Altagracia Minyetty is Staff Member of the Month at Better Beginnings.  She and her twin brother, Jose, live in East Windsor and were born in Santo Domingo.  They are two of eighteen brothers and sisters.

She would like to be a mother one day, and would also like to see other parts of the world.  Her first stop would be Roma, Italia.    She enjoys helping the community, and feels happy when she is helping others.  She loves her work because the children need her and she likes to be able to help them.  She feels fortunate to have good health and a strong body, and her feeling of community extends to wanting to donate parts of her body if anything should happen to her. 

She feels that the dignity of families and children is maintained by every member of the community respecting each other.

Ana Grisales is December Staff Member of the Month at Better Beginnings.  Recently Ana received certification from the New Jersey Bureau of Child Care Licensing as a Head Teacher, able to serve in that capacity in any child care center in New Jersey.    She obtained her degree in Preschool Education from Manizales University in Colombia, South America.  Her thesis was "Family Resources with Children".  She came in May 1990 to the United States where she became a Group Teacher for the Super Doopers at Better Beginnings.  On moving to Dover Delaware, she worked in the Dover Child Care Center for four years, following which she returned to Better Beginnings and the Super Doopers.  While at Better Beginnings, she has attended many workshops in early childhood education which she continues.  She is bilingual in Spanish and English, and an asset to the center's multicultural setting.

Ana has a beautiful two-year-old daughter.  Her parents live in Calarca Colombia.   Her older brother and his family live in East Windsor.

Ana loves children and is working with them and seeing them progress is her most important reason for being a teacher and pursuing this career.

Aida Cecilia CampoVerde is Staff member of the Month at Better Beginnings.   Cecilia has been employed as a Group Teacher of the Lollipops for nine years, and has been Bilingual Family Coordinator, in addition, for the past three years.  She is degreed from Venezuela in Early Childhood and Special Education, and has taken many classes and workshops since being at Better Beginnings.

She has two children, Fausto and Christian, and resides with her husband, Fausto, Senior, in East Windsor.  She loves music and singing and all foods.  Her present objective is to learn more English and to see her children grow up.  She enjoys a good feeling about herself when she helps others and does her share.  Assisting children is important, she believes, because children are our future.  She believes that dignity of families and children is maintained when all family members have a say.

Nancy Ann Kennedy Green is Better Beginnings’ Staff Member of the Month for July.  She has been working at Better Beginnings for almost 21 years.  She has held the position of Acting Group Teacher in the Muppet Class, and has worked in the Lollipop and Super Dooper Classrooms.  Presently she is working in the Heart Friends Kinderage classroom.   Prior to working at Better Beginnings, Mrs. Green worked in the Trenton School System at Grant School, in the Follow Through Program, K-3.

Mrs. Green’s philosophy is, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”   She states that you have to give respect in order to receive respect, and that child or adult, one of the most important things is communication, being able to talk to children or adults.

Recently, Mrs. Green’s cousin who lives in Virginia Beach was researching their family roots and discovered that some of their family members were freed from a huge plantation seventy years before the Civil War.  Mrs. Green’s great great great grandmother, whose name was also Nancy, was freed in 1813.  On August 26 and 27, 2000, her family will be having a homecoming in Warsaw, Virginia.

Janice Arlene Jones is staff member of the month at Better Beginnings, where she has been employed for 16 years.  She is Group Teacher for the Smilies Classroom.  Presently, she is also the Acting Head Teacher and is also responsible for the Super:BBs After-School Violence and Substance Abuse Prevention component.  She has been certified as a Group Teacher by New Jersey, and has her CDA from the Child Development Association.

Philosophically, as pertains to young children, she believes that we need to love and respect the "person" and that we need to help children to believe in themselves and give them a broad range of experiences and developmental activities.  Assisting children is important because when each child has a positive self-image, they are more likely to succeed in life.  They are our future.

Her present top priority is to continue her Early Childhood Education courses.  Ms. Jones finds that helping others is very rewarding and she has discovered that by helping others, you also help yourself.  She believes that dignity of families and children is maintained by taking time out to listen and respect others, just as you want to be respected; by being open minded to any problems or concerns and giving a little love and understanding.

Althea Lewis  is staff member of the month at Better Beginnings.  Althea has three children:  Leonard, Kendrick and Latisha and two grandchildren, Da’Von and Alexis.   She has been at Better Beginnings more than 20 years where she is Administrative Assistant.

During her lifetime she would like to go on a world tour, and to hit the lottery jackpot for millions.  She would give staff some of her winnings, as well as to Better Beginnings.

She believes that learning is both work and play. We provide activities and experiences for each individual child, to build their self-esteem.   Her top priority at Better Beginnings is  providing a safe and healthy environment for our children here whom we love.  Assisting children is important because children are our future. Success breeds success. We want all children to feel
important and worth while.

Althea is a Jill of all trades, who believes in doing her share, helping others.   She is not afraid to tackle any job.

Dignity of families and children is maintained by working together as a unit, communicating with each other, being open-minded when dealing with everyday experiences, and, finally, just giving a lot of LOVE & UNDERSTANDING.

Gloria Perez is Staff Member of the month at  Better Beginnings’.  She has been an Assistant Teacher at at Better Beginnings since  1986, and is a valued member of the staff.

Mrs. Perez is proud of her three beautiful daughters and wonderful son, thirteen grandchildren and four great grandchildren.    She likes to watch Spanish soap operas, do jigsaw puzzles and to crochet.  Her hand crafted items are often a gift, door prize, or auction item for the benefit of Better Beginnings.  “Ms. Gloria” shares her love of arts by encouraging the  children to develop their creativity.  She loves children, the color blue, movies, Bingo and spending time with her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Gloria would like to travel to different countries and be more fluent in English.  She believes that children with a positive self-image are more likely to succeed and that her most important task is to encouraging the development of self-esteem, independence and self-confidence.  She finds early childhood education very rewarding and believe that dignity of families and children is maintained.

Iris Rodriquez  is staff member of the month at Better Beginnings, has been employed at Better Beginnings since May 1995.   Iris’ husband is Luis, their daughter is Alejandra.  Her mother is Rosa, in Columbia, and her father, Aroldo, is known to us all as a successful heart transplant recipient.  Her sisters are Deisy and Jennifer and her brothers are Luis and Harold.

Iris is an Assistant Teacher at Better Beginnings.  She likes to read, write and draw.  She likes watching her husband play softball.  Iris would like to have 1 or 2 more babies.  He hopes to continue her career in Early Childhood education.  She presently attends CDA classes.  Philosophically, she believes in helping each child build a positive self-image through intellectual, social, emotional and physical development activities.

Iris believes that assisting children is important because she wants to provide the highest quality early childhood education possible for our children.  The dignity of families and children should be preserved by teaching children to respect  each other regardless of race, religion, cultural differences.