As a Biology and Studio Art double major, designing and building a green space with the community was the perfect capstone that led into her work running educational programming on farms and in public greenspaces. In her studies, Anna explored the intricacies of the natural world from Plant Ecophysiology to Organic Chemistry and grew her desire to care for the Earth. One of the big things Anna took away from her time at Beloit was the constant modeling that pushing the boundaries with curiosity and empathy can help to create influential change.

All of these hard skills, knowledge, and experiences have fueled Anna’s work in building Collective Kind, a network of Montessori microschools in Brooklyn, NY. The curriculum at these schools focuses on anti-bias and nature-based learning that is accessible to all learners. Anna and her co-founders have developed a socially engaged early childhood education that prioritizes collaborative exploration with the goal of growing an empathetic community of young children and their adults that connects to the natural world. The schools made available to working families through a sliding scale tuition.