Faculty & Staff

Ryan is proud to be the Head of School at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences. Over his rewarding career, he has taught high school science and served as an instructional coach and school administrator in public magnet and charter schools across Connecticut, California and now Maine. He is passionate about education that prioritizes student empowerment, hands-on learning, post-secondary pathways and mentorship. Ryan has a BS in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University and a MA in Educational Administration from UC Berkeley. In his free time he loves to adventure –  trail running around Maine, exploring the US National Parks, and curating a list of the best burgers in town.

Pat has been our Assistant Head of School since the start of the 2023-2024 academic year. Prior to his arrival, he spent 15 years as a classroom teacher in Waterville. He is excited to join a school and staff that is dedicated to making learning engaging for all students. He loves the emphasis that the MeANS teachers and learning community put on – getting the students out of the classroom to experience the world around them and become active participants in their education. When he is not at school, he likes to spend time with his wife, Lizzie, and his three children. He can often be found tossing a wiffle ball around with friends, or catching a Carolina Panthers game on TV.

Bonnie has been a Special Education Director for 25 years in Maine school districts. She is a strong advocate of inclusive education for students with disabilities and will make every effort to ensure they are included in every aspect of programming at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, camping, playing board games, and spending time with family and friends.

An outdoor enthusiast, feral horse girl, and an advocate for mental health in young people (and all people), Grace has been focused on building emotional intelligence and self acceptance in youth since she was a young person herself. A graduate of UMF and Northeastern University, she has been working with young adults in various capacities for the last 15 years, and has been working at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences since 2014. In her ‘free’ time, you can find her riding horses, adventuring with her pups, or taking care of various other farm animals.

Alyssa has been our Office Manager at MeANS since January of 2024. She was born, raised, and lives in central Maine. She was also raised in a large, extended French Canadian family with a rich outdoor heritage, so she grew up with a love and appreciation for the natural world. She graduated college in 2010 from the University of Maine at Orono with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and English, and comes to MeANS with over 10 years of administrative experience. During her free time she loves spending time with her daughter, Grace, and the rest of her family. Among her favorite hobbies are taking walks in the woods, writing poetry, hunting, and berry picking.

Arriving in Maine after a thirty-year career of working with youth in Connecticut, Danni landed on the campus of Maine Academy of Natural Sciences in May of 2017. In her previous role as the Dean of Students, she was privileged to watch students grow and mature into amazing young people. Her philosophy on building relationships with students is crucial to establishing the culture at MEANS. In her downtime Danni can be found pickling and canning, practicing her fly casting and enjoying time with family and friends.

Sonja has worked at MeANS since the fall of 2020. Before that, she worked in several positions at Good Will-Hinckley for 25 years. A Mainer all her life, Sonja enjoys spending time with family and friends, boat rides, fishing all year long, and having bonfires. She watches Jeopardy every day and is good at word puzzles. At MeANS, Sonja’s favorite activities have been learning the maple syrup process and beekeeping.

Over the past several years, Kasey has shared her passion and enthusiasm for teaching math with high school students right here at MeANS! Her love for learning and pleasant personality really make her classroom a place to enjoy learning. In her free time, Kasey loves doing carpentry projects with her husband, making jewelry, and spending time with her children and pets. Also, you oftentimes will see her taking pictures to capture memories and enjoy the beauty of the world around her.

Jeff is a Maine Native. After graduating from Unity College in 1994 with a BS in Wildlife, he worked in an array of environmental education settings throughout the state. For eight years, Jeffry was the Executive Director and Lead teacher at Herring Gut Learning Center in Port Clyde. During this time, Jeffry developed and implemented marine science and aquaculture programs for middle and high school students. Through this work Jeffry was awarded the 2004 Maine Agriculture Teacher of the Year. In 2009 Jeffry returned to college to complete his MA in Education. Jeffry has been on staff at MeANS since its inception in 2011. Jeffry lives in Bowdoin, with his wife Carey, son Caleb and daughter Eva.

Shawn graduated from Oxford HIlls High school in 2004 and then graduated from UMF 2008. For the next nine years, he worked as a teacher at Leavitt High school. While at Leavitt, he coached Freshmen football and JV basketball. He then went to Western Foothills Regional Program (WFRP) for 1 year, before he went to Spruce Mountain High school for 2 years. The last two years before starting at MEANS he worked at Gardiner Middle school as a Math teacher. He decided to apply for the Math position at MEANS because he thought it was a great idea to combine his two passions: being in nature and teaching. Currently, he lives in the town of Palermo. He lives with his wife, Alicia, and two boys, who are 14 and 10. Both of his boys are very active with sports and both enjoy being outside. In his free time, Shawn likes to hike, fish and coach basketball.

