Sweetgum Classroom Team
APRIL WAXLER, LEAD TEACHER
April has been a Montessori teacher since 1996. She graduated from Franklin College with a degree in education, including a kindergarten and child development endorsement. She has been a lead teacher in the Sweetgum classroom since 2001. Her love of Montessori philosophy and child development has continued to grow. She is particularly interested in the way that a Montessori education honors each individual child and supports their unique personality. Her family has a long history in Bloomington and the surrounding communities. April is the mother to three wonderful adult children and is an animal and nature lover.
NANCY DODDS, ASSISTANT TEACHER
Nancy graduated from IU Bloomington in 2022 with a Philosophy BA. Originally from Upstate New York and graduating from a Massachusetts high school, her work here in Bloomington provides children with cultural access to education concerning diversity within the United States. During her childhood, Nancy was a girl scout, traveling around her own local community and a number of other countries to conduct service projects for the local communities she visited and to learn about sustainability, leadership, and understanding across cultures. Most notably traveling to India in high school, she attended a leadership conference at WAAGS (World Association of Girl Scouts) Sangam World Center in Pune while working with preschoolers in a Tara Mobile Cresce nearby to create murals. Then a year later she visited Haiti working directly with the local community to provide medical supply kits, education on the materials (and even some medical care to the children).
Now, Nancy is excited to both learn and teach with the Sweet Gum Class, helping create a caring, mutually respectful, and curious environment for the next generation of leaders and creators.
LYNDSEY TAYLOR, ASSISTANT TEACHER
Lyndsey Taylor is an assistant teacher in the Sweetgum classroom, and has worked at BMS since 2017. She has her Bachelor’s degree in General Studies and an Associate’s degree in Library Sciences. Providing access to books and information is an invaluable aspect of learning, and she hopes to use her library background to help guide those who are curious to their answers and interests. She loves working with the children and teachers in the Sweetgum classroom, and the community they build together year after year. In her free time, she can be found playing board games with friends, practicing guitar, or tending to her numerous house plants.
TERRI VILARDO, ASSISTANT TEACHER
Terri has been an assistant teacher in the Sweetgum class since 1993. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Indiana University in 1991. She and her husband Greg have three children, Lindsey, Caitlyn and Andrew. Terri enjoys reading, sewing, and crossstitching. Her family enjoys decorating their yard and home for Halloween and Christmas. Terri loves working with young children because of the joy they experience in the everyday moments.