Explore! Team
Executive Principal
Cameron comes to us after 11 years in Williamson County Schools where he has been a teacher, assistant principal, and for the last three years, a building level principal. His entire career has been serving elementary and middle school students and he has experience starting a new school (Mill Creek Middle) and leading a K-8 school (Hillsboro Elementary/Middle). Cameron lives in Nashville, and said, “Leading a diverse school community in the same neighborhood where I live is a great honor and incredible opportunity. Over the next few months, I am excited to meet the students, staff, and parents of Explore! as we plan for an amazing 2022-23 school year.”
Cameron has a degree in Music Education from Murray State and a Master of Educational Leadership from Lipscomb University. He understands the importance of multiple measures of student success and under his leadership has not only developed performance-based assessments as a band director, but also has led schools that have demonstrated strong performance on TCAP/TN-Ready exams (earning Reward Status for both achievement and growth in 2018).
Cameron Gish
Jessica Talbot
Lower School Principal
Ms. Talbot works at Explore! because she believes that all little people deserve authentic learning experiences which are designed to help them uncover and rediscover their own unique gifts and passions. She wants all Explorers to feel loved and believe in the power of their ideas!
Middle School Principal
Deirdra is a native New Yorker born and raised in Brooklyn. She is a proud graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, an HBCU and became the first in her family to earn a college degree. An educational veteran. Deirdra has worked in schools K-12, in a variety of roles. Her passion for young people and her unyielding belief in their promise and potential has been the fuel for her 25+ year career. In addition to this unwavering belief her goals have always remained the same: "to provide the support and structures students need, to learn in an environment where they feel safe, loved and supported, while also being pushed, to do their best work and be their best selves” Deirdra is the proud parent of an amazing young adult son with special needs. In addition to her BSW from NC A&T, she holds an MSW from Hunter College and a Masters in School Building Leadership from Mercy College.