Our Team
Beyond Exceptional, in collaboration with Worldmind School, is deeply committed to fostering an environment of continuous learning and growth for our faculty and staff. Our professional development program is meticulously designed to align with our mission, vision, values, and goals, ensuring that our team is well-equipped to deliver our innovative curriculum and support the unique needs of our twice-exceptional and neurodiverse learners.
Our professional development strategy includes: ongoing training in specialized teaching methods, neurodiversity awareness, outdoor education techniques, and trauma-informed education. Educators also participate in collaborative planning sessions and have access to a network of experts in 2e and neurodiverse neuroscience.
Megan Patterson
Megan Patterson is the Founder and Executive Director of Worldmind, an outdoor-based, non-profit independent school in Denver, and the Founder and CEO of Beyond Exceptional, offering free and tuition-based homeschool enrichment, tutoring, consulting, and parent and teacher education. She holds a certification in School Management and Leadership from Harvard Business School.
Specializing in neurodiversity and twice-exceptionality, Megan is dedicated to creating dynamic educational systems where students can thrive. Being twice-exceptional herself, as is her son, she understands the importance of tailored educational environments.
While working on her master's degree in Ecological Teaching and Learning, Megan conducted research on outdoor-based and place-based education and various neurodiversities, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and giftedness. Her passion led her to establish Worldmind and collaborate with the State of Colorado as the only pilot program for outdoor-based early childhood education, resulting in state licensure for outdoor-based preschools.
Worldmind, which began as an outdoor-based enrichment program in 2015, has expanded to include elementary and middle school grades, with a high school hybrid model launching in August 2024. The school focuses on small group learning, social-emotional learning (SEL), and STEAM education in an outdoor setting.
Megan, trained in trauma-informed education through Life Space Crisis Intervention, also offers individual and family consulting and teacher training. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, backpacking, and camping with her son and two dogs.
Caroline Griesel
Caroline began at Worldmind as a parent in the Child and Caregiver program. After apprenticing for two years, she became a lead teacher, leading Worldmind programs such as the Child and Caregiver program and the Homeschool Enrichment program. Upon completing a Level 3 Forest School Certification from the Forest School Association in the UK, she began teaching Forest School programs for Worldmind Elementary and Middle School, along with Worldmind’s kindergarten class. In 2021, she took on the role of Director of Emotional and Physical Safety at Worldmind, guiding Worldmind staff in their endeavors to maintain safety in all facets.
Caroline’s future goals include expanding Worldmind’s educator training program, expanding her knowledge of trauma-informed education, and gaining her preschool director qualification. Inspired by her childhood fishing and collecting shells on the beach of Galveston, Texas, she hopes to make a lifelong connection to nature and self-exploration and learning through nature available to anyone.
Caroline holds a bachelor’s in Zoology with a focus on Entomology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has 8 years of experience in education, including teaching children’s English classes in Japan and being a para-professional in public schools. She also spent some time in Ecotourism, researching ecological relationships between ants and sea birds and guiding kayak tours to the research site.
Caroline specializes in neurodiversity and twice-exceptionality, and she is trained in trauma-informed education through Beyond Consequences Institute. She is an amateur naturalist and adventurer who loves stargazing, bushcraft, and curating her collection of rocks and minerals.
Jen Baker
K-6 Connecticut Certified Teacher for the past fifteen years, Jen has taught math and science at the middle school level and has been immersed in teaching math to K-1 through the Russian School of Mathematics. Her own educational journey is soundly based in a public alternative pilot grade school program that emphasized service, social action, and experiential learning, where their days were spent in exploration and child-led learning. She attended a public high school and graduated with a degree in Outdoor and Environmental Education from Prescott College in 1991.
During her parenting years, she facilitated her two children’s educational path using inspirations from John Holt, John Taylor Gatto, and the homeschooling community. After receiving her MS.Ed from the University of Bridgeport in 2008, she taught 7th-8th grade science in a parochial school, then entered the public school system as a grade 7 special education assistant, followed by grade 6 science/math for 5 years. At this time in her career, she returns to what matters most: connecting children to themselves, their community, and nature through experiential activities, discovery, and reflection.
Scott Levi
Scott is proud to be from Denver. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Northern Arizona University and a master’s degree in Teaching from the University of Northern Colorado with an endorsement in elementary education. After working in both state and national politics, he found his next public service calling via education. He started out teaching chess and frisbee after school, became a substitute teacher for Cherry Creek School District, then worked for two years as a Denver Math Fellow teaching middle school math intervention in Denver Public Schools. Camping, backpacking, and other positive outdoor experiences proved vital to his formative years; they instilled in him both a respect for sustainable adventuring and a deep appreciation for Mother Earth. Equity and mathematics are especially important to Scott, and he perseveres to inspire the next generation of lifelong learners to think critically and resourcefully about global and local issues.
In his free time, Scott enjoys cycling, disc golfing, ultimate frisbee, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and developing computer programs with his lifelong friends online.
Amy Snodgrass
my holds a master’s degree in Secondary English Education and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She began her career in education by volunteering with creative writing programs in Oregon School for the Deaf and Oregon State Penitentiary. She worked as an assistant teacher in Dallas, Texas before finding her home in Denver, where she spent four years teaching fifth grade reading. In addition to English Language Arts, she has experience teaching music, creative writing, and art. Amy is a proponent of the Forest School model because she believes the best education fosters curiosity and confidence in learners. She is passionate about project-based curriculum design that fosters strong habits of discussion through both shared readings and choice texts.
She spends her time reading, practicing yoga, playing cooperative board games, hiking, writing poetry, and illustrating comics and graphic novels.
Charles Rupert
Charles is thrilled to join the team at Worldmind & Beyond Exceptional as a STEM teacher. Charles graduated from Southern New Hampshire University where he studied computer science and honed his skills in problem-solving, analytical thinking, and innovation as a software developer and engineer. Alongside his technical expertise, he brings a deep appreciation for mathematics as a foundation for logical reasoning and discovery, a passion he looks forward to fostering in the classroom.
Beyond academics, Charles has a long-standing involvement in sports, including serving as a professional soccer referee for half a decade and counting. Through officiating at the national level and for international academies, he has learned the importance of teamwork, discipline, and perseverance—values he hopes to inspire in my students. Combining his enthusiasm for math, engineering, and sport, Charles is committed to creating an engaging and supportive environment where every student’s curiosity and unique strengths are celebrated and nurtured.