{"id":7814,"date":"2017-07-01T15:27:59","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T20:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nogginbuilders.com\/?page_id=7814"},"modified":"2024-01-11T21:33:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T03:33:38","slug":"staff-bios","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/staff-bios\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff Bios"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Amy Torf, Owner & Founder<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amy is excited to bring her experience as an engineer, camp director, teacher, and mom of three to the diverse line-up of hands-on activities at Noggin Builders. For the past 20+ years, Amy has successfully created play- and learning-based curricula and worked directly with children of all ages in various group settings.<\/p>\n

Amy’s advanced education, including a MS in mechanical engineering and robotics, led her to teach math and science using real world projects to engage her students.\u00a0\u00a0As a camp program director, Amy created innovative, fun learning opportunities for children to enjoy during the summer.\u00a0 Her classes and camp offerings have consistently exceeded the expectations of kids and parents. \u00a0She is delighted to explore with your children at Noggin Builders!<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Zannah.jpg” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”Zannah” _builder_version=”4.17.4″ animation_direction=”left” hover_enabled=”0″ animation=”left” sticky=”off” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}” title_text=”Zannah” sticky_enabled=”0″] [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.17.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Zannah Smreker, Center Director<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Zannah, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, began her teaching career in 2011 when she moved abroad to South Korea.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>After three rewarding years as an English teacher, she relocated to New Zealand, where she spent one year teaching preschool.\u00a0 Following her time abroad,\u00a0<\/span>Zannah moved to Chicago and joined Noggin Builders in 2016.\u00a0 As Center Director, her primary roles include curriculum design, staffing, and making sure all the children are having a great time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>She also still enjoys spending time in the classroom, exploring, building, and making messes along side the kids.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>In her free time, Zannah also enjoys drawing, doing ballet, and baking!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Marta Cruz, Lead Teacher<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Marta has over 30 years of experience working with and teaching children.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Prior to joining the Noggin Builders team, Marta was the Director of Exploration and Education for Starland.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Marta started out as a teacher\u2019s aide in a full day parochial school for kindergartners. She loved working with children to such a great extent that she continued there for 6 years. Marta is bilingual in English and Spanish. She taught Spanish and crafts classes at the Park District of Oak Park. After that, Marta used her teaching experience and expertise to run a home-based day care for 7 years. Marta\u2019s greatest teaching experience is through her love to her children and grandchildren! \u201cIt is the young child\u2019s excitement for learning and their sense of wonder that keeps me drawn to early education.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Anitta.jpg” _builder_version=”4.17.4″ _module_preset=”default” title_text=”Anitta” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.17.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″ use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n

Anitta Machanickal, Lead Teacher<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”27px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Jessica.jpg” _builder_version=”4.17.4″ _module_preset=”default” title_text=”Jessica” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Benjie” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Jessica Lensch-Falk, Lead Teacher & Team Coordinator<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Jessica has enjoyed teaching hands-on science to kids at Noggin Builders for more than 7 years. Prior to joining Noggin Builders, she spent several years researching nanomaterials at Sandia National Laboratories. During these years, she brought her love of science to middle school aged kids through a variety of volunteer opportunities. Jessica holds a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Northwestern University. Her advanced education and research experience provides a strong foundation for teaching kids about engineering, science, programming, and robotics. As a robotics and Destination Imagination coach, Jessica loves to help her teams take pride as they have fun while accomplishing difficult challenges while expanding their engineering, science, and communication skills. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, playing board games, knitting, baking, & reading.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Emily Schwickerath, Lead Teacher<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Emily, a graduate of Wartburg College, has enjoyed working with students as an elementary classroom teacher for 10 years. She brings experience teaching 5th, 3rd, and 2nd grades in the the Chicagoland area and Sioux City, IA. She has a passion for STEM education and loves that she gets to help kids in low income communities explore what it means to be a scientist and engineer as a teacher for the Noggin Builders Foundation. \u00a0 When she\u2019s not teaching, she enjoys playing with her son, painting, making music, and writing.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Amy Torf, Owner & Founder Amy is excited to bring her experience as an engineer, camp director, teacher, and mom of three to the diverse line-up of hands-on activities at Noggin Builders. For the past 20+ years, Amy has successfully created play- and learning-based curricula and worked directly with children of all ages in various […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"

