Our Staff
Valentina Imbeni
Valentina was born in Modena, Italy and spent most of her life in Bologna. She graduated from the University of Bologna and went on to get a PhD in Bioengineering from Bologna University and the University of Cambridge, U.K. She moved to San Francisco in 2000 to work for UC Berkeley. After the birth of her two sons, Stefano and Matteo, Valentina discovered her passion for children and early childhood education and decided to get accredited from the State of California as a site supervisor/program director. Valentina enrolled her son Stefano at LPSI in 2005 and immediately fell in love with the school and became a vital member of the LPSI community. Valentina accepted the position of Direttrice in June 2007. Valentina loves her 3 boys, Italian food & culture and the Pacific Ocean. She is passionate about science, social constructivism and the Reggio Emilia philosophy.
Nicole Serra
Nicole received her B.A. from San Francisco State University in Child and Adolescent Development and Education, with an emphasis in young child and families and education through the arts. She has 10 years worth of teaching experiences in academic based, after-school and Reggio inspired programs and with raising her own child, Jaya Isabella. Nicole will continue her education in Emergent Curriculum and Constructivist philosophy and is working to get into the Master’s program at San Francisco State University. Nicole holds a site supervisor/program director permit from the State of California.
Federica Lentini
Federica grew up in the city of Torino, in the North west of Italy. She received her degree in Clinical Psychology at the University of Torino in 2005. In 2007 she passed the exam to be licensed as a Psychologist. During her project at the University, she has worked with special need kidsand with individuals with “internet addiction”, and attachment disorders. After her studies Federica decides to move to San Francisco where she has volunteered (and still does) at the women’s building as a counselor for SFWAR. Federica joined the LPSI team inSpring of 2008 and she enjoys spending time with children’s and to experience and learn from the way they learn.La Piccola Scuola Italiana is a great place where to share her culture and passions. Federica also has a big passion for music and especially for singing. She also plays the guitar. For many years she has been a student at the “Centro Jazz” in Torino, and at the “Madrigale”. This passion makes San Francisco a great place to be for Federica.
Elisabetta Monari
Elisabetta was born in Modena (Italy) in 1977, and has lived in Marin, California, since 2005. Elisabetta has always been very fond of children; she studied Early Child Education during high school in one of the first experimental Scientific Lyceums in Emilia Romagna and went on to complete her education with a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts at the prestigious “Accademia Clementina” in Bologna (Italy). Elisabetta is also taking classes in ECE to obtain a Master Teacher permit. During her years as a student she continued working very closely with children, volunteering in her town's church camps, Sunday school, summer camps, and special needs center (“Centro per gli handicappati gravi”), and substitute teaching in her town's preschool, where for three years she also led a sensory/art class for children ages 3 to 5 years old. Elisabetta has been teaching at LPSI for over 2 years. She is married and blessed with a five-year-old son, Alessio. Her other passions are nature, her two cats and other countless pets, art, and the simple pleasures of life, like fine teas, window shopping for antiques, playing her piano, and relaxing on the balcony on a sunny day.
Paola Trigari
Paola, a native of Italy, grew up in Turin (Piedmont). She then moved to Paris (France) where she attended the Lycée International de St-Germain-en-Laye. She then moved to Sâo Paulo (Brazil), where she attended the French-Portuguese Bilingual School , Lycée Pasteur. In Brazil, she volunteered at "Ministerio Agape" orphanage in Sâo Paulo. Paola moved back to Italy, Milan, to get her Laurea in Economics, with Laudem, from the Luigi Bocconi University. She has worked at the World Bank in Paris, the newspaper Sole 24 Ore in Milan, the Chamber of Commerce, in Izmir, Turkey and at the Caboto Holding Sim bank, in Milan. She then moved to Barcelona (Spain) where she obtained an MSc in Economics from the Pompeu Fabra University. Before relocating in London where she got married with Giacomo and worked as a consultant (company management). Finally, Paola arrived in San Francisco, where she started a new and passionate career working with young children. In San Francisco , she also volunteered at the Women’s Building (helping women, immigrants) and Cooperated in organizing a photographic exhibition for the Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD). After volunteering at LPSI for almost a year, she joined the school as teacher in June 2007. She has completed her ECE classes to obtain a California Site’s Supervisor/Master Teacher Permit, to which she has applied. She is an Italian native speaker, and also speaks French and Portuguese at a native level. She is fluent in English and has a working knowledge of Spanish. Paola enjoys traveling, cinema, music and hiking-free climbing-skiing with her husband.
Taylor Johnston
Taylor grew up in San Diego where her mother began a home daycare when she was five years old. She worked as a childcare assistant during high school until leaving California to attend Middlebury College in Vermont, where she studied English Literature and Creative Writing with a minor in Spanish. She began studying Italian in her senior year, then completed Middlebury's Summer Language School immersion program and taught English at a high school in Lombardy for a year. In 2008, she began a summer masters program at Middlebury, which will allow her to teach Italian at the university level. With her passion for language immersion, she loves seeing the progress and discoveries of the little minds at LPSI!
