beautiful native language. |
| Karen Bruhin | is a 3rd degree initiate within the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel (ASW), a Wiccan syncretic tradition. She is the High Priestess of Tenders of the Earth Temple founded in 2011 based in NW Philadelphia. A practitioner of a variety of esoteric disciplines, Karen has been active in Wicca and the local Pagan community for the past 20+ years and has been reading tarot for 45+ years. She is a past board member for Philadelphia Pagan Pride and has previously taught at Spring Magick, Autumn Magick, Philadelphia Pagan Pride, South Jersey Pagan Pride, Sacred Space/Between the Worlds, and Free Spirit Gathering. |
| Rob Cardillo | has been photographing gardens, plants, and the people who love them for thirty years. He has been credited as the primary photographer for over twenty-five books, including Private Edens and Private Gardens of South Florida (Gibbs Smith) and The Art of Gardening at Chanticleer, The Layered Garden, and Chasing Eden (Timber Press). Rob’s work is also seen in publications such as Gardens Illustrated, Garden Gate, Flower, and The New York Times. Along with his Blue Root Media partners, Rob provides editorial content for an award-winning regional gardening magazine, GROW, published quarterly by the venerable Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Winner of numerous photography awards, Rob was inducted into the Garden Writer’s Association Hall of Fame in 2015. Rob lives in Amber, Pennsylvania. You can see more of his photography at www.robcardillo.com. |
| Rodney Chonka | has lived, studied, taught and traveled in both Italy and France. Rodney is fluent in French and Italian and has taught both languages over many years. |
| Andrew Christman | is a painter, printmaker and teaching artist based in Germantown and Mt. Airy. He received a BFA in painting at Pratt Institute Brooklyn and studied Art Ed at both Pratt Institute and Moore College of Art. He received an MA in East Asian Art History at Sotheby’s Institute of Art / Manchester University, UK. Andrew is currently a teaching artist for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and a co-founder of Way of Words, an interactive poetry and visual art project that integrates writing, bookmaking and collage. He has exhibited his work at the Muse Gallery, Awbury Arboretum, the Da Vinci Art Alliance and the Imperfect Gallery. |
| James Crichton | is a tour guide, museum docent, tour escort and historical character re-enactor. Known for his dramatic presentation style, Jim helped to develop Historic Germantown’s popular Ghosts of the Great Road tours and served as the guide for them for many years. He served as a member of the guide corps at Cliveden of the National Trust for eleven years, was a guide for the History Hunters Youth Reporter Program for six years and has been a docent at Johnson House Historic Site since 2007. A charter member of the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides, Jim has also conducted walking, step-on and duck boat tours of Center City Philadelphia, step-on tours of Valley Forge, Lancaster County and the Camden waterfront, and served as a tour escort for school groups in Gettysburg. Jim has often developed specialty history tours for clients, conducted new guide training at several local museums, and has authored guide training and enrichment materials for Johnson House. Jim is a longtime resident of Germantown and Mt. Airy. |
| Lori Crook | a Licensed Social Worker with a lifelong creative passion, transitioned into a self-taught artist after discovering alcohol inks. Since 2021, she has led 80+ workshops at venues like Norristown Art League, Whitemarsh Art Center, Evansburg Vineyard, and through private sessions in Montgomery County. |
| June Daley | is the owner of JuneBug Sweet Treats, a small-batch bakery in King of Prussia, PA where LOVE is always the first ingredient. |
| Dovene Deh | has 20 plus years experience in engineering: electrical, software and cloud computing. He got his electrical engineering degree from Drexel University.. Dovene is currently working on an EV charging solution and supporting customers in their AI journey. |
| Barbara Delp | , a local trust and estate attorney, has been teaching American Mah Jongg for over a decade. She enjoys introducing beginners to the basic rules of the National Mah Jongg League and teaching the finer points and strategies of this challenging game. |
| Megan Do Nascimento | is a Mt. Airy resident that is trilingual is Spanish, English and Portuguese. Megan lived in Spain, works in International sales and has travelled extensively throughout the Spanish speaking world. Megan is passionate about immigration issues and dedicated some of her time doing work in Matamoros, Mexico with Team Brownsville. |
| Judy Dobbs | has over 20 years' experience in the healing arts, and brings to life the multiple uses of many essential oils she has studied for years. She also teaches Foot Reflexology and Better Peepers. Judy has been using essential oils since 1998, and teaching with MALT since 1995. |
| Nina Epstein | is known as the Digital Diva and has been an information technology instructor and consultant for over 25 years, helping individuals and small business owners use technology to solve their computing problems. |
| Lynsey Farrell | is the co-Founder and Executive Director of the Grandmother Collective, a non-profit organization focused on catalyzing older women as agents of positive social development. She has taught or participated in grant writing for 15 years, ever since she was the Director of the American University study abroad program on Sustainable Development in Nairobi, Kenya. She loves helping people define what impact they'd most like to see in the world! |
