Jeffrey Chu

Born in British Hong Kong and growing up in the Bay Area, Mr. Chu has always been interested in personal stories. He was intrigued by the stories his father told of his great-great-grandfather coming to America, of how his family has straddled two continents for many generations. His search for meaning took him to study Chinese at UC Berkeley and getting a master’s in classical Chinese at Peking University in Beijing. In China, while teaching English, Jeff discovered his love for teaching elementary children; where his search turned to understanding what it meant to be human. After coming home, he happened upon Montessori and discovered that Montessori gave him a framework to do just that.
After completing his AMI elementary diploma in Minnesota in 2012, Mr. Chu ran a successful elementary classroom in Hollister for six years. Jeff now joins GLM as the elementary lead teacher.
While he hasn’t found the meaning of life, he has made it his mission to help his students find meaning in theirs. When not teaching, Mr. Chu spends time with his wife Tracy and two cats, studies Spanish, reads history, plays the piano, and is in the middle of restoring a 1972 VW beetle.

Eileen Galindo

Ms. Galindo was born in Lima, Peru. She came to the U.S. as a teenager and has lived in the Bay Area (Daly City, San Francisco and currently in Alameda) ever since. She obtained her B.A in Psychology from San Francisco State University. Her original career plan was to get her Marriage and Family Therapist license but after having her daughter Kylie in 2010, she discovered a passion for early child development. She got her ECE Site Supervisor level permit and worked as an Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) instructor for children on the autism spectrum. She completed her practicum at a Spanish Immersion preschool in San Francisco. While at GLM she got her AMI Primary training certification from Montessori Northwest in 2022. Ms.Galindo will complete her Master’s in Early Education from Whitworth University in 2023. Besides having a teen daughter, Ms. Galindo has a toddler son who just started at GLM in 2023. She is honored to be part of the GLM community and hopes to nurture each child’s uniqueness and encourage their independence during their important formative years. During her free time, Eileen enjoys reading, going to the movies, theater and musicals, listening to true crime podcasts, and enjoying time with her family and walking her dogs.

Jared Mata

Jared Mata was born in San Jose but moved up and down the western coast of America until he was eighteen. From age eighteen to age twenty-six he ran a brewery and restaurant in Spain which sparked his love of good food and business development. His primary interests are traveling and helping small businesses grow. Outside of work you can find him volunteering at an animal shelter or trying to find his new favorite restaurant. He is a fan of a good book, a quiet night, and is always up for learning something new.

Janelle Ledesma

Janelle was born and raised in the Bay Area. She is the first generation to grow up in the United States. Her appreciation for education started at a young age, as she watched her mother complete her high school and college education while speaking little to no English. Education was not as accessible to her mother in the part of Mexico where she grew up and knowing this gave Janelle an impression as to how valuable education was. As she worked on her degree in nursing at Contra Costa College, she began working in an elementary after school program in Richmond, CA. She worked with second graders in an ESL program. Watching the children learn and grow inspired her. She was so moved by the students that she

changed her degree and graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelors of Science in Family and Human Development. Although Janelle knew her place was to teach, she felt that in a traditional educational setting, the needs of children were not always being met. She set out to find the missing piece and discovered it in the Montessori pedagogy. Through her exploration in Montessori education, she has worked in infant, toddler and primary classes, but fell in love with working with elementary aged children. Janelle completed her AMI elementary training at the Montessori Institute of San Diego. In her spare time, Janelle loves to hike, read, cook, and spend time with her family and friends.

Lindsay Rathbun

Ms. Rathbun was born and raised in Northern Virginia. She acquired a Bachelors of Science in Psychology at George Mason University. Her passion for working with children began during her undergraduate studies as she worked one-on-one with children with special needs. After graduation she moved to Switzerland. She learned French, worked with teenage boarding students and volunteered with primary children with special needs. Returning to the U.S., she fell into an assistant position at an AMI certified Montessori school in Arlington, Virginia; which was where she discovered Montessori and started her path towards GLM. She worked as a morning assistant, after-care supervisor and co-directed the summer program. In between those positions she lived in New Zealand and nannied in Australia. She acquired her AMI Primary certification at Montessori Northwest in Portland, Oregon before moving down to Oakland, California to start working at GLM. She also holds a Masters of Education degree from Loyola University, Maryland. Her motivation in dedicating her life’s work to children is to improve their well being by supporting their natural paths. She loves traveling, arts and crafts, biking, hiking, and live music.

