Education Levels
Early childhood (age 3 - Kindergarten)
Lower elementary (Grades 1-3)
Upper elementary (grades 4-6)
Adolescent (grades 7+)
Enroll
Print out this form and return it, along with a $200 enrollment fee per child. $100 of this fee will be applied to first month's tuition.
This application is not a guarantee of placement at Bluestem Montessori. Families must still complete an application and interview process to secure placement.
Meet Our Team
Executive Director & lead teacher, elementary ii
Laura Roberts
Laura’s own Montessori elementary education developed a life-long love of learning that has led her to a BA from Hastings College, an MA in Medieval History from the University of Washington, and most of the way through a PhD (oh that pesky dissertation!). In 2008 she became a Fulbright Scholar, and took her family to study medieval manuscripts in Germany. She has taught hundreds of college students as a teaching assistant and then as an instructor, and was recognized by her department for her excellence in teaching.
In late 2015, Laura decided that she was done wishing for alternative elementary education in Lincoln and decided to do something about it. She quit writing her dissertation and began work on what would become Bluestem Montessori School, gathering friends and like-minded folks to start brainstorming. Since then she has learned all about founding and managing a nonprofit, Montessori education and philosophy, and educational administration. Laura completed her Montessori certification for ages 6-12 at Mid-America Montessori Teacher Training Institute in Spring of 2020.
Outside of Bluestem, Laura is a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient and has led two girl scout troops and is a mom to two teenage children. She enjoys baking, reading, and raising her cats, pug, and chickens.
lead teacher, elementary i
Emrys Warner
Emrys is our Elementary I Teacher here at Bluestem Montessori.
They are no stranger to alternative education. They attended the Science Focus Program here in Lincoln for two years during their high school career, which is where they fell in love with student led learning.
Em attended University in Colorado where they earned a Bachelor’s Degree in General Sciences and became certified to teach middle and high school science. They spent a semester student teaching for a STEM middle school program and spent a year working with preschoolers in Community Action’s Head Start program.
Em also had the privilege to travel to Rwanda in 2013, and Indonesia in 2017, to visit children that they sponsor there through letter writing and paying their school fees.
Em completed their Montessori Teacher Training at Global Montessori Educators Institute in Summer 2023.
lead teacher early childhood
Sarah Beckley
Sarah is from Lincoln and graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan with a BA in Theatre before moving to the East Coast in 2005. She worked as a teaching artist and interned at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia before going to graduate school at New York University where she got her Master’s Degree in Theatre Education in Colleges and Communities. She has taught classes in Philadelphia, New York, London, and Rio de Janeiro.
While at NYU she started subbing at a Montessori School and fell in love with watching children learn at their own pace in a nurturing and positive environment. She was amazed at how capable even the youngest child was when they were given the time and space to “do it myself”. Sarah was a lead teacher at Riverside Montessori School in New York City for 17 years. She has taught hundreds of students, supervised over a dozen interns, and has collaborated on developing curriculum and assessment tools. Sarah is Early Childhood certified (3-6) from CMTE New York and has a Masters in Early Childhood Education (Birth – Second grade) from the College of New Rochelle.
Sarah has two children who started Montessori as infants! They are in elementary school now at LPS. Sarah enjoys spending time with her family, watching movies, traveling and trying new restaurants in Lincoln.
lead teacher, adolescent
Jordan Bizal
Jordan is native to Lincoln and is tremendously passionate about serving the community that raised her. She has served in several volunteer and professional capacities for advocacy and improvements to the local area dating back to high school. This desire for improvement and a call to advocate for all people is the leading belief that brought her to Bluestem. Jordan has worked in different facets of education, including as a certified secondary classroom teacher, for 12 years and has a long list of credentials and certifications she has collected along the way.
Jordan is a graduate of Doane University where she first finished a bachelor's degree in history and social science. She then went on to complete a teaching certification at the Master's level from Doane, and an MA of North American History from Arizona State University. Her academic work has focused on the impact of American Culture on, and movements to improve the lives of, marginalized populations in the United States. After completing this Jordan returned to Doane University to begin working on a Doctorate of Educational Leadership and an superintendent's administrative certification for the state of Nebraska. She is currently earning her Secondary I/II Montessori certification from Oaks Montessori Teacher Education.
Through that coursework and research Jordan has come to believe that the best outcomes for adolescents come from teaching foundational skills of how to learn, improving critical thinking skills, and facilitating classroom learning that is led by student inquiry. She lives this belief by her volunteer work with programs, schools, and individuals to provide advice and consultation to programming, as well as individual plans and guides for parents and educators to serve students who are struggling in educational settings.
In her free time Jordan can be found at the kitchen table working on a series of half-finished craft projects, snuggled up binge reading a mystery book series with her cat, or camping with her family.
elementary i assistant
Ren Eckery
Ren has worked at Bluestem Montessori since 2023 as a classroom volunteer, aftercare assistant, aftercare teacher, and classroom assistant. She enjoys getting to see what the children learn and helping them to become wonderful human beings.
