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.

Molly Wenger (Secretary) “When is later?” A child once asked me. This question forms the foundation of the sense of time. Questions like these are what give us a sense of togetherness, with not only the community, but the earth under our feet. This is the beautiful feeling that I feel the call to foster. 

I grew up at a first amendment school in Bloomington, Indiana. The school also has, what I believe now to be, a Waldorf twist; teaching me skills such as knitting, baking and mediating. But something that really stuck with me over the years of being there was a memory I have. I remember as a little child in the early childhood program I was about four years old. I was arguing with another child over a toy. Soon the teacher had called upon an older child, around age fourteen, to help mediate my argument over the toy. I don’t remember what happened after that but years later I remember being called upon to go down to the early childhood program and be the mediator for the young children. This memory has influenced my flow into adulthood and seeing people help one another as they grow. 

At the age twelve I moved to Lawrence Kansas with my mom and two little brothers. Once here I finished middle school at Perry-Lecompton, and went on to high school at Lawrence High. By the time I graduated I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Children always fascinated me with their “spongy” ability to learn, and I loved to learn as well, so I decided to go into teaching. I started my freshman year of college 30 minutes from Lawrence at Ottawa University. After a semester there I decided it wasn’t for me. I moved back to Lawrence and got a job at One of a kind as an assistant teacher while going to school at Johnson County Community College for Elementary Education. As time went on I became a certified lead teacher in a classroom full of one year olds! It was truly amazing. But something seemed to be missing. Something I remembered from my school when I was young. A family, community feeling. I remembered feeling that same thing when I observed at Prairie Moon in 2016. 

Early July of 2018, in the market for a new teaching job I decided to put in my resume at Prairie Moon. They needed someone! I thought it was too good to be true. I remember being incredibly happy getting the phone call. I have been at Prairie Moon for four years now. I have been independently studying anthroposophy as well as the Waldorf pedagogy. Having had a couple of Waldorf mentors guide me now, as well as having a myriad of short Waldorf training sessions, I can’t wait for my tool belt to get bigger and more colorful as I keep learning and share with the children what I do know. I cherish being a part of each child’s beginning and love that this school can be a part of my beginning.

Nicole Negley (Faculty Liaison) I am a Lawrence Kansas native. I left town at 19 and lived in Bloomington, Indiana for 14 years. While in Indiana, I started a family and studied Sociology and Political Science at Indiana University. I began raising my little family in Bloomington before returning to Kansas to pursue my special education degree and return to the comforts of home and extended family. I attended KU’s graduate school program for early childhood unified (birth to age 6) and special education (K-6th grade) and completed the program in December 2015. In the span of 8 years, I taught in 4 different public schools primarily in special education and I also worked as a parent educator and early interventionist through Kansas tiny-k where I was a ECSE (Early Childhood Special Educator). I spent a practicum semester at Bambini Creativi, a Reggio-Emilia school driven from an Italian Approach to education. During my studies in the Early Childhood Program at KU I did short term studies with Waldorf Education, Montesorri and other artistic, creative, imaginative and play based educational approaches.

I received my 200 hour yoga teacher certificate with Gopi Sandal’s Yoga with Heart teacher training program which I completed during the years 2019-2020. I studied Bhakti yoga traditions and other love rhythmic yoga expressions. I teach kids yoga at lava yoga Lawrence. During my kids classes, I incorporate, mindfulness, music, story telling and self regulation which are geared for the needs of children 4-12 years old. I model for each child and frequently modify for each child. I am in my second year of teaching as a Waldorf teacher at Prairie Moon. I am moving through my second year at Sound Circle Center for Arts and Anthroposophy, Grades Teacher Training (1-8)- based out of Whidbey Island, Washington (near Seattle) where I study Waldorf Pedagogy. It has been an amazing journey where I am developing self awareness, passion for the truth and compassion for our diverse learners in this world. Through bringing my background and current reality in alignment with one another I have immersed myself in the program. I am blessed to work side by side as a colleague with my oldest child and beautiful confidant, Miss Molly who is a Lead teacher in the Early Childhood Program at Prairie Moon. I have recently joined our school’s board with the intent to learn more and help to support the organization and overall growth of our school. I look forward to my contributions to facilitate peace and harmony throughout our school community and broader community.

When I am not at the school, I love to bake, cook and spend time on walking adventures with my dog. I also spend time with my youngest child who is 15 and plays on the LHS soccer team and I enjoy attending Lawrence music events. I appreciate my yoga practice which helps to keep me calm and collected in this rapidly changing world in which we live. I enjoy drumming and singing and even though I am a true amateur in the garden, I like to explore and pretend I can make things grow out there in the dirt.

Through my self development this past year, I recognize it’s okay to admit our limitations and celebrate our strengths. For me, parenting my three amazing children over the years has been the best. Alongside parenting, growing little people socially, emotionally, physically and in truth and goodness at our school is my love and my daily practice that I live for.

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.

Tara Sparks joined the board in 2022 with a desire to support the growth and evolution of Prairie Moon. Tara was raised in a small Northeast Kansas town surrounded by a family of teachers, coaches, and farmers. In this environment, she developed a love of learning, a respect for nature, and a desire to be part of a supportive community.

Tara attended the University of Kansas where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in linguistics. She continued with her education at the University of Kansas, obtaining her Education Specialist in School Psychology. The program required immersive studies in developmental and learning theories, psychoeducational evaluation, diagnostics, therapeutic interventions, applied behavior analysis, special education law, consultation, and systems process and evaluation. Through this program and her professional experience within the public school system, Tara came to know of Waldorf education and Prairie Moon Waldorf School. Before having children of her own, she knew that if she ever did, she wanted them to attend Prairie Moon.

In 2014, she and her husband welcomed their first child and moved to Lawrence in hopes of becoming part of the Prairie Moon community. Since then, the Sparks family has grown from a family of three to a family of five, and their love and appreciation for Prairie Moon has only continued to grow with their family.