Staff

Greg Brown: Founder, Lead Facilitator (School & Camp), and Literacy Specialist

Greg is originally from the Boston area. He studied media arts at Emerson College and focused on audio production, film, video, photography, and design. After college, he immersed himself in the local Boston music scene. He played in a band, worked as a sound engineer, and sold audio equipment.

Eventually, he returned to school to become a special education teacher. After completing his master's program, he moved to Portland and started his teaching career with PPS. He taught as a special ed teacher for several years. Then he became a classroom teacher and was honored as Teacher of the Year.

While teaching with PPS, he operated Activate, which offered arts-based summer camps and private dyslexia tutoring. After 15 years with PPS, he resigned to pursue Activate full-time. When COVID hit, Activate transitioned into a progressive microschool.

When he's not teaching or running camps, he records music under the name ‘gbtn.’ He also enjoys collecting records, hiking, swimming, cycling, studying orthography, plant-based cooking, and reading about radical approaches to education. 

Cork Bochner: Math Specialist

Cork grew up in the Chicago area in a household of educators and artists. After high school, After high school, Cork set his sights westward. Cork's first stop was as a student at the University of Montana in Missoula. Cork then wound his way to the west coast, landing in the beautiful state of Oregon, where he met his wife Sukey.

Cork has spent a good chunk of his life traveling the world, first as a solo explorer in the wilds of Southeast Asia, and later, in a family unit, globetrotting for a year with his wife and two children.

Cork gained his first experience as an educator teaching children English in Jakarta, Indonesia. Later, after completing his BS in Psychology at Portland State University, Cork worked with emotionally traumatized children at the Perry Center in Portland. Discovering his love of teaching and working with children, Cork completed his AMI Montessori training at the Montessori Institute Northwest and went to work as a Montessori guide (teacher) at The Lewis and Clark Montessori Charter School in Damascus, Oregon.

Cork has always had a special affinity for teaching children to love mathematics, both as a Montessori guide and while tutoring his own children at home.

Cork is excited for the opportunity to join the Activate staff where he hopes to establish an innovative Montessori hybrid math curriculum.

Brenna Hodges: Art Specialist & Aftercare Leader

Brenna grew up in northern Minnesota and studied Communications at the College of St. Benedict. She was then accepted to a teaching program, Teach for America, and moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a first-grade teacher.

Over the next decade she received her master’s in elementary education, coached and mentored incoming teachers, helped open a new school specializing in project-based learning, and became a lead art teacher for grades K-6. She loved all of her roles in education, but becoming an art teacher was especially fulfilling as it was a perfect blend of her skills and interests. 

Brenna moved from Nashville to Portland with her husband in July 2022. She spent her initial year pursuing her own art career but has deeply missed working with students in a school setting. She is thrilled to be joining the team at Activate and can’t wait to see each student’s creativity come to life.