Meet the Teachers & Staff
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Becky D'Elia, Director
Becky was born in England and graduated from Southampton University, UK with a Masters degree in geology. During this time, she completed an exchange year at Penn state University where she met her husband. Together they moved to Spruce Pine in 2012, where they married and had two children, Louise and Charlie. After the birth of her first child Becky became a stay at home parent and in 2016 Louise attended church street preschool. Becky volunteered in the classroom and began teaching geology to the children annually and found how much she enjoyed teaching preschool children. In 2018 she was excited to join the team as a preschool teacher.
In her free time she enjoys, cooking, gardening, hiking and remodeling their ‘fixer upper’.
Kylie Robinson, Teacher
Kylie
Margarita Robinson, Teacher
Margarita was born in a remote village in the Philippines, called Buena Vida, where her mother, brothers and sisters still reside. She finished her elementary grades in Buena Vida and then moved to Makilala, a small town nearby, for high school since there was no high school in her home town. She enrolled in the University of Mindanao, studying Economics. Margarita then moved to Manila and worked as a shift supervisor at a fast food chain. She obtained a job in Hong Kong and where she lived for almost twelve years. In her last four years of living in Hong Kong, she cared for children.
In 1996, Margarita met Ronnie Robinson and they were married two years later. She returned to the Philippines to apply for a visa. Margarita arrived in the US in the summer of 2000 and a year later her daughter, Hannah, was born. Hannah attended preschool at Church Street and Margarita helped as a volunteer. The teachers recognized her talents and she was hired as a teacher. In January of 2013 Margarita was awarded US citizenship and currently teaches the preschool children Spanish.
Courtney Tabor, Teacher
Courtney Tabor and her husband are both natives of Yancey County. Together they have two children, Camilla and Maximus. Courtney went into the veterinary field right out of high school and was a veterinary technician until the birth of her daughter in 2015. She's been a stay at home mom since having her children and was a nanny for about three years. When the position at Church Street became available, she thought it was the perfect opportunity for her to experience a new and rewarding career and still have the time she wanted to spend with her family. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, the outdoors, exercise and tending to her family's small homestead.
Georgia Bruton, Administrative Assistant
The third of eight children, Georgia grew up in North Dakota and graduated from University of ND with a degree in English/Journalism. Her first job out of college was with the Rocky Mountain News in Denver. She went on to join Campus Crusade for Christ and worked in the publications department for several years before moving to Florida. There, she raised two daughters and also served on church staff as the Children's Ministry Director for ten years and the Local and Global Outreach Director for ten more. Her responsibilities opened up opportunities to travel world-wide and she has visited more than twenty countries. In 2014, she and her husband Steve semi-retired to Burnsville.
Georgia has two married daughters living in Central Florida and Virginia, and she has three wonderful grandchildren she tries to see as often as possible.
Georgia has had a love of children for as long as she can remember. She has also enjoyed making up stories for that long as well. Those two passions prompted her to put her tales into book form and she has published several juvenile fiction novels including Escape, Captured, and Gilda, The Secret Warrior. She continues to write and hopes to have many more stories to share.
Amanda Fender, Substitute Teacher
I moved to Yancey co when I was 4 years old. I graduated from Lees McRae College in 2006 with a Bachelors in Business Science degree. I've worked as an investigator for child protective services, an EC teacher's assistant and coach at Mountain Heritage High School, and Personal Property Tax Assessor for Yancey Co. I married my husband, Zach Fender, in 2016 and we have two beautiful children, Hadley and Jax. After Hadley was diagnosed with the rare genetic condition Phelan McDermid Syndrome, I decided to leave the workforce to dedicate more time to my children. When they started school, I jumped at the opportunity to be apart of the wonderful Church Street Preschool program and return to work.