Our friend, Freya celebrated a birthday last month and we are excited to share our appreciation for this sweet human this week!

Many years ago, the person who ‘created’ the office administrator job, Marsha Burdick, said that the people that find their way to be staff members at The Garden, find their way for a reason. It isn’t luck, it isn’t purposely sought out, but it has always worked out to be a perfect match! We have no idea why, but we think it has something to do with our staff’s ‘third eye’ or ‘mindful ear’, or a warm connection to each of our personal communities. This is exactly how we found Donna, Cari, Cara, Brin, and Emily! We find the most amazing people, and are always amazed at how perfectly they fit with the rest of the staff, how warmly they connect to our community, and how much the children love them. 

Last August, Brook came to our staff prep week with the exciting news that Freya, the next door neighbor of our beloved storyteller, Kathi Lightstone Matanovic, had a background in teaching at a Reggio preschool, a Reggio preschool led by a grandparent of a couple of Garden alum students, was open to spending some time with preschoolers again! We are always looking for warm hearts and kid friendly people to keep on a substitute teacher list. We invited Freya to our staff prep days to meet all of us and to introduce her to our classroom and our program. It was love at first sight for every one of us. Freya just felt like a natural ‘fit’ to be in our Garden “quiver”. In the past, we had always asked Kathi or Julie (storyteller and parent ed teacher) to come in to be additional hands and laps for the first few weeks of Ladybug classes, to assist with separation anxiety. This year, we had Freya join us and the children immediately bonded to her. Freya sits down on the rug, holds two or three kiddos in her lap, while helping out two or three others set up a masking tape roadway for matchbox cars. She has fun creating imaginative play spaces for children in the backroom, while monitoring who needs help setting up a painting on the easel. She listens in as the staff discuss their check-ins and thoughtfully adds her own observations and ideas. She became so much of a beloved staff member almost instantly, that when she was not here, the children would ask where she was! 

Over the last school year, Freya helped us out regularly in the Ladybug class when we needed extra hands, worked with Emily during this year’s summer camp, and has signed on to be part of the Honeybee team this school year with Brook and Emily.

We are so grateful for our new friend, Freya, and all that she brings to The Garden. We love that because of her time with us these last few months, that she has decided to return to school to get her Masters of Early Childhood Education! We truly love that our time with Freya has made us grow and has also provided an opportunity for Freya to grow! 

Marsha Burdick was correct. Everyone that finds their way to be a staff member at The Children’s Garden, finds it for a reason. It is a bonus for The Garden and a loving and growing experience for the staff member. It is always a gift for our community.

We are so thrilled and grateful to have Freya in our community.