Kristen Elder-Rubino
I have been teaching Kindergarten at Columbine Elementary for 11 years. My background and experience is focused on early childhood education. Prior to coming to Columbine I taught pre-school/pre-k in Boulder for 10 years. My passion is teaching, exploring, observing and learning with my students. I recently completed my ESL endorsement and my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on Literacy, Language and Culture. When I am not at school, I spend my free time with my daughter, who is a fourth grader at Columbine. We like to read books, watch movies, and hang out with our friends at Moe's and Vic's. I love being a part of the Columbine community and I know you and your children will too!
Stephanie Gilchrist
I am very excited to be a part of Columbine’s kindergarten team this year! I have been teaching for several years now and I feel right at home here at Columbine. I grew up in Washington State and received my bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Washington in Seattle. I completed my teacher training program at Western Washington University in Bellingham the following year. Washington State is beautiful, but I sure do enjoy the sunny skies of Colorado!
Susy Mosqueda
I am from Guanajuato Mexico and have been in the states for 15 years. I have experience working with kids from kindergarten to sixth grade. I worked at Angevine Middle School in Lafayette ifor the 1998-99 school year. I have been working at Columbine for the last 6 1/2 years. I started as a native language tutor for third grade and then moved on to work with both kinder and second grades. Subsequently, I worked for three years as a K-Care specialist while pursuing my degree in elementary education. I'm delighted to join the kindergarten team.
Katie Mc Carthy-Unkefer -Kindergarten Literacy
I graduated from the University of Kansas where I earned a Bachelors Degree in elementary education and Spanish. After graduating I moved to Spain where I taught English for a year to both children and adults. This was a truly memorable experience that helped to reinforce to me that teaching is really what I love to do. As a result of this I decided to further my education at the University of Colorado with a Masters degree in ESL/Bilingual/Multi-cultural education.
It’s hard to believe that this will be my 8th year teaching at Columbine. Where did the time go? For the past six years I have worked as a 1st and 2nd grade teacher. However, after becoming a proud new mother earlier this year I have decided to downsize a little bit. This year I will be working as a Spanish CLIP teacher and a kindergarten literacy teacher. I hope to encourage all of my students to become enthusiastic learners and creative problem solvers, willing to seek out and take on new challenges.
When I am not teaching you can find me spending time with my family and playing with my new little guy, hiking, running, biking and traveling.