Ms. Amanda (Ms. Mandy) is the director at Fireflies. She once wrote on a resume that if someone would pay her to teach trees how to fly she would be happy doing the job. All that to say she loves teaching, the art and craft of it, the philosophy and theory of it, the research and implementation of it. She graduated from Ohio University with her master's in education. She has worked in public and private education spaces for almost two decades!

As you can see in recent years her love of teaching has found its place in raising, training, and loving her own three littles! Her hobbies as of late have changed from reading and sewing to listening to books and doing the laundry!

You might see her around reading books to our younger Fliers, exploring with the Fireflies, or even dressing up as a book character every now and then! 

Ms. Bri is the teacher for our 3rd Year Fliers. We hired her because of her amazing ability to believe her students are capable of big things! Over many years of teaching children, she has honed the ability to meet them where they are at but know exactly where they are headed next in skills and abilities. It really is a superpower. She literally is the most consistent and gentle teacher you will ever meet.

Ms. Bri actually completed two college degrees in culinary and pastry arts and is absolutely in love with reading books. She claims pasta is her favorite food but maybe she hasn't ever had cookies, brownies, and ice cream, if that is possible for a pastry chef. So don't be surprised if you see her at The Academy in the kitchen teaching cooking classes to students with her chef hat on or hiding in the library with kiddos reading books about faraway places. 

She is amazing and very very loved by her students!

Molly is known around the Academy as the baby whisper. She literally whispers to the babies. She will sing to them too. However, you will never in a million years convince her to sing out loud for anyone but babies. She has loved taking care of babies for as long as she can remember and has over 15 years of experience. She has also trained many babies over the years to sleep, eat, understand boundaries, use sign language, and walk, along with many other necessary beginning skills that they take with them into the Fliers classes. 

She loves her dog Coconut, reading, good food, and coffee. She loves time with friends and does not really love the game Monopoly (including most board games). She graduated from Ohio University, where she studied Communication. She is not native to Athens but has lived here long enough now to be considered a permanent transplant. 

She is very loved and trusted here at The Academy!

Sarah is our preschool teacher for our Fireflies class. She brings to her class a lot of excitement and an unexplainable joyfulness. Do not be mistaken though, she expects her students to someday walk on the moon. We hired her because she convinced us that they could! We still aren't sure if it was literal or figurative. Either way she is very good at what she does. 

Her great loves are all things crafts - sewing, quilting, embroidery, and anything else that requires scissors and creativity. I know what you're thinking...she is an old soul but I assure you she has more energy than any four year old you will meet. She graduated from Ohio University with magna cum laude honors in recreational studies. This about sums up Sarah..... she takes her adventures seriously. 

We are incredibly thankful to have her at The Academy!

Ms. Abbie is a very important person to our First Year Fliers. We love Ms. Abbie at The Academy because she is always and forever joyful.....and that is no exaggeration. Her favorite place to be is right on the floor with her students. She is also a believer that a good hug can fix a lot of things. If it hasn't become clear yet Ms. Abbie's mission is to touch the heart of the kids she teaches. 

Her own school time was spent at Shawnee State University where she studied early childhood education. She will probably forever be a learner and teacher. However, when she isn't one of those two you will probably find her sitting in the sunshine crocheting, picking wildflowers, and chasing Honey (her pet dog) all at the same time....that is when you know someone is made for teaching...when they can do three things at once!

She will leave a beautiful imprint on any heart she teaches!

    Here are the most important things you need to know about Ms. Kendra, the teacher for our 2nd Year Fliers. She is one of the most gentle, polite, and compassionate teachers you will meet. She has been working with children since 2014 and thus has had considerable practice helping them to develop these exact qualities in themselves. When you see her in the classroom giddy with excitement it is probably because one of her students has learned or accomplished something new. She might admit to being more excited than them when this happens and I assure you 2 year olds get very excited about these things. For her teaching is an honor. She loves to play a part in each child's growth and learning journey. 

Ms. Kendra is an Athens native, loves her community, her church, her husband, her sweet dog Wally, and her eight "lively" chickens. Many different things come to mind when picturing what eight lively chickens might look like! It seems like it could be very similar to watching a classroom of kids when they are all VERY excited. We figured if she could take care of eight "lively" chickens with joy then teaching 2 year olds would be a great fit!

Ms. Kendra is a very important person to our 2nd Year Fliers at the Academy!