\"IMG_5446\"<\/a><\/p>

Colleen Torf<\/b><\/span><\/p>

Colleen keeps everything running smoothly at Noggin Builders! \u00a0Colleen graduated from Roosevelt University with a BA in Sociology.\u00a0 <\/span>She has two boys and loves reading in her free time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Matt Cariola<\/b><\/span><\/p>

Matt, a native of Northbrook, graduated from the School of Education at the University of Dayton in 2013. He then spent a year teaching in Columbus, OH before gladly accepting the opportunity to become the Center Manager for Noggin Builders in April of 2014.\u00a0 After two amazing years at Noggin Builders, the constant growth and intuitiveness of his students motivated him to further his own education.\u00a0 In August of 2017, Matt earned his MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.\u00a0 He is excited to be part of the Noggin Builders family again, and can\u2019t wait to see some old friends and meet some new ones!<\/span><\/p>

Zannah Smreker<\/b><\/span><\/p>

Zannah, a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, began her teaching career in 2011 when she moved abroad to South Korea.\u00a0 <\/span>After three rewarding years as an English teacher, she relocated to New Zealand, where she spent one year teaching preschool.\u00a0 Following her time abroad,\u00a0<\/span>Zannah moved to Chicago and joined Noggin Builders where she teaches all ages, organizes curriculum and leads parties.\u00a0 <\/span>She loves spending her days in the classroom, exploring, building, and making messes along side her students.\u00a0 <\/span>In her free time, Zannah also enjoys drawing, doing ballet and baking!<\/span><\/p>

Marta Cruz<\/b><\/span><\/p>

Marta has over 25 years of experience working with and teaching children.\u00a0 <\/span>Prior to joining the Noggin Builders team, Marta was the Director of Exploration and Education for Starland.\u00a0 <\/span>Marta started out as a teacher\u2019s aide in a full day parochial school for kindergartners. She loved working with children to such a great extent that she continued there for 6 years. Marta is bilingual in English and Spanish. She taught Spanish and crafts classes at the Park District of Oak Park. After that, Marta used her teaching experience and expertise to run a home-based day care for 7 years. Marta\u2019s greatest teaching experience is through her love to her children and grandchildren! \u201cIt is the young child\u2019s excitement for learning and their sense of wonder that keeps me drawn to early education.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

<\/b>Dave Vasicek<\/b><\/b><\/p>

Dave has over 12 years of experience working with children.\u00a0 Before joining the Noggin Builders team,<\/span>\u00a0Dave taught at Starland for 3 years including his wildly successful Super Hero class.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Dave brings a passion for teaching and incredible energy to Noggin Builders where he teaches all ages, with a focus on preschool and early elementary and theatre skills for DI teams. Dave is a graduate from The School of Theatre and Dance at Northern Illinois University. He has directed, acted, written, stage and house managed many productions all over Lake County. Additionally, he helped shape young minds through many different programs for the Child Development Center and Theatre Department at the Round Lake Area Park District.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Benjie Weiss<\/b><\/span><\/p>

Benjie is a graduate from Lake Forest College.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>He earned his BA in English with a focus on writing.\u00a0 <\/span>He has 6 summers of experience working with children at \u201cZ Frank\u201d Apachi day camp and Keshet\u2019s Tween\/Teen camp.\u00a0 <\/span>Benjie says, \u201cLeading at Noggin Builders gives me\u00a0a chance to adapt my teaching methods by age.\u00a0 <\/span>As days go by, it\u2019s amazing to see the kids progress and change for a better future.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7814","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7814"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27332,"href":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7814\/revisions\/27332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogginbuilders.com\/NBwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}