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| Meet Our Staff |
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Jennifer Arraya
(2 & 1/2ers Young 3's Teacher)
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Mrs. Arraya is beginning her second
year as our 2 1/2ers teacher and
continues to teach our Mom and Me
Program classes.. Her son
Stephen is a graduate of St. James and
her daughter Elisabeth is a current
student..
She holds degress in both Spanish and
Education from Gettyburg College and
also has studied at universities in
Spain. Don't be surprised if
your child comes home with some new
Spanish vocabulary to share with
you! Mrs. Arraya enjoys
traveling, photography, doing crafts
with her kids and being active
outdoors with her family. She
thinks preschool is the best age and
looks forward to watching her students
experience new things and learn as
they grow.
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Charlene Breindel (Pre-K Teacher)
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Mrs. Breindel lives in the Downingtown area with her husband
Ralph. She's very proud of her
son Jesse, daughter Nikki, and her
son-in-law David. Mrs. Breindel
is beginning her 11th year
teaching at St. James Preschool.
. She holds
an Associate Degree from Penn State University with an emphasis on Early
Childhood Education as well as an
Associate Degree in Business from
DuBois Business College. She enjoys
walking, shopping, reading,
cooking and baking, and visiting the beach and
Disney! Mrs. Breindel teaches our
3 day AM and PM Pre-K programs this
year . Mrs.
Breindel has always been active in her children’s education and activities and,
now that they are older, she is happy to be able to continue to work with our
youngsters here at St. James. She
finds every day to be a new, fun
experience and loves the children's
excitement to be at school and learn
new things. Mrs. Breindel's creative ideas and love of learning and
children make her a very valuable member of our staff. |
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Suzanne Diodato
(Co-Director)
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Mrs. Diodato has been at St. James Preschool for
over 13 years,
starting as a Pre-K teacher (and a parent of a student) and then taking on the
position of co-director in 2006.
Mrs. Diodato has
three beautiful daughters. She holds
a B.S.
in Elementary Education from East Stroudsburg University. She’s been teaching
for over 20 years and loves the new adventure every day with the children. She feels
that each day is a fun and exciting experience for herself and the whole class.
Her enthusiasm and love for the children make her a favorite among St. James
families and we all enjoy her
creativity and fun projects. In her spare time, Mrs. Diodato enjoys scrapbooking and
crafts, being involved in Girl Scouts
with her daughters, and watching her
daughters swim, dance, and play
softball. |
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Nicole Dockstader
(Pre-K Teacher)
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Mrs. Dockstader is
beginning her fourth year at St. James
Preschool. She holds an
Elementary Education degree from West
Chester University. Nicole is an
active mom of three children, two
girls and a boy. She loves all
outdoor activities, theatre, skiing,
reading, playing with her children and
watching their sports events, and
going to the beach. Mrs. Dockstader loves
working with children and watching
them learn and grow in their
education, life skills and love for
learning! Her high energy and
sense of fun, all balanced with a
structured learning-filled classroom
make her a phenomenal teacher.
We are so happy to have her working to
ready our students for Kindergarten. |
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Katherine
Grandizio
(Older Threes/Fours Teacher)
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Mrs. Grandizio is
starting her seventh year as a teacher
at St. James, though we have known her
as a St. James parent for an
even longer
time. She has four children ages
20, 17, 15, and 12. Mrs.
Grandizio has a Bachelor of Arts as
well as her Elementary Education
Certification from The College of
Wooster. She teaches our Older Threes and Fours
Classes. She enjoys spending
time with her family going on long
walks, watching her children do
whatever it is they love to do,
strolling through a museum, or curling
up with a good book.
Mrs. Grandizio loves learning about
different times and places in history,
especially Ancient Egypt. Mrs. Grandizio loves
everything about preschool, especially
helping young children explore the
world around them. She is
rewarded by drawing them into new
learning experiences and watching them
grow. We love having her
creative spirit a part of our St.
James Family. |
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Terri Haggerty
(Teacher Assistant)
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Mrs. Haggerty is in
the midst of her eighth year at St.
James. She is a loving mom of
twins--a boy and a girl--age 14!
Mrs. Haggerty holds a B.S. in Biology
from Drexel University and a M.A. in
Nutrition from Immaculata
University. After staying home
to raise her children for seven years, Mrs. Haggerty
re-entered the work force asa teacher assistant. She enjoys
watching her students experience and
learn new things and loves the hugs
and love they have to give! In
her free time, Mrs. Haggerty enjoying
playing frisbee with her dog, walking,
and doing yoga. Mrs. Haggerty's calm
and patient manner and nurturing
disposition make her a wonderful
addition to our staff. |
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Megan Heurich
(Teacher Assistant)
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Mrs. Heurich is
happy to be joining the St. James'
staff as a teacher assistant this
year. She is the energetic proud
mom of 4 St. James students/alumni,
Taylor (9), Maddie (8), Hailey (6) and
Timmy (4). Mrs. Heurich has
studied at California University of PA
and Empire Beauty School. Her
enthusiasm, easy-going manner, sense
of humor, and sense of fun make her
the perfect person to work with our
Pre-K students! Mrs. Heurich is
a favorite amongst the staff,
students, and their families because
of her eagerness to help and positive
attitude! |
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Claudia Kiernan (Teacher Assistant)
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Mrs. Kiernan has been at St. James for
17 years as an
assistant. It’s easy to see how much she enjoys the children. She has two
sons Brian and Jeffrey and a
daughter-in-law Stacie. Mrs. Kiernan has lots of hobbies, such as
jewelry making,
painting, camping, biking, swimming, scrapbooking, shopping, reading and travel
(just to name a few!) She loves
walking on the beach and collecting
shells and seaglass. She’s always loved children since she started babysitting
as a teen. She’d like parents to know that she’s happy to give your children
her personal attention, listening to their stories, playing and doing crafts
with them, and helping them learn.
