Jenny graduated with a BA in Economics from Vanderbilt University. Prior to embarking on her greatest and most fulfilling life challenge to date as a homeschool parent, she worked as an IT project and program manager across a variety of industries including government affairs, pharmaceutical, and high tech. She loves to use her organization and management skills to bring order to chaos and to create things, great and small, which serve to help others. Jenny and her husband John have been married for 19 years and are the parents to three wonderful boys ages 13, 11, and 5. They began homeschooling in 2008. Athletics have always held a special and important place in the lives of their kids along with the wide and diverse learning opportunities that homeschooling provides. In the fall of 2014, Jenny founded Hydras Ultimate, the homeschool ultimate program, in response to their eldest son’s desire to play as a part of a middle school team. For many of the players, participation in Hydras programming has been a game changer toward homeschooling success. Jenny is thrilled to have the opportunity to broaden the access to homeschool sports teams to tween and teens in our community as the Dimensions Family School Athletic Director.
Charlotte has an Ed.M. in Learning and Teaching from Harvard University. She is a certified teacher in the State of Massachusetts and holds a lapsed certificate for preschool education in the State of Ohio. She has been a homeschooling parent since 2008. In addition, Charlotte founded Tinkering Camp in Apex, NC and has experience working in museums, at alternative schools, and within the special needs community (primarily with students with high functioning Autism and ADHD). She has worked on research concerning how teachers implement their values in practice within their classrooms. Charlotte has been married to her husband Pat for 18 years and they have four awesome children, ages 13, 11, 7, and 5. She believes in a tailored education for every learner, and encourages adults to continue their own learning journeys throughout the lifespan. Dimensions Family School is her life's dream.
THE Primary TEACHER
As your childs' most important teacher, you craft a plan with your student and the school to best meet the needs of your child. Parents are an integral and trusted part of Dimensions! We ensure that your student's academic, social, emotional and physical needs are addressed. Parents are also volunteers, and have a hands-on role within the school, which gives a unique window into your child's world as well.
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PARENT’S ROLE
STAFF
Charlotte dungan, EXECUTIVE director and founder
JENNY HARTINGH, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR
MISTIE GOTCH, SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Mistie has homeschooled her two sons, currently ages 12 and 9, in a variety of styles from unschooling to Waldorf-inspired. She and her husband have chosen to make the RTP area home to their tech-oriented family. With a background in activism of many forms, she has seen the power that social media has to make a positive impact on the local and global community though information sharing. She believes that in our culture, as we are constantly building connections with each other through the sharing of our concerns, experiences and knowledge (as we do with social media) that we become more unified and effective in creating a productive, peaceful, and sustainable world to pass on to our children. Mistie's background is in plant based lifestyle and plant medicines and she hopes to serve the DFS community by offering guidance and classes in those areas.
STACIE GOBIN, FUNDRAISING COORDINATOR
Stacie has a MPH in Health Economics and Maternal and Child Health from the George Washington University. She is currently a full-time working, single mother of two! (aged 10 and 12). She and her two children have just moved to Chapel Hill this year from Tanzania. In addition to her career as a Health Economist working in International Public Health, she has a background providing fundraising and development assistance to nonprofits in the US and abroad. Stacie is excited to keep up with and expand on Dimensions' community partnerships and secure additional discount opportunities for families living in both Durham and Chapel Hill!
TEACHERS have their own page! Please click through to read about our amazing faculty.
BOARD MEMBERS:
Anne Dillon, Board President
Anne was born in Albany, NY and raised in Overland Park, Kansas. Anne joined Dimensions to help create the school she wishes she had gotten to go to when she was a kid. Growing up, she struggled to feel engaged in school. After studying for several years at the University of Kansas and DePaul University in Chicago, she left to join the work force. She worked in the insurance and financial services industry for five years before leaving to stay home with her first-born son. A lifelong lover of photography, Anne taught herself photography and ran her own photography and photo instruction business for 10 years. In 2012 Anne and her family moved from Kansas City to Durham when she began homeschooling her three boys. She served on the Chapel Hill Homeschoolers board as co-leader from January 2014 through January 2016.
Meg McElwee, Secretary
Meg McElwee, M.Ed, is a certified AMI Montessori guide, mother of three young children, artist and small-business owner. She spent the years before motherhood teaching 3-6 year-olds in a one-room Montessori school in rural Mexico. She is passionate about interest-led, wonder-infused education, and has brought aspects of Waldorf, Reggio-Emilia, and Project-Based learning into her own kids' homeschooling experience. As an artist, she particularly enjoys designing beautiful learning environments that allow children to become self-directed learners. When not supporting her own children's life-long learning journeys, she spends her time sewing, knitting, writing, hiking, biking, and modeling healthy living for her family.
