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STAFF DESCRIPTIONS 2006-2007
Buen Dia’s diverse staff including 5 teachers, 7 teaching assistants, 2 arts specialists, and 1 mental health consultant, are committed to providing a stimulating and welcoming environment for young children.
We also have interns every year from various colleges throughout the United States who work in the classroom for a semester. Depending on the time of day, our teacher to student ratio varies between 1:6 and 1:4. Everyone at Buen Dia enjoys conversing and playing with preschoolers.
ADELINA
Adelina is a native San Franciscan and she earned her BA in Humanities with a focus in Early Childhood Education and Child Development. She completed an 18-month internship with Bay Area Network for Diversity Training in Early Childhood (BANDTEC) and attended the Reggio Emilia Summer Institute at Mills College. Before returning to Buen Día, she was the Head Teacher and the Parent Services Coordinator at South of Market Childcare, Inc. at their new Yerba Buena Gardens site. During the start-up phase, she was instrumental in coordinating the staff, orienting parents and selecting classroom materials. Adelina worked as a teacher at Buen Día for 8 years before becoming the school’s co-director in 2000.
Adelina coordinated her women’s group for their 14th Annual Rafting Trip on the American River and visited Hawaii and North Carolina. She enjoys cooking multi-cultural foods with her Puerto Rican mother and Filipino father.
ADRIANA
Adriana is a mental health professional who has been providing consultation to Buen Día staff and families for the past eight years. Adriana works at DayCare Consultants, part of the Infant-Parent Program at the University of California, SF. This program provides clinical consultation free of charge to a group of childcare centers throughout San Francisco. She will continue to meet with the staff on a regular basis, co-facilitate Buen Día’s parent meetings, work with individual families and observe children in the classroom, as an outgrowth of work with parents and teachers. Adriana lives in Oakland and is a mother of two boys. She is busy playing, swimming, making things and gardening in her free time.
CATHERINE
Catherine (Kati) was born in Marysville, California and is of Irish-African American decent. She is a sophomore at San Francisco State where she is majoring in Liberal Studies to earn her teaching credential. Kati is a work-study student and this is her second year at Buen Dia, working in the afternoons. She enjoys children and is especially excited about the cultural diversity and the art-based program at Buen Dia. She is currently working as a teacher assistant in Aaron’s (former Buen Dia teacher) kindergarten classroom at Diane Feinstein Elementary School.
DANIELLE
Danielle (Dany) was born in Colombia, graduated from New College with a B.A. degree in Humanities with a Visual Arts emphasis, attended San Francisco State University as a graduate student in film, earned her Early Childhood Education Certificate eight years ago and her Permit two years ago. For twenty-three years, she has been teaching at Buen Día and has been an integral part of curriculum development. Dany enjoys exploring photography with the children as well as developing activities in Spanish and Social Studies. One of her Spanish activities introduces an imaginary character named “Pepe.” Through Pepe’s adventures, the children learn basic Spanish vocabulary and culture. Dany was a recipient of a NEA Teacher Training Grant for two years when she demonstrated art activities as a learning tool for preschool teachers. Every year Dany takes a trip abroad furthering her two passions: travel and photography. This summer she went to Iran, Egypt, Jordan and Syria where she continued to photograph and compile an archive of photographs focusing on ancient sites. She exhibited her work in San Francisco in several artistic venues. This year her photographs will be featured in a website (www.imagesofasia.com) created by Omar Khan, our current president of the board and former parent. Dany’s interest in travel stems from the first hand experience and knowledge that is gained from immersing oneself in a foreign culture. Photography is the result of this experience, framing images that refer to the cultural context and revealing aspects that give us a glimpse into another land and it’s people.
DONNA
Donna grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music with a BFA in theatre. She was a staff member at Buen Día from 1997 to 2000 and then moved back to Cincinnati to teach dance to K-6th graders at The New School. She plays guitar and drums and during her career has been a member of many bands. Donna completed a Certificate Program in Yoga and she will continue to conduct yoga sessions with the children in the classroom each week. We are excited about her new role at Buen Dia.
