Staff
Jamie Carta
Preschool Director
After growing up in Southern California, Jamie lived in Seattle and Georgia before moving to Colorado in 2016 with husband, Aaron, and their four children. She began her career working with Head Start programs. From there she directed and taught at an early childhood cooperative, worked as a preschool teacher in a public-school setting, and then spent eleven years as a child-care center licensing specialist. Most recently, Jamie taught CSU’s Early Childhood Center’s model classroom, mentoring numerous new teachers into full-time teaching roles.
Jamie has a BA degree in Child Development and a MA degree in Human Development, focusing on Leadership in Education and Parent Education. An advocate for lifelong learning, Jamie is beginning a part-time second MA degree in Clinical Mental Health at UNC-Greeley, with the goal of becoming a licensed child/family therapist in the future.
Erin Burson
Lead Teacher - Aleph Room
Erin has been working with children for over 20 years as a babysitter, nanny, and for the last 10 years as a professional early childhood teacher. She attended and graduated from both Front Range Community College with an AAS and from CU Denver with her BA both in early childhood education. She has her director certificate, infant nursery supervisor certification, and paraeducator certificate. She moved to Colorado in 2010 from her home state of Oregon. She lives in a sweet home in Berthoud CO with her family. Working with children is Erin’s passion. Outside of teaching she loves the outdoors, hiking, baking and camping.
Jasmine Vigil
Teacher Aid - Aleph Room
Jasmine has seven years of experience in the Early Childhood Education field. She is almost finished with her associates in ECE at Front Range Community College. In her free time, Jasmin enjoys reading, writing, sewing, and spending time with her two little ones and husband.
Rebecca Hyman
Lead Teacher - Bet Room
Rebecca grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia for 20 years before getting her BS degree in Sociology from Fairmont State University in West Virginia back in 2019. She finished her MS in Family and Human Development in 2023 from Arizona State University. She has a background working with elementary schoolers, middle schoolers, and special education. Rebecca loves to read, bake, roller skate, travel, and see live music in her free time.
Zihui (Cherry) Xu
Teacher Aid - Bet Room
Cherry has a bachelor’s degree in nutrition. She loves to be around kids. She started her early childhood education career with the then afterschool club, base camp, and then fell in love with it. She plans to chase further education within this field in the future.
Sarah Ballard-Ramirez
Aleph-Bet Club Assistant
Sarah has worked with children in a variety of church settings; Sabbath school, the nursery on Sundays, and weekly children’s ministry programs during the school year. She also has enjoyed babysitting for numerous families. With two teenagers of her own, one who has Sensory Processing Disorder and one with Aspergers’s, Sarah has a special place in her heart for neurodivergent kiddos.
Tonya Puttlitz
Teacher Aid
Tonya was a stay-at-home mom for many years before she began working part-time in the Poudre School District as a Job Coach, assisting and mentoring special-needs teens at various internships. She enjoys working with your children and helping them enjoy each of their days to the fullest!