Teri Blackmore, Treasurer
Teri Blackmore grew up in corn country, near Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. She quite enjoyed elementary and high school, and she graduated as a National Merit Scholar. Teri earned an associate degree in graphic design at Parkland Community College, and later obtained a BA in Communication at the University of Minnesota. She tumbled into her primary career — fundraising and development — when she began volunteering for her local community radio station. She has since served as Development Director for a number of nonprofits, including Tapestry Folkdance Center, WomenVenture (a women’s justice and job training organization), Friends School of Minnesota, The American Hiking Society, and the National Funding Collaborative for the Prevention of Violence. Her most recent employment was working for the U.S. State Department and the Ambassador to Kenya, running a competitive grants program that provides funds to Kenyan self-help groups constructing village water projects, enhancing employment training centers, and creating innovative income-generating activities. Teri has two teenagers (13 and 16), and has been homeschooling them for the last ten years. She believes Dimensions Family School is a fantastic asset to the Triangle homeschool community and could serve as a model for other places with a significant homeschooling population.
Niambi Jaha-Echols, Trustee
Niambi Jaha-Echols is a native Chicagoan with over 30 years experience working with various modalities of creativity. She is the Founder and President of The Butterfly Movement (www.thebutterflymovement.com) which provides an atmosphere of quality experiential learning for women and girls through 'Cross Pollination' and working in collaboration with other organizations with similar missions (particularly those that address the growing needs of teenaged girls and help break the perpetual cycle of negative self-image and social outcomes). Niambi has a BA in Fine Art from Columbia College Chicago, with graduate hours in art therapy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a co-contributor to the book “African Americans and Community Engagement in Higher Education”, published by SUNY Press, September 2009. She is also the author of "Project Butterfly" and “Inspiring The Souls of Our Girls”. Niambi is currently serving on the National Board of Directors for the American Camp Association and has served on various boards both locally and nationally in the past. She has been featured in Essence Magazine, Ebony Magazine and on MSN.com. She has also been recognized by the State of Illinois and Essence Magazine, as a woman who is “shaping the world." She is also currently a faculty member of Expert Online Training (www.expertonlinetraining.com). In 2014, Niambi, her husband Rod, their 12-year-old son Jelani and their german shepherd, Xarko, moved to Chapel Hill and are in their first year of homeschooling.
Allison Armieri, Trustee
Allison grew up in Peekskill, NY, graduated valedictorian of her high school, and earned a B.S. with honors in Food Science in 1991 from Cornell University. Within a month of graduation she moved to New Brunswick, NJ to attend graduate school in the Department of Food Science. While a graduate student, Allison conducted research on the mechanisms by which food-borne pathogens develop resistance to naturally-occurring antimicrobials, was very active with the local Food Science Club and the national Institute of Food Technologist's Student Association, and published several papers in peer-reviewed journals. In 1997 she completed a Ph.D. in Food Science. Allison spend the next year back in Ithaca, NY working as a postdoctoral research associate in the Food Science Department at Cornell University. In 1999 after the birth of her first child, Allison decided she was happiest as a stay-at-home mom. By 2003 her second and third children had been born and the family was living in North Carolina. Allison spent the next decade homeschooling the family's three children and volunteering as a Girl Scout leader. In 2013, Allison's youngest daughter chose to attend the Montessori School of Raleigh, and in the following year her middle daughter enrolled at Fletcher Academy in Raleigh. Her oldest son is currently homeschooling 10th grade. In her spare time Allison enjoys reading, particularly nonfiction education, health and nutrition books. Allison is excited to be involved in creating the Dimensions Family School.
Dan Dillon, Trustee
Dan Dillon grew up in Glencoe, IL, attended New Trier High School and went on to earn a B.A. in English and French from the University of Kansas. After graduating in 1992, he joined the U.S. Peace Corps and taught English-as-a-second-language for two years in Morocco. He returned to the States in 1995 and began teaching French to business professionals. He earned an M.A. in English and his secondary-level teaching certificate from DePaul University in 1999. He taught English at Olathe East High School in suburban Kansas City for several years. Deciding to pursue a new career path, he has worked in business communications and marketing for a range of companies, focusing mainly on technology. He moved with his family to Durham in 2012 so his three boys could have greater access to a diversity of educational opportunities. He currently works as the director of marketing at Automated Insights in Durham. His three sons have been homeschooled since 2012.