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Meet Our Teachers
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Angela Schueler is the owner of Great Expectations. She
lives in Watertown with her husband, Chris, and their two
children Emily and Miranda. Angie and her family are animal
lovers and have a dog named Jeb, 3 cats, 1 rabbit and a
horse named Rosa. Angie spends her free time supporting
her daughter Emily in her love for gymnastics and Miranda
with her horse riding and barrel racing. Angie enjoys the
downtime that she has to herself reading a good book.
Angie started in the early childhood education field in 1990.
When the center she was working for was closing, she took
the opportunity to own and operate her own center, Great
Expectations, in 2004. Angie loves working with children
because each day gives her the opportunity to see the joy
on a child’s face when they learn something new.
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Angela Schueler
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Emily Olszewski has been working with children since 1991. She began
working at Great Expectations in 2004, shortly after the center
opened. She has a two year associate degree in Early Childhood
Education. She began her career with GEELC as a teacher. Emily takes
pride in the time and experiences she has had in the classroom with the
children, knowing in many cases that she was getting more time with
the child than the parent. Becoming a parent herself, she is “now
getting to feel what it’s like to be one dropping off and walking away
from your most valuable possession. It’s made me become an even
better teacher and motivates me to do what I am doing for the
children and families here at GEELC.” Children and family have always
been important to Emily and her husband, who is an elementary school
teacher, so Emily and now works part time as our center program
director so she is able to spend more time with her two young boys.
As a program director, Emily oversees classroom planning and works
closely with our teachers to ensure their lesson are developmentally
appropriate and the every classroom meets the requirement objectives
of our curriculum. She helps teachers find continuing education
trainings and workshops to attend and has also presented trainings to
staff as well. Emily maintains staff records so they meet all state
licensing requirements and works with the center management on
planning center wide activities such as field trips, family events and
holiday programs. While having many administrative duties, Emily’s
favorite part of her job is still getting back into the classroom and
spending time with the kids.
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Emily Olszewski
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Ms. Lori Dominguez grew up in North Carolina where she
began her education in the early childhood field. After
moving to Wisconsin Lori finished her training and has been
working in the child care field since 1997. Lori started with
Great Expectations in 2004. Lori has spent most of her
time working with two year olds, until 2008 when she found
her true calling as an infant teacher. Being able to watch
the children reach first milestones such as rolling over,
crawling, the first steps and seeing the first teeth has been
enjoyable for Lori with this age and she feels the best part
of her job is seeing the big smiles on the kids faces each
day when they see her. It’s very rewarding to know the
children are comfortable leaving mom or dad and that they
enjoy being here to play and do various activities
throughout the day with her. Art is a fun activity in the
infant room and Lori spends lots of time making hand print
projects and having the children finger and body paint. A
parent favorite is when Lori creates different pictures using
photos of the children’s faces. Outside of work Lori spends
her time with her husband Alex and two boys Anthony, 9
and Noah, 5.
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Lori Dominguez
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Ms. Sharon Vorpahl has worked for Great Expectations since 2004
when the center opened. She has lived in Watertown for 15 years with
her two children, Michael who is 21 and in the United States Marine
Corps and Caitlin, 19, who is currently going to Waukesha County
Technical College obtaining an Early Childhood Associates degree.
Sharon has a granddaughter, Elizabeth, who is 21 months and is
enrolled at Great Expectations. Sharon is currently taking college
courses to obtain an Infant and Toddler Credential. She also has an
associate degree as a Dietetic Technician. Sharon has worked with
children of all ages and enjoys seeing them go through their day
learning and growing from all the experiences and activities they do
each day. She plans who lessons around the “learning through play”
theory and gears activities to the interests of the children, helping them
learn to explore through art, music, and a variety of games, books,
and toys. “It’s a wonderful experience to see children’s eyes light up
with wonder and to see them smile with happiness as well as a sense of
accomplishment when they master a new skill.” In the fall of 2009,
Sharon changed gears from working with two and three year olds and
is now working the youngest learners in the infant classroom.
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Sharon Vorpahl
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Ms. Amanda Saeger did her co-op training with Great
Expectations while she was in high school and has six years
experience working with children. Amanda joined Great
Expectations again in 2008 and is our lead teacher for the
Toddler 2 classroom. She loves working with children, “ each
day is a new experience and there is never a dull moment! It’s
amazing how much the children grow and change from day
today!” Amanda’s greatest satisfaction is coming to work each
day knowing that the things she does with the children help
impact what they will become in the future. Amanda and her
husband Nate have two children, Brielle who two and a half and
Tucker who is four months old.
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Amanda Saeger
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Ms. Brittany Strunz started with Great Expectations in
the fall of 2009. She currently attends Watertown
High School and takes part in the FCCLA (future child
care leaders of America) program and the co-op work
experience opportunity. Brittany comes in each
afternoon after school and you will see her in various
classrooms throughout the center co-teaching with
our primary qualified staff while she is completing her
training.
