Collaborators
Lauren Ballester (she/her)
Co-Director of Wild Seeds + Facilitator
Lauren is a queer mixed-race Dominican-Philadelphian. She is a former Philadelphia public school teacher who is passionate about bringing community and creativity into learning in innovative ways that aren’t often possible within traditional school settings. Lauren has a bachelors in Materials Science Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters in Urban Education and Social Justice from the University of San Francisco as well as a Pennsylvania elementary teaching credential.
Lauren has varied experience serving on the Board of Directors for organizations investing in meeting community needs. Currently, she serves on the board of New Sanctuary Movement, an organization focused on immigrant justice work to transform oppressive systems.
Lauren Umlauf (she)
Co-Founder, Director of Programs, Co-Director of Wild Seeds, Facilitator
Lauren Umlauf is an educator and advocate with over a decade of experience teaching in diverse settings, from public schools to alternative learning spaces. She co-founded several innovative education programs in Philadelphia, including South Philly Cooperative Playschool (2014), The Dandelion Project (2020), and contributed to the visioning of Philly Agile Learning Community (2018). In 2023, she co-founded The Philly Alternative Education Collective, fostering collaboration among leaders to reimagine education through a justice-driven lens. Lauren has served on the Board of Directors at Fishtown Playschool and supports unschooling families as a homeschool evaluator and workshop facilitator. She holds a BA in English from Temple University, an MA in the Science of Instruction from Drexel University, and a Pennsylvania Elementary teaching certificate. Her work is rooted in equity, amplifying young voices, and creating spaces where all children can thrive.
Marielle Burt (all pronouns)
Facilitator & Grants Manager
Marielle Burt is committed to the power of learning through play, community-centered education, and experiential learning. Marielle is a former public school teacher and has led classes at after school programs in theater, game design, art & activism, and climate justice. Marielle also leads immersive learning experiences for teachers and educational leaders about visioning more just futures for learning. They aim to support young people to understand and act on their power to transform the world around them, a passion informed by their past work as an adult mentor at the Providence Student Union. Marielle hold a Masters of Science from Stanford University in Learning Design and Bachelor's Degree from Brown University in English and Gender & Sexuality Studies.
Anna D'Isidoro (she/her)
Facilitator
Anna D’Isidoro’s commitment to environmental education has woven through the varied roles she’s held- from working as a field hand on regenerative farms, holding leadership roles at farm-to-table restaurants, and bringing the interconnectedness of all living and nonliving things into the classroom. While completing her BA in Environmental Studies and Sustainability at Drexel University, she collaborated with Philadelphia teenagers in a self-directed afterschool program focused on building life skills through land stewardship. Currently, Anna has expanded her work with youth at The Dandelion Project- offering support in art, science, and cooking projects that connect people to a sense of place. Anna also holds a Green City Teachers Training Certificate from the PA Horticultural Society and Composter Training from Rodale Institute.
Teresa Giardina (she/they)
Special Education + Homeschool Evaluation
My name is Teresa Giardina (she/her or they/them). I am a special education teacher at HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Philly Free School. I am certified in elementary, special education, and middle school science in Pennsylvania. I live in an intentional community in West Philadelphia with my partner and our two children and two other families. I am the parent of two young people: Gus age 17 and Sage age 6.
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Email: giardina.teresa@gmail.com
Lily Myers (she/her)
Aftercare Director +
Camp Co-Director + Facilitator
Lily Myers is a queer, environmental educator and gardener who grew up in the woods of Vermont, on unceded Abenaki land. She has been teaching about art, science, nature, gardening, and food in the Philadelphia area for the last few years.
She is new to the unschooling movement but is passionate about education focused on youth agency and empowerment, non-hierarchal learning, and increasing accessibility to nature and environmental education for everyone. She has experience teaching after-school nature clubs, organizing and facilitating outdoor youth field trips, teaching place-based school garden education, and various other environmental education programs across the city with Let’s Go Outdoors, Philly Thrive, and directly for schools. She is excited to continue this work with Philly youth at The Dandelion Project with their Aftercare program and camps.
Bethany Castillo-Cann (she)
Elementary Homeschool Evaluator
Bethany is an unschooling mom of two kids, a former music + math teacher (12 years) in the Philly School District, and a homeschool evaluator. She lives in South Philly where she provides child-care and owns Songbird Music, a small business offering local music classes.
Hannah Mack (they/them)
Co-Founder + Homeschool Evaluator
Hannah is a queer educator who loves visioning, planning, implementing, and facilitating programs with youth, especially teens. Hannah grew up in the wilderness of unceded Lenni-Lenape land, and brings their connection to the natural world to their facilitation and relationship building with young people. A former secondary English teacher, Hannah couldn’t ignore the disconnection between most classroom learning and the real lives of young people.
In 2018, they left public ed and joined other families to found Philly ALC. In 2020, they co-founded The Dandelion Project with a vision of making unschooling and community building more accessible, inclusive, and rooted in core values. While Hannah still supports homeschool evaluations at The Dandelion Project, they left their board and director roles in 2024 and now primarily work on expanding alternatives to gun violence programs for teens in the city.
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