Biography

​Stephanie moved to Vero Beach in late 2003. Prior to that she had lived in Palm Beach County where she spent several years working in the field of early childhood education. Her experiences included teaching at a Montessori school and owning and operating her own licensed family child care program. Shortly after arriving in Vero Beach she began working part-time for The Community Church Children’s Ministry. In 2005 she enthusiastically accepted the opportunity to become a Pre-K teacher at Community Preschool. She remained a teacher for the following four years until being selected as the new Preschool Director in 2009.

Her career began with a Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation Administration from West Virginia University. She earned her national certification as a Therapeutic Recreation Specialist and worked for eight years in that field. The majority of that time was spent as the Director of Expressive Therapy for a psychiatric hospital specializing in working with adolescents. From there she spent five years working as a Program Coordinator for Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation. She was involved in managing various programs and facilities including multiple community and civic centers. She was also involved in several innovative collaborative efforts of community and government agencies focusing on providing high quality programs for all youth in the county. After her first child was born she became very interested in programs and services specifically for children ages birth to five. At that time she became inspired to focus her career and additional college coursework on early childhood education.

Not only has she been associated with the preschool as an employee, but her daughter attended here as well. “After moving to Vero, I knew the first time I toured the school that it was a special place. We felt so fortunate to be involved here as a family. Our daughter had an amazing start to her educational experience. I felt equally as blessed to have the opportunity to teach here and now am honored to have been selected as Director.”