Our Team

We are a worker-owned cooperative, and are collaboratively building the Mycelium Cooperative

Founding Teacher Owner

Ryan Pleune

*CO Dept Early Childhood - Director and Coach Certified 2022

*Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO) Coach Certified 2022

*MS Ecological Teaching and Learning - Lesley University 2011

*BA Biology (Focus on Field Ecology) Colorado College 2000

*CO Teaching License Science 7-12 w/ ELL Designation

*Wilderness First Responder 2021

Ryan is a web weaver and a bringer of people and ideas. He has taught and facilitated ecological literacy for over 25 years both inside and outside the formal classroom with ages 3 through adult.

Ryan is a "re-wilding" practitioner and has been since age 3. He honors the natural and inherent beauty of human migration while still being accountable to repair settler colonial oppression and border imperialism. He resides on stolen native land, Tsêhéstáno (Cheyenne) and Hinono'eino (Arapaho) unceded territory and works towards reconciliation through Land Back initiatives. His heart and soul are rooted in the intermountain west bio-region but like all White Americans his relatives are immigrants. Born and raised in Denver, attending integrated DPS schools (Park Hill Elementary 1989; Smiley Middle 1992; Manual High School 1996).

He reveres the interweaving of life and organizes for climate justice transitions addressing the human induced Sixth Mass Extinction. He aims to help students and society participate in the global movement to protect life on Earth, sometimes listening to “youth wisdom” before listening to “adults”. For the last several years, while working as an Ecological Literacy Specialist in Denver Public Schools and in Salt Lake City Public Schools, he has been a researcher and practitioner of Land Based and Nature Based Pedagogy and/or Forest Schools and also creating modified Forest School programming for public schools.

Email Ryan: ryan@grasslandgardenschool.org

See more and connect with Ryan on LinkedIN below

MSW Intern and Co-Teacher

Madelynn Westhoff (she/her)

*Candidate for Master of Social Work at the University of Denver, 2027

*Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Minor Sociology and Criminology, University of Missouri 2021

*AAT Certified

Madelyn is a foundation year student at the University of Denver and is enrolled in their Master of Social Work Program with a specialization in Mental Health. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a B.A. in Psychology with minors in Criminology and Sociology.

For the past year, she has worked as a Case Manager for an outpatient trauma center in DTC where she facilitated skills and education groups for their PHP patients. She has a passion for helping people of all ages better connect with their emotions and approach themselves with openness, acceptance, and self-compassion. She is also a certified Auricular Acudetox Technician and believes in a holistic approach to health and healing.

She believes in the restorative and reparative healing of the outdoors and is excited to further explore how nature can bring people growth and a sense of centeredness.

Email Madelyn:

RLE@grasslandgardenschool.org