BOARD CHAIR, Position 5

Camp Sherman native Marie Sheahan “Bear” Brown joined the Black Butte School Board in 2013. She has loved BBS ever since she and her identical twin attended the early grades here. Their mom was principal and upper-grades teacher. The family moved when her parents bought a weekly newspaper in Central Washington, where Bear worked in various capacities. Writing and editing are in her genes, although she didn’t pursue a journalism career. She now serves as editor of ALERT Camp Sherman, started by seven local women during the January 2017 blizzard. She earned a BA in French at the University of Washington and an accounting certificate at Heald Business College in Sacramento. She carries a little toolbox of handy gifts and skills, applied as needed. While working in Catholic hospitals, she felt drawn to religious life. She embarked upon an intense many-years formation process, including courses at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and an 18-month novitiate in Laredo, Texas. In July 2010, she professed religious vows as a Sister of the Metolius at the Camp Sherman Community Hall. Bear loves to serve in her beloved home community. A member of the Chinook Indian Nation, she also serves her ancestral community.

BOARD VICE CHAIR, Position 2

School Board member, Karen Lajoy, is a native Oregonian. She was born in Portland, raised in Salem and received her BS degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology from the University of Oregon in Eugene. Karen moved to Seattle, Washington after college to pursue a Master’s degree in Speech Pathology at the University of Washington. She worked two years after finishing her Master’s degree in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the UW. She continued working part time at UW while pursuing and completing her PhD in Rehabilitation Medicine from the UW. Karen helped develop three rehabilitation programs in the Seattle area for traumatically brain injured individuals during her 20 years there. She returned to Portland to be closer to family in 1996 and worked remotely for a company that managed patient care for catastrophically injured individuals. Shortly after returning to Portland, Karen started dating a family friend from her childhood, Tim Bickler, whom she married in 1998. Karen had loved the outdoors since her college years. Her love for the Camp Sherman area developed from her relationship with Tim. Together they spent time camping, hiking and enjoying the area; an area Tim had spent his entire life enjoying. They decided to make Camp Sherman their retirement destination. They have owned a home here since 2013 and became full time residents in 2019 after Karen’s retirement. It is an honor to be part of the Black Butte school which she has admired since starting to come to the area in the late 1990s.

DIRECTOR, Position 1

Jenni moved to Camp Sherman from the Portland metro area in 2020, and her grandchildren attend BBS. As a coach helping smart, successful women stop overthinking and rebuild self-confidence, she’s particularly interested in social and emotional learning as an integral part of education. A former educator at OHSU and University of Portland, she enjoys the benefits of the forest every day on foot, a bike, or snowshoes. 

DIRECTOR, Position 4

Emma Prescher was born and raised in Oregon and, after spending many years living in different states, returned to make Central Oregon home nearly a decade ago. She and her husband, a local contractor, are raising their two children in Camp Sherman, where both attend Black Butte School.

Emma has a background in nursing and began her career in the pediatric emergency department at OHSU. She later joined St. Charles Health System as an emergency department charge nurse, nursing administrator during COVID-19, and manager of the NICU and pediatric departments.

In 2022, a significant accident brought her hospital nursing career to a close. That unexpected transition became an invitation to reconnect with her roots and explore a more integrative approach to health and healing — bridging both allopathic medicine and nature-based traditions. 

Much of Emma’s life outside of work is rooted in time outdoors. She enjoys wildcrafting in the woods, long walks along the Metolius, cold plunging, and helping reintroduce many of the medicinal plants native to the basin back into community use. She feels continual gratitude for the ongoing lessons that come from living in relationship with the land and believes Camp Sherman is a truly special place to raise a family.

Emma felt called to deepen her involvement in the community through school board service. She is honored to serve in support of the continued growth, education, and well-being of the students of Black Butte School and the broader Camp Sherman community.

DIRECTOR, Position 3

• Graduated Willamette University in 1970 with a Mathematics degree and obtained an Art degree from Portland State University in 1976.
• Taught skiing at Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and Alta 1976 – 1984.
• Obtained a teaching certificate from Arizona State University in 1985.
• Taught math at South Umpqua High School 1985 – 1995.
• Taught math at Bend High School and tutored math at an alternative school 1995 – 2004. During this time I instructed skiing at Mt. Bachelor and Hoodoo.
• Lived in the coastal town of Nehalem 2004 – 2021 where I first substituted, then worked for Mother Nature organic grocery store in Manzanita. During this time I created an organic farm on one acre of my property.
• Returned to Central Oregon to work at Richard’s Produce stand in Sisters and again taught skiing at Hoodoo.

My life has always seemed to revolve around teaching in one aspect or another. From teaching high school to ski instruction to other jobs in between, I have often been in a position of training employees, working with the public, or educating customers on products.

I have lived in Camp Sherman since 2021. My life has been centered around Hoodoo and Sisters, but I have wanted to become more involved in the Camp Sherman community. My experience with BBS has been through the Ski and Ride Program at Hoodoo and enjoying the Winter Perfomance at the Community Hall. I love the open learning atmosphere of Black Butte School and look forward to supporting the school as a board member.