Christy Conquy (click to see website)
Christy moved to Virginia two years ago. She's married, two adult married sons and three daughters, as well as two grandchildren. She graduated with a degree in Education of the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing in 1996. She worked in public school classrooms for 13 years before beginning to homeschool her and others' children 13 years ago. She has also taught sign language classes for all ages for many of those years.

Dawn Brooks
Hello! My name is Dawn Brooks, I've been working with and taking care of young people since I was about 13 years old when I started volunteering at the daycare I also attended but aged out of. I continued working in childcare facilities and babysitting in my hometown through college while also interning and working at a Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Shelter. During my time at the shelter, I was able to facilitate inclusive, trauma-informed small groups with young people at the shelter and in local schools, all surrounding healthy relationships, sexuality and youth resilience, through creative expression. I currently work at the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance where I've been training folks on anti-oppression and trauma-informed frameworks, decriminalization of black and brown youth, and other social justice topics! I'm offering this class because all youth deserve a safe, brave, and healing space to learn and explore how to navigate growing and showing up as our best and healthy selves. Healthy relationships and sexuality isn't only about our body parts and their functions, but it's also about conflict resolution between friends and loved ones, mindfulness, loving ourselves as we are, and feeling part of community which are all factors that allow our resilience and healthy selves shine!

My Three Chambered Heart (click to see website)
JAKE PUGH (click to see website)
Jake has been working with reptiles for over 20 years and is the founder of the herpetology nonprofit, My Three Chambered Heart, which is opening a reptile natural history museum in Gum Spring, VA. He is passionate about teaching complex science topics in a fun and interactive way, while promoting the understanding and conservation of the often misunderstood cold-blooded creatures. He is also a musician and enjoys teaching music theory and song craft in a way that makes it enjoyable and accessible to everyone, regardless of experience level. His hands-on, personalized approach helps students connect with the material (reptiles or music).

Discovery Chess (click to see website)
Hi! My name is Coach Rhonda, and I am excited to meet your learners. I am the owner of Discovery Chess, LLC. We are an engaging, discovery-based chess program that provides novel experiences for kids ages 5 - 15 to learn and play one of the world's oldest and most fascinating games. Plus, we introduce the importance of play with other more familiar games and experiences in a giant way. For this class, I will be providing a S.T.E.(A).M. Discovery Lab which allows students to learn through hands-on, interactive play with a variety of tools that help them create, problem-solve, think strategically, and discover more about how things work and function!
