Belva Stone—Director/Founder, Co-Teacher in Sandpiper and Finches Program
“Exploring the outdoors through the eyes of a child is one of the most inspiring things.”
–Miss Belva
Miss Belva has been working with children for 20 years. She spent 12 years as a private nanny specializing in children aged 0-5yrs. During the latter portion of that time, she studied at VCC to get her Early Childhood Education certificate. In 2010 Miss Belva accepted her first preschool teaching job at a traditional Montessori school. She worked there for 4 years before shifting directions into outdoor education.
Along with being the Director of Muddy Boot Prints, Miss Belva is the chair of the SAP Non-Profit Board (that oversees the Saplings Independent Nature School) and the OELA Non-Profit Board. The OELA is a non-profit dedicated to supporting outdoor educators in British Columbia as well as supporting getting outdoor education licensed in BC. Belva routinely offers presentations and workshops about outdoor education to local colleges and universities throughout the year. Belva has been an active community member working towards getting outdoor education licensed in British Columbia since 2016. The progress is slow and steady!
When Belva isn’t teaching, presenting or doing admin work, she can be found with her fingers in the dirt of one of her many garden beds, or wrestling with her hand spun and hand dyed wool that she loves to create.
Debbie Leboe, Lead Teacher -Sandpiper and Finches Program
Being outdoors in nature allows for authentic cooperative play, children have the space and freedom to follow their own interests and the environment becomes our classroom.
– Miss Debbie
Miss Debbie has been working in Canada as an educator for 14 years. Her childhood was spent on a small mystical Island in the Irish sea surrounded by beaches and covered in woodland. She spent her days outside exploring and playing. Her love of nature continued when she came to Vancouver 25 years ago and was so mesmerized by the beauty of BC she settled here.
She trained as an elementary teacher in the UK and has continued her journey as she became an ESL teacher in Vancouver in 2015. Over the years Debbie has worked as a private tutor and in Vancouver community centres as an instructor with preschool aged children. Debbie is a recent graduate from Langara College and is now a certified Early Childhood Educator!
She was inspired by the play based approach she discovered in her children’s parent participation preschool and her recent volunteer work in outdoor preschools opened her eyes to the opportunities afforded when learning is taken outside.
Debbie is a certified Early Childhood Educator and so excited to be a part of MBP and exploring outdoors this year.
In her spare time in the Summer you can find Debbie in her garden or at the beach paddling in her canoe and in the Winter she will be up in the mountains.
Iuliana Banack Tapia, Lead Teacher Flicker Program
Working alongside children outside just feels so natural to me as I share a similar awe of life as they do.
– Miss Iuliana
Miss Iuliana (You-lee-ana) is very excited to join the Muddy Boot Prints team. She spent a year working for the YMCA doing after school care and realized that her passions lay with the younger children. On weekends she has been volunteering with children from lower income families leading them in outdoor adventures.
For 10 winters, Iuliana taught kids with special needs to ski on Grouse Mountain.
Iuliana has a passion for working with kids and has always gravitated towards being around children. It comes naturally to her as her father is in outdoor education and has shown her how special being outside and learning outside is. She is currently working towards obtaining her Early Childhood Education certificate through the Vancouver Community College.
Miss Iuliana is very excited to be a part of the Muddy Boot Prints Team!
Marina Stamboulieh, Flicker Co-Teacher
When nature is the classroom and children have space to explore, their creativity, resilience and collaboration skills blossom. It’s a privilege to be a part of this process!
– Miss Marina
Marina’s love of nature and the outdoors began in childhood. Her mom, a naturalist and teacher, took her all over the mountains and grasslands, teaching her how to identify wildflowers, birds and mushrooms. She grew up in the country, enjoying an adventurous childhood full of risky play, fresh air, gardening and lots of encounters with farm animals and wildlife.
Marina is a certified Early Childhood Educator and a recent graduate of the Master of Professional Education program at Western University. She has worked in licensed preschool and childcare settings and as a Lead Facilitator at Fresh Air Learning’s summer forest-school camps. Outside of Muddy Boot Prints, Marina is a therapeutic tutor at a private school, supporting school aged children and youth with language-based learning differences.
When Marina isn’t teaching, she loves birding, creating art in various mediums and spending time with her family, which includes her daughter, husband, cat and dog.