Meet Our Educators
Courtney Holton - Preschool Director, Head Teacher & Inclusion Specialist
Teacher Courtney has 15 years of experience as an early childhood educator. She received her MA in Early Childhood Education from San Francisco State University, with a certificate in Inclusion and Autism. She holds a BA in Early Childhood Education and Special Education from Western Michigan University. She has a passion for people with neuro-diverse brains. She finds supporting them through their early years and their transition to kindergarten very fulfilling. Courtney has worked in a wide range of preschool settings, finding that nature-based programs are essential to human emotional development and self-regulation. She enjoys teaching children the way that Mother Earth takes care of us and our animals, guiding young learners as they develop social-emotional tools that form the foundation to the child's success both inside and outside the classroom.
Courtney grew up visiting her dads in San Francisco throughout her teen years. She fell in love with the city and its balance of urban living and nature. Originally from Michigan she has been here for nine years. Some of her favorite hobbies are *anything* Harry Potter, anything in nature - camping, cycling, hiking, and exploring the city. She also loves weaving, reading, and snuggling with her cat, Ziggy.
Judah Menelik - Sprouts Support Teacher and Floater Teacher (3-4x/week)
Photo: Coming Soon
Teacher Judah is currently studying psychology and early childhood development with the goal of becoming a child psychologist. Over the past three years, she has worked in childcare, primarily as a substitute preschool teacher across various schools in the Bay Area. She has also taught long-term at the Jewish Community Center in Berkeley, both in their preschool and as a counselor in their after-school programs, gaining familiarity with Jewish traditions and practices in childcare. Among all the schools she has had the pleasure of visiting and teaching at, she has developed a strong appreciation for the community and child-centered learning philosophies at Sherith.
What she enjoys most about teaching is understanding a child's thought process and discovering different approaches to suit each child's unique way of learning. She has found that incorporating play-based and nature-based learning aligns well with her teaching style and is most effective for fostering a child’s emotional development and communication skills. She believes this style of learning encourages children to explore and understand both the world around them and themselves.
Judah grew up in the Bay Area and has spent recent years in Fremont. From the age 11-18, she commuted to San Francisco to participate in dance programs at San Francisco State University and at the African American Art and Culture Complex. Since then, she has always appreciated the diversity and welcoming atmosphere San Francisco offers. Her hobbies include hiking, arts and crafts, reading, and going on picnics.
Jeannie Pingel: Sages Co-Teacher/Assistant (5 days/week)
Photo: Coming soon
Teacher Jeannie has been a professional fine artist for 12 years, and an auntie of 11 children for 17 years. She is getting her early childhood development credits through Merit Community College and has had various experience in different early childhood learning throughout those 12 years. She taught horse riding lessons for children ages 6-12 and adults of all ages in Golden Gate Park, early in her career she had worked with an organization called Brick for Kidz as a daycare provider, and took several years of courses teaching Preschool students when she was still in high school. Being an auntie for 17 years has given her the ability to quickly transition her career path as an artist, to early childhood learning and she is so excited to develop more of these skills in the professional setting! Jeannie enjoys teaching kids of all ages, and really leans on art as a path for learning. Her art career background is within acrylic, and watercolor painting, graphite drawings on vintage paper, as well as natural found-object art. She generally creates art through an expression of nature and is so excited to share that with all the wonderful young minds that will be in our school community!
In Jeannie’s free time, she frequently visits her family where she grew up in rural Oregon just outside of Portland. She has a passion for art, and generally spends each week creating, as well as tattooing once a week. She has been a professional tattoo artist for 12 years, most of her career in San Francisco. San Francisco has been her home for almost 8 years, all of it she has spent with her beloved elderly dog Stewart. Together they enjoy camping, hiking, and swimming in rivers up in Northern California. Jeannie is so excited to be a part of this new community!
Jordan Rosenberg: Sprouts Support Teacher and Floater Teacher (2x/week)
Teacher Jordan comes to SIP with a deep love for social-emotional learning, highly sensitive children, outdoor education, and Jewish community. She is a passionate gardener, forager, and general lover of California wildlife, always searching for new ways to practice and advocate for earth stewardship. She herself attended a Jewish preschool and K-8 Jewish day school, both of which have left a lasting positive impact on her personal and spiritual life.
As our Nutrition Specialist, Jordan emphasizes the opportunity for social-emotional growth that emerges around eating, cooking, and growing food. She views food as an agent of culture, sensory development, and emotional nourishment as well as a necessary component of life, a philosophy which she incorporates into all aspects of the preschool’s nutrition plan.
Jordan holds a BA in Child Study and Human Development from Tufts University and is a current clinical psychology Doctoral Student at USF. Outside of SIP, she can often be found cooking up a community meal, attempting to learn piano, or basking in one of San Francisco’s many public parks.
Sabrina Thillard - Lead Sprouts Teacher
Teacher Sabrina has an Associates degree in Child Development from San Francisco City College and knowledge of brain development from her time at SFSU. Her experience as a parent and a former daycare provider gives her plenty of confidence working with young children and in fact, she actually owned her own family daycare for 15 years! Sabrina put childcare on hold while raising her three children: Olivia (15), Leo (13), and ViVi (8). Sabrina is a long-time member of Congregation Beth Sholom where her son will have his Bar Mitzvah this year. She's a fluent French speaker. She owns a wine bar in Russian Hill while also working at SIP part-time. A San Francisco native, she calls this city that she loves "home." Sabrina loves doing mindfulness activities with children and a little yoga. She also enjoys sharing books from home that she read to her children when they were small. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her children, dancing with friends, shoes, art, and being at the beach.
Ana Dillman - Friday Shabbat Teacher - Studio Educator
Teacher Ana wears many hats at Sherith Israel. For the past 15 years she has been a Sherith Israel congregant, along with her son Apollo. Both she and Apollo view Sherith Israel as their second home and family. Ana is also a long-time teacher in our Studio program. She enjoys using her passions for Jewish education and community building to serve as a liaison between our preschool and our school-age education programs.
Having received her B.S. in Education from Eastern Illinois University, Ana has many years of experience teaching, leading, and caring for young children, with prior positions including preschool teacher, summer camp director, art teacher, and nanny, amongst other roles.
Ana loves to sing and dance, and currently sings with a small vocal improv group in San Francisco.
We are hiring! Contact Courtney to learn more at: courtney@sherithisrael.org