In 2025, Ren began her studies at Southeast Community College in the Early Childhood Education Program. When she is not at Bluestem, she enjoys playing video games, listening to music, and shopping.
office manager
Nichole Hansen
Since joining the Bluestem staff in 2020, Nicki has been an invaluable support in the classroom. She loves being a part of the community that develops when educators, students, and families work together to help everyone learn, grow, and be the best version of themselves possible.
Nicki has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Bethany College in Lindsborg, KS. In addition to her work at Bluestem, she’s a published children’s book author and founder of her own publishing company. Her titles—including Zany Can Do Anything and Sharky Dreams of Pizza—are favorites at Bluestem students.
Outside of school hours, Nicki brings her creativity and enthusiasm to after-school and summer programs with Lincoln Public Schools and Bright Lights Summer Learning Adventures.
yoga teacher/aftercare teacher/support staff
Vanessa Wurz
art teacher/support staff
Molly Phemister
support staff
Anna Unruh
Board of Directors
Melody Vaccaro - Interim Board President
Melody Vaccaro is a technologist, community leader, and advocate. Melody serves on the board of trustees at the Unitarian Church of Lincoln. She is a founder of Nebraskans Against Gun Violence and the community advisor for Huskers Against Gun Violence. Melody grew up in Papillion, NE, earned her Girl Scout Gold Award, and graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She also served as an elementary teacher in the United States Peace Corps in Bulgaria.
As a Montessori parent, she values Bluestem’s commitment to hands-on, nature-based learning—especially the classroom rule of “no punching the flowers.”
Vicki Wood
Sarah Zuckerman
Louis Todd-Meyer
Lois Todd-Meyer earned her BA and MAT degrees from Hastings College and taught high school English/Language Arts in two rural Nebraska school districts for 28 years. She and her husband moved to the Lincoln area in 2014 and Lois completed her Doctorate in Education degree at UNL in 2015. Beginning in 2014, Lois taught as an adjunct in the Teacher Education Department at Concordia University and for the Developmental English program at SCC until she retired in 2023. She was a Commissioner for the Nebraska Library Commission for six years and is currently a board member of the Nebraska Center for the Book and the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association. Lois will always have a passion for education and literacy.
Lois has two grown children and (currently) three growing grandchildren. She appreciates the opportunity to be a part of Bluestem Montessori’s continued growth as they provide excellent education experiences for a growing number of children in Lincoln.
Christina Brantner
Christina was born in the Black Forest, Germany, started her university learning in Frankfurt & München, got her Ph.D. at Washington University in 1987, and taught German Language, Culture, Literature and Womens’ Studies at UNL until 2023. She founded UNL’s Study in Berlin Program in 1995 and chaperoned it through many stages since then. With the security of tenure for a single parent, she adopted two African American baby boys who are now wonderfully grown men. On her many 6-months-stays in Berlin, her children attended Montessori style schools, and stateside they attended The Montessori-Prairie Hill Learning Center, where she served as parent on the board from 2004-2010. Beyond her professional life as an educator, she branched out via a Leadership Lincoln year of learning in 2022/3 and sees herself now a strong ally to the local Niskîthe Prayer Camp group (indigenous-led), trying to co-educate her fellow-whites about our responsibilities vis-a-vis the needs of Turtle Island (US) as a complex, interwoven eco system for humans, animals, plants, earth, water and fire.
In her free time, Christina is enthusiastically converting her former front lawn into a mostly native plants based insect refuge, harvesting from edible berries and flowers for her famed jellies, and sharing the back yard with her 2 dogs and 4 cats in their newly constructed catio.
As life-long educator, Christina is excited to support the science-based, multi intersectional approaches Bluestem offers the current generation as four of her grandchildren (most of them in a different state) invigorate her interests in experiential learning approaches.
Mary K. Stillwell
Mary K Stillwell is a native Nebraskan, raised in Omaha and on a farm in southeast Nebraska. She and her partner, Frank Edler, are parents of two adult children (who started their education in Montessori schools in Omaha) and two exceptional grandsons, one of whom attends Bluestem).
After a career in educational marketing and communications in New York City, Stillwell returned with her family to Nebraska where she earned her PhD in plains literature from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is the author of The Life and Poetry of Ted Kooser, published by the University of Nebraska Press in 2013. Her books include Reasonable Doubts (Finishing Line Press, 2020), Maps & Destinations (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2018), Fallen Angels (Finishing Line Press, 2013), and Moving to Malibu (Sandhills Press, 1990). Nebraska Presence, an anthology of contemporary Nebraska poetry, co-edited with Greg Kosmicki, was the 2018 One Book One Nebraska selection.
Stillwell serves on the Board of Trustees at the Unitarian Church of Lincoln and as member of Building Relationships advisory group, Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors, (Ahadada Wathigre Hįnéwi Ke), a joint project of the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma.