Meet Our Educators
Marie Harper
Marie Harper is the founder of Heart Rock Forest School. She is a certified Outdoor Classroom Project Specialist with Level III training. She holds a California Child Development Director Permit and Dual Masters in Human Development and Early Childhood Studies from Walden University and Pacific Oaks. She has over twenty years of experience working with children. After many years working inside the classroom and trying to get the children to thrive outdoors, she decided to develop her own nature-based program. She is a trusted teacher in the Pasadena and surrounding neighborhood communities and has guided children of all ages on educational hikes and community explorations.
Susan Peterson
Susan Peterson has worked as an Associate Teacher for more than 20 years at the Child Educational Center with children 8 weeks old – school age. She has studied child development at Glendale College and has attended numerous conferences and workshops pertaining to child development. Susan is a mother of four grown children, and grandmother of three. In her free time, she likes to hike, play with her three dogs, and visit her grandchildren as often as possible. “A part of my love with working with children is the true relationships you create with them. I have learned when you truly respect a child, they feel safe and know they can rely on you to help meet their needs. And when you have that in a relationship trust is built.”
Helene Skantsikas
Helene Skantzikas is an associate teacher, single mom of an 11 year old, and French expat who’s passionate about young children, play-based early childhood education and human development and learning in general. Helene got a Bachelor’s Degree in Film Studies in Paris, then moved to California where she spent 20 years working as a translator, before going back to school to obtain her Early Childhood Education Certificate 2 years ago. She has worked at The Waverly School in the preschool program [and volunteered in the elementary school between 2016 and 2020] and has been assisting at Heart Rock Forest School since January 2021. In addition to teaching, Helene loves parenting, cooking, hiking, camping and foraging.
“Time in nature is not leisure time; it is an essential investment in our children’s mental health (and also, by the way, in our own).”
Richard Louv
The core of all that is Heart Rock is love. Love of the outdoors. Love of ourselves. Love of others. Love of what we know and what we learn. When love is at the center of all that is done it becomes a little easier to treat everyone with respect, to value differences, and to consider how our actions impact others
Questions?
Email Marie and get more information about the preschool and school-age programs