Teachers

Saskia Rombouts - Kindergarten Teacher
Saskia Rombouts is originally from Spain and is multilingual in English, Spanish and German. Saskia holds a Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Long Island University in New York City.  She has three years experience as an elementary teacher and four years experience teaching languages to children and adults.  Before teaching, she worked as a writer, editor and curriculum developer of educational materials. She believes “all children learn best when in a safe learning environment with clear and high expectations.”

Velia Soto - Kindergarten Teacher
Velia Soto has a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Masters in Education from DePaul University. She has an early childhood teaching certification and a bilingual certification. She has taught in the Chicago Public School system for five years.  Velia also writes Spanish translations for a local newspaper. Her goal as a teacher is to be “a facilitator and to guide students into becoming active learners through meaningful and child centered experiences.”

Juan Jimenez - 1st grade Teacher
Juan Jimenez has an early childhood development-teaching certificate with a special education endorsement and a Masters in Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is bilingual and grew up in the Humboldt Park community. He attended De Diego elementary and Clemente High School. He believes he will be “a strong male role model” and states that he is a teacher because he “enjoys hard work and helping children find success.”

Maria Reyes - 1st grace Teacher
Maria Reyes has a Masters Degree in Elementary Education with a bilingual and ESL certification from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She has six years of teaching experience with the Chicago Public Schools in grades 1 -3.  She has taught mainly on the southwest side of Chicago and is a Chicago native.  She believes that “the home school connection is instrumental to a child’s academic and personal development.”

Jessica Buleje - First Grade Teacher Assistant
Jessica Buleje has been involved in youth organizing for seven years.  She has worked with youth ages 7 through 18 in different communities throughout Chicago. She has a Bachelor in Elementary Education from Northeastern University of Illinois. She has worked with different elementary schools incorporating family and art projects into the school curriculum. She believes that “teachers are important keys to the decisions and actions children take-- not only in school but in their social lives and we need to be prepared with many resources.”

Edith Keneipp - Kindergarten Teacher Assistant
Edith Keneipp has been involved in childcare for eight years.  She has worked at El Valor with the Head Start program and at the Children’s Home and Aide Society doing social work intake for children birth through three years old.  She then worked for the Chicago Public School system as a teacher assistant in first and second grade classrooms in the Little Village neighborhood.

Bethzaida Sanabria - First Grade Teacher Assistant
Bethzaida completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Illinois Institute of Art. She has been working with Erie Neighborhood House as a Teacher
Assistant since 2001 and will now become part of the EECS team as a TA.
She plans on continuing her studies to attain a Master of Bilingual Education with a concentration in early elementary education. Betsy feels that,  "when children find themselves in a nurturing and comfortable environment and identify with their teacher, their learning process becomes much easier."

Yolanda De Leon - Kindergarten Teacher Assistant
Yolanda is a Monterrey, Mexico native and has been in the US for 5 years.  In Mexico, she taught kindergarten for 10 years and has taught preschool for over 2 years here in Chicago at the YMCA.   She has received her associate’s degree from Augustine College in Early Childhood Education.  She believes that “children deserve the best education because they are the future.”