About Tricia
What’s different about The Oak School and the Whole Environmental Educational Philosophy is that I’ve always questioned everything about them. I turned a critical eye towards every idea that came through, every thought, and every practice. What it felt like—and still does—is that this work chose me. I am simply the instrument for allowing it to come to fruition -- a big shift from how I used to approach work and life. Now, I am in a unique position where I am being offered an opportunity to bring to life a new way of educating. It’s a dance of both allowing and doing my part by taking thoughtful actions to bring this school—much like the book—to fruition. It’s a journey that started as wanting to make the world a better place but it has become more than that. It is also making me a more whole person.
When my son was born in 2013, I was on a fierce career path that I thought was the only way to live. Little did I know how this sweet, chubby little boy was going to completely upheave my life, and for the better.
My background is in Urban Planning and Design. I have a Bachelors in Science from the University of Cincinnati’s Design, Art, Architecture and Planning program -- in Urban Planning -- and a Masters in Fine Arts from The Pacific Northwest College of Art.
I was moved by the social justice aspects to planning. Learning first hand the inequities built into everything from the mortgage system to public policy at the city government level, I decided I wanted to create systems that could impact big, social issues in a diverse set of circumstances. This is how I became interested in the work of companies like IDEO and the concept of Design Thinking and therefore decided to pursue my Masters in Fine Arts and Design.
My masters program turned out to be an experimental time where I was learning in a deep way who I was, what I wanted, what I stood for, and what was important to me. It was a crucial time of coming home to myself in a way I never had allow myself to do before.
My design work became an act of curating experiences to incite large scale self-reflection using design principles and food. In these experiences, there was always a self-reflective aspect to them, if the participant wanted to go there. Otherwise, they could still just have a good time. Everything from storied dinners (eating/digesting another’s experiences), to mindful meals, to sharing a loaf of bread that was 6 feet long and mapping out who ate some and who knew who, my focus was on the roots of human connection and relationship -- the drivers for most human behaviors.
After my MFA, I fell into graphic design work but quickly found meditation as another avenue to continue my newly found self-reflection practice. Relationships became my focus because I wanted to take more responsibility and understand my impact on them.
My journey with deepening my understanding of relationships coincided with the birth of my son. Instinctively, I knew this was a relationship that needed things I, at best, fumbled to give -- attunement, vulnerability, and healthy empathy. It was during that time that I came across some pivotal philosophies that changed the course of my life and career.
I went with my intuition and dove into learning all I could about respectful parenting, the neuroscience of the developing child’s brain, milestones and their connection with social-emotional aspects, and more. All of this aligned with the teachings I was simultaneously learning about meditation, the human mind, and the human spirit seated in each of our hearts. I threw myself into learning all I could about these modalities and applying them in my parenting with tremendous results that quite frankly, surprised me.
Most importantly, the early childhood work I was doing taught me how to attune to my child—and therefore myself. This took a lot of the questioning out of my parenting and put me squarely back in the present moment, where all the information I needed to take the next right step was available to me. I was already an anxious, first-time mom, but as I practiced attuning with my son, I realized I was learning about him just as he was learning about himself, and that together we were learning. It formed the foundation of our relationship and a healthy attachment. When we are attuned to our children, we are more confident in our parenting and relationship with them. We are also more attuned to ourselves.
Seeing firsthand how my son and other children responded to an attuned relationship with an adult, and how much they thrived, felt safe, and could play happily, I had a hard time finding a preschool with a similar philosophy and we tried many.
During these early childhood through kindergarten years with my son, I also began working more. This time, instead of graphics work, I was teaching meditation and coaching, not realizing that all my work at home as a parent, the early childhood education, and having had experiences with a variety of different schools would play a pivotal role in leading to my work today.
I was inspired to write The Whole Environment Educational Philosophy which was influenced by my own experiences, work, indigenous cultures, and science alike. It expands on foundational aspects of holism and melds the best of both worlds--much like the integrated individuals I seek to nurture. (Read more about the book here.)
Thank you for taking the time reading here and I look forward to getting to know you and your family!