Rachel Beck

Director of Environmental Programs

I have been an educator, manager, and project leader for nine years and bring that experience to my role as the Director of Environmental Programs at Virginia Chance School. I have a BA in Biology and am a Certified Teacher Trainer through ECE-TRIS with a specialty in Science. It is a joy to teach environmental education to our students and faculty, as well as guiding students in peer-to-peer and student-to-faculty environmental education. I also manage The Learning Greenhouse and develop and facilitate programming and meaningful interactions in the Greenhouse for our students, along with our forests, fields, and trails. It is also rewarding to be a facilitator and guide for the Green Team, our student-led environmental program, as well as our School of Compassion Projects, which are our signature cross-curricular school-wide thematic units.

Being at Virginia Chance School is important to me as a learner and also as a parent because of the progressive approach to education. It stretches you in a way that promotes risk, entices you to connect academics to the world around you, and works your thinking in a way that allows you to see something more deeply. There is a depth that students and teachers reach here that is not found in a more traditional setting.

In addition to the progressive approach, I found that VCS would be a good fit for my family because of the Environmental Program, which began in 2008. Bringing nature-in is a step that most schools take; however, taking a child out to nature and immersing them in a world where they will benefit both cognitively, socially-emotionally, and physically is something that I have found to be unique to VCS. 

My husband, Tom, and I have a daughter, Kara, who is here in the First Grade. In my free time, I enjoy using my sense of wonder and exploration in the great outdoors and in everyday things! My family and I travel a lot and recently have honed in our primitive camping skills.  I love learning and asking great questions to my students, so they discover that same love of learning too.