Veronica
My name is Veronica. I am a first generation Mexican American, born and raised in Chicago Illinois. My two older brothers and I were raised by two immigrant parents who did not speak English when I was young, and my first language is Spanish. For that reason, I recently decided to take the space, and ask that my name be pronounced as it was given to me, in Spanish (veh-roh-knee-cah). You can also call me by my nickname, Vero. I moved out to Seattle in 2014, after falling in love with the city on my first spring break vacation as a teacher in 2011. I didn’t know a single person out here, but I felt like I needed to get out of my comfort zone to grow; that might tell you a little about my philosophy as an educator. I’ve been working in preschool settings for a little over 10 years now. I started out as a bilingual classroom lead teacher at a Reggio inspired Head Start program in Chicago. When I moved out here in 2014, I started at Epiphany Early Learning Preschool as a teacher in the 4/5 (and the occasional 3) year old classroom. After a few years, I became one of the mentor teachers there, which led me to become and mentor here at Hilltop. I excited to be here! As an educator I am passionate about anti-bias and anti-racist education, modeling consent with children, kinesthetic learning (big body play, risk taking, vestibular & proprioceptive systems), socio-emotional development, and so much more! In and outside of work: I love cooking and baking, listening to records ( always glad to take music recommendations in any genre), reading a good dystopian novel, and I have a collection of over 60 houseplants.