Our Faculty

Assisting our students to pursue their goals is our passion.

All our faculty bring a global perspective to the courses they teach and look for opportunities to integrate experiential education with class work wherever possible. Class Afloat exclusively hires teachers who are driven by a passion to engage young people in activities that allow them to develop their leadership skills and full potential as global citizens. Our teachers lead small classes that are tailored to meet the learning needs of each student.

Learn more about current faculty members by clicking on an image below.

 

Meet David Green

Shipboard Director-David Green

Program Director

David is a creative educator, writer, musician, and lover of all things outdoors and adventurous. His varied career has seen him teach in Bhutan, Kenya, England, Scotland and the DRC where he was a founding Principal of the British International School of Lubumbashi. A passionate advocate for progressive education, he believes that a radical evolution is necessary to better prepare the youth of today for the uncertain challenges of tomorrow. He’s released a few albums, written a few books and encourages everybody to dig deep into their creative side, get out into nature and become agents for positive change. David will also be working as Class Afloat Director of Curriculum Development, helping to design and deliver the experiential, place based curriculum. Along the way he hopes to learn with (and from) the Floaties about how education can best be used to inspire effective and impactful social change.

What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to it?

The Pacific Crest trail. I walked the Camino de Santiago in my twenties and have done a few other long distance hikes but the big one is always on my mind. Walking for that long through nature changes you. Also, sky-diving and learning to dance properly.

If you could have anyone as a dinner guest – living or deceased, who would you choose?

Is it too corny to say Alexander von Humboldt? What an inspiring legend. But he’d probably bore the pants off everybody because, bright and charismatic as he was, he never stopped talking. So maybe John Muir instead for the deceased and George Monbiot for the living.

What is one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned to date?

Everything’s in constant motion, always changing, never staying the same (also known as ‘You never step in the same river twice’ or ‘I’d rather be a river than a puddle’).

What book impacted you the most?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It taught me three things:

1) You can make conscious decisions about how you perceive reality

2) Why just read and listen to music when you can write and play

3) Everything’s relative and very few things are ‘right’

Meet Melanie Williams

Williams, Melanie Photo Meteora

Deputy Director

Melanie has taught secondary school in Ontario for over 15 years. In addition to teaching history, social science, Theory of Knowledge, and IB English, she is also one of three CAS Coordinators and the Extended Essay Coordinator at her current school. Outside of school hours, she works in the field of climate education and action, serving on the Women4Climate Toronto Alumnae Network Steering Committee and facilitating educator workshops for Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF). She recently completed her MA in Interdisciplinary Studies at York University, some of her work for which is published in the social studies journal, The Councilor (2021), and in the critical literary anthology, Blowing Up the Skirt of History (2021). In October, 2023, Melanie was named a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence.
What is your best advice for having a great adventure? Figure out the difference between your feelings of discomfort due to unfamiliarity versus feelings of discomfort due to possible danger. Try as many new, unusual things as you can EXCEPT when your spidey senses are tingling.
What is the best single day on the Calendar? Graduation day (a legitimate calendar day in the life of a teacher). I love the paradoxical bittersweetness of the day: it’s both a beginning and an end marked by joy and sadness; everyone is looking back at the past year while simultaneously looking ahead at whatever’s next; and everyone is excited yet reluctant to move on.
What book impacted you the most? 1984: the idea that one’s knowledge is limited by the words one knows led me to study English.
 
8. Among your friends or family, what are you famous for? My baking. It never looks super fancy but it also never lasts long enough to be an eyesore.

Meet Dr. Beth Warsof

Class Afloat-Beth

Community Wellness Advisor

Dr. Beth Warsof, PhD (she/her) is a licensed developmental psychologist, professional certified coach, and international experiential educator. In her work, Beth co-creates brave, compassionate spaces that empower individuals in their gifts, cultivate connection and community, and bring greater justice and belonging to our world. Beth is honored to return to Class Afloat (Gulden Leeuw, 2017-18) in her role supporting student and community wellness. Beth will work in person during Student and Faculty Orientation as well as remotely throughout the year.

Meet Brychan Williams

Williams, Brychan Class Afloat Photo

Faculty

I am thrilled to be joining the Class Afloat faculty for this upcoming year and excited to be taking to the seas with so many enthusiastic people. I have spent time teaching in both New Zealand and West Vancouver,  where I’ve enjoyed creating teachable moments tied to the outdoors. Whether it be sailing, hiking, kayaking, or any other outdoor adventure, you’ll always find a keen companion here. The opportunity to learn more about the world from our floating classroom is once in a lifetime, and I am ecstatic to get started!
What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to it?
Since I was little, reading and looking at pictures of Jacques Cousteau in a Life Magazine we had, I always wanted to SCUBA dive… I might just finally get my chance!
If you could have anyone as a dinner guest – living or deceased, who would you choose?
This might be a cheap one, but leading up to this year, I have done a lot of reading on Alexander Von Humboldt. He was a truly revolutionary thinker and the most respected scientist of his time. So much could be learned in an evening.
 
What is your best advice for having a great adventure?
Preparation is integral. Enjoy figuring out the details, however when certain things inevitably don’t go as planned, go with the flow and enjoy that too. “There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields true glory.” – Sir Francis Drake
 
What book impacted you the most?
Alaska by Robert Michner. Michner has an incredible knack for storytelling and making history fun to read.