Becky joined MeANS in 2022, after 20 years as a homeschool parent and grant writing consultant for non-profits throughout Maine. The daughter of retired Maine educators, Becky attended the University of Maine at Farmington for community and school health education. She carved a niche for herself in the state by focusing on youth centric programs and youth advocacy in public health, working with teens and youth  leaders from all over the state to provide training to teens on using their voices to create policy change. Becky is passionate about self-directed learning and giving young people agency in their education by using a project, strengths-based approach whenever possible. In her free time, Becky enjoys playing competitive volleyball, keeping extensive gardens, digging into her ancestry, traveling, and spending time with her husband Kurt and their three sons.

Elise is from Caribou, Maine and first became interested in the natural sciences while conducting research on the food use of migratory forest songbirds in her undergraduate career. Elise recently graduated from the University of Maine Graduate School with an M.S. in Ecology and Environmental Sciences. There, her research focused on the effects that climate change has on Northern flying squirrel physiology and range shifts. Through her time in graduate school, Elise found her passion for science communication and began her first teaching position here at Means. Elise now lives in the Orono area and loves to bird-watch in her spare time.

Jill never believed herself to be a math person until high school, when her teacher in Algebra class helped everything click for her. Since then, she has led a far-reaching career exploring the art and science of education, the integration of graphic design and social justice, and the beauty of mathematics. She landed in Maine in 2010 to attend the College of the Atlantic and never left. She is excited to have arrived at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences where she engages students in math in the classroom, outdoors, and in the yurt. Jill is inspired every day by her students learning to think independently and collaboratively, growing their curiosity and creativity, and applying their math skills in more and more aspects of their lives.

Frank teaches ELA for 11/12 at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences. He is passionate about project-based learning, and does his very best to instill in his students a love of language and literature. Frank enjoys reading, writing, and thinking about exercising. Recently, he started teaching psychology through KVCC. His favorite books are Titus Groan and The Brothers Karamazov, and his favorite writers include William Shakepeare, Shirley Jackson, Philip Pullman, and Emily Bronte, among many others, and he would love to tell you all about them, whether you want to hear all about them or not.

Jim has taught high school English in Maine and Vermont for over 16 years. He holds a B.A. in English and a Masters Degree in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. At MeANS, Jim teaches ELA 9 and 10. In addition, in his first year at the school his electives have included songwriting, social emotional learning, debate and rhetoric, and theater. Jim lives deep in the woods in the beautiful, tiny town of Cambridge, Maine.

Ana grew up on a family farm in the mountains of western Maine. In addition to developing a strong interest in raising animals and growing things, she has always worked on writing, drawing, sculpting, and printmaking projects. She brings a lifelong passion for the natural world, and for literature and art, to her work at the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences. She began teaching Humanities at MeANS in 2012, and helped to launch the Threshold program in 2017. She has spent the past six years working with students in their homes and communities across five counties, and loves helping them build on their interests and develop their skills and talents through interdisciplinary projects and hands-on learning. Ana shares her 1850 brick farmhouse in New Portland – which will never be fully renovated – with her partner, James, her English Mastiffs, Orion and Ursa, foster-fail Pittie, Dozer, rescue mastiff, Bagheera, and three cats. She loves reading, writing, making things, hiking, fishing, kayaking, and snowboarding, as well as cooking and eating delicious food.

Rand teaches Physics and Chemistry through exploration of everyday situations and phenomena. He grew up in the White Mountains and graduated from Keene State College with a BS in Biology. He has taught in a large public high school, a boarding school and was a commercial fisherman.  Living near the ocean in the midcoast allows him to pursue numerous hobbies like kayaking, kite flying and striper fishing.  He also enjoys tinkering on old things with engines. He has a wooden lapstrake boat, a vintage Italian scooter, an old British roadster and both of his teenage children drive antique European cars.   During the summer he and his family spend time with their dogs ‘up to camp’; which is a timber frame cottage they built on an island of a remote lake east of Bangor. Being completely off the grid allows them to disconnect from the frenetic pace of the plugged-in world.