| Yvonne Ferguson-Hardin | has been in the fitness industry for over 25 years. She is a degreed Fitness professional with certifications in Cancer Exercise, Gerontology, Physical education and more. Changing lives through specialized programming aimed to improve functional fitness in the 55 and over population is her goal. |
| Rebecca Fisher | is the cofounder of Philadelphia's top rated Beyond the Bell Tours. Beyond the Bell designs inclusive historical walking tours that put the people back into people's history. Rebecca is passionate about the intersection of social justice and tourism. |
| Mindy Flexer | is a professional artist and certified art teacher. She takes each student seriously as an artist and works to help each one meet their own artistic goals. She loves sharing her passion for art with people of all ages and walks of life, and believes in the power of art to transform people, communities, and the world. She has taught with MALT since 2009! Find Mindy online at www.mindyflexerart.com |
| Tracy Galek | , PT, DPT, graduated from Thomas Jefferson University in 2017 with her Doctorate of Physical Therapy degree. I specialize in orthopedic and neurological conditions and am LSVT BIG certified for people with Parkinson’s disease. She strives to empower her clients to have an active role in their health and wellbeing to achieve 100% of their goals. Visit her website at http://www.realecare.com, and on social media @therealept |
| Andrew Gilmore | has been studying the history of American entertainment since 1995, and has a BA from Arcadia University in Theater and American Recorded Popular Entertainment. |
| Makiko Goto-Widerman | |
| David Grauel | comes to MALT by way of NYC where he was a Technical Support and Training Specialist in Microsoft Office products for such companies as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. As part of the Human Resources Administration, he trained supervisors and staff, worked the Help Desk, and performed network troubleshooting. |
| Tyler Hathaway | is a singing instructor and musician. He is enrolled in graduate school at Goddard College for a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling with a focus on expressive arts therapy. His teaching practice is informed by his acting training at the Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca, his experience with different healing practices (including somatic exercises, cognitive behavioral therapy, breath work, and meditation), and over 20 years experience as a drummer and percussionist. |
| Libbie Hawes | has been the Preservation Director at Cliveden for 13 years. She has a Master of Science in Historic Preservation at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. As the chief steward of the buildings and grounds at Cliveden, Libbie oversees capital projects from historic restoration to cyclical maintenance. |
| Gina Henry | created Go Global, Inc. to empower people to travel as much as they want. She has been taking about ten free vacations per year over the past quarter-century. Check out www.goglobalinc.com for more info. |
| Karla Holland-Moritz | is a retired San Diego Symphony cellist with a Master of Music Performance degree from Yale. She loves the cello! She has many years of experience teaching children and adults of all ages. Karla and her students play at shelters for the unhoused, soup kitchens, nursing homes, hospitals, and in-patient hospice facilities. Karla has recently moved to Philadelphia, where she loves living! |
| Allison Houghton | is an educator and author on a variety of organic gardening topics. She has served as the education director for the MA chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA/Mass) and as assistant grower for The Food Project farm in Lincoln, MA, and as the director of horticulture at Green City Growers building hundreds of food-producing gardens in the Greater Boston area. |
| Chelsea Jackson | is a writer, editor, and literary consultant, and the author of the poetry collection All Things Holy and Heathen (April Gloaming, April 2024). Chelsea uses their writing to ask hard questions and explore what it means to be human. Their work has been featured in Fatal Flaw, Coffin Bell Journal, and Passengers Journal, among other publications, and they were a finalist in the 2020 Driftwood Press In-House Poetry Contest and Animal Heart's 2022 Poetry Collection Contest. Chelsea has an MFA in Poetry from Drew University and is the Managing Editor of The Maine Review. After moving around for over a decade, they returned to their home state of Virginia in 2022. They live in Richmond with their partner and cuddly pitbull. |
| Dora Johns | is a realtor with Keller Williams Realty and an avid analyst of the real estate marketplace. Her classes help the consumer make informed decisions about their real estate needs. Dora has been a registered nurse for more than thirty years and uses her science and math skills in her cold process soap making classes. Dora has been teaching soap making to Mt. Airy Learning Tree students since 2014! |
| Anne Johnson | , a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique and Art of Running instructor, joyfully teaches in-person and online classes worldwide, through MALT (since 1995!) and for her private local students in Mt Airy. She taught at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University for 15 years. She continues her outreach to people of all ages, professions, skill levels and diverse backgrounds.
