Staff
Building Blocks is extremely proud of all its teachers, directors and support staff. Our dedicated, professional and consistent team works together to build happy and healthy children in a caring and nurturing environment. All Building Blocks staff members are required to become CPR & First Aid certified within their first 90 days of employment and are re-certified yearly. Infant and Toddler staff are certified in SIDS prevention, our school age staff is trained in Basic School Age Care and every staff member completes the required yearly in-service training.
As a strong advocate of education, Building Blocks offers scholarships to provide tuition assistance and other benefits to all staff in order for them to pursue their higher education.
Many teachers are already degreed, and those who are not are actively pursuing their degrees at both the community college level and the four-year college level. All Building Blocks Lead Teachers have their North Carolina Early Child Care Credentials and several years of relevant experience in the education of young children. Each classroom is staffed with the same teaching team on a daily basis in order to further provide the consistency that is so important to our children and families.
Michelle Jones – Vice President and Director
Center #1
I have been working with Building Blocks since we opened our first facility in 1993. During my Developmental Psychology classes in college, I began to learn how a child’s brain develops and how important the early years of learning are. I knew then that I wanted to continue working with children.
After graduating from Barton College, I began working as Director and continued course work through a local community college in order to become a Level 3 Administrator.
Through the years, I have enjoyed working as Assistant Teacher, Teacher, School Age Program Coordinator and Director. I am also very proud to be working along with my mother, Lois Stephenson, Founder and Owner of Building Blocks. The family environment of Building Blocks is further enhanced by the unique opportunity I have to work with my sister, aunt, sisters-in-law, husband and several nieces. It is also a wonderful benefit to have my son attending one of our facilities.
Building Blocks provides the highest quality of care to children in all three of our Five Star centers and I consider it a privilege to be a part of this wonderful program.
Ami Medlin – Assistant Director
Center #1
I have been employed with Building Blocks since December 10, 1996. I have always had a passion for children and knew this was the career for me. I began taking course work in Early Childhood after my employment here and since achieved my Associate Degree in Early Childhood. Now I am working toward my Bachelor Degree in Early Care Education. I hope to seen become a Level 3 Administrator.
Through my years at Building Blocks, I started as a floater in a preschool classroom and then became a Lead Teacher in the Toddler Room. A short time later, I worked my way to Lead Teacher in the Three’s room and was promoted to Assistant Director.
I enjoy working for Building Blocks and feel we provide the highest quality of care to the children.
Karen DeWolf– Director
Center #2
After graduating from high school, I enrolled in a community college to earn my associate degree in Human Services. This is where I found my passion to work with people. I did four semesters of fieldwork in different childcare and school settings and fell in love with it. After graduating from college, I was offered a job at the center that I was completing my field work in working with three year olds. I worked at that job for about two years when I decided to try another avenue with my degree; I switched from working with children to working with the elderly.
I worked in the nursing home setting for over five years, but was beginning to miss working with children so I looked for a way to achieve both. This is when I switched to working as an on-call home specialist working with disabled children and the elderly. I worked with this job for several years until my husband company was transferred to North Carolina, over six years ago.
At that time I decided to go back to the childcare setting and started a job one week after moving here. I worked for that center for over four years until it was sold and then shortly there after, came to work for Building Blocks, over two years ago. I have worked with several different age groups and also in the administrative end of the center too. During the six years here, I have also received my Associate in Early Education and am looking forward to achieving my Bachelor Degree in Education too. I have found the last six years to be very rewarding and fulfilling working with the children, parents and staff and look forward to each and every day.
Lisa Kyes – Director
Center #3
I received my Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication Disorders from the University of Pittsburgh in 1989. I minored in education and psychology and always knew I wanted to work with children on some level. During my junior and senior years at Pitt, I worked in the University Child Development Center and I was hooked! Upon graduation, I continued part time at the University until I landed my first “real” job as a Foster Family Liaison for a local emergency shelter that placed abused, neglected and dependent 7 – 12 year olds in foster homes.
I worked at that job for five years and then moved to Northern Virginia to open a state licensed in- home child care facility with my best friend. We cared for 12 children, birth through five years old. This venture lasted until I moved to the Raleigh/Durham area in January, 1997.
During my 11 years of residency here in the Triangle area, I have directed a small center licensed for 125 children. I have also worked as a Program Coordinator for the YWCA After-School Program, had my own licensed in-home center and have finally found my home here at Building Blocks. As Center Director, I am responsible for supervising 58 teaching and support staff and for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the facility. I am also responsible for ensuring that our facility meets and exceeds all local, state and federal guidelines.
Having worked in facilities where the owner remains detached and uninvolved, it has been a pure pleasure working amid the family atmosphere established by center owner, Lois Stephenson. The support for both personal and professional growth is second to none here at Building Blocks and I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate to be a member of this “family.”
During my tenure at Building Blocks, the North Carolina child care regulations have undergone some major changes. The star rating system was implemented to indicate a facility’s level of quality. In order to achieve FIVE STARS, the highest rating, a director needs a Level 3 North Carolina Childcare Administrative Credential. I had to take 13 credits at the local community college and successfully achieved my Level 3 status with a 4.0 index. Building Blocks is extremely proud of our Five Star status and we strive each day to ensure that the highest level of quality possible is provided for our families.
I am currently pursuing my Masters Degree mostly as a personal achievement, but also to refresh myself with the ever changing field of child development and education. I plan to remain employed at Building Blocks as a Director until retirement. My children have grown up here and are better individuals for it. I have grown and developed as a mother, a teacher, a friend and a leader, but there is always room for more. With the support and encouragement I receive from the Building Blocks family, there is nothing we cannot achieve.
Wanda Toole – Assistant Director
Center #3
Hello, my name is Wanda Toole. I am the Assistant Director at Center #3. I’ve been working at Building Blocks since January, 2001, and as a “people person,” I love interacting with the children, teachers and parents.
As a mother of three, I understand and realize the importance of education in a child’s life. I love watching the children grow and mature and helping them in any way that I can.
While at Building Blocks, I returned to college and received my Associate of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education. I am thankful to be a part of the Building Blocks family and look forward to making a difference in the lives of children.
Camille Altman – Vice President of Quality Control
Center #3
My adventure with children began in March, 2001, when my first daughter was born. At that time, I was the sales manager for a wholesale nursery that sold plants in 12 different states along the East Coast. My second daughter was born in December, 2002. I had a little boy in November 2004, and he has given me a whole different experience than the girls have! My love for watching things grow blossomed even more as I watched my own children develop.
The changes that children make in their early years are nothing short of magical. Watching my own children grow left me feeling passionate about working with young children which led me to my working at Building Blocks in February, 2004. Here I am privileged to work with my mother (Lois Stephenson) and my sister (Michelle Jones), as well as many other incredible people.
I began working towards an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Development and a Bachelor’s Degree in Management soon after I started to work. I earned my Associate’s Degree in May, 2008, and I expect to finish my Bachelor’s in 2009. Finishing the Bachelor’s Degree will give me the educational piece that is needed for me to be a Level 3 Director.
Professionally speaking, my goal is to be able to fill any position that Building Blocks needs me to. Personally, I simply enjoy working with people, especially children. I like to bring a smile to someone’s face. There is nothing like the feeling I get when a child sees me and comes running to give me a hug, a teacher stops me to tell me how a technique that I showed them worked, or a parent calls years after their child has graduated from Building Blocks to tell me how much the child still thinks about me even after they have grown. Building Blocks is truly a blessing to me, and I am humbled to touch the future that these children are.