ELLIOTT
Elliott is a Buen Día graduate along with his older sister Alexandra and his youngest brother Antonio. He studies Early Childhood Education at City College of San Francisco and plans to earn his ECE Permit. His other interests include writing short stories and reading; he just finished Nightwatch by Sergey Lukyanenko. Last summer Elliott joined his Samoan relatives for a 2005 family reunion in Fiji where he met his cousins for the very first time and participated in traditional ceremonies. This is Elliott’s seventh year at Buen Día and he is working both in the morning and afternoon programs. He enjoys creating stories with the children and playing outdoor games.
EMAEL
Emael es de Los Angeles. He moved to the Bay Area in 1989 to pursue and receive a BS degree in Business Administration from UC Berkeley. Since then, he has worked extensively in a number of community-based organizations focusing on youth development, public health, equality in education campaigns, immigration rights and cultural production strategies. Between 1997 and 2001, he organized a number of campus forums on embracing diversity while he pursued and received a MFA degree in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. He recently completed a four-year performance project that toured internationally, culminating in Mexico City. Returning full circle, Emael’s first professional experience in San Francisco was working with preschoolers. He looks forward to playing and making art wit the Buen Dia children.
GRACE
Grace recently finished her BFA in Computer Arts: New Media Design at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Previously, she earned her B.A. in Business at UC Berkeley and worked for a healthcare consulting firm. She hopes to use her experiences in both design and business to work with a small, talented group of designers and eventually start her own design group. Grace also studied abroad for a year in Seoul, Korea and is fluent in Korean. She wants to learn Spanish, and was drawn to Buen Dia for its diversity, family environment and focus on the arts in child education. Grace enjoys music, living near Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach, traveling, reading, swimming, running, hiking, hanging out with friends, and discovering new places in San Francisco Bay Area. Grace assists in the office, designs cards and fliers, maintains the database, handles networking issues and works on fundraising projects.
GRETCHEN
Gretchen grew up in San Diego, California and relocated to the Bay Area to finish her bachelor’s degree. She taught preschool children, 18 months through 5 ½ years old, for two years at Agape Childcare Center in Seattle, Washington. She is currently a work-study student at San Francisco State University majoring in Journalism with an Emphasis in Photography. She enjoys playing the guitar, drawing, painting, sewing and seeing children learn through art projects, dress up, and outdoor activities. This is Gretchen’s second year at Buen Dia and she will be working in both the morning and afternoon programs. She enjoys taking photos of the children and people, and plans to travel to Taiwan to visit her brother.
JASMIN
Jasmin was born in Santa Cruz and is of Mexican descent. Her family later moved to Idaho where she attended high school and studied Early Childhood Education (ECE) at Boise State College. She loves living in the SF Bay Area with its multiculturalism and the opportunity to speak Spanish. Jasmin will be attending City College of San Francisco in the spring. She loves music and is learning to play drums. This is Jasmin’s fourth year at Buen Dia teaching in the morning program where she enjoys conversing with the children as well as developing art activities, storytelling and cooking projects. Her other interests are bike riding, sewing projects and dancing.
JENNY
Jenny, with her three sisters and one brother, was raised in Woodland, a small farm town in the Sacramento Valley. She earned her AA degree at College of the Redwoods and later studied Performing Arts at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz. She enjoys working with young children and is currently enrolled full-time in City College focusing on Early Childhood Education. She plans to transfer to San Francisco State University to earn a degree in Liberal Studies and a Teaching Credential. She enjoys the outdoors, loves to travel and hopes to study abroad in the future. Her favorite activities include singing with the children, baking healthy cakes, and dramatic play. This is Jenny’s sixth year and she is currently a part-time teacher.
