Sharon and her four grandchildren.
Please help us welcome Sharon Bagatell to our Wash & Learn Durham team as our newest storytime leader!
Sharon moved to the Triangle in May after living at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri for 10 years. At Dancing Rabbit, an intentional community, she served as Education Coordinator for the nonprofit Center for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture. In this role, Sharon coordinated and taught permaculture design courses, natural building, and communication and conflict resolution skills. Her dedication to environmental education for children was initially inspired by Lynn Cherry’s beautifully illustrated story The Great Kapok Tree in the early 1990s.
Sharon has also taught elementary school in the Atlanta Public Schools. She taught bicycle and pedestrian education in schools around the Atlanta area, and developed the pilot program for Safe Routes to Schools for the state of Georgia. She currently teaches Spanish at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind and does private Spanish tutoring. She describes herself as a “full-time volunteer” with Citizens’ Climate Lobby, promoting a legislative solution to climate change. Among other leadership roles, she leads the Citizens’ Climate Lobby national Youth Action Team, supporting young people in taking action on climate. In her free time, Sharon loves to hike and contra dance.
Sharon has always been passionate about story-reading, and she has passed the love of reading on to her own children and grandchildren. In fact, her most vivid childhood memory is of her mother reading to her. She also has great familiarity with laundromats, which is why she is so excited to be joining the Wash & Learn Durham team. “As a single parent of two boys, I spent many an afternoon years ago keeping my children safe and occupied as I endeavored to wash our clothes. I saw how a laundromat environment can be both a challenge as well as a community space for young families.”
We are delighted to have Sharon joining us and our families in our laundromats to share stories! Please help us welcome her to the team.