WHO WE ARE

Didi Manahan

BA Psychology, Ateneo De Manila University
MS, Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Bank Street College, NY

Moms wear many hats. Really?!? But twice as many for me as School Directress of Keys. No day the same, all sorts of hats pop out my head 24/7. I wear them all from fancy-ribboned bonnets, exotic headpieces, war-green berets, dandy Indiana Jones hats to sporty baseball cap. Each hat – a challenge and an inspiration – with tints and tones of joy!

Rowena Mercado Soberano

BA, Business Economics, University of the Philippines
MA, Basic Education Teaching, Ateneo de Manila University

Order. Efficiency. System creation. All these are in my DNA as management tools for excellence. And a supervision skill that also requires the carrot and the stick. I traded the perks of the corporate world – a tipping point moment –  for a young child’s world of wonder. Teaching has taught me that learning is a process, knowledge is connecting facts to meaning and skills need context, relevance, and practice.

Leah Gotao See

BA Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University
MA Candidate, Child and Family Development, Ateneo de Manila University

A child-at-play is always a child-at-work. I played the teacher-game too often (and too long) that Dad wondered (and worried) that Prince Charming I’ll miss when he comes a-callin’. Fast forward. 32 years of teaching (and counting), Dad is alarmed to see his little princess still at play.

Maricar de Ocampo

BA Psychology, Assumption
MS, Early Childhod and Elementary Education, Bank Street College, NY
PhD, Educational Leadership & Management, De La Salle University

Learning is like water.  It is here, there and everywhere.  It happens all the time for a child at play where awe and wonder is served each moment, each day.

Agnes Marcelo

BA Psychology, Ateneo De Manila University
MS, Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Bank Street College, NY

Happiness is a library card at six. Heidi was my first imaginary friend who shared my childhood joys, angst, and fears. To distant lands I travelled with books and strange my adventures with villains and heroes. Past and future only a fingertip away each night. From this joy of reading s-l-o-w-l-y came the joy of writing poetry.