IRAYA
Iraya is a native San Franciscan who has been active in cultural/arts organizations such as Kearny St. Workshop, Fusion: a mixed heritage youth and API Family Pride. She has worked with children through the Fine Arts Museums collaborating with public schools, the YMCA and Synergy School’s summer and after school programs. Iraya continues to study Early Childhood Education as well as ethnic studies, LGBTQ studies and Art at City College of San Francisco. As a visual artist, musician and performer, she has shown work through APAture, NAATA, SOMARTS, the Oakland Museum, clubs, festivals, conferences, galleries, and on music recordings. As a part of our NEA Teacher Training Grant, she has presented art activities for teachers from other preschools. As a rest teacher she enjoys storytelling and visits to the Bookmobile with the children. She loves the children’s creative process. This will be her eighth year at Buen Día exploring creativity with the kids.
IYAH
Iyah grew up in Georgia, moved to San Francisco in 1980 and is the father of Aminah, a sophomore at Cal State University East Bay. He began working with children at Yoey Bessie Smith Coop and continued his involvement at Buena Vista After School Program for 8 years. Iyah also ran the summer art camp at Meadow LivingStone School. For two years, Iyah was an artist-in-residence with the San Francisco Art Education Project at Potrero Hill Middle School and at Cesar Chavez Elementary School, teaching rhythm and instrument making. He earned 9 units in Early Childhood Education at San Francisco City College and is continuing his child development studies. Iyah loves sports and he was a basketball coach for a 7th grade team with PALS. Music is his passion and he plays percussion in Bay Areas venues and collaborates with Megan with the Dramatic Storytelling Project. He is an instrument-maker, teaches children how to make drums and other instruments out of recycled materials and then to play simple rhythms. This is Iyah’s seventh year at Buen Día, working in the morning program.
KELLIE
Kellie grew up in Connecticut and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area three years ago. She is currently studying magazine and photojournalism, with a minor in deaf studies, at San Francisco State University. Kellie hopes to graduate next spring, then possibly travel to Central America to improve her Spanish. She also knows American Sign Language and would like to one day learn German, which was part of her heritage. This past year Kellie has been published in The Oakland Tribune, the SF Bay Guardian, and Flavorpill-SF. This is Kellie’s second year at Buen Dia, as a work-study student. Kellie enjoys laughing with the children, playing in the dress up room and painting with the kids. In her spare time, Kellie enjoys Bikram’s yoga and hanging out with her neighbors --- the Buen Dia kids!
MEGAN
Megan received a B.A. in Dance from Bennington College and began her career as a dancer and theater artist in San Francisco, with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. She toured with The Ophir Band and worked as a CETA artist producing intergenerational theater in Telluride, Colorado. She spent ten years touring with The Echo Sisters, a participatory musical storytelling theater duo and was recipient of six California Arts Council grants. As artist-in-residence at Buen Día, she developed a dramatic storytelling program based on the work of Vivian Paley. Her NPR documentary The Three-Headed Bear and Other Stories by Children of Buen Día Family School won a Best Documentary Award from Parents Choice Magazine, and she produced a popular series of children’s music recordings, ECHO: Songs Children Love to Sing. She received an M.A. in Supervision and Administration with a Visual Arts Focus from Bank Street College and then worked for 2 years as Education Director of Young Audiences of the Bay Area. The AEFC published a monograph about Megan’s work. She recently coordinated a two-year Teacher Training Program at Buen Dia with a grant from the NEA and has provided professional development training for many of the SFUSD Child Development Centers. In the last few years, Megan has recorded two albums, Alignment and Body of Pain, and a DVD, Intended to Be Heard, with The Greatest Little Big Band in the History of the Megaverse, an improvisational jazz trio. In 2005 she went to Listowel, Ireland to write and co-direct a cross-cultural musical theater piece, titled Tatterhood, with Irish and American youth. Megan performs and exhibits her drawings, paintings and prints in her gallery and performance space, 24th Street Theater Works. Her three children and two grandchildren attended Buen Día.
NORMA
Norma was born in El Salvador and moved to the US when she was three years old. She has been working in the early childhood education field for eight years with Head Start as a pre-k teacher, with diverse families in San Francisco. She earned her AA in Child Development in 2002 and recently graduated from New College of California with a BA in Humanities concentrating in Early Childhood Education. Norma likes to read and loves outdoor activities. She’s excited to join Buen Dia and is looking forward to knowing the children and their families.
