Our Story
Our Mission
Cairn Hill prepares children of all backgrounds for personal and academic success through joyful learning opportunities rooted in nature, play and the arts.
Our Goals
Cairn Hill provides holistic, experiential learning experiences that foster the development of children's physical, social-emotional and academic competencies.
We believe that children learn best through hands-on exploration and play.
Through daily extensive exposure to the outdoors, we seek to cultivate in children a deep connection to nature and an appreciation of the earth.
We include gardening and encourage healthy eating to strengthen the bodies and minds of young children. We are developing the next generation of stewards of our planet!
Our History
In early 2012, three educators: Daniel Bekele, Ed.D., Cheryl Dressler, Ed.D., and Margaret Ris, M.Ed met at the Abiata Café in Malden, Massachusetts to determine the best way to offer children high quality, affordable educational opportunities inspired by Waldorf and nature-based approaches to learning.
They agreed to found a non-profit organization for this purpose and named it after a spot in Malden’s beautiful and rugged Fells Reservation: Cairn Hil.
The founders appreciated the metaphor of the cairn—a pile of stones marking a path created by many—and envisioned the activities of the new organization as helping to guide children along their paths.
Camp Lion & Spring Pond
Camp Lion
Cairn Hill Nature Preschool is located at Camp Lion on the border of the two vibrant cities of Lynn and Salem, Massachusetts. Lynn is a Gateway City with an impressive mixture of ethnicity, income levels and languages. Lynn has many ponds and marshlands, and both Salem and Lynn claim the Atlantic Ocean as resources. Camp Lion is owned by the Lions Club of Lynn and provides access to woodlands, trails, vernal pools and Spring Pond - the perfect location for a nature preschool.
Spring Pond
Camp Lion is nestled close to Spring Pond, historically known as a retreat spot. Famous historic writers, Alonzo Lewis and Samuel W. Cole, wrote about the breathtaking presence these areas have.
"I never witnessed any growth that awakened my admiration more. Not withstanding the injuries sustained by fires, and other wanton encroachments, the whole region about the beautiful sheet of water long known as Spring Pond, whose waters supply the city of Salem with elixer of life, is made beautiful by their verdure."
by Samuel W. Cole, writer, historian, educator
Our Board of Directors
President
Cheryl Dressler, Ed.D., Harvard University specializes in research on language and literacy development for Dual Language Learners, and developing vocabulary curricula (Wordly Wise 3000, VIOLETS). She has taught education courses at Lesley University and the University of Massachusetts, and English as a second language at the primary, secondary and university levels in the U.S. and Switzerland. Cheryl believes in the power of nature and an active, arts-infused, embodied curriculum to promote not only required academic competencies but also excitement about learning.
Vice President
Loan Nguyen, B.A., Tufts University, is a cultural producer and certified Teacher to Speakers of Other Languages specializing in education and interdisciplinary media. She has over 10 years of experience working across interactive media, early education, higher ed, film, and theater with primary interests in creative communications that center play-based learning initiatives, specifically with an eye towards cultivating equity through place-making, decolonized language, and partnerships. Most recently, she taught with Company One's in-school theater program at the Josiah Quincy School in Boston's Chinatown, prior to which she was an Extended Day Pre-Primary Teacher at the Torit Montessori School. She is a new mother and Lynn resident.
Board Members
Jenny Helmick, M.S., Tufts University, A.B. Harvard University, a resident of Salem, MA, served for many years as a parent, teacher, and trustee at the Cape Ann Waldorf School (now Waldorf School at Moraine Farm) in Beverly, MA. She initiated a nature- and place-based curriculum at the school and worked on issues of affordability and access to Waldorf education for families from all walks of life. She attended the high school teacher training at the Center for Anthroposophy, where she now serves on the Board of Directors. She also works with the House of Peace in Ipswich, MA, which serves refugees of war in community with people with disabilities. She has done environmental consulting since 1988, and is passionate about humans working toward balance with the biosphere in a just way.
Nicole McClain, B.A., Ashford University, currently pursuing M.Ed. at Boston College in Educational Leadership and Policy. Nicole is a wife, mother and lifelong resident of Lynn. She is a veteran, having served 11 years in the Army National Guard with deployments to Iraq in 2004 and 2008. A community advocate and entrepreneur, Nicole owned and operated Rising Stars Childcare Services, a home-based early education service for six years, ran for local political office in 2021 and is now working at Salvation Army Lynn as the Director of their school age program. She is also the Founder and President of North Shore Juneteenth Association, a non-profit organization. North Shore Juneteenth Association is a group of community leaders seeking to create awareness about the Juneteenth holiday, educate the broader community about positive aspects of African American culture, and work toward dismantling racism using events and programming as a tool for change. Her organization has organized numerous community events, collaborated with many other community organizations to produce positive outcomes and vows to always be a force for positive change. Nicole serves on various boards and commissions to include the Essex County Commission on the Status of Women, Concerned Citizens Of Lynn, The Lynn Human Rights Commission and DAV Chapter 64 Lynn-Swampscott.
Attorney Frances J. Weiner, a native and current resident of Swampscott, is a graduate of Connecticut College and Suffolk University Law School. Ms. Weiner also has a Master’s Degree in Education from Boston University, and taught Bilingual Education/English as a Second Language in both the Boston and Peabody Public Schools. She was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1992 and has concentrated her practice in Juvenile, Criminal, Family and Probate Law. Ms. Weiner also practices in Child Welfare Law and is a Mentor with the CPCS Children and Family Law Program (CAFL). She has also been the Children and Family Law Resource Attorney for Southern Essex County since 2014. Ms. Weiner was the recipient of the Judge Lydon Award in May 2017 from the Massachusetts Juvenile Bar Association. She has also served as a past Vice-President of the Greater Lynn Bar Association. Ms. Weiner is fluent in Spanish and has a strong working knowledge of French. She has lived abroad in Spain, France, and Colombia. When she is not working, Attorney Weiner can be found on her bicycle, working with the Friends of the Swampscott Rail Trail, and traveling abroad to new places.