Meet the Staff

Meet our Staff!

We have a highly educated and very dedicated staff at HCP! I am very excited for you to meet all of our teachers in September!

Ms. Ann Marie has held the Director position at HCP since June of 2008. She received her B.S. in Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education from The College of New Jersey, Trenton, New Jersey and a B.S. in Special Education from The College of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, New Jersey. She has additional graduate course work in Training and Development from Montclair State College, Montclair, New Jersey.

Ms. Ann Marie taught kindergarten, second and third grade in New Jersey as well as Title One reading and math to Kindergarten through Sixth grade. Prior to coming to HCP, Ann Marie taught preschool blended ages, as well as enrichment classes at Little Blessing Preschool in Naperville for nine years. Four of those years she was the Assistant Director of the preschool, as well as the Director of the Enrichment program. Ms. Ann Marie has been the Lead teacher in HCP’s BookWorms Enrichment classes and Discovery Kids World Explorer’s Kindergarten classes. She has over 35 years of Early Childhood Educational experience. Ms. Laura Burke (Junior Class Assistant Teacher) comes to us with a Master’s of Science degree in Elementary Education from The State University of New York in Cortland, NY and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Elementary Education from Elmira College, Elmira, NY. Her most recent teaching experience was with Jefferson Early Childhood Center, in Wheaton IL. as an Assistant Teacher in a blended class of 3-5 year olds. She also has experience as a Lead Teacher teaching 2 year olds while working at St. Frances UMC Preschool in Cary, NC. Prior to that Laura’s experience extends to elementary education K through 6th grade. Ms. Megan Knecht comes to us from Auburn University, Auburn, AL with a BS in Human Development and Family Studies with a concentration on Infancy and Preschool Development. She was an undergraduate Research Assistant in Family Perspectives on Early Childcare in 2016 and an Undergraduate Research Assistant in Preschooler’s Management of Peer Conflict in 2015. Her most recent teaching experience was with The Goddard School in Farmington, CT as Lead Teacher of a Pre-k class for the past 2.5 years. She was NAEYC Team Leader in assisting the Educational Director in acquiring NAEYC Accreditation for the school. Prior to that she taught at the YWCA in Hartford, CT and at the Harris Early Learning Center in Birmingham, AL. This will be Ms. Megan’s 2nd year at HCP! Ms. Rachel Coburn comes to us with a Master’s of Science from Northwestern University. Rachel has been a substitute Assistant Teacher at HCP in all of our classes in 2019 and the beginning of 2020. Both of Rachel’s children attended HCP so she is very familiar with the HCP philosophy, curriculum and routine. She was President of our HCP Parent Board in 2018-2019 and currently sits on our Advisory Board. Ms. Rachel volunteered as a “Big Sister” for Big Brother’s-Big Sisters in South Central Indiana. She was a volunteer tutor for elementary age children at St. Marcus Lutheran School in Milwaukee, WI as well as a Chemistry tutor for High School students and she is fluent in Portuguese! This will be Ms. Rachel’s 2nd year of teaching at HCP! Ms. Cathy Hribar joined us in 2016 as Junior class teacher. She earned her Associate Degree in Early Childhood from Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, IL. Ms. Cathy has been a Lead teacher in our preschool BookWorms class as well as a teacher in our Kindergarten BookWorms . Prior to joining HCP Ms. Cathy taught five year olds at Penny Lane Preschool in Oak Lawn and she was the lead teacher in the toddler classroom at the YMCA Child Development Center in Burr Ridge. Ms. Sue Kuhnert comes to us with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from North Central College with Early Childhood Certificate from The College of DuPage. Ms. Sue has been with HCP for seven years and has had experience teaching in both the Junior class and the Senior class! She has been the Lead teacher in several Enrichment classes as well as assistant teacher throughout her seven years at HCP. She has over 30 years of early childhood teaching experience with her prior experience teaching at Little People Learning Center, Inc. in Downers Grove. Ms. Sue was also the Director/Teacher at Little Lambs Preschool at Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church in Bolingbrook, IL. This is Ms. Lynn’s seventh year teaching in the Just for Me Two class. She is also an Alumni Parent of HCP and has served as past Newsletter Chair, Secretary and Registrar!

She has completed extensive work on HCP’s NAEYC Accreditation and is an active member of HCP’s Advisory Board. Ms. Lynn holds a Paraprofessional Education Endorsement (ELS-PARA) from the Illinois State Board of Education. She is an Educator for Food Allergy Safety In Schools where she educates staff and administration on food allergy safety for children. She has a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. This is Ms. Noemi’s third year at HCP! Ms. Noemi has been the assistant teacher in the Just for Me Two class as well as the Junior class throughout her three years at HCP. She has also teaches in various enrichment classes. Prior to joining HCP Noemi was an Assistant Teacher at The Growing Place Preschool in Lombard. Noemi has many years of experience in working with children. Noemi has received her Bachelor of Arts, Religious Studies from Elmhurst University, Elmhurst, IL She also has a Minor in Psychology and Social Work from Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, IL. She is also fluent in Spanish.