TESS
Tess is a native San Franciscan and was an “afterschooler” here many years ago; her niece Kyra attended Buen Día as well. Tess is studying Child and Adolescent Development at San Francisco State and plans to earn a teaching credential. She also loves Italian culture and language, having lived in Florence for a semester and is minoring in Italian. Tess enjoys playing outdoor games with the kids and organizing cooking projects, especially baking healthy muffins. She also likes music and dancing in the front room and has fun making obstacle courses with the kids in the yard. This is her fourth year teaching at Buen Dia. Tess plays drums and bass as often as possible, and attends funky jam sessions every other week.
TRINIDAD
Trinidad (Trini) traveled from Peru to San Francisco in 1988 with her daughter Erika and she earned her teaching degree in Lima where she worked with kindergarten children for six years. Every two years she and Erika visit their relatives in Peru and currently Trini’s mother is living here in San Francisco on an extended visit. Trini is very involved in her Peruvian community and recently she coordinated a festival to raise money to buy land to build a community center. Last year she organized and funded an indigenous orchestra to entertain her community during a local festival in Pauza, Ayacucho. Trini also works in a catering business on weekends, creating artfully prepared foods. Her other interests include knitting, sewing and making crafts with her daughter. She enjoys jogging and has participated in the SF Bay to Breakers run for many years. This is her seventeenth year at Buen Día and she holds a Children Center’s Permit. Trini continues to study English and General Studies at San Francisco City College and also likes salsa dancing. Trini enjoys art activities, cooking projects and singing in Spanish with the children. She is fluent in Quechua, an Andean language, and has been introducing this language in the classroom. After a two year engagement, Trini and her fiancé Jesus were married last August in Pauza. They plan to live in San Francisco once Jesus receives his visa.
YVONNE
Yvonne is a native San Franciscan and has been working with young children for more than 38 years. After completing three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru, she finished her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies with an Andean Arts/Studio Arts Emphasis. During that time she opened Three Bags Full, a textile and arts studio that offered weaving classes and sold yarns and accessories. In 1976 she earned an MA in Early Childhood Education (birth to age 8) and a Life Supervisory Permit. Yvonne developed and implemented a model program for training family care providers with the Children’s Council and S.F. CETA and was the founding director of Compañeros del Barrio, Inc.
Disillusioned with the restrictive state-funded childcare programs, she co-founded Buen Dia in 1977 to create an art-based, child-centered program that respected children’s interests and ideas and where healthy food would be served. Her two children Aloysia and Vasili attended Buen Día and still maintain friendships with some of their preschool friends. She wrote a series of articles on activities for infants and toddlers for Intelligy Corporation and was awarded The Childcare Provider of the Year Award by the Ashbury Children’s Foundation in conjunction with UC Berkeley’s Dept. of Education in 1989. She led a series of workshops through SFSU focusing on multicultural activities in the preschool environment, presented a paper, Respecting Individual Differences, at the 1998 NAEYC national conference and wrote an article on self-esteem for Educational Research Clearinghouse (ERIC). In the summer of 2000, she and her son worked in an orphanage outside Guadalajara, Mexico, where they organized art classes for children ages 4 to 12. For two years she was a classroom consultant with Los Listos, a program for migrant children in Half Moon Bay.
This year she completed her final art workshops and coaching sessions for the NEA Teacher Training Grant. Currently she is represented in a mural outside Horace Mann Middle School called “Heroes of the Mission.”
Yvonne continues to explore her artwork, weaving recycled items with rubber latex. Last April she accompanied part of her extended family to the Copper Canyon in Mexico to search for an abandoned mine owned by a distant family member in the 1920’s. Traveling over rocky roads and on horseback, they finally found the mine relying only on an old photograph! The early miners had gone broke but it was exciting to learn about the history of the area and the people who struggled to survive there.
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