THE TEAM
Felicity Muench -
Executive Director & Co-Founder of OV4C
Felicity Muench’s passion for music began at the age of 7 when she began classical guitar lessons with Cuban concert guitarist Hector Garcia. At age 16 she began teaching private guitar students and wanted to pursue a career in teaching and performing. After receiving her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of New Mexico, she went on to receive her Master of Arts degree from California State University, Northridge California.
She headed the classical guitar department at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, CO from 1997 - 2015 where she also taught music business, guitar literature, pedagogy and fretted techniques. A dedicated teacher, she formed the Boulder Guitar Society in 1995 to give adults the opportunity to perform in a supportive environment. Felicity currently teaches privately with a full studio of students ranging in age from 5 – 83.
Felicity’s entrepreneurial spirit led her to form Musical Bouquet LLC in 1987 which provides therapeutic music for patients in hospitals and other health care facilities. In concert, she performs both as a soloist and with Silverwood Flute and Guitar duo. Silverwood has performed for the Placitas Concert Series in New Mexico, the National Flute Association in Cleveland Ohio and in La Jolla California.
Her recording “Amoroso Guitar Duo – Romantic Music from South America” was released in 2016. Latin guitar virtuoso Alfredo Muro performs on the CD. Both musicians have performed together in Colorado and Mexico. Felicity provided the classical guitar music for the award winning documentary “Vinnie Ream – Lincoln’s Young Sculptor” which is sold at the White House in Washington D.C. She hosted and provided music for a second documentary about the Carnegie Library in Longmont Colorado which was televised in 2015.
Her collaboration with Dr. Gregg Cannady and the formation of One Voice 4 Change LLC was inspired from the idea that each person’s voice can be used for strength and change. “Giving Strength through Education to Those Who Need a Voice for Change” is the dream this organization hopes to achieve.
Magazine Article from "Canvas Rebel." (July 2022)
https://canvasrebel.com/meet-felicity-muench/
SHOUTOUT Colorado: July 2022 LINK
Gregg Cannady
COO and Co-Founder of OV4C
Dr. Gregg Canady has worked with OV4C on an approach to learning where relationships are at the heart of equal learning opportunities for all students. The results have been miracles in learning made possible by listening to students, teachers, industry leaders, parents, and communities. Many of these miracles can be seen in our OV4V Blogs. https://www.onevoice4change.org/blog
One Voice 4 Change has brought together local, national, and even international communities to discover how to empower students via simple relationships and collaborations with industry and subject matter experts.
Dr. Cannady was the Director of Collaboration and Concept Development for a STEM school in Colorado. With the help of an executive-level industry advisory board, he led a movement in learning called Building Ships.
Relationships, Mentorships, Partnerships,
Internships, Apprenticeships, Friendships,
Mission: We are inviting industry, community, and businesses to join us in making sure every student has the kind of “ships” that promote kindness, readiness for future careers, and passion for infinite opportunities to help humanity.
Dr. Cannady received a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado, a M.A. in Music Education from the University of Wyoming, and a B.A. in Music Education from Colorado State University. Choral ensembles under his direction have performed at several state and national conferences and have toured extensively in the United States, China, Italy and Germany.
He developed a music education curriculum using digital applications such as Ableton 9, PUSH, AudioCubes and the music composition software Sibelius. Dr. Cannady presented this real-world approach to teaching music at workshops for music educators at state and national music conferences. This real-world approach to music education led to research and development of real-world, real-time collaborative learning with K-12 students in almost every subject.
The magic happens when teachers work with industries, businesses, and community leaders to facilitate the infinite potential of all students.
Dr. Cannady is also working with DSST in Colorado as Manager of STEM and Student Experiences.
Tom Kirk
I grew up in Arvada Colorado and attended Jeffco Schools. I have a BA in History from Northern Colorado and a Masters in Administration from Regis University.
I taught social studies and coached in the Loveland and Fort Collins schools for seven years. And then spent twenty two awesome years in the Eagle County School District.
My experiences in all places were tremendous, with fantastic colleagues, administration and above all, kids. I am so fortunate. I want the same for any young person entering the field.
The "wow moments” that have influenced me:
1985 = Introduced to project centered learning and being a part of an impacting, "everyone has a role” football program at Loveland High School.
1992 = Engaging in a collaborative culture, emphasizing strength based learning at Battle Mountain High School.
2005 = Participating in a “family” culture with the Eagle Valley High football program, with a focus on development (character as well as athletic) for young people.
