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Meet Our Teachers
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Angela Schueler is the owner of Great Expectations and
lives in Watertown with her husband, Chris, and their two
daughters: Emily, 13, and Miranda, 10. Angie and her
family are animal lovers and have a dog named Jeb, 2
cats, 2 rabbits 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. She enjoys the downtime she has to herself
reading a good book. Angie started in the early childhood
field in 1990. When the center she was working for was
closing, she took the opportunity to own and operate her
own center and opened 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
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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 12 years with
her two children. Her son Michael, 19 is in the Marine Corps and her
daughter Caitlin, 17 is currently a junior at Watertown High School.
Sharon has worked with children of all ages and enjoys seeing them go
through their day learning and growing from all of the experiences and
activities they do each day. She plans her classroom lessons around
the “learn through play” theory and gears the activities to the interests
of the children, helping them learn to explore through art, music and a
variety games, books and toys. “It’s a wonderful experience to see
children’s eyes light up with wonder and see them smile with happiness
and a sense of accomplishment when they master a new skill.” In the
fall of 2009, Sharon changes gears and began working in our infant
area after years of teaching 3 year olds. She is currently working with
the centers youngest learners in the infant 1 room with children as
young as six weeks old.
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Sharon Vorpahl
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Ms. Denise Hasburgh is Great Expectations 4 year old
kindergarten teacher. The 4k program is a community
based program that collaborates with the Watertown
Unified School District. Denise joined the GEELC staff in
2007 and has just started her third school year with us.
Denise graduated from the University of Wisconsin –
Platteville with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary
Education with a minor in Early Childhood. Before coming
to Great Expectations, she taught 4k in New Glarus, taught
3 & 4 year old preschool at a child care center in Fitchburg
and completed her interning student experience in
kindergarten and first grade. Denise “greatly enjoys
working with children” and being given the opportunity to
have fun and laugh every day with the kids. “Waking up
every morning knowing that I’m going to influence,
educate and be a positive & friendly role model for children
is why I chose to become a teacher!!” In her free time,
Denise loves to go running, spend time with her friends and
family, sing, dance, read, attend sporting events and
volunteer for different organizations.
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Denise Hasburgh
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Ms. Ashley Egerstaffer was born and raised in Watertown and
graduated from Watertown High School in 2002. While in high
school, Ashley took the necessary early childhood classes to
become qualified to teach in the early childhood field. In May
2008, Ashley married her husband Dan. They have two children,
a son Rilley, 4 and a daughter Karley who was born in February
2009. Ashley started with Great Expectations in September
2008 as part of our float staff and has worked with all age
groups. Presently Ashley works with all ages as a float teacher.
She enjoys working with children and looks forward to getting to
know all of our families.
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Ashley Egerstaffer
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Ms. Amanda Saeger did her co-op training with Great
Expectations while she was in high school and has four years
experience working with children. Amanda joined Great
Expectations again in 2008, and is part of our full time teaching
staff taking on the Toddler - 2 year old classroom. She loves
working with children because 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 to day.” Amanda’s greatest
satisfaction is coming to work each day knowing that the things
she does with the children help impact who they will become in
the future. Amanda and her husband Nate had their first child in
May 2009 and are now experiencing the joys of watching their
own child grow and change each day.
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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 lessons to
help the children retain the new things they learn from her each day
and 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 and is sure to give the children plenty of outside play time on
the playground. She often takes her class on walks outside to give
them a chance to experience adventures outside the classroom and
even 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 works with all age groups, but spends the
majority of her time with children in the 2 1/2 - 3 year old
room. Brandi enjoys working with the kids because “it’s
amazing to see them learn and grow everyday!” She feels
that working in the early childhood field is a very rewarding
job.
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Brandi Christian
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Ms. Jenny Sjoberg co-teaches in our Toddler 2
classroom. She completed the training needed to be
a primary teacher and has special training in infant
and toddler care. Jenny started at Great
Expectations in 2005 and has worked with a variety
of age groups. Having a 3 year old of her own, she
prefers to spend her days with the younger children
in the center and sometimes helps out in the toddler
1 room and infant area. Being with the kids in their
younger years, she enjoys being able to watch them
grow as they move into new classrooms throughout
the center. She also loves “teaching young children
new things every day”. Jenny has continued her
training in the early childhood field and always has
new games and ideas to put to use in the classroom.
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Jenny Sjoberg
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Ms. Sarah Libby has worked in the early childhood
field since 1994. She began working at Great
Expectations in 2006 and has worked primarily with
the infant and toddler classrooms. Sarah finds it
“fulfilling to watch them learn to walk, talk and
discover their world. It’s a rewarding feeling to be
needed and loved by the children I see daily”. Sarah
is thankful she can impact and influence the children’s
futures at such an important age. With a recent
change to her schedule Sarah has been co-teaching
in our Toddler 1 classroom opposite Ms. Trisha.
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Sarah Libby
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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 2007 on a float status but became
the primary toddler 1 teacher shortly after. After a recent
decision to further her own 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 co-teaching in the
toddler 1 classroom, however you may see her in other
areas, helping out if needed.
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Trisha Moran
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Shawn Rutherford joined the GEELC staff in January 2005 as
the center cook. Having worked in the food industry for 10
years previously, it was an easy transition for her. Knowing
that sometimes kids can be a bit 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 aren’t so popular.
She always keeps the favorites like grilled sandwiches with
soup and her famous cheesy chicken potatoes. Shawn really
enjoys having the freedom to try new things with food, but
also loves seeing the kids smile and have fun each day. “You
don’t get to see the innocence of kids everyday at most jobs,
and that makes this center a special place”.
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Shawn Rutherford
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Ms. Amy Wheat lives in Lake Mills with her husband Greg and
two children; Logan, 6 and Ariana, 3. Amy has a Special
Education Instructional Assistants license for grades PreK-12
and has twelve years experience working with children. Amy
began working at Great Expectations in 2005 and has worked
with various age groups over the years. Currently Amy
works as our three year old teacher and enjoys watching the
children learn and grow.
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Amy Wheat
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Ms. 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 third
year in our 4k program and spends her summers working in
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 the magnets stick
together. To them it’s like magic!” Kari married her
wonderful husband Matt in May 2009 and in August they
purchased their first home. In September they also added
another member to their family by adopting a dog named
Scooter.
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Kari Maass
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Ms. Jessie Klecker attends UW-Whitewater, majoring
in Early Childhood Education. Jessie enjoys working
with the kids at GEELC because it makes her “all the
more excited to be a teacher after graduation.” She
loves seeing the kids grow and be excited about
learning new things.
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Jessie Klecker
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Ms. Becca Zeman started with Great Expectations in
2007 during her high school co-op. She started
college in the fall of 2008 at UW-LaCrosse, majoring
in Elementary Education with a minor in Spanish, and
made the transfer this year to UW-Whitewater for
the 2009-2010 school year. Becca remembers
having some very influential teachers throughout her
school years, and is really excited to have that
opportunity in a career herself. She has enjoyed and
appreciated working at GEELC because she “has
learned so much from the other teachers and the
kids”. Becca works her schedule around her classes
and helps fill in around the center where the help is
needed,
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Becca Zeman
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