Adam is the son of two Scattergood staff members in the mid 90s, returned as a student and became a 2015 graduate. He is once again back at Scattergood as a staff member himself. Adam is passionate about building community, and is always excited to share in his interests with everyone around him. During his free time Adam enjoys gaming and reading fantasy novels.

Alicia grew up running wild in the woods in Carroll County, Illinois, raising chickens for 4-H, and fishing and camping with her family. After college, she moved to Iowa City and spent six years as Director of Finance for an Iowa City nonprofit. Before arriving at Scattergood in 2013, she backpacked for a year across Europe, Southwest and Southeast Asia. She served as Director of Admissions for four years and married fellow longtime faculty member Sam in 2016. She relinquished her admissions role when the first of their two children was born, but has continued to help Scattergood’s international students navigate their F-1 visa process. Alicia also takes on various projects and fills interim roles around campus, including past stints teaching yoga and yearbook.

In her spare time, Alicia enjoys reading, tackling basic home repair (via YouTube), and losing herself down a good internet rabbit hole. She adores living with her family on the Scattergood campus, which provides the best imaginable “village” to give and receive mutual support, not to mention amazing food and beautiful spaces to roam.

Asa was first introduced to Scattergood in 2001 when his mother and brothers moved out as staff and students, which was what planted the seed of one day sending his own children to school here. Asa Wentzel-Fisher is originally from Custer, South Dakota. He studied math, physics and art at Iowa State University before participating in a two year intensive apprenticeship in collaborative lithography at The Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, NM, where he earned the rare distinction of Master Lithographer. As a master lithographer Asa worked with artists such as Allison Saar, Jim Dine, Willie Cole, Hung Liu, and many others. After a few years of running a print shop while also managing a small manufacturing business, he attended Drake University in Des Moines, where he earned his Master of Arts in Teaching with endorsements in math, physics and fine art.

Asa is a poetic naturalist who seeks meaning and purpose through experience. He loves climbing trees, scuba diving, traveling the globe, glider flying, cycling, kayaking, and camping. He also enjoys board games, comic books, drawing, building, and spending time with his wife Barbara and their three sons. Asa finds solace in long walks with his best friend Taran, who is an English Setter.

Barbara Wentzel-Fisher was born and raised in Ames Iowa. She studied education, social science, and communications at Iowa State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree. After years of focusing on raising her children while working at the local food co-op, Barbara became involved in various capacities with Prairie Flower Children’s Center in Ames; first as a parent, then a volunteer, and finally as a teacher. She credits Prairie Flower with igniting her interest in educational research. She is currently working on her MA in Educational Psychology at Ball State University, with a projected graduation date of summer, 2024.

As a neurodiverse person who struggled with school, Barbara’s lived experience informs her passionate advocacy for inclusive education. She is excited to begin collaborating with students, teachers and families at Scattergood because of its holistic and community-focused approach. In her spare time, Barbara enjoys reading social science research papers (especially when they’re about deviance,) talking with friends, knitting, singing, and spending time with her husband Asa and their three children.

Ben is originally from central Minnesota where he grew up playing lots of sports and being surrounded by small dairy farms. After graduating from Grinnell College in Iowa, Ben did a year of Jesuit Volunteer Corps, working at a youth center for at-risk kids in Juneau, Alaska.

Ben chose to return to the Midwest for the opportunity to work at Scattergood where could fulfill his two work passions, working with young people and sustainable farming. After many college research projects and summer jobs involving different aspects of sustainable agriculture, Ben feels incredibly fortunate to now have the opportunity to work on Scattergood’s farm and perform his own experiments on the land in an attempt to leave it in a better state for future generations. Throughout his classes, Ben tries to involve the students as much as he can with the farm and local ecosystem, letting them connect with the land and their food through experimentation, observation, and sometimes good old fashioned hard work. Ben also loves interacting with students by playing games such as soccer, ping pong, basketball and more and leading trips such as backpacking and climbing trips that get kids outside and interacting with nature.

Ben lives on campus with his partner, Katie, and dog, Billy. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, playing volleyball, cooking, and climbing.