2014. = My first encounter with a modern rendition of a "maker space" at Basalt Middle School. It was like Hey! This is just like my 7th grade year at Arvada Junior High, except you can do math and science while building cool stuff!!
The other critical piece was collaborating with the Aspen Art Museum with their outreach at Red Hill Elementary in Gypsum. This is where we implemented their take on “Visual Thinking” and how to embed it within a student’s creation.
With “VTS” there is no wrong way to to engage, thereby validating the kids efforts. And coming up amazing creativity that celebrates the individual, within a collaborative framework.
2018 = Connecting with Dr. Cannady - and in 2021 starting the process of Martian Greenhouse at Tiger Trades Academy in La Junta. And here we are!
My passion is to find those quiet kids, that have as much as anyone to contribute. And to find ways to showcase what they can bring to us all.
Margaret Albrecht
Margaret Albrecht spent her 40-year career in Corporate Treasury with global organizations, including Electronic Data Systems, Hughes Aircraft Company, The Walt Disney Company, First Data Corporation and Visa, Inc. Creating best practices, automation and fostering team camaraderie were her passions. Now retired, Margaret is focused on partnering with youth organizations that encourage Financial Literacy and career discovery. She attended San Diego State University, earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance. Margaret is a native Coloradan raised in west Denver.
Anne Tweed
Anne Tweed, is the Director of STEM Learning Solutions, LLC in Denver. She holds a BA in Biology from Colorado College and an MS in Botany from the University of Minnesota. Her work includes educational research, curriculum development and professional development related to teaching and learning. She also provides technical assistance to districts and state departments of education around effective instruction along with developing and implementing STEM initiatives. Ongoing professional development workshops feature effective science, engineering and math instruction, designing effective STEM lessons, developing Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) lessons and implementing formative assessment effectively in classrooms. She has developed PD models as a co-principal investigator on a major NSF NanoTeach project and an IES Formative Assessment project. She is an advocate of student problem-solving and experiential learning that provides relevant learning and fosters collaborations locally, regionally and internationally.
A 30-year veteran classroom teacher, Tweed is also a past-president of the National Science Teachers Association (2004-2005). She has published many articles, authored and co-authored several books, and given more than 300 presentations and workshops at state, national and international conferences.
Sharon Usher
After 33 years of teaching, Sharon recently retired. Sharon has always had the desire to open up opportunities for students. Sharon had an amazing opportunity when she was just 16 years old to travel to Spain and live with a family in a small fishing village of 600 people. This opportunity opened her eyes to learning about new cultures, acceptance, and that communication doesn’t need to be in a commonly spoken language, as well as how a whole town works together. After teaching travel and tourism at the high school level for twenty years and seeing the importance of hands-on internships for her students, she became the Executive High School Internship Program Director. This program placed 200 high academic seniors each year within the Jefferson County School system on a 100-hour internship in the field they hoped to pursue. This required a lot of networking with businesses in the area and allowed so many life-changing opportunities for high school seniors to see what life in the career field looks like as well as gain mentors in the industry.
Connecting people and creating mentorships has been a rewarding opportunity that Sharon hopes to continue in retirement.
Sharon has a BA in Education/Spanish from Westminster College in PA, and a Master’s degree in Education and Human Resources from Colorado State University.
Ronald Parsons
Ron is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Colorado who carries a small caseload of private practice clients. Over the past two years he has developed a friendship with Felicity Muench as she and Ron’s wife, Diana, have become good friends and often share time playing the guitar and recorder as a duet.
Ronald Parsons received his B.A. in Zoology and a California Teaching Credential from the University of California, Berkeley. He received his Masters and Doctorate of Social Welfare from U.C.L.A.
He spent two years in the Peace Corps teaching Biology in Ghana. He spent one year teaching high school in the US before attending U.C.L.A. He also spent two years teaching Social Work at Michigan State University.
Over his career Ron has spent 22 years as a public health consultant for the State of Michigan serving as the director of data services, public health consultant with local health departments over the state of Michigan. He served for 4 years as the Executive Director of the Michigan Mid-South Health Systems Agency guiding the health planning efforts of a 6 county region.
He has served as the director of Adult Outpatient services for a Community Mental Health Center in Toledo, Ohio. He has also worked as a private practice therapist in Toledo and Lansing before moving to Colorado.
Ron worked for a major software development company as a Business Analyst to provide a communication bridge between IT and the business stakeholders in the development of a multistate software system.
While in Michigan Ron served as the Treasurer for the Greater Lansing branch of the Friendship Force. He also led a group of 25 visitors on a three week Friendship Force trip visiting 3 chapters of the Friendship Force in Ghana.
