Waypoint preschool staff

Living in Durham for the most of her life, Amy considers herself a Durham native.  She loves Durham and is raising her 4 children Mckenna, Ellison, John, and Cayden here alongside of her husband of over 20 years, Cleve.  In addition to being a mom, wife, and partner to a church planter, Amy has taught in various capacities over the past 19 years.  She has had the privilege of teaching both elementary and middle school, preschool, and working as a children’s minister.  Directing allows Amy to do what she loves… equip and resource children, teachers and families so that children and their whole families can thrive and meet their fullest potential.  While Amy keeps things running behind the scenes at Waypoint Preschool, her best days are found among the children and their families.  She looks forward to walking with you in navigating the social, emotional, spiritual and academic needs of your children.

Hobbies: strolling or biking downtown, camping, hanging with friends, eating and cooking great food.

​Caroline has lived in Durham with her husband and 3 children since 2005, returning to her home state after a long sojourn in Ohio and Delaware for college, graduate school and jobs. 

She loves children’s literature and incorporating great stories and imagination games at Circle Time with her Twos.  She is active in her church, rarely misses her daily walk and enjoys reading, cooking, and watching sports with her family.

Anna is a former Waypoint parent and is so fortunate she gets to continue to be part of this community as a teacher. She is originally from the Bay Area of California and moved to Chapel Hill three years ago with her husband and three children. Anna has been part of the children's ministry at church for many years, even when she was a CPA working in corporate finance before her own children were born. Currently, she teaches the preschool Sunday School class at her church. Their curiosity and playfulness are contagious, and she loves watching them learn and explore!  Anna likes reading a good mystery, knitting, playing board games, and Friday movie nights with her family.

Kathy Winslow is a born and raised North Carolina girl.  She graduated from Meredith College with degrees in Spanish and Education and has been teaching for 30+ years.  Having been certified Birth-through 12th grade and having taught all ages, she loves being with the 3 year olds! Kathy is mom to 4 children, Rebekah Farris, Clint Winslow, Sarah Fowler and Natalie Lee, and a “Tat Tat” to 13 grandchildren so far!  After taking a year off she's excited to be back at Waypoint and is looking forward to a wonderful year!

Lauren is a long time Waypoint parent who joined the staff in 2022. She is looking forward to continuing to work with the wonderful students and staff. Lauren grew up in Virginia where she met her husband, Stephen. She graduated from Radford University with her Bachelors of Science in Interior Design before making the move to Chapel Hill in 2009. They fell in love with the area and community where they are raising their two daughters, Lola and Eliza, and two dogs, Ozzie and Wahlberg. Lauren spends her downtime walking, swimming, and on home projects. 

Chantel has lived in Durham for over 20 years. She is from New England and loves the winters here. She has been married to Jack for over 25 years and has two children, Kayleigh and Jackson. Chantel loves art and owns a business called Let’s be Arty. She loves to travel, read, make art and write.  Chantel has been teaching preschool since 2016 and her passion is to teach kids about Christ and the world that he created.

Trinada has lived most of her life in Durham. She has taught children of all ages, but found her love for early childhood education when she had her two children (Lillyana and Leonardo). She has worked for Waypoint preschool in the past and is excited to be back. Waypoint holds a special place for her family. Her two children have also attended and graduated from Waypoint. She is also the children’s minister for CityWell UMC. 

Vicki loves music and finds that there is nothing better than dancing and singing with preschool friends. One of Vicki's favorite activities for music time is incorporating percussion with drums, bells, or rhythm sticks. She also creates space to dance with scarves to classical, jazz, and even some rock music. Vicki had the privilege of watching her own children develop and nurture their love for music and has seen how it has helped them thrive in their own personal lives.  Her goal is to spark an interest and desire in children to sing, dance, and keep a song in their heart!

Laura has lived in Durham for 11 yrs.  She grew up in Virginia where she met a cute boy in high school (and ended up marrying him!). Laura always loved babysitting; then graduated to nannying, substitute teaching, and church nursery attendant while she was in college.  She went to George Mason University, to get a BA in Psychology and a Master's degree in Early Childhood Education.  In 2001, she followed her husband to the Army Base at Ft. Bragg, NC. Ms. Laura taught kindergarten at a local school until their children were born.  After that, she found a tremendous love for teaching  preschool. She worked at Haymount UMC Preschool and Durham Community Preschool, which was also housed in churches.  Laura has three children, an old tabby cat & a black lab "puppy".  In her "spare time" she is taking Massage Therapy classes at Durham Tech.  She also enjoys having fun with her family, listening to music, and sudoku puzzles.