Blue’s path to teaching at Scattergood was nonlinear & meandering, and at every stop on this circuitous path, she managed to pick up a skill or some knowledge that she now applies to her work here. In her early twenties she was a vital part of the experimental DIY art and music scene in St. Louis; then at age twenty-six she encountered Whitman’s “Song of Myself” for the first time, fell in love with it, and decided to go back to college to study writing and literature, and eventually teach–which she has done now for 16 years, in a wide variety of ways! Most recently before Scattergood, she was the director of Prairie Flower Children’s Center, where she also taught a forest kindergarten and created an after-school nature program for K-12 youth. Prior to that, for eight years, she taught college writing and literature. Interwoven with these years teaching have been her own art, poem, and music making practices; she has published one book of poems, Whale in the Woods. Her life-long belief in the transformative powers of creativity, curiosity, wonder and the human imagination is the foundation of all of the classes she teaches at Scattergood.

Bio coming soon

Dana first joined the Scattergood community as a student in 1993 and graduated in 1997. She returned again in the early 2000’s and spent 2 years supporting admissions and communications efforts and teaching photography before heading out again on her next adventures. After completing her B.F.A., she spent several years doing marketing, development, and communications work at an independent PreK-6 school. Dana is thrilled to be back at Scattergood, utilizing her skills and experience to deepen the school’s connections with the local community, prospective families, donors, and alumni. She is passionate about crafting and sharing Scattergood’s story and hopes that others will come to know and experience this very special learning community.

Dana credits Scattergood for sparking her interest in all things creative and for developing her passion for working with the land through time spent on the school’s prairie and her first summer job on the Scattergood Farm. Dana still loves to explore different art mediums and dig in the dirt while finding ways to incorporate native plants in her home landscaping. She hopes that through her work at Scattergood, future students will also find their joys and passions here.

After 27 years of teaching art, science, and health classes to Scattergood high school students, Dana helped launch the Scattergood Middle School. While she still enjoys the older teenagers, Dana loves the energy of the 6th-8th graders. She teaches the middle school science and health classes and runs their farm chore program. Joining the middle school students in their daily hilly walk from the farm to campus is often a highlight of Dana’s day.
During some of her high school teaching years, Dana was also the livestock manager on Scattergood’s farm. She loves incorporating the farm into science classes through work with the soil, water, plants, and animals. The beauty and complexity of the systems at the farm offer more activities than the middle school has time for, and Dana hopes to continue exploring the intersection of nature and the human community with students for many more years.

Dana spent 13 summers running a Quaker wilderness summer camp in the Virginia mountains. She loves taking students on outdoors trips and seeing them work through challenges, acquire skills, and find connection and comfort in the greater-than-human world.

Dana lives in Iowa City with her husband and two children and tries to get outdoors as much as she can. She also plays on a local roller derby team.

Dani has enjoyed teaching and working at Scattergood since 2020. She arrived at Scattergood after completing her student teaching and receiving her Social Studies teaching license. In teaching social studies and humanities, she aims to engage students in their social world and encourage students to engage civically through voting, educating peers, and connecting with their communities. In her time here she has taught US History, Upper Level Social Studies electives including Psychology, Sociology, and Citizenship, and Humanities electives including Family Literature; The Art of Emotion; and Art, Activism, and the AIDS Crisis. Through these classes, along with Farm Term and May Term courses, trip leading, and dorm sponsoring, Dani enjoys teaching students and helping them as they learn, grow, and develop. In her free time, Dani enjoys hiking on the Scattergood prairie, crocheting, making stained glass, and spending time with her wife, Sadie, and their cats.

Originally from Eastern Iowa, Eli moved around the country and lived in many locations before settling in Iowa City in 2012. There he spent over a decade working as a project manager for the University of Iowa Design and Construction Department overseeing construction projects on the campus. Eli has a strong artistic background and continually works as a freelance fine artist focusing on painting and illustration.

Scattergood has been a good fit for Eli as he can use his extensive construction knowledge and creative eye to help maintain and revitalize the campus buildings. He hopes these attributes will not only benefit the school, but will provide the students with additional knowledge resources.

Hans came to Scattergood in the fall of 1986 after graduating from Grinnell. In his many years here, Hans has taught a variety of Academic, Project, and PE classes, a small sampling of which includes – Logic, Historical Linguistics, Film Studies, Medieval Literature, Bow Making, Boat Building (canoes, kayaks, sailboats) Paleolithic Technology, Medieval Armoring, Juggling, Archery, Epee Fencing, Medieval Longsword, Elizabethan Rapier, and Elvish to name a few. Hans has also led various challenging wilderness trips, both month and week-long as well as weekend activities such as sailing, canoeing, skiing and biking. He also spends time mowing, planting trees, and caring for the old orchard and prairie.