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Brittany Strunz
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Ms. Christina Neace started working with children when she was
twelve years old as a volunteer. After completing high school she
went on to college and received her bachelor’s degree in elementary
education. Christina joined the Great Expectations staff in 2004 and
is now our preschool teacher. She enjoys watching children learn
and grow and understands the importance of offering kids a variety
of learning experiences. Christina spends a lot of time reading with
the children in her classroom because it is “very important in a child’s
education”. She uses songs, poems, and finger plays in her lesson
plans to help the children retain the new things they learn from her
each day. She allows the children multiple opportunities throughout
the day to participate in classroom free play because this “helps
children develop the social skills he/she will need in the future”.
Christina also includes large group activities, science experiments, and
art projects in her lessons. She is sure to give the children plenty of
outside play time on the playground and on walks outside to give
them a chance to experience adventures outside the classroom.
Christina joins in the fun jumping in leaf piles with the kids in the fall
and sledding with them in the winter.
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Christina Neace
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Ms. Brandi Christian began working with Great Expectations
during her high school co-op as she attained her early
childhood training. She has since continued working on a full
time basis. Brandi is the lead teacher in the Three’s-1 room.
Brandi enjoys working with children because, “it’s amazing to
see them learn and grow every day!” She feels that working
the early childhood field is a very rewarding job.
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Brandi Christian
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Ms. Trisha Moran has been in the early childhood field for eight
years, many of which she taught preschool. She started with
great Expectations in April of 2007 on a float basis but
became the lead teacher in Toddler 1 room shortly after.
After a decision to further her education, Trisha has decided
to work part time to help balance out her busy schedule.
Most of Trisha’s time in the center is still spent driving drop off
for school- age children in the morning. However, you may
see her in other areas helping out as needed.
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Trisha Moran
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Miss Kari Maass is our 4 year old kindergarten assistant
teacher. Kari started with Great Expectations in 2004 as a
co-op student and has since become a primary qualified
teacher within the center. She recently began her fifth year
in our 4K program and spends her summer working various
classrooms throughout the center. Kari loves working with
children because each day is a new experience. Being
around children reminds Kari to take the time to stop and
appreciate the simple things in life, like the excitement on a
four year olds face when magnets stick together, “To them
its magic!” Kari married her wonderful husband Matt in
2009 and in August they purchased their first home. In
September 2009, they also added another member to the
family by adopting a dog named Scooter.
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Kari Maass
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Cari Morstad
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Julia Wiener
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Shawn Rutherford
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Shawn Rutherford joined GEELC staff in 2005 as the center’s cook.
Having worked in the food industry for ten years previously, it was an
easy transition for her. Knowing that sometimes children can be
“picky” about what they will eat, she tries to get a few new items on
the menu several times a year and weeds out the meals that are not so
popular. She always keeps the favorites like grilled cheese sandwiches
with soup and her famous cheesy potatoes. Shawn really enjoys
having the freedom to try new things with food, but also loves seeing
the children smile and have fun each day. “You don’t get to see the
innocence of the children every day at most jobs and that makes this
center a special place.”
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Sammi Proffitt
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Ms. Sammie Proffitt began working for Great Expectations in
the fall of 2010 through her co-op class allowing her the
opportunity to gain experience and training in the early
childhood field. Sammie currently opens great Expectations
and is one of the infant room teachers along with Ms.
Sharon. Sammie loves seeing the happiness of each child,
watching them grow and helping them learn. She is also
expecting a little girl of her own on Christmas Eve.
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Brittany Keeser
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Ms. Brittany Keeser is the primary teacher of our two year
old classroom. She moved to Wisconsin from Illinois and
resides with her husband in Watertown. She joined our
Great Expectation family in January 2011. Brittany’s
education includes an Associates degree in the Arts and
sciences, focusing on Early Childhood Education. She has
been working with children since 2007 and believes children
are our future and their education matters, no matter what
age they are. Each day she looks forward to learning as
much from the children as they learn from her.
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Ms. Morstad has been a part of the Great
Expectations family since 2004. She started as a
school-age teacher while finishing her Early
Childhood degrees from UW-Whitewater. After
graduation in 2009, she came back to teach in the
two-year-old room. In the summer of 2010, Ms.
Morstad accepted the 4-year-old Kindergarten
position and has been teaching 4K ever since. Ms.
Morstad plans daily age appropriate activities based
on curriculum goals along with teaching children
social skills in order to interact with peers and solve
problems. Some of her favorite activities to do with
kids include science experiments, messy art, and
sensory activities. “It is amazing to see their eyes
light up when they experience something they
haven’t experienced before. It is an indescribable
feeling.” Ms. Morstad continues to live in
Watertown where she was born and raised. She
lives with her boyfriend, Ryan, and their dog
Roscoe.
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