Anne is a graduate of The Sacred Science of Sound Crystal Alchemy Training with Jeralyn Glass. She brings her wisdom and experience from 25 years teaching the Alexander Technique into her explorations with sound healing with her Crystal Alchemy Bowls and her own voice. |
| Erica Johnson | Erica Johnson's passion for plants has roots that extend beyond memory, nurtured by the influence of her mother and grandmother. Since 2019, she has been sharing her horticultural expertise through teaching. Erica also owned a plant store, "Collective Artistry," located in Maplewood Mall, where she imparted her knowledge to the community. She has also conducted plant care workshops across the city in collaboration with the Free Library of Philadelphia. |
| Shannon Johnson | is a certified educator in business and math. She learned jewelry design through classes and her own experimentation. Her knowledge of gemstones comes from years of research and personal relationships with those who have studied in this arena for years. |
| Jacqueline Jonas | is a storyteller, seamstress and cooking coach. Through her work as The Kitchen Doula, she seeks to empower everyone to cook well and often.To find out more see her website jackiejonas.com. |
| Nicole Juday | Her career has encompassed many areas of horticulture, including her own garden design business, working as Landscape Curator at Wyck Historic Garden, and running the renowned Arboretum School at the Barnes Foundation. She then served as Director of Audience Engagement at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, where she created content and programming to inspire gardeners everywhere. A Chanticleer Scholarship allowed Nicole to pursue an interest in garden writing, and she has gone on to publish numerous articles, winning a silver medal for her writing by the Garden Writers Association. She speaks frequently on various gardening topics. When not spending time in her own garden with friends and family, she enjoys volunteering on local beautification efforts. She serves as board chair for the IDEAL Industries Foundation. Nicole lives in Philadelphia. |
| Katrina Kopeloff | is an illustrator and art educator. She's been teaching pre-college high school classes at Temple University as well as college level courses at Moore College, La Salle University, and elsewhere. She loves connecting with the community and getting people excited about drawing. |
| Connie Koppe | has been finding joy in singing since she was 6. She has been teaching actors, singers and CEOs to build and use their voices more effectively for over 30 years. She teaches speech at the University of the Arts and private speech and singing lessons from her home in Germantown. She has been teaching singing for MALT for 19 years. www.conniekoppe.com. SEWING: has been sewing since she was seven! Along the way, family members, home economic teachers, research, trial and error and many theater costumes have taught me many hand sewing and embroidery stitches. It is time to pay it forward and teach others these skills. |
| Steve Levick | has many years of paddling experience and is certified by the ACA to teach recreational kayaking. |
| David Low | ,MS, PhD was an entertainer and drug counselor before getting a doctorate in Religious Studies, and teaching as an adjunct instructor at Rutgers, Rowan and other colleges in the area. He has a private counseling practice in Mt. Airy. David teaches MALT's comparative religion classes. See more about him at davidlowmsphd.com. |
| Paul Martin | has been teaching regularly since 2000. He has trained under internationally recognized Masters in QiGong, Tai Chi, and Healing Arts. He has taught several times at the prestigious National QiGong Association Conference. |
| Rachel Martin | is the founder of Clutter Tonic: The Easy, Refreshing Way to Organize Your Home. She finds tremendous pleasure in teaching people to organize and maintain the homes they crave. |
| Bradley Maule | s the Friends of Cresheim Trails (FOCT)'s President of the Board, serving in that role since 2022. A photographer by trade, he’s also worked with Friends of the Wissahickon, Mt. Airy CDC, and Chestnut Hill Conservancy. You've definitely seen him at McMenamin's. |
| Anita Nicholson | is an established performer in the Philadelphia Community. Within the world of Improv, she trained at Philly Improv Theater and the Magnet and has performed in the PA & NJ Ren Faires, Bright Invention Ensemble, Philly Improv Theatre Conservatory, and more! She currently serves as diversity advisor for ImprovUtopia and will offer Improvised Star Trek at ImprovFest Ireland. In the world of dance, she is a certified bellydance instructor who started in 2001 and went onto study with June Seaney, Tessa Myers, Habiba, Kaeshi Chai (BellyQueen), Oreet (bellydancer of the year) and Zoe Akili. She specializes in body positivity, teaching veil, cymbals, floor routine and assisting beginners in mastering the basics of the dance. |