 

Meet Dexter Loken

Loken, Dexter Staff Photo

Faculty

Dexter started fulltime teaching in Tanzania where he began to use his free time to pursue
writing despite having a degree in Applied Mathematics. This lead to a master’s degree in
Creative Writing and Publishing. He has spent the past two years teaching mathematics and
outdoor education at an independent school in Pebble Beach, California. He lead backpacking
and climbing trips, and he coached water polo at that school. He loves nothing more than a
classroom without walls.

What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to it?
– I have wanted to dog sled ever since I saw Balto, and that desire has evolved to wanting
to dog sled across the Norwegian wilderness under the northern lights. The closest I have
been was a dog sledding kennel in Alaska.

What is your best advice for having a great adventure?
– Be flexible and open to opportunities. Plans do not survive well in reality. The best and
worst experiences come from going off script and most adventures have a bit of both.

What book impacted you the most?
– I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak as I was starting my journey to become a writer
and was reading the favorite books of my friends. Both of the final lines are tattooed
across my mind after only one read. They haunt me. Those who have read it will
understand.

Among your friends or family, what are you famous for?
– “He never loses at boardgames.” -My high school roomate

Meet Sara Kuleza

Kuleza, Sara Photo Field

Faculty

Sara loves to be in and explore the natural world. Before becoming an Educator, she followed her passion to understand the natural world through a scientific-lens. Her Undergraduate and Graduate degrees allowed her to deeply study the climate, plants, soils, and animals in Canada’s northern environments (sub-arctic tundra in Churchill, MB and alpine tundra in The Yukon). After moving to Vancouver, BC, and obtaining a teaching degree, Sara discovered (along with a deep love for the mountains (rock climbing) and ocean (surfing)) a passion for Outdoor Education. Sara practices a hands-on and experiential approach in her Science teaching. She believes that Life is truly the best teacher and just tries to scoop up and highlight those awesome teachable moments!

What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to it?

Dare I say, sailing?! I’ve lived on the Pacific coastline for 9 years and have many friends who are passionate about sailing, yet it hasn’t been something I’ve tried.  I’m excited to learn some sailing skills and to get to know the water and the wind!

If you could have anyone as a dinner guest – living or deceased, who would you choose?

Imagine a dinner party with a group of Women that worked in Science from say 1890-1940? Oh the stories they would tell! I’d love to host that party! But, if I had to choose just one for now…I would invite Marie Curie. She helped pave the way for women scientists and lived during a really fascinating time of science discovery. I’d have so many questions for her. 

What is your best advice for having a great adventure?

Listen to and trust your gut. For both the great things and the sketchy things!

Amongst family and friends, what are you famous for? 

Being the “weird one”. Which I just interpret as: having an enormous smile and positive attitude towards all my type-2 adventurous fun.

Meet Jillian Jaffee

Jillian

Faculty

Jillian is a passionate learner who enjoys sharing her love for math and the outdoors with others. During her undergraduate and graduate studies in San Francisco, she got to dive into the world of Math Circles, which offers a social way to explore math, and for her Master’s Capstone, she examined the ties between medieval art and architecture, math, and culture. Jillian is looking forward to visiting many of the culturally rich places that she enjoyed learning about before starting her career. She has spent the last couple of years teaching in San Francisco and her hometown of San Diego and is ecstatic to be teaching abroad in such an amazing and unconventional setting.
What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but just haven’t gotten around to it?
I would love to try ballroom dancing. I grew up dancing and still enjoy taking classes in my free time, but have yet to venture outside of the dance styles I trained in. Ideally, I would somehow get to try it out on Dancing with the Stars.
What makes you most excited about teaching/working with Class Afloat?
I am very excited about the newness and “firsts” of this school year. I am really looking forward to meeting new people and learning about their cultures. I’m also really looking forward to being out on the water and hoping to see a whale for the first time.
What is your best advice for having a great adventure?
Let yourself be nervous and feel that as excitement instead of fear, and when you start to hit some bumps in the road be okay with being wrong and laugh it off.
What book impacted you the most?
It is a very close competition between two of Matt Haig’s books, The Midnight Library and Notes on a Nervous Planet, and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.
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What Students Say

Student on Bowsprit
Meeting so many different people on the ship has opened my eyes up to so many new possibilities. People say nothing is impossible and this program has shown me that. The people here are super inspiring. They do things that are so different from what I’ve seen at home. They inspire me to go do something different with my life and make a change in the world.
Caroline Anber, Class Afloat Alumni(1/3)
Student on tall ship
When I spent time with the kids and asked them what it was about, they said “acceptance”. There’s no judgement, they all accept each other, and I think that’s such a beautiful lesson to get at such a young age. Those kids have had to work hard and to learn grit. I heard her say how much she loved the challenge. If your kid wants to go, make it happen!
Elana Rosenfield, Class Afloat Parent(2/3)
Port program
The biggest take away from Class Afloat was learning how to work with and lead people in almost any situation. Furling sails in a storm, 2-4am watches and full days in the galley, working with the same people day in and day out you learn a lot about those people - and yourself.
Student Survey, 2017-2018(3/3)