Lorraine Gerstl

Lorraine Gerstl is truly a woman for all seasons! She taught deaf children in her native South Africa before emigrating to the United States, where she raised her own children, then recommenced her teaching career at Briarcliff Academy / Robert Louis Stevenson before moving to Santa Catalina for nearly three decades as its beloved third-grade teacher.

Since her “retirement” in 2017, she formed a partnership with Margie Lotz, a colleague from Santa Catalina: Omni Learning Center, which provides educational enrichment for homeschoolers. Lorraine has produced, directed, and acted in plays, musicals, variety shows, picked up a National Disney Teacher of the Year nomination, and traveled a good slice of the world in the process. An editor and internationally published writer, who won’t hesitate to stretch her students’ reach to the stars, she still revels in her favorite title – “Mom.”