| Barbara Ochester | , EdD, MSN BSN, RN, began her professional career as a Registered Nurse over 48 years ago. Building a foundation in bedside nursing in the medical/surgical, intensive care, and emergency departments, she continues active clinical practice doing cannabis counseling, wellness clinics, and immunization nursing. Barbara currently works at the Pacific College of Health and Sciences, teaching in the medical cannabis track. |
| Y'vonne Page-Magnus | has many years of experience in this field. She has a BA in Fine Arts from the Inter-Continental University in London where she learned jewelry making, knotting and silk threading from a private instructor. She also studied geology on her own and is deeply passionate about semi-precious stones. |
| Lindsay Pinter | earned a master’s in clinical mental health counseling, is a board certified coach (BCC), and became a certified hypnotist (CH) after having her own amazing experience with hypnosis. Her work has focused largely on people experiencing anxiety, feeling “stuck”, and general life dissatisfaction. Hypnosis has helped Lindsay in ways that other remedies did not and she hope to teach others all the ways hypnosis can help them too. |
| Clayton Prince | is the owner and operator of The Philadelphia Musical History Tours. For more information, see www.themusicalhistorytours.com. |
| Bea Quindlen | Bea Quindlen loves to share what she's discovered and pass on the joy of crafting. In fact, she's teaching four of our crafts classes this term. |
| Gwen Ragsdale | is the Executive Director of the Lest We Forget Museum of Slavery. She is a storyteller, novelist and filmmaker. Her novel, Peculiar Relationships, explores the evolving relationships between black and white women from slavery to current day. Her films are award-winning. Lest We Forget won Best Documentary Award from HBO/Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, and My Slave Sister, Myself won both the Toronto and New York Best Documentary Awards. |
| Nancy Rasmussen | has taught non-fiction writing courses at three universities in addition to her long-running memoir class for MALT. She has also written short pieces for several magazines along with personal essays for her writers' group and online contests. Currently, Nancy edits for and coaches various clients, helping them share their stories with others. |
| Brianna Redner | and Coette Heard are the co-owners of Natural State. At Natural State Our Mission Is You: No matter who you are, or how you identify. We are committed to offering a safe and welcoming home for the community, where individuality can flourish and self expression is celebrated. We invite you to use these four walls as a space to showcase your creativity and discover your most natural state. |
| Pamela Rich-Wheeler | This class is taught by experts from The Business Center for Entrepreneurship & Social Enterprise. The Businesss Center has been providing consulting, educational workshops and business support services to deserving small businesses for over 20 years. The mission of the Business Center is to equip adult and youth small businesses with the necessary tools to start, sustain and expand their operations. Since 1999 the center has provided small business workshop training, teaching small business owners how to design and implement a business plan and scale. To date the program has served over 3000 clients. |
| Marisia Robinson | is MALT's Office Coordinator, as well as an avid urban gardener with 5 years of experience and current secretary for Aspen Farms Community Garden. Marisia brings a wealth of knowledge about vegetable and herb growing and has taught for PHS and the Philadelphia Free Library. Her teaching approach is interactive and pragmatic. She is passionate about the transformative power of urban gardening and advocates for its role in fostering community connections and cultivating an abundance mindset through sustainable food and seed production. |
| Nicole Rodriguez | is an exercise therapist and adult dance teacher with a Master of Dance Education from Temple University. She teaches weekly adult dance and fitness classes at MovementRx Studio in Wynnewood and is the owner of Pain Free Philly, (painfreeinphilly.com) |
| Liese Sadler | has been an oil painter since 2012, learning to paint outdoors thru workshops, classes and 9 years of weekly "paint outs" as a member of the Plein Air Painters of Salisbury, NC. She is also a studio painter of still life and portraits. Her goal is to spark interest in outdoor painting and to help make the artform approachable for everyone. |
| Roger Schrading | is a long time member of the Philadelphia Canoe Club. He is a Certified Instructor in Stand Up Paddleboarding by the American Canoe Association. Certification includes Wilderness First Aid and CPR. Roger has taught many students this introductory course. Students will be required to sign a waiver issued by the American Canoe Association to participate in this course. |
