Meet the Foundations Staff

Charles Braman: Saint Olaf College, B.A., English. Pace University, M.S., Teaching. While at St. Olaf, Charlie played varsity soccer, was the President of the St. Olaf chapter of Amnesty International, and studied abroad in Costa Rica, Cuba, China, and Japan. After graduating with honors from St. Olaf College, Charlie spent a year working as an ESL teacher in Montevideo, Uruguay. Charlie also traveled extensively in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Peru. While in the south of Chile, Charlie worked briefly for an adventure tourism agency in Patagonia. Since returning to the United States in 2006, Charlie has been working as a middle school English/ESL teacher in the New York City Department of Education. He is a 2007 Teach For America Corps member, and recently completed a Masters degree in Teaching at Pace University in Manhattan. Charlie enjoys all sports, photography, and creative writing. He is proficient in Spanish.

Scott Green: University of Iowa, B.A., Spanish. National-Louis University, M.A., Secondary Education. During college Scott spent a semester in Seville, Spain, where he studied Spanish culture and arts at the Universidad de Sevilla and lived with a host family. At the end of the semester, Scott spent a month backpacking throughout Europe and Morocco. After graduating, Scott took a month-long vacation to Costa Rica and fell in love with the people and culture. He decided to stay, and, over the course of the next two years living adjacent to the cloud forest of Monteverde, Scott taught English to young adults and worked for a Costa Rican tourism website. Scott also worked as a photographer near Cancún, Mexico at an adventure tour park. After returning home to his native Chicago, he decided to pursue a teaching degree and now teaches Spanish at a private K-8 school in Chicago. He has spent the past two summers as the sports director at a day camp. Scott has traveled throughout parts of Central America and South America and is looking forward to spending time in Panama at the end of this summer. His interests include beach volleyball, rock music, photography, and Costa Rican food. He is fluent in Spanish.

Schuyler Hedstrom (Director): Dartmouth College, B.A. Phi Beta Kappa. While at Dartmouth, Schuyler spent two semesters abroad, studying Spanish art history in Barcelona and studying drama with coaches from the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. After performing and teaching theatre in San Francisco for two years, he moved to Madrid to teach English and acting to Spaniards. Now in his seventh year in Madrid, Schuyler still teaches but also runs a bilingual theatre company which he founded. A Vermont native, Schuyler enjoys hiking, swimming, and yoga. He has traveled throughout Europe, Asia, and Central America, and is fluent in Spanish and Italian. This will be Schuyler's tenth summer with Putney: his trips include two Cultural Exploration programs in Australia/New Zealand/Fiji and in Switzerland/Italy/France/Holland, a Community Service program in Hawaii, four summers with Excel Madrid/Barcelona, and this will be his third summer as director of Foundations.

Lauren Latto: Scripps College, B.A. in English, minor in Hispanic Studies. While at Scripps College in Southern California, Lauren pursued her love of reading and writing as an English major, completing a senior thesis on contemporary Latino/a literature. She contributed to the student-run newspaper, The Voice, and served as the co-Editor-in-Chief of the paper her senior year. Lauren’s first experience in Costa Rica was during high school on a language immersion program. Her junior year of college, Lauren spent a semester living in Buenos Aires, Argentina and exploring the Southern Cone of South America, an experience that cemented her interest in Latin American travel, culture and the Spanish language. During college, she spent her summers on Orcas Island, as a camp counselor at Camp Orkila. Next year, Lauren will be moving to Boston to be a member of the MATCH corps, an urban education fellowship program at the MATCH Charter Middle School. Lauren loves Oregon, travel, reading, writing, kickboxing and adventuring. She is proficient in Spanish.

Melissa Pritchard: Alfred University, B.A. Oregon State University, MAT. At Oregon State, Melissa received the Springer-Burrill Golden Apple Award for the most promising teacher. After college, Melissa worked as a dinnerware designer for the Pfaltzgraff Company in York, Pennsylvania. In 2002 she was awarded a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship to study design in Barcelona. Melissa finished a Jewelry Design degree at Barcelona’s Escola Massana in 2007 while working as the elementary art teacher at The Benjamin Franklin International School. Last year, she returned to Oregon to pursue a Master’s Degree in bilingual/immersion elementary education at Oregon State University. Melissa has been living and working in Barcelona for six years. She currently teaches second grade at The Benjamin Franklin International School. In her free time she enjoys traveling, hiking, running, and making jewelry. Melissa is fluent in Spanish and Catalan. She has worked on the Excel Madrid/Barcelona program for four years. This will be her first year with Foundations in Costa Rica.