Torie Beedle

Ms. Beedle grew up in the small New England state of Rhode Island. She holds a BS in Environmental Science from Norwich University, a MBA in Organizational and Environmental Sustainability from Antioch University New England, and both a primary and elementary American Montessori Society (AMS) credentials from Saint Mary’s College. She is part of the Bay Area Teacher Training Institute’s 2020 cohort and is currently working toward a CA multiple subject credential and a MA in Teaching.  At Antioch, Torie researched how nurturing self-purpose and passion in employees is important for business.  She concluded that the seeds of self-purpose are rooted in a love for learning. Learning starts with curiosity, develops through experimentation and discovery, and then leads to an understanding of passions and values. Through this process the foundation of self-purpose is formed. It all starts with education and learning.  Her research led her to Montessori and progressive education. She was amazed to find that Maria Montessori had been working with these same ideas 100 years ago!  It’s been a passionate love affair ever since. Torie has taught both primary and upper elementary classrooms, including three years as GLM’s Jacaranda Lead.  In her free time, Torie enjoys exploring nature, playing music, making things, trail running, reading and spending time with her family.

Vincent LaRocca

Vincent LaRocca grew up in California between Los Angeles and Riverside. He moved to the Bay Area after graduating from high school. Vincent attended Merritt college in the Fall of 2018, where he took his courses in early childhood development and earned his Assistant Teacher certificate. His observations in early childhood education environments taught him that children are inherent learners, as they naturally explore their surroundings. Subsequently, he became enamored with the very curious nature and love that children have for learning. It was then he decided to begin his journey in the Montessori practice of child development. Vincent joined GLM in July, 2018. He is inspired by children’s potential and wants to be a model support for them on their journey of life. Vincent enjoys listening to music, stand up comedy, hiking and exploring the Bay Area, and finding new spots to eat delicious food.

Mary Aima

Mrs. Aima was born in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in the small town of Webster Groves with her parents, four sisters and a brother. During her summers she and her family enjoyed traveling throughout the United States. She studied psychology while working at a deaf institute as a house mother for four years. She then traveled to Haiti to volunteer for three years at an orphanage, where she was the Activity Director. It was there that she met her husband and later they moved to California. She joined the GLM community in 1991 and has been working as one of our toddler teachers for the past twenty-nine years. During this time she has studied early childhood education and took administration classes to become a Site Supervisor. For twenty of those years she designed and sewed costumes for the GLM Performing Arts Camp, hosted by GLM every summer. She holds a AMI diploma from the Montessori Institute of the Northwest for the infant & toddler level. One of her favorite things about working with the toddlers is supporting them in their independence and watching them explore and discover things for the first time. She also values her role of supporting and collaborating with parents for the well-being of their children. Her daughter attended GLM through elementary. Outside of school she enjoys cooking, cake decorating, sewing and swimming.

Faye Owens

Ms. Owens was born and raised in Columbia, Mississippi. She grew up with five brothers and one sister. After graduating high school, she moved to California where she then attended Heald College to study business. Her first place of employment was a part-time teaching position in a toddler classroom at Grand Lake Montessori. It is here that she developed a love and passion for working with children. She very much enjoyed supporting the development of the toddlers and noticed that they could do many things on their own. Teaching at Grand Lake has inspired Ms. Owens to take many child development courses, including some in Montessori. She has also received an Administrative Director’s certificate and a Home Child Care certificate. Ms. Owens has been a teacher in many classrooms at Grand Lake Montessori for over thirty years. Ms.Owens believes strongly in bringing creativity to all aspects of education and also strives to uphold the school’s mission in her everyday work, which is to “Help make childhood a journey, not a race.” She loves to travel throughout the U.S., spending as much time as possible with her family in Mississippi. In her spare time she enjoys doing yoga, listening to music, and loves eating different varieties of food.

Nancy Haskins

Ms. Haskins is a Bay Area native, born in Richmond, California. She was raised in a very loving Italian family and was lucky to have most of her immediate family members close by. She graduated from Richmond High and then from Contra Costa Jr. College with an A.S. in Computer Sciences and began working immediately for the Diablo Valley School District. She was hired by GLM in 1984 as the Office Manager after enrolling her daughter in the school. Nancy loves the outdoors, hiking, gardening, going to A’s games (Go A’s!) reading, cooking, and spending as much time as possible with her family and close friends. Although she is not a Montessori teacher, she has a great respect for the Montessori approach to education and for the GLM teachers and staff.