| Mindy Shapiro | is a papercut, Zentangle® and book artist. Mindy's love language is her art and she strives to share that with others through her work, teaching, engagement and communication. Mindy has taught with MALT for over 25 years! Check out her art www.mindyshapiro.com |
| Tracy Shearer | is an AADP Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner, certified Holistic Nutrition, Health, and Wellness Coach, graduate of the T. Colin Campbell Foundation Plant-Based Nutrition certification program at Cornell University. She is a graduate of the yoga teacher training programs at The Kaivalya Yoga Method Academy (Ashtanga), and the Yogamu Global Yoga Teaching Academy (Meditation & Kundalini). She is a 500hr Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance and a Certified Meditation Teacher with Meditation Alliance International. |
| Orr Shtuhl | is a James Beard-nominated food writer and educator. He has taught beer classes at Murray's Cheese, the Bedford Cheese Shop, and with his own beer tours project, The Bestest. He was the Washington City Paper's first beer columnist, and his writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Gastronomica, Serious Eats, and NPR. |
| Alan Silverblatt | has been a caseworker, an attorney, and most recently a software developer for a large social services agency. His interests include helping others solve problems and avoid pitfalls in technology, car buying, and investments. A resident of Chestnut Hill, he's now happily retired and devoting more time to model railroading, hosting a rock and blues show on G-town Radio, and playing and singing in a band. |
| Cheri Skipworth | is the owner of the HandmadeU Studio. HandmadeU inspires creativity in others through offering a monthly craft subscription box as well as craft workshops. Cheri has been an avid crafter for more than 30 years and has been teaching arts and crafts for more than 20 years. |
| Victoria Smiley-Robinson | has worked in the floral industry for over a decade, starting as an apprentice in retail floristry and then as lead designer at both Reading Terminal Market and Rothe's Florist. Her freelance business specializes in intimate weddings and events. She is a graduate of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. |
| Kim Staub | is the Executive Director of Wyck with over 12 years of experience in historic site management. She holds an MA in History from Virginia Tech. |
| Melissa Terrels | learned how to weave in college many decades ago and hasn't looked back. She loves the interaction of color in the weaving process. She also knits, spins, dyes and loves to sew her handwoven fabric into bags, accessories and clothes. |
| Kaniesha Thomas | , MSW has been an entrepreneur for the last four years. The mission of her business is to create art that embodies spirituality, healing and self care. www.revolutionaryratchet.com |
| Muyiwa Togun | is the Founder and CEO of Roy Urban Kollection (RUK), an African textile, art and fashion manufacturer and brand. He is a self-made artist, textile and fashion designer, pulling inspiration from his Yoruba roots and his lived experience as a Nigerian youth navigating poverty, systematic oppression, and assimilation into a new culture as a recently immigrated resident to the United States. View his website at https://www.royurbankollection.com/post/roy-urban-kollection-spotlight |
| Hildy Tow | is the Curator of Education at Woodmere Art Museum |
| Looie Voorhees | This course will be taught by ACA (American Canoe Association) Instructor Looie Voorhees. She has a lifetime of paddling experience and is certified by the ACA to teach both flatwater and whitewater canoeing and kayaking and beginner Stand Up Paddleboard. |
| Carolyn Wallace | an interpreter, educator and collections manager with over ten years of experience working with historic sites. In her current role as Education Director for Cliveden of the National Trust, work focuses on research and interpretation of diverse narratives through sustainable programming for youth and adults and exhibit design. Carolyn is passionate about making connections between past and present and helping visitors to do the same. Libbie Hawes has been the Preservation Director at Cliveden for 13 years. She has a Master of Science in Historic Preservation at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania |
| Helen Wilson | began playing table tennis during her college years, and has been on staff at the Trolley Car Table Tennis Club since it opened in 2011. She won the women's singles and women's doubles events for her age group at the 2018 U.S. Open Table Tennis Championships. |
| Pilar Yeakel | The tour is lead by an guide from Chanticleer |
| Mostafa Younesie | is an independent scholar of classical Greek philosophy and currently reside with his family in Philadelphia. For 14 years, he taught bilingually MA and Ph.D. students in Tehran about the master thinkers of classical Greek philosophy. Additionally, during his seven-year stay in Philadelphia, Mostafa has been studying and researching Persian gardening. |
215-843-6333