Our Staff

Director

Alyssa O'Hara - Director

Alyssa O’Hara, director of the Chapman Children’s Center, has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communicative Disorders, with an emphasis in Deaf Education from San Diego State University. In addition to that, she earned 24 units of Early Childhood Education from Saddleback College, and took her teaching credential classes at National University.
 She has been in the child-care field for 22 years. Her earliest experiences were with preschool-aged children that were deaf and hard of hearing. She has since worked for Santa Ana Unified, the city of Irvine, UCI, Santa Margarita Catholic High School, and the YMCAs of Orange and Los Angeles County. It has been her honor and pleasure to hold the position as the Director of the Chapman Children’s Center since 1996.
 Alyssa has always chosen to surround herself with children; she has four boys of her own, but that simply is not enough. Alyssa is an avid follower of the developmental philosophy, as opposed to a strictly academic setting, when it comes to early childhood education. She truly believes that “Children learn through their play” and that “Play is the work of children”. She encourages her staff to create a loving, nurturing environment for the children, which encourages learning through their play.  aohara@chapman.edu

Lead Teachers

Miss Christy - Christy French has an Associates Degree from Orange Coast College, as well as teaching certificates for both Infant/Toddler and Pre-school aged children. She is currently working on a BA in Psychology at Chapman University. Christy has 20 years of pre-school teaching experience, of which 13 have been dedicated to teaching the two-year old classes at Chapman Children's Center. Her extended work with the Children's Center has enabled her to develop lasting friendships with her students and their families, and she is extremely appreciative of Chapman for that. She loves working with children and always seeks to help them learn and expand their knowledge through a variety of experiences.

Miss Joelle - Joelle Isaacs has an Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education from Orange Coast College. For the last fifteen years, she has enriched and nurtured the lives of a number of students while teaching preschool at Chapman’s Children’s Center. She is excited by the challenge of making a difference in these children’s lives. She applies age-appropriate activities to provide the children with the experiences that they need to grow, socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically.

Associate Teachers

Miss Catalina - Catalina Ortiz received her nursing degree in Mexico, where she served in a hospital for a year. She came to the United States in 1990, and has since taken 14 units in Human Development classes at Santa Ana College. She began working with children in December of 2001 at the First United Methodist Church of Orange. When Chapman Children's Center decided to expand and utilize the church facilities, Catalina was interviewed and hired on from there. She is a mother of three, one of whom attends Garden Grove High School and has been in the G.A.T.E. program for five years. Catalina believes that these years are some of the more important ones in a child's life, and seeks to provide them with all the materials they will need for success.
 

Miss Teresa - Teresa Bernal has taken a variety of courses at Rancho Santiago College in Human Development. She has been working with the children of the United Methodist Church of Orange for fifteen years, of which three of them were spent simultaneously working for the Orange Unified School District. When Chapman Children's Center decided to expand and utilize the church facilities, Teresa was interviewed and hired on from there. The ages of the children that Teresa has gained experience working with vary from six weeks to twelve years. She now works in the Yellow Classroom of Chapman Children’s Center, with the two year olds, and enjoys nothing more than being a part of their growth and development.

Miss Veronica - Veronica Olmos has taken twenty-seven units in Human Development at Rancho Santiago College, including various classes in Special Needs Education. She spent two years working with disabled children, and has fourteen years of experience working in general child care at the United Methodist Church of Orange. When Chapman Children's Center decided to expand and utilize the church facilities, Veronica was interviewed and hired on from there. The children she has experience working with vary from ages six weeks to twelve years. Veronica has two lovely children of her own, and can’t help but carry over her nurturing motherly ways to the pre-kindergarten classes of Chapman Children’s Center.