Sarah Refson
Executive Director
Sarah Refson grew up in New York, received her Bachelor’s of Arts and teacher’s certificate from Baitchana Teaching school in Israel and her Master’s degree in early childhood education from MJI. She taught at Rambam Day School in New York for eight years and was director of Lower School for two years. She now lives in Charleston, SC and is Co-Director of the Center for Jewish Life with her husband Yossi and is ably assisted by her four children. She has been the Judaic Director for the Preschool of the Arts for the past four years. In her free time, she can be found binge watching old episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Jenni Beal
Assistant Director
Jenni is thrilled for another fun and exciting year as a part of the Preschool of the Arts education team serving as assistant director. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and childhood studies and is passionate about the psychological benefits of nature and the positive impact time in the outdoors can have on human growth and development. Inspired by the forest school movement and the Reggio Emilia approach to inquiry based learning, she went on to become a certified forest kindergarten teacher and master naturalist. Her teaching style encourages children to learn through unique experiences and engage them in quality activities which stimulate their innate curiosity about the world. In her spare time you can find her outside! She enjoys gardening, fishing, and finding seashells on the beach. She is thrilled to be at Preschool of the Arts where she can share her enthusiasm for nature with young learners (or tiny scientists) as they explore this big beautiful world we call home. Jenni can be reached at jenni@potachs.com.
Allison Philips
Adventurer Teacher
Originally from Florida, Allison has loved living and teaching early childhood in Charleston for the past three years. Allison found her way to a Reggio Emilia inspired teaching philosophy through a passion for experiential education and play-based learning. She believes strongly that children are naturally capable and competent learners, and her teaching style supports children’s innate sense of wonder through an engaging environment and hands-on learning. She has a B.S. in Family and Child Sciences from FSU with a minor in Recreation. When not at school, Allison loves baking, kayaking, reading, and dancing. She can often be found spending time at the beach and exploring the outdoors whenever possible. Allison can be reached at allison@potachs.com.
Ximena Yanez
Adventurer Teacher
Ximena is an enthusiastic educator and brings a decade of experience working alongside children. After graduating from the University of South Carolina and relocating to Charleston, Ximena discovered a passion for Reggio Emilia inspired pedagogy and emergent, project-based curriculum, leading her to pursue a Master’s degree in innovative education. Expanding on her vision for constructivist, child-led schooling, she continues to be a strong advocate for fostering research based connections utilizing art and play. Ximena views art and play as authentic avenues for cultivating a deep love of learning and ensures each child feels empowered to share their unique strengths with the world. As an artist herself, she enjoys photography, painting and encaustic mixed media. In an effort to give back to the Charleston community, she has hosted donation based art studios at local markets, inviting children to create with a wide range of open ended materials. In her free time, Ximena can be found practicing yoga, supporting live music and taking long meandering walks downtown. Ximena can be reached at ximena@potachs.com.
Patty Peterson
Explorer Teacher
Patty joins us with an enthusiastic desire to share her many years of experience working with preschool age children with a focus on play-based education that integrates child-initiated and teacher-supported learning. Growing up in Southern California, she attended Mira Costa College studying early childhood development and education. Patty’s hobbies include baking, reading, art and especially exploring Carolina beaches looking for shark teeth and other treasures. Patty can be reached at patty@potachs.com.
Suzanne Bagley
Explorer Teacher
As an early childhood teacher, Suzanne draws on her art and design background and teaches children to embrace their own individual artistic expressions through hands on creativity. Using an early introduction of artistic design principals, such as perspective, symmetry, patterns, line, color and shapes, she helps children value their own artwork to help them discover that everyone is an artist. Suzanne is excited to have joined the caring staff of the Preschool of the Arts. Whenever she has extra time on her hands, she can be found knitting, needle felting or making homemade soaps. She enjoys sharing her love of creativity and learning with your children. Suzanne can be reached at suzanne@potachs.com.
Anna Baumgaertner
Music Teacher
Anna Baumgaertner has been playing the violin since she was four years old and teaching Strings for the past 22 years. Anna has a BA in Music Performance from DePaul University and a MA of ED from Nova Southwestern University. She was Performing Arts Chair at NSU University School, an independent prep school in Fort Lauderdale for the past 17 years where she taught early childhood music, and orchestra for grades 3-12. She currently lives in Mount Pleasant with her husband and three children.
Susie Tecklenburg
Administrative Director
Susie Tecklenburg is the administrative director at the Preschool of the Arts and lives in Charleston with her husband, Kyle, and two young daughters. She graduated from the College of Charleston with a Corporate Communication degree and has since been working toward perfecting the art of digital marketing and website design while tackling various administrative duties along the way. Susie started her professional career with the Palmetto Group in a sales and marketing role. She then moved on to Handsome Properties where her duties ranged from digital marketing, to event planning and management of the company’s CRM. Most recently Susie held a Universal Banking position with a local bank where she assisted with loan production and processing. In her free time, Susie enjoys singing along to her daughters’ favorite song, Wheels on the Bus, and being challenged to several toddler dance-offs per day.
A Message from Our Director
My experience has taught me that all children have an intrinsic desire to explore. Children are capable and competent learners. They thrive when given the tools and support to explore and discover as they learn.
I was thrilled to relocate to the Lowcountry this year and begin our Preschool of the Arts program based on the Reggio Emilia approach. We have built a school that provides a natural, organic, and art-filled environment where children learn through an enriching, multi-sensory approach.
When you visit us, you will hear open-ended discussions and see long-term projects at various stages of development. Projects, relevant to the child’s life experiences, are planned, yet responsive to individual needs and environmental happenings.
Our children’s ideas and questions are honored and valued as part of our learning process — a guided process of building meaningful understandings. We will share with you how we document children’s work in progress, which is an important tool for building these understandings.
It is both humbling and exciting to witness how children develop within the environment we provide at Preschool of the Arts. I welcome you to come visit us so you can see for yourself!
Executive Director
A Message from
Our Director
My experience has taught me that all children have an intrinsic desire to explore. Children are capable and competent learners. They thrive when given the tools and support to explore and discover as they learn.
I was thrilled to relocate to the lowcountry this year and begin our Preschool of the Arts program based on the Reggio Emilia Approach. We have built a school that provides a natural, organic, and art-filled environment where children learn through an enriching, multi-sensory approach.
When you visit us, you will hear open-ended discussions and see long-term projects at various stages of development. Projects are planned, yet responsive to individual needs and environmental happenings. Our projects are relevant to the child’s life experiences.
Our children’s ideas and questions are honored and valued as part of our learning process — a guided process of building meaningful understandings. We will show you how we document children’s work in progress, which is an important tool for building these understandings.
It is both humbling and exciting to witness how children develop within the environment we provide at Preschool of the Arts. I welcome you to come visit us so you can see for yourself!
Executive Director
“Our children’s ideas and questions are
honored and valued as part of our learning
process — a guided process of building
meaningful understandings. We will show
you how we document children’s work in
progress, which is an important tool
for building these understandings.”
“Our children’s ideas and questions are honored and valued as part of our learning process — a guided process of building meaningful understandings. We will show you how we document children’s work in progress, which is an important tool for building these understandings.”
PRESCHOOL OF THE ARTS
477 Mathis Ferry Road • Mount Pleasant, SC 29464 • 843-884-2323