Irv came to Scattergood as a student in the 80’s as part of a long line of family Scattergoodians and has worked at Scattergood since 1993. Irv is famous for cooking delicious and nutritious meals. In his free time, you might find Irv in the kitchen doing his own “professional development”, playing games, and learning.

Jamie came to Scattergood with a wealth of experience in progressive middle schools. In 1995 Jamie began his teaching career working with gifted students at the Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, Colorado. He credits this experience with shaping his philosophy as an educator: “the Logan School’s approach to learning through independent units of study, field experiences, service learning, and environmental science was something I was excited to continue at Scattergood .”

Jamie worked together with Scattergood staff starting in 2018 to design, implement, and launch the new middle school. In 2020 the new program was launched successfully. Scattergood’s approach resonates strongly with his teaching style: He appreciates the commitment to individualized learning, real world opportunities, focus on the farm as a place of learning, and the strong sense of community aligned with Quaker values.

In addition to being the director of Scattergood Middle School Jamie also teaches language arts and social studies. In the spring of 2023 Jamie joined the admissions team as the enrollment manager. Jamie has recently been a participant in the Friends Council on Education SPARC (“sustained practices and renewed courage”) cohort.

Bio coming soon

Jessica was born and raised in Iowa, leaving for only 5 years to attend graduate school. She came to Scattergood as the Health Office Coordinator 2019, and since then has worn several hats. Currently she hangs out in the Main Office doing her best to keep our campus organized and informed of the wonderful things that each member of our community is engaged in. Perhaps her favorite job is organizing and assigning the crews. She feels privileged to be assigned a task so important to our community and mission.

While she’s mostly in the Main Office, she does get to teach one or two classes every year. Luckily she gets to teach two things she’s very passionate about: Latin Dancing and Game Design. Two very different subjects, but each with a place in Jessica’s heart.

At home she’s usually playing or inventing games, crafting, watching football, or doing the bidding of her 8lb Maltipoo, Bentley.

Bio coming soon

Mark came to Scattergood after spending much of the 1990s working in Philadelphia, PA homeless shelters, hiking, biking, farming and living in intentional communities around the United States.

Mark’s job at Scattergood allows him to nurture his many selves: the teacher, lover of books and films, outdoors explorer, organic farmer and one who appreciates living in community. Mark has been recognized as a Master Researcher by Practical Farmers of Iowa and received the Spencer Award from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

Mark and his wife Jennie were married at Scattergood. Their daughter Gillie graduated from Scattergood in 2022.

Matt grew up in Dayton, Ohio. After college he worked for NCR, selling computers to federal government agencies in Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. He decided to step back from corporate life and join the Peace Corps.

Matt was sent to midwestern Nepal to help with small business development and disseminate small appropriate technology. Some of his time there involved working with poultry growers, testing a paddle wheel river pump, and researching mustard oil processing via local cooperatives (most was being sent to India for expelling and bottling). He enjoyed the slower pace of life and living in a different culture. Best of all, Matt met Sonja (who was teaching in Nepal)!

After 2-½ years in Peace Corps, he came back home to Ohio, missed Sonja, and moved up to Minnesota. Knowing that he did not want to be back in an office, he started out as a block tender, then block layer, then foreman for a residential masonry company. Also during this time he married Sonja and a few years later had their first child, Claire. Wanting to pull back on hours, he joined the Union and went to night school to be a journeyman bricklayer. More years passed and we had Chris, who graduated from Scattergood last year. During the recession, Matt trained in Refractory masonry leading to jobs in refineries, taconite plants, and glass bottling plants.

After 20 years in the Union, Matt left to take the job at Scattergood with Sonja. They still own their home in Saint Paul, MN, and will return there some day.

Sadie Kirschenman primarily teaches math, science, and 9th grade seminar. In addition to teaching, Sadie is involved in the students’ lives through her work in the dorm and as an advisor. She is passionate about bettering the Scattergood community and students’ lives. To that end, she enjoys working on the community service program, disciplinary system, and social emotional curriculum.

Sadie began working in education in college when she was a teaching assistant for the psychology department’s preschool laboratory. In addition, she worked with at-risk high school students during a summer internship. After graduating college, Sadie did a year of service work through AmeriCorps at an elementary school as an Academic Support Specialist. After completing her year of service, Sadie began working at Scattergood full time.

In her free time, Sadie loves to dance and uses this skill to help choreograph Scattergood’s musical. She also loves taking walks in nature, crocheting, and hanging out with her three cats and wife, Dani.