She loves getting to know the students
and all of their individual
personalities. |
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Shelly
Klenk
(Teacher
Assistant)
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Mrs. Klenk is so
excited to be officially joining our
staff this year as a teacher
assistant, after our years of knowing
her as a parent and a
substitute. She holds a B.A. in
Communications with a minor in English
from Villanova University. She
is loving mom to Andrew (5) and
Natalie (2), both current St. James
students. After some time spent
at home with her young children she is
happy to be returning to the workforce
in the area of education. Mrs.
Klenk enjoys traveling, photogrpahy,
baking, party planning, and spending
time outside. She is so excited
to be joining the staff and helping
our students grow and learn. |
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Hope Latch
(Young Three's
Teacher)
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Mrs. Latch is
currently in her second year of
teaching our Young 3s students. She is well-qualified
with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary
Education from Bloomsburg University
and a Master's Degree in Curriculum
Design and Instruction from Penn
State! Mrs. Latch enjoys
physical activities--running, biking,
kayaking and hiking--and all of that
energy is great for our youngest
students! She also enjoys
reading, baking and traveling with her
family to see new places. She
has two children, Megan, 10, and
Matthew, 8. Mrs. Latch is so
excited to be teaching your children
and is looking forward to singing
songs, playing games and doing crafts
all while learning. It's her
passion to teach and see the wonder in
children's eyes. |
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Maha
Raman (Pre-K Teacher and Teacher Assistant)
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Mrs. Raman has been
at St. James for 10 years, but we have
known her even longer. Her
daughter is a St. James graduate and
while she was here, Mrs. Raman was one
of our most popular parent substitute
teachers! Mrs. Raman currently
is our Tuesday and Thursday Pre-K
teacher, and our Pre-K Assistant on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday
mornings as
well as our Pre-K Plus
teachers. She holds a Master's
Degree in Computer Applications from
Alagappa Chettiar Engineering
College. In her former career,
she trained professionals with the
latest software to meet their
needs--now she is training the future
professionals with the basic skills
needed to become successful
students! She loves working with
young children and her enthusiasm and
love of learning shine through. She
especially loves science and
math. Mrs. Raman is trained in
classical Indian dance and enjoys
yoga, gardening, travel adventures, early morning walks,
and
experimenting with new recipes
especially gourmet cooking She is a loving mom of a
20 year old
son, DJ, who is a sophomore at Penn
State, and a 13 year old daughter,
Medha who is at Lionville Middle
School.. |
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Alisa Shumate
(Teacher Assistant)
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Mrs. Shumate is
beginning her fourth year at St. James
Preschool. She holds a B.S. in
Biokinetics from Eastern
University. Like many of our
teachers, Mrs. Shumate spent the last
few years at home raising her
daughters, Madison, 11, and Kylie, 9,
but has re-entered the workforce in
the education field!
She enjoys spending time with her
family, watching her daughters play
sports, traveling, and running. She loves
spending time with your children and
watching them learn and grow each time
they come to preschool. Mrs.
Shumate's never-ending patience and
calm demeanor make her such a valuable
asset to our school. |
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Chitra
Soundararajan (Teacher
Assistant/Lunch Bunch Teacher)
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Mrs. Soundararajan
(or Mrs. S. as we lovingly call her)
is in the midst of her eighth year at
St. James, but we have known her for
many years as the parent of a St.
James alumnus. Mrs. S. has a
Bacherlors Degree in Economics and a Masters Degree in
Public Administration from Madras
University. She also
has completed teacher training.
She is a loving mom of two boys,
Karthik a senior at STEM, and Kamal a
sixth grader.
Mrs. S. re-entered the workforce after being
at home raising her boys.
She loves working with children and
enjoys her job as an assistant and
also leading our lunch bunch
program. Mrs. S. has a wonderful
sense of humor and an extreme amount
of patience and her smile lights up a
room. She has tons of
love to offer our students and they
adore her. In her spare time,
Mrs. S. loves reading, music, cooking,
gardening, traveling with her family
adn her pets,
and playing with her children. |
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Johanna Uggla (Co-Director)
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Mrs. Uggla has been part of St. James staff for
12 years. Prior
to that she was an active PTO president and parent of two children at the
preschool, now graduates, aspiring
actress Samantha, 16, and football and
lacrosse playing wrestler Spencer, 14. She has a B.A. in History from West Chester University, and
an M.Ed. in Educational Counseling, also from
WCU. Mrs. Uggla enjoys spending
time with her children and husband, reading, exercising, and
traveling. She keeps busy attending her
children's various sporting events,
musical and theater performances, and
other kid activities, and getting to
the beach whenever she can. She loves helping children learn to love school and working to make
their first school experience a great one. She
treats every child at the preschool as
her own. |
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