PMWS Board of Trustees

Antonis Stylianou (President) joined the Prairie Moon Board in 2021. He and his wife, Nea have 2 children; their oldest, Stelios began attending Prairie Moon early childhood in 2011 and he was in the 2021 graduating class. Their youngest daughter, Thekla started in Prairie Moon in 2014. Antonis grew up in Limassol, Cyprus and moved to Lawrence, KS in 1994 to attend the University of Kansas. He is now an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Missouri – Kansas City where he teaches courses in engineering, advanced mathematics, and bioengineering, and conducts research in the areas of biomechanics and orthopaedics. Antonis was drawn to the Waldorf School because of how similar it is to the system of education that he experienced in Cyprus. Over the last ten years he and his wife have seen the positive impact that Prairie Moon has had on their children and are looking forward to continuing being part of this community.

Anna Talleur (Faculty Liaison) I am the daughter of two visual artists. I grew up thinking that all adults spent their time creating beauty and harmony of colors and shapes and was surprised (and perhaps still am) that many adults do other things.

When I was ten years old I moved with my mother to Italy, where I was placed in fifth grade in the local Italian public school. Although I spoke no Italian when I first got there, within weeks I understood, then spoke, then read, and finally wrote the language fluently. I completed school in Italy in the public school system.                 

I promised to attend the University of Kansas for a year, I got married to my husband Massimo, had three babies who changed my whole world and have been my inspiring muses ever since, received a Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Languages and Classical Antiquities and a Master’s Degree in Classical Languages and I have not left Kansas yet. I unschooled my three children, taught Italian at K.U., and moved to a farm where my husband and I taught ourselves animal husbandry, gardening, canning and cheese-making.

My fourth child came to us in 2010, amidst the fog of teen-aged angst and college applications of the prior three children, and changed the course of our lives again. It was Zoe who brought me to Prairie Moon, and thanks to her experience here I have fallen in love with this school, the people who gravitate towards it and the promise of renewal it bears with it.

I completed three years of Waldorf training at the Scuola Waldorf Silvana Corazza di Sagrado in Trieste, Italy and have now transferred to Sunbridge Institute to complete training as a Waldorf Elementary teacher. The four years I have worked with children at Prairie Moon have been perhaps the greatest and most valuable learning experience of my life and I have enjoyed every moment. I am eager to guide my students through the eighth grade and then set them free to become just the humans that are needed in the world in these times: strong, true, imbued with grace, and full of hope.

Administrative Director Ex-Officio: Gwyn Schmidtberger

I am from Hays, on the western plains. I have lived on both coasts, in Mexico and Germany. I have three children—a high schooler, middle schooler and grade schooler. I have worked with all ages of children in many different areas of education and managed my own Waldorf influenced home daycare in my hometown in 2009-11. My introduction to Anthroposophy and the Waldorf school back in 2005 came from an opportunity to translate info for a traveling art exhibit of drawings from Waldorf Kindergarten children while living in Düsseldorf. My view of education and how a human develops was changed forever. 

Prairie Moon brought me to Lawrence in 2013, working for five years in all areas of the EC program—Robin’s Nest, Assistant and Lead Teacher—and I received my Waldorf teacher training certification from Sound Circle in Seattle, WA in 2017. Like the spiral of life, we very often find ourselves back to a familiar place to reunite and engage again, giving one an opportunity to share knowledge learned from time spent away. 

Rick Mitchell - Board Member
Rick was Co-chair of the Board of Trustees of the Waldorf School of Princeton (NJ) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, where his sons were students. Arriving in Kansas in 1992, he became the founding president of the Waldorf Association of Greater Kansas City (1993) and established the Waldorf Association of Lawrence (WAL) in 1997. WAL created Prairie Moon School and the Lawrence Anthroposophical Study Group in 2001. Rick served on the WAL/Prairie Moon Board from 2001 to 2021, at various times in every officer position and on every standing committee. From 2008 to 2013, he operated the Okanis Market Garden at Prairie Moon, and taught gardening during the 2011-2012 academic year.

Rick was professor of Photography at Rutgers University for eighteen years and has also taught on the faculties of the University of Kansas and Baker University. He was the founding treasurer and Executive Director of the Agricultural Museum of the State of New Jersey and has a lifelong interest in environmental conservation, organic farming, and outdoor education. He is a former Board member of the Kansas Land Trust, and was a founder of The Committee on Imagination & Place.

Rick returns to the Board of Prairie Moon after a five year hiatus with continued enthusiasm for the Prairie Moon community of families and professionals.

Kristi Lollar - Faculty Liason, Early Childhood

I have loved hearing stories my whole life. At family gatherings when I wasn’t off running around with my many cousins, you could find me sitting with my grandparents, aunts, and uncles asking questions just to hear what it was like when they were young. These warm connections with my large extended family, in our church community, and in my own home with my mother, father and two siblings laid a strong foundation of care for and interest in others. 

My own story starts in Wichita, KS, where I was born and raised, singing and dancing through many happy years. I graduated from Kansas State University in 1997 with two degrees, a B.A. in Dance and B.S. in Early Childhood Education. I married Joshua in 1998 and was a paraeducator in Manhattan public schools for a year. We then spent our second year of marriage teaching youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We have many stories to tell about this unique country and the beautiful people there. Following Ethiopia we found ourselves living in Lawrence, KS for 3 years where I provided in-home child care for two different families. It was during this time that our first child was born. When my husband pursued higher education, we moved to seminary in New York and then grad school in South Bend, IN. During these 8 years of grad school, I continued to care for our growing family. While living in Indiana, we began the joys and struggles of homeschooling our 4 children and this is where I was first introduced to the magical learning of Waldorf education. Stories, music, movement, art, working well with our hands, and strong connections with nature and other people became the way we learned about life. My favorite thing to do while living there was to create new sections in my garden whenever possible. Digging in the rich sandy loam, planting a new perennial flower, and watching it come up lush and thriving each year was great therapy for me. Our family followed a yearly rhythm, honoring the seasons with reverence and celebration. In 2011, our life journey led us back to Lawrence where we continued to homeschool our children, made meaningful connections with many caring, creative communities, and added another precious child to our family.