Joshua Abrams, Head of School, Mathematics, Science, and Technology
B.S. in Biology, Yale University.
M.A. in Mathematics Education, Columbia University.
Josh has been a teacher, curriculum developer, and teacher leader for over twenty-five years. He has taught mathematics and science research in a variety of schools including positions as Master Teacher of Mathematics at the Massachusetts Academy of Mathematics and Science, a state-wide, public, magnet school, and Mathematics Department Head at The Rivers School. He has taught in settings ranging from prisons to suburban day schools. Josh has also worked with students on extra-curricular activities including Model United Nations, Math club, and juggling. In 1998, he was a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics from President Clinton.

Lenny Brown, Physical Education
B.A. in Black Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston.
Lenny has been working with youth in educational settings for the past decade. He is committed to physical activity and has a variety of activities that he enjoys: lacrosse, basketball, martial arts, long distance running, hiking and mountaineering, bike riding, swimming, skiing, rollerblading and gardening. He has lived in Boston his entire life and values its unlimited opportunities including the Charles River and Minuteman biking trails, hiking in the Blue Hills, and nature walks along the Emerald Necklace or Franklin Park. He shares his lifetime of love for, and learning from, the outdoors, sports, and experiential education with his students. When not teaching, Lenny cares for his two young, very active boys.

Vickie Curtis, Humanities
B.A. in Psychology, minor in Art, Phi Beta Kappa, Connecticut College.
Vickie joined Meridian after working at fellow Coalition of Essential School member Francis Parker Charter School where she taught humanities to ninth and tenth graders. Vickie has also directed student theater productions and led a group of high school students on a summer adventure and photography exploration in Ireland. While studying criminal justice in Washington, D.C., Vickie was impressed by the power of learning that reaches beyond the walls of the classroom and enjoys taking advantage of Meridian's flexibility to bring the opportunities of Greater Boston to her students.

Mary Ellen Ehrenreich, Art
B.F.A. State University of New York at Purchase.
M.F.A. with a concentration in studio teaching, Boston University.
Mary Ellen has taught in the Newton Public Schools and directed an after-school arts program for one of the Federated Dorchester Community Centers for four years.  In 2000, she founded Kids Together in the Arts, a summer arts program in Jamaica Plain that she still directs.  Mary Ellen also works with the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain giving art classes for 7-, 8-, and 9-year-olds and she volunteers one day a week at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in their creative arts Blume Resource Center for families and patients. She and her husband homeschooled their two oldest daughters who are now in high school and three years ago they adopted their youngest daughter.

Sara McDonald, Spanish
B.A. in Modern Languages, Spanish, Framingham State College.
Sara has been teaching students in a variety of educational settings for seven years. She began her teaching career with Global Child, bringing Spanish to school systems as an enrichment program. Prior to joining Meridian Academy, Sara taught Spanish to elementary and middle school students at Friends Academy in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. At Meridian, Sara has overseen our ropes course and overnight team-building trip, works on admissions, and has established community service experiences for Meridian students within Spanish-speaking organizations. Sara's teaching helps students connect with Spanish-speaking cultures both within our local community as well as abroad. Sara is also an avid dragon boat rower.

Sarah Parker Geller, Humanities
B.A. in Political Science, Bryn Mawr College.
M.A. in Teaching in Political Science/Political Philosophy, Tufts University.
Originally from New Mexico, Sarah earned her BA from Bryn Mawr College and then moved to Boston to teach 5th grade at Cambridge Friends School.  After earning an MAT in social studies education at Tufts University, Sarah sought a change and moved to Atlanta.  During her four years in the South, she taught high school history at The Weber School, an independent Jewish school. Most recently, she has taught 6th and 7th grade humanities at Abington Friends School in the Philadelphia area.  Sarah believes that young people should learn to think critically about the world around them and use their education to make positive contributions to society.  She also strives to instill in her students the idea that learning is not something that takes place in a day or a week but over the course of a lifetime.

Ralph Peteranderl, Mathematics, Science, and Technology
B.S. in Microbiology, University of Georgia.
Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, University of California Berkeley.
With his deep background in the biological sciences, Ralph has worked in a number of academic laboratories as a research scientist. Prior to Meridian, Ralph taught in the biotechnology program at Greater Lawrence Technical School, where he helped students integrate topics from biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics into their biotechnology studies. Ralph also taught biology at the University of Georgia and UC Berkeley. Ralph strives to give his students the opportunity to experience exciting and open-ended science research.

Maya Vinokour, Mathematics, Science, and Technology
B.A. in Mathematics, Germanic Studies, Phi Beta Kappa, University of Chicago.
Maya began her teaching career at the University of Chicago working with first year calculus students. She spent a summer at PROMYS (Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists), a prestigious, Boston University-affiliated camp offering advanced mathematics courses and workshops to high school students. Maya has also taught test preparation to college and graduate school applicants. She is a polyglot able to speak a number of languages including French, Russian, and German. Maya is a firm believer in the value of an exploration-based approach to mathematics learning.

Stephanie Sherman , Spanish
B.A. in Hispanic Studies, Phi Beta Kappa, Vassar College.

M.F.A. in Dance, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.

A published poet in Spanish, Stephanie has been in love with Latin America since 1999, and has been teaching Spanish since 2001.  Her classes explore the Spanish language through discussion of Latin American art and social movements, literature and poetry. Stephanie also teaches modern dance as an extra-curricular activity. In 2005, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to break cultural barriers in Ecuador through her socially aware dance-theater choreography with students at the Universidad Central de Ecuador. She has lived, worked and studied in: Ecuador, Chile, Cuba, Argentina, Costa Rica, Spain and Italy.

Brendon Wood, Music
B.A. in Music Composition/ Minor in French, University of Massachusetts/Boston.
Brendon is the founder and co-leader of the Devil Music Ensemble (LLC), a nationally recognized touring and performing ensemble. Devil Music Ensemble is known both nationally and internationally for work in contemporary silent film accompaniment and film scoring. Brendon composes and produces musical works for silent and contemporary film, orchestra, and mixed ensembles. Brendon has taught music to individual students for many years. Brendon leads Meridian's multi-genre band.

Ed Kleiman, Business
B.A. in Philosophy from Tufts University

M.S.Ed. in Early Childhood Education from Wheelock College

M.A. in Instructional Design from University of Massachusetts - Boston

Ed has worked in the private and non-profit sectors for many years and is currently dividing his professional time among an accounting firm, two synagogues, a foundation that raises funds for schools, and several private clients. Unprompted, Ed says that he loves his work at Meridian.