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Roz Sweeney

Before Care Coordinator & 1 / 2 Assistant

She / her

After bouncing around from place to place for a while, Roz settled in Asheville to complete her education and be close to family. In her free time she enjoys painting, rock climbing, and reading in a cozy corner.

Roz is currently in her senior year at the University of North Carolina Asheville working towards a Bachelors degree in art history and on track to graduate this spring! She hopes to receive a Masters in Education with the intention of becoming a full-time teacher.

With her background in outdoor education, she has a deep appreciation for hands on and naturalistic learning, not afraid to make messes and have fun! As an artist, it’s important to inspire students to be creative, imaginative, and expressive in everything they do.

Agustin Palomo Ramos

Music Teacher, Pre-K – 12th : Healing Through Drums & Music

Agustín is a national and international musical artist born in San Jose, Costa Rica. He earned a degree in Music & Social Behavioral Sciences from the University of Central Florida (UCF), and later attended Florida State University for Jazz Studies. He has been a Qualified Professional in North Carolina and has over 20 years of experience working with the IDD (Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) community.

As a drummer and percussionist he performs, tours, and is a recording artist with his bands.  Agustin is currently featured in the original rock band ExciterBox, who have a newly released album. He plays with Zabumba, a Brazilian drumline and dance troupe based in Asheville, NC. Some past ensembles include the 1995 Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps and Walt Disney World (3 ensembles). He has also played in several orchestras/symphonies, concert bands, percussion ensembles, steel drum bands, jazz bands, marching bands, percussion for theater productions and many pop/rock bands.

Since 2021, he has been the music teacher at the Odyssey School in Asheville NC for pre-kindergarten through high school students. He is a resident teaching artist at LEAF Global Arts (Schools & Streets program) in Asheville, NC. His music pedagogy work has included Winter Park and Trinity high schools in Florida, The Austin Waldorf School in Texas, and as a percussion master class clinician at festivals and conventions. He arranged and composed for Appalachian State University, UCF, Wake Forest, and high schools.

Agustín is also a live event producer and a sound mixing engineer whose Front of House/Monitor A1 work can be heard with XL Live Media USA, IATSE, local production companies and independently. Some of his past crews in Austin, TX include the Bass Concert Hall, Erwin Center, and numerous events (Broadway Across America with The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Mama Mia!, Jersey Boys, The Lion King, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, George Strait, John Meyer, Neil Young, George Clinton & The Parliament Funkadelic, SXSW, Austin City Limits, Santana, Willie Nelson, Blueman Group, Tom Petty, and Deadmau5). In New York City his credits include work at Studio Instrument Rentals (SIR), Rocket Studios, and more (Fiona Apple, Beyonce, Trey Anastasio, LL Cool J, My Chemical Romance, Burning Spear and The Foo Fighters).

Nica Rabinowitz

K-8th Art Teacher

She / her

Nica has been teaching art and helping people of all ages access their inherent creativity for more than 10 years. After receiving a Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 2023, Nica joined the Odyssey community ready to develop an integrated art curriculum for elementary and middle school learners to connect, cultivate, and create in kinship with the natural world.

A native-New Yorker, Nica graduated with a degree in Fashion Design with a focus on community-supported textiles from Parsons School of Design, and quickly discovered a love for art education. Nica brings with her many years of experience creating liberating learning environments and teaching children art in classrooms, museums, community gardens, farms, makerspaces, galleries, parks, and anywhere else creativity can flow. 

When she is not teaching, you can find Nica in the weeds, collaborating with plants, mushrooms, microbes, and fiber animals at the Fiberhouse Collective in Marshall, NC.

Robin Skeen

Elementary School Program Director, First and Second Grade Teacher

she/her

In the summer of 2014, Robin and her family packed up all of their belongings and moved to North Carolina in search of a more natural life.

Robin received her undergraduate degree from the University of Akron in Early Childhood Education, which included Pre-K through 3rd grade age students. After teaching for a few years, she took time off to be with her two daughters, Ella and Julia. While Robin was home with her girls, she finished her Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on reading. When both of her children entered school, Robin returned to the classroom as a founding teacher for a new charter school in Los Angeles. She also worked in an inner-city school in South Los Angeles before moving to Asheville.

In Robin’s class, students become authors, readers, inventors, and entrepreneurs! Her systems help create self-awareness and inner regulation and in keeping with the Essential Learning Skills and the Integral Process of Research and Reflection. She also leads centering to help students connect with their internal world.

For Robin, the most exciting part of teaching at Odyssey is the way that students integrate their subject studies within broader thematic investigations. Every year we learn about cultures, ecology and do amazing projects and IRPs! It is also wonderful to have the space to teach the whole child. We have class meetings to discuss topics that are important to students like understanding each other’s feelings and needs or simply how to share the swings at recess.

