Instructor Bios
Juanita Allen Kingsley
DCH Classes: BLAST – Babysitting Training, Home Alone Safety, Heartsaver First Aid & CPR
Juanita Allen Kingsley is an EMT with Wilderness Certification. She is also certified as an Instructor and Instructor Trainer by the American Heart Association and trains approximately 1800 people a year in CPR/First Aid/Defibrillator Training and Wilderness First Aid. She also teaches the BLAST Babysitting, Home Alone Safety and Safe Kids classes for children for many local agencies. Juanita is the Director of Business Development for Century Health Systems and serves on the Board of Directors for Hale Reservation.
Jon Elsensohn
DCH Classes: Woodworking for Kids
Jon's interest in carpentry started out as purely academic. Well, more accurately, it was carpentry that allowed for academics. He started working in construction as a means to put himself through college and then grad school. Somewhere along the way Jon started playing with more decorative and ornamental techniques, adding furniture and jewelry making to his framing and carpentry skills. He tries to bring both elements, the structural and the aesthetic, into the woodshop at DCH. There, he tries to help the kids explore the essential structure of an object (how many sides does a box need?) as well as the elements that will make that structure their own. It is Jon's goal for all the kids that have participated in his program to leave with a project they made with their own hands, but also a better understanding of how a pile of lumber and a few screws can become almost anything, from a pencil to a building.
Adriana Lopez
DCH Classes: Aqua Zumba, Zumba, Zumba Toning
Adriana inherited her love of dance from her Abuela. Just like her grandmother, she was always dancing around the house whenever her Dad was playing Marimba, Salsa, Merengue, or other Latin music. She has embraced her Latin heritage and passion for dance by sharing it with others through the Zumba® Fitness Program. She is a member of the Zumba® Instructor Network (ZIN™) which enables her to communicate with other instructors from all over the world as well as stay up to date with new music, choreography, promotions, and events. Adriana has completed her training to teach Zumba, Zumba Toning, Zumbatomic, and Aqua Zumba. Adriana encourages all levels to embrace the Zumba motto "Ditch the workout, Join the Party!”
Mike McGee
DCH Classes: Preschool Beginner & Intermediate Sports
Mike is an experienced educator with a professional background in Training and Development and Non-Profit management. He has teaching and coaching experience in multiple sports spanning over 25 years. Besides being involved in community leagues in multiple states he also has Varsity level head coaching experience in basketball, soccer and softball and has created and implemented elementary school starter programs for several private organizations.
Chris McDermott
DCH Classes: Cooking Series
Chris is a self-taught home cook who is passionate about real cooking and great food in the home. He grew up in Boston's South Shore and experienced fantastic cooking from his Irish mother and Italian grandmother. After marrying and settling down, Chris and his wife Rachael continued to eat the wonderful home cooking of their families and at many great restaurants. Throughout this time, Chris grew more interested in cooking (as evidenced by stacks of books and magazines around the house and hours of watching celebrity chefs on television). Over the past several years Chris has spent his free time learning to cook all of the memorable and exciting meals that he enjoyed and he's actually come up with a few good ones on his own. The bottom line is that he's learned that you don't have to be a trained professional chef to make mouth-watering sole meuniere or restaurant-quality rack of lamb. All you have to be is willing to try...
Marnna McGlone
DCH Classes: Floral Design Classes
Marnna has been a florist manager at Stop & Shop for over 30 years and has a degree in Spanish from Framingham State College. In her many years in the floral industry she has done everything from small arrangements to full weddings! Her classes have included everything from general arranging to holiday specific workshops for Thanksgiving, Christmas and more.
Sensie John Morash
DCH Classes: Martial Arts Boot Camp, Advanced Karate, Tai Chi, Ninja Camp
John W. Morash M.Ed., Martial Arts Director. AKA Sensie, Sifu and Loashur has been involved in the martial arts for half a century. His Karate, Jui Jitsu and Taichi programs here at DCH are world class and his students compete annually at world championships. Sensie welcomes all to his classes!
Denny Morell
DCH Classes: Acting 101, Ballet for Beginners, Creative Movement
Denny has had extensive training, teaching and performance experience in dance and the performing arts. She graduated from the Boston Conservatory and has a Masters degree from Emerson College. Denny studied classical ballet in Australia with the Victorian Ballet Company. She graduated and was accepted into the Victorian Ballet Company performing in the major Classical Ballets. Denny has directed and choreographed many productions. She is an artist-in-residence at Mass Bay Community College in Wellesley.
Carol O’Connor
DCH Classes: Pilates, Yogalates
Carol O’Connor has taught the Pilates classes at DCH for the past two years. In addition to those she also teaches at the West Roxbury YMCA and is a personal trainer. Outside of the exercise world Carol also is the owner of Tablecritic, Inc. which includes event planning services and a local restaurant review website.
