Administration

Jessie Elliot

Founder, Administrative Director
A Bay Area native, Jessie attended New York University, studied abroad in Europe, and settled into a production job at magazine publishing company in Manhattan.  Jessie graduated from Rudolf Steiner College in 2011 and founded GBS in 2013 with Abbie Coburn and Justine Costerouse. Her daughter attends Golden Bridges and her son attends San Francisco Waldorf School.  

Abigail Coburn

Founder, Faculty Chair
Abbie grew up in New England. She spent all of college traveling abroad, studying Spanish and comparative religions in various countries. She came to San Francisco in 2003 where she first worked with homeless adults in the Tenderloin. After completing her teacher training with Jessie Elliot, her lifelong dream of opening her own school came true and GBS was founded in 2013. Abbie's three children attend Golden Bridges.

Clare Simmons

Administrative Assistant
Clare grew up in Oxford, studied music at university and moved to the United States in 2001. She has taught music in public and private schools in the UK and US, and was the middle school music teacher at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula before having children. Clare's two sons attend Golden Bridges. Her family enjoys music, camping, morris dancing and riding our bikes. 

Adam Marquart

Director of Operations
Originally from Portland, Oregon, and later moving to the Bay Area, Adam ended up spending much his life in Seattle, Washington, before returning to his chosen home city, San Francisco, over a decade ago. Leveraging years of experience developing and growing teams at the forefront of the business and technology sectors, Adam is energized to be a part of the Golden Bridges staff, as we grow our school. 
Adam's daughter attends Golden Bridges. 

Faculty and Staff

Justine Costerouse

Founder, Preschool Teacher, EC Director
Justine was born in San Francisco and is the third generation of her family to live in the Mission District. Before becoming a Waldorf teacher, Justine studied philosophy and was a homeopathic practitioner.  She completed her course work at Rudolf Steiner College in 2008 with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education. Before starting GBS in 2012, she worked at the San Francisco Waldorf School for ten years in early childhood. She loves to dance more than anything and is frequently in performances around the city. 

Lanie Allpress

Preschool Teacher
Lainie was born in Annapolis, MD. And grew up in Newport RI. She attended Rhode Island College for her Early Childhood training. While there, she also taught preschool at a Waldorf-inspired school before moving to San Francisco seven years ago. She then was a nanny in the Bay Area for four years. Lainie graduated in 2019 from the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training which she did alongside working in the nursery at SF Waldorf for the past three years. Lainie, who joined GBS in 2019, is thrilled to be a part of this amazing community!

Melanie Kidd

Kindergarten Teacher
Though Melanie was born in the Bay Area of California, she enjoyed a childhood spent in the Rocky Mountains of Idaho.  She studied at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for five years honing her skills in fine art painting and sculpture, while dabbling in welding, bronze casting and print making. She brings to Golden Bridges a love of working with young children. Melanie has been a kindergarten teacher at GBS since 2018.

Lauren Cesca

Kindergarten Teacher
​Lauren is from the Sacramento Valley of California and attended Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo for her B.S. degree in printing management and graphic design. Wanting a change of career that felt service-oriented and creative, she found Waldorf education and fell in love with early childhood. After graduating from Rudolf Steiner College in 2011, Lauren taught in both New Mexico and Iowa before returning to California. She has been a kindergarten teacher at GBS since 2014 and welcomed her first child in 2018.

Katherine Delafkaran

Grades Teacher
Katherine grew up in Orange County and is a Waldorf graduate herself. After attending SF State and earning a degree in viola performance, Katherine received her teacher training in Grades at the Rudolf Steiner College in San Francisco in 2015. Katherine joined GBS in 2015 as a Grades teacher and she also leads the Grades program and faculty in music and singing.

Lesley MacDonald

Kindergarten Teacher
​Lesley grew up near Yosemite National Park and attended the University of California Santa Cruz, majoring in Theatre. After college, Lesley came upon Waldorf education and received her grades training certificate at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks. From there, Lesley taught at the Davis Waldorf School, taking her class from 1st-4th grade. Life brought Lesley to San Francisco where she found GBS and has taught in both aftercare and Kindergarten since 2017.  ​

Steve Cook

Grades Teacher
​Steve Cook is an experienced elementary school teacher. He has taught 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades. Steve didn’t discover Rudolph Steiner until after 13 years of teaching in traditional public schools and had a MA in Educational Leadership. ​​He taught 4th and 5th grade at an Arizona Waldorf School and recently finished teaching a 1st and 2nd grade at a Colorado Waldorf School. Steve joined GBS in 2016 as a Grades teacher.  

Shirene Massarweh

Kindergarten Teacher
Shirene grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. After getting her degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oregon, she moved back to San Francisco.  She began working at Golden Bridges in 2016 and in addition to teaching Kindergarten, she has managed our aftercare program. Shirene completed her Grades teacher training at the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training in 2019.  She is so grateful to be part of this beautiful community. 

