Heather Nielsen, who came to Trinity in 2011 as an after-school supervisor and puppet teacher, will serve as our new assistant teacher in Grade Two. She is taking the place of Elisa Dragu, who is departing to prepare for the arrival of her baby. Heather has worked as a teaching artist and arts administrator at such places as Urban Stages, the Creative Arts Team Youth Theatre, Project SAFE, Story Pirates, and New Victory Theatre. She also co-created the Newtown Creek Puppet Parade and Pageant in Greenpoint, working with fifty kindergarten through fifth grade youths to explore the creek's pristine past, polluted present, and hoped-for future using puppetry, theatre, and movement. Heather loves the outdoors and and has worked as an environmental educator and conservation crew leader in Minnesota and Vermont. She likes to make things, whether it is food from her community garden, puppets from recyclables, or new mittens from a old sweater! She is delighted that, by the end of the year, she will have defended her thesis and completed her MA in applied theatre at the CUNY School of Professional Studies.