Brenda Meether
An active composer & piano teacher, Ms. Meether is a classically trained pianist who earned her BA in Music Education with emphasis in piano performance & music therapy from the University of Nebraska. Brenda grew up in a musically talented family and began playing piano by ear at age 6. Singing in local choirs and creating her own songs. In high school Brenda began piano/vocal composing leading to her first publicly performed choral piece.
Brenda has written works for piano solo, piano/ vocal, and piano/ instrumental. The Wind’s Answer won honorable mention from the National Flute Associations’ New Composers Competition and Facing A Dragon critiqued comments of “having passion reminiscent of Beethoven”. Her work “Dream of the Cave Bear” will be part of a compilation for early intermediate piano solo. She has accompanied for students on various juries & recitals, master classes, & vocal coaching.
Brenda briefly mentored with Colorado composer Kevin Asbjornson. She has studied classical piano/piano performance with Dr. Helen Walker Hill, Dr. Brenda Ishikawa, Larry Ryan, & Dr. Patricia Holmberg; classical piano music and movement with Dr. Alexandra Pierce; music arranging with Dr. Ron Crocker; voice with Dr. David Bauer, Cody Qualls and Eve Maison-Pierre, Guitar with Dr. Ron Crocker, & chord studies with jazz trombonist & pianist Darren Kramer of DKO. Brenda’s connection with violinist Gregory T.S. Walker also has brought much personal inspiration. She performs piano-guitar duets with guitarist husband Morgan.
Jacquelynne Sue Eccles
Distinguished Professor of Education
School of Education
University of California, Irvine
Jacquelynne S. Eccles is the Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of California, Irvine and formerly the McKeachie/Pintrich Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Michigan, as well as Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Gender and Achievement Research Program at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
Professor Eccles has been honored by several awards including the Kurt Lewin Memorial Award for "outstanding contributions to the development and integration of psychological research and social action" from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues; lifetime achievement awards from SRA, Division 15 of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, the Society for the Study of Human Development, and the Self Society; the Bronfennbrenner Award for Research from Division 7 of the APA; the APA Lifetime Award for Service in Supporting Psychological Research; and the APA Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in Psychology in the Public Interest. She has received honorary degrees from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium and the University of Laval in Quebec City, Canada. Finally, she is a member of the National Academy of Education, a World Scholar at the University of London, Visiting Professor at the University of Tubingen, Germany, and Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia.
Over the past 30 years, Professor Eccles has conducted research on a wide variety of topics including gender-role socialization, teacher expectancies, classroom influences on student motivation, and social development in the family and school context. One of the leading developmental scientists of her generation, she has made seminal contributions to the study of achievement-related decisions and development. Most notably, her expectancy-value theory of motivation and her concept of stage-environment have served as perhaps the most dominant models of achievement during the school years, contributing to extensive research and reform efforts to improve the nature of secondary school transitions. Professor Eccles also has been a major figure in the study of after-school activities, authoring a seminal National Research Council report that outlined the most effective ways for such activities to meet the developmental needs of adolescents.
Professor Eccles’s service to her profession has been extraordinary. She served as Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Social, Behavioral and Economic Directorate at the National Science Foundation, and Chair of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Pathways through Middle Childhood. She is past editor of the journal Developmental Psychology, Journal for Research on Adolescence, and formerly associate editor of Psychological Bulletin and Child Development, AERA Open, and American Psychologist. She is past president of Division 7 of APA, the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA), and Division 35 of APA, and has served on the faculty at Smith College, the University of Colorado, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, Irvine.
Debra Crespo
Greetings!
I have worked in finance/accounting for over 36 years. I have worked in many different industries during my 36 years including nonprofits and for profit entities. I have a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting, and a minor in Philosophy. I held a CPA certification while working in public accounting and let that credential expire when I moved to the private sector of finance.
The last 6.5 years I have worked for a non-profit company as the Manager of Finance and HR (Berkshire Training and Employment, Inc. DBA MassHire Berkshire Career Center). Our company services the unemployed and underemployed both adults and youth. We assist with obtaining training funding as well as providing inhouse GED classes for youth who need to obtain their high school credentials before entering the job market.
I have also served on many non-profit boards as both Treasurer and a board member at large. I served for 10 years as the Treasurer of the Parson Russell Terrier Association of America and currently serve as a board member. I termed out of the Treasurer position and chose to continue as an elected board member.
I served as Treasurer of two other non-profit organizations for two years each. Although my career has been in the finance arena, my passion is the sport of dogs. I look forward to working with One Voice 4 Change.