Jaimee Rungsitiyakorn

Grades Teacher
​Jaimee was born and raised in San Francisco. She earned a B.A. from Mills College in Creative Writing and she completed her Waldorf teacher training in Grades at Rudolf Steiner College in San Francisco.  She has one daughter who attends the San Francisco Waldorf School, where Jaimee worked in the the after-school and the parenting programs, and one daughter at Urban High School.  Jaimee joined GBS in 2014 and has taught Preschool, Kindergarten, and Grades. 

Mauricio Salmeron

Grades Teacher
Mauricio grew up in Los Angeles, surrounded by family, enjoying the diversity of LA in many of its forms. This journey of life, from studying math in college, to spending the better part of a decade climbing in Yosemite National Park, to working as a Furniture Maker for six years, brought him to the Bay Area, where he was introduced to Waldorf education.
In 2017, he graduated from the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training.
Mauricio began teaching at GBS in 2018.

Ali Wells

Grades Teacher
Ali was born and raised in Oakland and attended a small liberal arts college in upstate New York where she got to spend a lot of time outdoors. There she discovered her passions for gardening, teaching, traveling, and learning about other cultures' way of life.  After graduating with a B.A. in Psychology and a Masters in General and Special Education she found herself moving to Oaxaca, Mexico to teach English and experience a new culture. She is currently in teacher training at Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training and joined our faculty as a grades teacher in 2019. 

Marcus Wells

Movement Teacher
Marcus is the third generation of his family to be born and raised in San Francisco. His lived experiences have shown him that teachers and students must be the initiators of social change and that movement, games and sports can bring people together to play, exercise and build cooperative social skills. Marcus was an educator in SFUSD special education for 5 years, an English language teacher in Oaxaca, Mexico and is excited to be part of the Golden Bridges School community.

Jenna Frank

Farmer & Outdoor Educator
​Jenna grew up in Massachusetts. She graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and International Affairs. During her time at Skidmore she drew much inspiration from mentors, professors, and peers who helped guide her path to environmental education. At Skidmore and post-grad, she discovered a passion for hiking and backpacking in the Adirondack mountains. She has had the privilege of traveling and farming throughout Latin America, working alongside and collaborating with many inspiring women to support the wellbeing of communities. She is so grateful to get to spend each day in an urban oasis, building a relationship with the land and sharing meaningful experiences with curious children. Jenna joined GBS in 2017.

Maria Prieto Díaz

Spanish Teacher
Maria grew up in Spain. After graduating with a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Education, life brought her to San Francisco, where she's been since 2011. She enjoys the diversity of this city, and the opportunities that being in a multicultural environment have for her family. She loves exploring, traveling, and is passionate about language learning. Maria is dedicated to nurturing personal and emotional growth in her students, and to help them reach their full potential. ​She joined GBS faculty in 2019. 

Rhonda Rungsitiyakorn

Handwork Teacher
Rhonda was born and raised in Boston.  As a high school volunteer in a first grade classroom, she was inspired to work with children and planned to pursue a career in elementary school education.  Instead, her life’s journey led her to a nursing career, where she always worked with adult patients. Since retiring from a thirty-year nursing career, the lifelong dream of working with children has been fulfilled at GBS. The children bring her immense joy –– she is honored to be part of the Golden Bridges community, teaching handwork since 2017. Rhonda also teaches knitting and crocheting to adults at Sharon Art Studio in San Francisco.

Stephanie 

Aftercare Teacher
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Chimay Posovac

Aftercare Manager
Chimay was born and raised in Woodstock, NY. While completing Waldorf teacher training in Early Childhood, she worked at the San Francisco Waldorf School in the aftercare and parent/child program. Chimay spent two years in Alexandria, Virginia at the Potomac Crescent Waldorf School teaching in the Kindergarten and Preschool. Waldorf education inspires Chimay because of its integration of arts, nature, spirituality and its emphasis on community. ​​​​ Chimay has been a teacher at GBS since 2017.

Katie Benvenuti

Aftercare Teacher and Learning Support
​Katie grew up in Sacramento and studied race and gender development in the US and American social and economic policy at UC Santa Cruz. She then completed her Grades teacher training through Rudolf Steiner College and is now completing a certificate in Learning Support through Arcturus Rudolf Steiner Education Program in Chicago. She has taught at GBS since 2013 in our preschool and aftercare programs. 
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Jonathan Ferrer

School Chef
Jonathan was born and raised in San Francisco, a graduate of Junipero Serra High School, and the California Culinary Academy. For over a decade he honed his skills throughout many kitchens in the Bay Area, and for the last several years ran his own catering company after putting the business on hiatus to travel abroad with his wife JoAnn. Jonathan loves to spend time outdoors with his family and enjoys cooking for loved ones. Jon has been at GBS since 2018.

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