Middle School

Dave Bradt was born and raised in New Hampshire, graduating from Fall Mountain Regional High School in 2001. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 2005 with a B.A. in Environmental Studies, he has been teaching across the world, including stints teaching in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and at the Kindle Farm School in Townshend, VT. He is a proud alumni of Smith College, earning a MAT with a secondary geosciences focus. He will be moving back to Brattleboro with his wife and two boys. They will be excited to welcome his older son back to Hilltop, having been in the Toddler Program and having attended SummerFun in past years. The whole family is thrilled to be coming back to Brattleboro and Hilltop, and Dave is thrilled to be joining the MS teaching team!

Finn grew up in the Brattleboro area. He went to the Putney School and is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College where he focused on 19th-century Literature, Philosophy, and World Peace. After working in publishing and graphic design in New York City he moved back to Vermont where he worked at Sandglass Theater in Putney as technical director and associate artist while forming his own theater, Company of Strangers. Finn has performed and taught all over the world with his theater company. Mentored by Kevin Campbell, he began teaching in the Middle School in 2000. Finn says, “It is the raw passionate creativity of middle school students that makes me love my job. Every one of my students is about to discover the meaning of the universe, every one is walking the tightrope of self awareness, grappling with the potential of abstraction and metaphor. There is no place, I can imagine, where the potential for humanity is more evident.”

Becky joined the Hilltop Montessori staff in the summer of 2014 as an Elementary Assistant and AfterCare leader for Elementary aged children. In 2015, she joined the Middle school team, bringing an enthusiasm for math and health science. Becky has a BS in Mathematics-Physics from Keene State College and an MS in Leadership for Sustainability Education from Portland State University in Oregon. In her free time, she gardens, swims, hikes, plays bocce, and reads.

Born on a commune in Guilford, Vermont, and raised in Marlboro and Bennington, Ani Schaeffer attended a Dewey based alternative school as a child, eventually going to Sarah Lawrence College. She then moved to New York City, where she lived for thirteen years, to pursue a full career as a conceptual choreographer and dancer. After traveling extensively in Asia, Ani went on to receive a masters degree in architecture from Pratt institute. She then worked in sustainable design. In 2012, she got her MSEd. from Bank Street College. There, she focused on student centered, emergent curriculum and creative curriculum design. She is a licensed Vermont educator with almost fifteen years of experience working in public and private progressive Pre-K, elementary, and middle school classrooms, as well as running after school, outdoor, and summer programs. She has worked in both urban and rural schools, and with homeschooling families and in educational consultation with adults. Ani continues to work with Vermont Wilderness School as an outdoor educator, consultant, and schools liaison. She is mother to two middle and high school aged children.