Jenny is from Houston, Texas, but has lived in the Durham area for over 25 years. After receiving a BA in Psychology, specializing in child development,  she went on to get her M.Div. at Gordon Conwell in Boston where she met her husband, Chris. They moved to Durham in 1998, and she became the Children's Director for The Church of the Good Shepherd. Her love for children, and helping them learn and discover continued on. Jenny's husband, Chris, and their four children, then moved to the Philippines for a while, where she began homeschooling her children. When they returned to North Carolina, Jenny continued teaching for 17 years, in co-ops, and at Bradford Academy. Jenny now volunteers with the kindergarten and 1st graders at her church. She also teaches ESL to children from other countries.  Jenny enjoys art, reading the Bible, singing, tennis, and camping.

Kara is originally from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, but spent her teenage years in Goldsboro, NC. She graduated with an Elementary Education degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and then moved to Japan to teach English for 2 years. After returning from Japan, she taught 2nd grade and ESL for 7 years. She and her husband, Mark, have 2 children, Nathan and Anna, who both attended Waypoint preschool. Kara was an assistant in the 3s class for 3 years and is very excited to teach kindergarten this fall.  Kara enjoys cooking, gardening, and hiking.

A former Waypoint parent, Michele fell in love with the school and staff while her youngest attended. She worked with preschool aged children in Vermont where she was born and raised before moving to North Carolina in 2012. Since then, she was able to be a stay-at-home parent while also being a real estate agent. She loves working with people in finding their dream homes. Michele enjoys spending time at the beach with her husband Ben and three children Isaiah, Caroline, and Julian. If she’s not at the beach you can find her walking or swimming. Michele is excited to be teaching again and working with children and their never ending energy and eagerness to learn and absorb life’s blessings.

Julia arrived in the U.S. two years ago from Ukraine with her daughter. Due to the war, her family was forced to leave the country. She and her daughter lived in a city occupied by Russians for 3 months, witnessed military battles and bombings, slept in a bomb shelter, and left the city through minefields. Part of their region is still occupied. After that, Julia spent almost a year helping to organize free evacuations for women and children from occupied territories. Julia has two higher education degrees. Her first degree is in art and design. Since coming to the U.S., she has worked as an art teacher, conducting workshops for children and adults, teaching art and drawing at the Kidzu Children's Museum, and a Ukrainian Saturday school.  The experience in Ukraine gave her more strength, courage, and understanding of the value of freedom, identity, time, people, love, and simple things like food, which can disappear at any moment. Julia believes that the Lord always opens the right doors and sends us the right paths, and all we need to do is listen to our hearts." 

Janette moved to North Carolina in 2020 from Ohio with her husband Ben. They live in Burlington with their daughter, Olivia. Together they love spending time outdoors, exploring vintage car shows and hunting for treasures in antique stores.  Janette graduated from Ohio University with a masters in education. She has taught children birth to third grade and is a nanny to three special boys in Durham! Her favorite part about teaching is creating a safe environment for children to learn, grow and explore! When she isn't teaching she can be found reading, puzzling or spending time with her family. 

Tabitha has lived in Chapel Hill or Durham for most of her life and met her

pediatrician husband Steven here in high school. In 2014 their family moved to Florida, but decided Durham was home and moved back in 2022. Tabitha received a BA in Child Development from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2005. She worked for Early Head Start at a local preschool before deciding to stay home with her children. Her older kids, Edmund and Evelyn, attended Waypoint Preschool (RUMC) where Tabitha also served as a substitute teacher. She now has a third child, Imogen. Walking into Waypoint recently felt like returning to family. Tabitha loves infants and toddlers and can’t wait to work with this curious age group. Tabitha has been a preschool music teacher and loves sharing music with children.

She also loves theater, having assistant directed several children’s musicals,

to read, bike, listen to podcasts, and explore the area with her family when

not teaching. She even does a bit of theater herself. She is so glad to be “home” and can’t wait to learn with your little ones.