Our Staff
Pam Schmidt started her relationship with UUM Preschool in 1983 when she enrolled her first child in the program. As her second child left UUM Preschool for kindergarten, she joined the teaching staff and enjoyed 12 years working in the 3 and 4 year old program, until 2000 when Pam became the Preschool Director. She feels that her experience as both a parent and a teacher as well a degree in psychology have helped her succeed as director. Away from UUM Preschool, Pam loves spending time with her husband and adult children, gardening and volunteering at a preschool and daycare in the city that serves families in need. |
| Holly Seitz Marchant Music Instructor |
Holly Seitz Marchant has been delighting in song and dance with children for over 10 years. Before teaching children at UUM Preschool she taught at Forsyth School, COCA, Missoula, Montana Schools and Tucson, Arizona Schools just to name a few. Holly specializes in Modern dance technique, choreography and performance and creative movement for children. Holly holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in English Literature from Montana State University and a Masters of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in Modern Dance Choreography from University of Arizona. In addition to UUM Preschool, Holly is currently teaching Ballet, Jazz, Composition and Modern dance at St. Louis University and Movement Techniques for Health Professions at Maryville University. Holly has danced locally with the Atrek Dance Collective as well as collaborating numerous new works with dance partner and husband, David Marchant. Holly and David recently founded ZO Motion Arts, dedicated to site-specific performances that bring awareness to the environment by highlighting our interrelationship with nature. |
| Barbara Smith Teacher, Rainbow Room, Tiny 2's |
Barbara Smith was reared in upstate New York. After getting a degree in theater at Vassar College, she lived in NYC for 12 years working in advertising. She and her family moved to St. Louis in 1991. Both her children went to UUM Preschool. She joined the UUMPS staff in 1997 and continues to teach the 3 morning 3 and 4 year old class and the Tiny 2’s class. She is very involved in volunteer work for her children’s high schools and is a real hockey mom. |
Kristin has been teaching at UUM Preschool since the fall of 2001. She started in the 3 day, 3 - 4 year old class and added the Tiny Two’s class and the French program to her schedule. Before UUM, Kristin taught French at Crossroads School from 1987 -1995. (No, there really is not that much difference between high school and preschool!) She graduated from Washington University with a BA in French and Education. When not at UUM, she is busy volunteering in the U. City schools, singing in the choir and chairing the altar guild at her church, and knitting. She lives in U. City with her husband and two daughters (both UUM alums) and their two guinea pigs.
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| Sharyn Koob Teacher, Sunshine Room |
Sharyn Koob joined the
staff at UUM in 1991 after having worked with young children for the previous 10
years. While here, she has served on the board of the St. Louis
Association for the Education of Young Children and has taken many Early
Childhood Education courses at local universities. She always taught in
the 5 day per week, 3 and 4 year old classroom. She lives in University City
with her husband, and has three daughters and five grandchildren.
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| Amy Slapshak Teacher, Sunshine Room |
Amy Slapshak has taught in the Sunshine Room, 3 &4 year old,
classroom since 2007. She graduated from Missouri State University with a
degree in Public Relations. She has spent her entire working career in
people-oriented business, primarily in sales jobs in a variety of fields.
She thoroughly enjoys personal interaction with children in particular in
every aspect of my life. She spent seven years at UUM as a parent of her
4 children. She did extensive substitute teaching at UUM during the
final two years of having children at the preschool. She is married and is very
involved at the school her children attend. |
| Katie Abbott Teacher, Sunshine Room |
Katie Abbott joined the
UUMPS staff in 2007 and teaches in the 3 and 4 year old Sunshine Room. She grew
up in Park Hills, KY, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. After earning a degree
in art at Kenyon College, she taught photography at a girls' boarding school in
Richmond Virginia. She went on to the Curry School of Education at the
University of Virginia, where she earned her Master’s Degree in Counseling and
then worked for a number of years as a school counselor at both the high school
and elementary school levels in Virginia. Katie moved to St. Louis in 2001 and
her younger boys both came to UUM. Katie and her husband Andy, also an
educator, are the parents of three children.
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| Beth Solowey Teacher, Super Star Room, Science |
Beth Solowey has taught in the Super Star classroom since 1999. She received a B.A. from Wesleyan University and an M.F.A. in sculpture and ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has taught art in elementary school through high school. She has 2 daughters in college and a teenage son who attended UUM. A native of New York City, she has now lived in St. Louis for 22 years, most of that time in University City. |
| Stacie Zink-Duda Teacher, Super Star Room |
Stacie Zink-Duda has a BA in Psychology from University of Kansas and a MS in Child Clinical Psychology from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. She is the parent of four children, all of whom attended UUM. Stacie joined the UUMPS staff in 2003 and teaches in the 4 and 5 year old class. She is a very active volunteer with her kids’ school coaching volleyball, basketball, and track, coordinate School Newspaper, Equations Math Club, and Girl Scout Leader. |
| Terrika Seal Teacher, Super Star Room |
Terrika Seal spent four years filling in at UUM Preschool as a substitute teacher in all of the classrooms before officially joining the staff in 2011. After receiving her BS degree in Organizational Communication at Missouri State University, she spent over seven years working in marketing & sales before becoming a full-time mom in the fall of 2000. She is married with three children who are all UUM Preschool graduates. Terrika has enjoyed volunteering at her parish and the children's school serving as previous PTA president and currently chairing the parish/school annual carnival. She continues to volunteer and enjoys watching her children play sports. |
| Amy Cavato Teacher, Super Star Room |
Amy Cavato
enthusiastically joined the UUM team in 2009 where she teaches in the 4 and 5
year old classroom. She attended John Carroll University where she earned a
Bachelor of Arts in elementary education. She holds a Masters degree in
elementary education and is a certified reading specialist. She has taught kindergarten and primary
grades as well as assisting and substituting at the preschool level. Teaching children has always been her passion
and she loves working with UUMPS families. Amy is married and has 2 children
who both are both graduates of UUMPS. |
| Fran Colletti Teacher, Balloon Room |
Fran
Colletti received a BA in English with a minor in Education from Dominican
University . She was an elementary school teacher for 4 years in the Chicago
area before moving to St. Louis. She and her husband are long time residents
of University City, where they raised their 3 children. Fran began teaching the
2 and 3 year old classes in 1985. |
| Becky Shostak Teacher, Balloon Room |
Becky Shostak has been a 2 and 3 year old teacher at UUMPS since 2007. She is a graduate of Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in speech pathology and a minor in child studies. Becky received her teaching certification from Central Methodist College and spent 6 years as a kindergarten teacher. She is married and has 2 sons, both of whom attended UUMPS.
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| Carolyn Glickert Teaching Assistant, Lunch Bunch, Librarian |
 Carolyn Glickert has been the teaching assistant and lunch bunch coordinator since 1999. She works in all of the classrooms, fills in for absent teachers and keeps our library in good order. Carolyn is married with 2 teenage children, both of whom attended UUM Preschool.
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