Spero Michailidis
Spero is a New Jersey native and has been proud to call Rochester home since 1997. After graduating from Lehigh University with a degree in Environmental Science, and spending a year in Asia traveling and teaching English in Korea, he came to live on staff at the Rochester Zen Center for 3 years. He then earned his Masters Degree in Education from Nazareth College, and taught 2nd through 5th grade for 10 years at the Genesee Community Charter School. Spero joined the staff at the Institute during the summer of 2014 and began teaching nonviolence to middle school students at Northwest Middle School and Enrico Fermi School #17. During the 2016-2017 school year, he began working full-time at School #17 and helped create and manage their first Help Zone- a safe space for students to have their social / emotional needs met and to learn nonviolent ways to approach and solve conflicts. Spero continues to work with School #17 today, and he brings to this work a passion for helping others, a commitment to skillful, clear, and nonviolent communication, and a desire to help break the cycle of violence that is so prevalent in so many schools and communities today.
Email: spero@gandhiinstitute.org
