Wildhearts Academy
Chesapeake Children's Museum, 25 Silopanna Rd, Annapolis, MD 21409
About
Wildhearts Academy offers onsite camps and enrichment programs that use arts integration, wellness habits, and nature-based curriculum. Each week is guided by significant figures throughout history and everyday heroes, with students engaging in creative lessons that focus on problem solving and exploring the world through a diverse lens. Families can also purchase content-rich lesson packets that provide a week’s worth of material for homeschool curriculum or to support learning outside the home, including packets designed for young learners in pre-K and kindergarten that can be modified for elementary and secondary children.
• Ages: 3–13 years old
Wildhearts Academy describes its core tenets as wellness, art, inclusivity, and connection to the natural world. The program also offers a blog with free content, personal stories from the Wildhearts team, and activities for kids and families.
Wildhearts Academy was founded and is led by Laura Brino, Changemakers Leader, and Stephanie Smith, Forest School Leader, with additional Forest School leadership from Glory Paredes. Laura is a freelance artist and singer/songwriter who studied illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art and art education at Towson University, and she serves as Director of Programming at Maryland Hall, where she oversees many youth arts programs; she has presented at three national conferences about the healing power of arts and has released four albums under her own name and with her band Lily and the Pearl. Stephanie Smith is a school librarian and media specialist with a Master of Library and Information Science from the iSchool at the University of Maryland, College Park, and holds an SL certification for grades K–12, as well as having written library media curriculum for her school district for nine years. Glory Paredes is a bilingual visual artist and teacher who studied at the House of Culture of El Salvador and at CETEC-Plus El Salvador in graphic design and programming, and she collaborates with local organizations and schools, including Maryland Hall, Marshall Learning Center, and Annapolis elementary schools, to provide instruction.
Last updated July 21, 2026.
• Ages: 3–13 years old
Wildhearts Academy describes its core tenets as wellness, art, inclusivity, and connection to the natural world. The program also offers a blog with free content, personal stories from the Wildhearts team, and activities for kids and families.
Wildhearts Academy was founded and is led by Laura Brino, Changemakers Leader, and Stephanie Smith, Forest School Leader, with additional Forest School leadership from Glory Paredes. Laura is a freelance artist and singer/songwriter who studied illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art and art education at Towson University, and she serves as Director of Programming at Maryland Hall, where she oversees many youth arts programs; she has presented at three national conferences about the healing power of arts and has released four albums under her own name and with her band Lily and the Pearl. Stephanie Smith is a school librarian and media specialist with a Master of Library and Information Science from the iSchool at the University of Maryland, College Park, and holds an SL certification for grades K–12, as well as having written library media curriculum for her school district for nine years. Glory Paredes is a bilingual visual artist and teacher who studied at the House of Culture of El Salvador and at CETEC-Plus El Salvador in graphic design and programming, and she collaborates with local organizations and schools, including Maryland Hall, Marshall Learning Center, and Annapolis elementary schools, to provide instruction.
Last updated July 21, 2026.
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