Rebekah Walker

First and Second Grade Teacher

she/her

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education at Central Methodist College in 1997, Rebekah moved to these glorious Blue Ridge Mountains to be closer to her dad. At CMC, she won The Elizabeth Stephenton Award in Art Education for making a four foot Babar hand puppet and discovered the amazing world of children’s literature. Rebekah found ArtSpace Charter School in 2001 and fell in love with art integration. Art is all around us, whether it’s in us or our environment. Looking at the world through the arts allows everything to be seen through a lens of love, creativity and acceptance. Rebekah has witnessed how this benefits children when learning new things and she has seen how it has helped herself and her two daughters. Rebekah has also witnessed the benefits of yoga in herself and in her students. In 2018, Rebekah became a RYT-200 Purna Yoga instructor and brought Sri Aurobindo’s “All life is yoga” concept into her teaching. Art is magnificent, yoga is delightful and Odyssey School, where all humans are valued for their whole self, is the best place to be. Rebekah has found her Ithaca and couldn’t be happier. When not in the classroom you will find Rebekah reading children’s books outside under a tree, creating fiber art in her art room, in the kitchen baking deliciousness, wandering around with her dog, Molly, meditating/doing asana on her mat, or laughing with her friends and daughters.

Celestial Soiree

Join Odyssey School parents and many others from the greater Asheville community as we celebrate spring together in a fundraiser and silent auction that is Out of this World! Heavy hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, live entertainment, and more rounds out this galactic party.

Special thanks to The Collider for providing a beautiful, downtown sunset view!

Positively Stardust Party

Give peace a chance, grab anything with fringe on it and join us for a groovy cocktail! This year’s Positively Odyssey party has time traveled to the stardust age of the 1970’s! Gals, leave the macrame at home. Get down with blue eye shadow, bells, leather or chiffon flutter. Guys, break out the silk butterfly collars and sunglasses–just because.

We will have a best dressed awards ceremony and DJ’ed music from art waves — Studio 54, CBGB’s all the way to Graceland. Come in high-heeled disco glam, hippie, soul, or punk– as party-goer, you bring the funk and charitable support to Odyssey.

Purchase your tickets for $15 until November 15th by clicking here!

$20 at the door.

Autumn Faire – Saturday, October 28th

This is one of Odyssey’s biggest celebrations of the year, as we create a fun carnival-like event out on our tennis courts, complete with bounce houses and pie throwing! Autumn Faire is open to the public – all family and friends are invited!

Each class creates a booth – which students, teachers, and family volunteers help run – with activities or homemade wares for sale, in addition to local vendors. This is a great time to start holiday shopping, to come and support classroom fundraisers, to throw a pie at our pie-throwing booth, and to be a judge in our annual Chili Cook-Off.

When: Saturday, October 28th from 11 am – 2 pm
Where: On Odyssey’s Tennis Courts
Who’s Invited: Everybody!
Do we need to RSVP? Nope, not for attendance. However, if you’re interested in volunteering, please let your classroom teacher know.

Elders Day

We are excited to welcome and celebrate Odyssey elders on October 27th! This Fall Festival is a coming together of generations as we invite grandparents, or another special elder in our students’ lives, to join us in celebrating the coming autumn. Together, we find the beauty in changing leaves, cooler weather, longer nights, and the wisdom that follows a full spring and summer.

Elders will get to experience Integral Education, visit classrooms, enjoy a picnic lunch, and celebrate the changing of the seasons with us!

Garden Party

You are invited to join us on Saturday, September 30th, from 12:00-5:00! This party is brought to you by Odyssey’s Garden Committee, led by Chelsea Potter and Carrie Chisholm, and is sure to be a great time had by all.

Parent Orientation on September 6th

Please mark your calendars with this very important date! Parent Orientation is not a night to be missed, as so much valuable information is shared and connections are made. Start the year off right, earn volunteer hours for your attendance, and join us!

Here is some information that will likely be covered in your meetings:

• How your child’s teacher incorporates Odyssey’s philosophy into his or her teaching
• Classroom policies
• Technology at Odyssey
• Daily schedule
• How we communicate
• How to volunteer and get involved
• Ways to connect with other parents in your class
• Registration for Listening Conferences.
• The Parent Handbook.

Middle & High School meetings will also cover:

• Grading Philosophy
• College Readiness
• Experiential Seminar
• Journey Week
• Absences Policies

Child care will be provided with RSVP!

Community Pool & Pizza Party!

We are excited to see you on Friday, August 25th!

Our pool party is a great way to get your feet wet (pun intended) before the first day of school, meet your teachers, see old friends and make new ones. Faculty will make sure you get all the information you need to feel ready on Monday, August 28th, and there will be plenty of time to enjoy handmade pizza cooked in our student-made cob oven and swim in the pool!

Please remember to register so that we ensure we have enough pizza dough, and so that we know what toppings your family is planning to bring. The registration link was included in your Back to School newsletter, sent on August 8th. If you didn’t receive your newsletter, please let us know right away! You can also search your Promotions tab for the title: “Welcome Back to School! 💚 Odyssey School Supplies & News.”

Let’s go swimming!