Somsy Phonexaysitthidet

Ms. Phonexaysitthidet (PON-SE-SIT-TI-DAY) was born in Laungprabang, Laos and came to the United States in 1980. She graduated from high school in 1984 at Fremont High. In 1985 she began working at a public elementary school as a Laotian bilingual support teacher and stayed until 2003. While in the service of public education, she went back to college for five years to study liberal arts. In mid 2003 she was introduced to Montessori and impressed with the philosophy, she decided to take the Montessori training at the Montessori Teacher Education Center in San Leandro. She then worked at Rising Starr Montessori school for seven years years, before joining GLM in 2011. She has been living in Oakland for three decades and married for thirty three years to a wonderful husband who served in the social services in Oakland. It is an honor for her to support and teach within the GLM community. In her spare time she enjoys working out at the gym and cooking healthy food from scratch.

Woubidil Eckert

Ms. Eckert was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and moved to California in 2003. She has lived in the Bay Area for a majority of her life. She started working professionally with children in 2019 at a home based center in San Rafael. That is where she was inspired to dive deep into the early childhood field taking child development courses at the College of Marin and more recently Merritt College. She received her Associate Teacher certificate from Merritt College while simultaneously working at a play-based center in Oakland. Through her courses she was introduced to the Montessori philosophy which is why she gravitated towards GLM. She aspires to highlight and celebrate individuality in children.

Celeste Stanley

Born in San Francisco, Celeste grew up in both Southern and Northern California. Always drawn to the world of education, she spent several years working at colleges and universities throughout Northern California. Celeste was introduced to the philosophy of Montessori while researching preschools for her oldest son. Inspired by Dr. Montessori’s consummate respect for children, she pursued the Montessori ECE program at Saint Mary’s College. An introduction to Ms. Leck led to an internship in the Ginkgo classroom for the 2016-2017 school year. When not at GLM, Celeste is working on her Montessori ECE credential and spending time with her family (husband Brian, 8 year old TJ, 6 year old Parker and an old brown Lab named Wags).

Danielle Kilpatrick

Ms. Kilpatrick holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with a minor in Theater Arts from Rutgers University, and is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Early Childhood Education at Pacific Oaks College. Ms. Kilpatrick was born in Ventura, California but grew up in Florida and New Jersey. She has always been passionate about working with children and from a young age knew she wanted to teach. As an educator, she has had the opportunity to teach different age groups; including high school, elementary, and preschool. Ms. Kilpatrick truly believes children, especially little ones, learn best by doing. They exude joy when they get to use their imagination to express themselves and explore their natural curiosity. In her free time you can find Ms. Kilpatrick reading books on her kindle, traveling, listening to music, or spending time with family and friends.