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Hillside Early Childhood Center

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Meet Our Staff

Meet Our Staff

Suzanne Garza

We do no great things, only small things with great love.
-Mother Teresa

Suzanne Garza,
Head of School

Alana Dias

Allow the child to be authentic, to move to feel the way they move, appreciating them for what they are.
-Magda Gerber

Alana Dias,
director of education

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
– Albert Einstein

Melissa Jones,
head of business & operations

Within the child lies the fate of the future.
-Maria Montessori

KAREN WEATHERS
facilities & Classroom SUPPORT

Reading to children at night, responding to their smiles with a smile, returning their vocalizations with one of your own, touching them, holding them – all of these further a child’s brain development and future potential, even in the earliest months.
-T. Berry Brazelton

emma allison
education specialist

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.
-Malcolm X

Olivia Jones
school support specialist

The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.
-Alexandra K. Trenfor

harley cantillo
Teacher

Education is not the filling of a pail, but rather the lighting of a fire.
-William Butler Yeats

jeSSICA HALTER
Teacher

Teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together.
– Scott Hayden

Sophia rodriguez
Teacher

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.
-Mark Van Doren

steph solorio
teacher

Stephanie Montgomery

Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.
-Fred Rogers

Stephanie Montgomery
Teacher

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
-Nelson Mandela

Mary ortiz
teacher

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.
-Benjamin Franklin

Laura maldonado
teacher

Deborah Wells

Let the children be free; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water.
-Maria Montessori

deborah wells
Teacher

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

KAila zepeda
Teacher

A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.
-Brad Henry

heather alves
Teacher

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.
-Kay Redfield Jamison

katie fuller
Teacher

Failing doesn’t give you a reason to give up, as long as you believe.
– Naruto Uzumaki

yenifer manzera
teacher

The wonder of teaching is watching caterpillars become butterflies.
-Unknown

Ellie overton
teacher

Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.
-Fred Rogers

elizabeth Delamora
teacher

You always learn more from failure than success. Adversity is a great teacher.
-Linda Ronstadt

erika manzera
teacher

Tell me and I’ll forget. Teach me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll learn.
-Benjamin Franklin

madison christopher
teacher

Teaching plants a seed that grows forever in our friends’ hearts here.
-Alexis Ortiz

Alexis Ortiz
teacher

A Good teacher is like a candle it consumes itself to light the way for others.
-Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

shannon haynes
teacher

Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.
-Colleen Wilcox

Megan rodriguez
teacher

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
-Plutarch

Giselle Olarinde
teacher

The child gives us a beautiful lesson-that in order to form and maintain our intelligence, we must use our hands.
-Maria Montessori

Lily barragan
teacher

We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are.
-Fred Rogers

Jenna wilson
Teacher

Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.
-Nelson Mandela

Kaylee Talamantes
Teacher

Woodland Campus:
1700 Woodland Avenue, Austin, Texas 78741
512.621.7690 | sgarza@hillsideecc.org
In compliance with the Internal Revenue Service Procedure 76-60 regarding racial nondiscrimination, Hillside Early Childhood Center affirms its position regarding its admission policy and its future intent with the following statement:
Hillside Early Childhood Center admits students of any race, color, nationality and ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational or admission policies, scholarship programs, athletic or other school administered programs. In compliance with the Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 Hillside Early Childhood Center affirms its position regarding discrimination on the basis of sex. It is the policy of Hillside Early Childhood Center not to discriminate on the basis of sex in its educational programs, administration policies and practices, or employment policies.