Haviva Dror

Pre-k Director

she/her

Haviva Dror holds an AAS degree in Early Childhood Education and a certificate in Special Education. She has been an Early Childhood educator since 2003. As a teacher, Haviva believes in creating a nurturing, loving, and caring environment where each child is treated as an individual with respect and compassion.

Haviva truly believes that strong social/emotional skills are THE most important indicator for success, not only in school, but also in life. Mindfulness and meditation are two of the tools Haviva uses in her classrooms to help children with self-regulation, focus, and body awareness. She teaches children to listen to their bodies’ needs, and recognize the feelings they are experiencing.

While early childhood education is Haviva’s passion and the career path she has chosen, she also teaches Hebrew. Over the years this has given her the opportunity to continue her journey with some of her former preschool students. Haviva is happy to share her Hebrew knowledge with her Odyssey students as well.

In her spare time, Haviva practices yoga and meditation, enjoys spending time with friends and family, and continues to deepen her knowledge in a wide array of subjects. Haviva considers herself a lifelong learner and is excited to continue her journey here at Odyssey!

Chloe Gobel

Chloe grew up in Greensboro, NC and moved to the Asheville area six years ago. She has an Associate’s in Fine Arts from AB Tech. After AB Tech, she attended UNCA where she recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a minor in Arts. At UNCA she completed an Ethnographic Thesis and Visual Ethnography entitled “Lessons From Older Brother” during her senior year. In the art department at Odyssey, she combines her Visual Arts, Anthropological, and Liberal Arts background to provide a unique array of lessons for her art students. The theme that she has focused on this semester in the art department is “Justice Needs Community.” Chloe utilizes an empathetic approach when working with students. She believes that using kindness, understanding, and freedom of self-expression in the classroom is imperative for artistic and inner growth. Chloe plans to acquire an MSW from WCU to bring her closer to her goal of working with children, art, and mental health. She is excited to be a part of Odyssey and has expressed her gratitude for the opportunity. 

Alexis Scott

Alexis Scott is an actor, writer, visual artist, teacher, dancer, director, camp counselor, dog (and one specific cat) enthusiast, dreamer, schemer, friend, sister, and aunt. She grew up in Philly and went to undergrad at Brown University in Providence where she thought she’d remain a Northeasterner. Plot twist: when she got her MFA in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin, she discovered that she blooms in the southern sunshine! After trudging through a few years of performing in New York and New England, she located (recently!) to Asheville and quickly found Odyssey. Her favorite place in the world is any camp, and she has worked at many youth and adult camps all the way from the lakes of New Hampshire to the deserts of Texas to the Redwoods of California.

Sunshine Pugh

Sunshine is a current undergraduate student at Connecticut College in New London, CT, and an Asheville native and graduate of Odyssey. She has been working with kids either in summer camps or as an ultimate frisbee coach since 2016. She is planning to major in art and education with the possibility of a minor in botany. Her favorite mediums are collage, drawing, painting, and jewelry making but is truly happy indulging in and teaching any form of art.
Most of the time, Sunshine is either throwing herself into her course work, spending long hours in the sculpture studio as a tutor, or on the ultimate frisbee field. Hiking, spending time with friends and family, learning, artwork, and social justice are some of her greatest passions.

Neal Harris

Neal Harris is an International Life Master chess player, a ranking few chess players ever achieve, and one of only 10 members of the N.C. Chess hall of fame. He has been teaching chess since the early 1990’s. Mr. Harris has a joyful style of teaching and enjoys sharing the game he loves with his students. 

Andrew Rabin

Magic: The Campening camp counselor

Andrew Rabin has lived in Asheville since 2014, and he has been a high school science teacher since 2001. In previous career incarnations, he was a wildlife biologist studying owls in the desert southwest, an assistant director of an environmental education camp for NY city public school kids, and the head chef of a French restaurant in Tucson, Arizona. Andrew attended Earlham College for an undergraduate degree in Biology, Prescott College in Arizona for his teaching licence, and has a Masters of Ecological Teaching and Learning from Lesley University in Massachusetts. He is a lifelong learner and is passionate about science as a means of understanding the world around us. While teaching in Boston, Andrew created a democratic science classroom as part of an action research project for his Masters degree.

Harshada Foote

Harshada Foote is a graduate of Odyssey High School, and a current undergraduate at the University of California Santa Cruz. She plans to double major in Marine Biology and Political Science. Harshada is passionate about environmental conservation and loves working with children. When she is not busy with school work, Harshada can be found exploring, hiking, biking, climbing, or just being outside in the sunshine!

Bella Wells-Fried

Bella is a human who spends a lot of her time in the world climbing rocks, playing music, and writing stories. She graduated from Odyssey and is now doing many of these things as an undergraduate student at Bennington College in Vermont.