Sara Bonetti
Sara grew up in the city of Verona, in the north-east of Italy. She graduated from the University of Florence and then moved to London to get a MSc in development studies. She spent the last 10 years working in the field of rural development in several developing countries and eventually moved to the US in 2006 to pursue a PhD in agricultural economics at UC Davis. On the third year of graduate studies Sara met LPSI and realized she “found her place on this planet”. She soon dropped out of graduate studies and decided to pursue a completely different life-path volunteering at the school and taking the classes to get accredited as pre-school teacher. Sara had previously taught Italian to immigrant children in elementary school in Verona and enjoyed playing and discovering new cultures and approaches to life from them. At LPSI she has found an environment that reflects her beliefs in the importance of education as a playful and cooperative discovery of the world. Her other passions are playing with her three cats, baking for her family and friends, taking long walks and going to music shows with her husband Wally.
Viginia Smith
Ginny was born in California but grew up just outside of Melbourne, Australia. She studied Theatre Performance at the University of Ballarat and then went on to explore Italy. She worked as a Theatre in Education actor where she travelled around Elementari and Media schools in the north east of Italy. This experience was incredibly rewarding as she realised she got more satisfaction out of the educational workshops than the actual performing. Ginny went on to teach English at Wall Street Institute in Rho outside of Milan, and at an Asilo nido in Milan. She moved to San Francisco to return to University and study Early Childhood Education. Ginny is thrilled to have found LPSI and combine her passions for Italian and education.
Molly Jones
Molly grew up in California's wine country. In her Italian American family she is one of the oldest grandchildren of 12, and has been the family babysitter since middle school. Molly studied Italian at UC Berkeley, earning her BA in Italian Studies last Spring. She studied in Italy twice, including a year of exchange at the University of Bologna. While in Bologna she interned at Liceo Scientifico Righi, in the English department, teaching English as a foreign language to Italian high school students. With help from the UC Study Center, she also taught private English lessons to Italian preschoolers. While studying in the US she tutored English composition and grammar at City College of San Francisco's Learning Assistance Center. Molly has a passion for spreading multilingualism in the US; she is currently studying Arabic and hopes to attend a local CSU in the coming fall to study Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the graduate level.
Simone Oppen
Simone is a Northern California native and, as the eldest of three, began to learn about child development at an early age while helping to take care of her younger sisters. She was introduced to Italian Language and Culture while in high school through language courses and also as a participant in an exchange program between Tomales High School and the Istituto Tecnico-Agrario of Sciacca, Sicily. She continued to study Italian as her major language in the Comparative Literature Department at UC Berkeley as well as learning Latin and Ancient Greek for a double major in Classical Languages. These language studies culminated in the privilege of studying at the Università degli Studi di Padova in spring 2008 and, in spring 2009, of directing the first production of a play in Ancient Greek on the Berkeley campus in over 50 years. Both of these experiences made Simone passionate about language immersion and the role of creative play in the learning process. She is currently taking classes at San Francisco City College in Child Growth and Development and Early Childhood Curriculum. After exposure to wonderful language teachers in high school and college she is inspired to learn what it means to be a teacher as part of the community of teachers, families and students at La Piccola Scuola. In her spare time she loves to cook for her friends and family, swim in the Pacific Ocean and has just started training for the centennial Dipsea Footrace from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach.
Beatrice Balfour
I was born in Milan, Italy, in 1986 of an Italian mother and a father from the United States. I lived in Italy until I was 19 years old. As a child, I went to a very special school “La Nuova Educazione” which follows a teaching method similar to that of La Piccola Scuola Italiana. As a teenager, in Italy, I studied at the Liceo Classico Tito Livio where I developed my interests for classics and philosophy. When I moved to the United States in the Spring of 2006, first, I studied English at the University of California Santa Barbara. Then, I studied at Santa Barbara City College where I also tutored students in both Italian and Philosophy. In the Summer of 2008, at the University of California Santa Barbara, I was awarded a scholarship from the Center of Nanotechnology and Society to research the development and the social impacts of new solar technologies. In the Fall of 2008, I enrolled at the University of California Berkeley where I will be soon graduating in Philosophy with Highest Honors. In Spring 2010, concurrently with my studies at the University of California Berkeley, I shall also study child growth and development at Berkeley City College. I started working at La Piccola Scuola Italiana in the Fall of 2009 - and it has been a wonderful, creative, playful, and educative experience!
Giovanni Messina
I was born in Calabria (southern Italy) in a small town called Marina di Fuscaldo. After high school, and completing my military assignment, I moved to California in 1994. My mother always encouraged me and my three sisters to get involved in the kitchen from a very young age, and from her I’ve developed my passion for cooking. I currently live in Half Moon Bay with my two cats, Misha and Oliver, and my wife, Kim, who I married in May of 2004. I met her at Mezza Luna Italian Restaurant, where I’ve worked since 1994. Some of my other hobbies include skiing, swimming, running, and cooking and sharing a meal with my best friends. I’ve enjoyed cooking at LPSI since last year. I love to work with kids because they are so cute and sincere, and every time I work with them I have a blast!
Virna Messina
Virna Messina was born and raised in Fuscaldo, Italy. She completed her bachelor's degree in ophthalmology at Alexander Fleming University in Rome in 1990. Then she returned to Fuscaldo where she worked as an optometrist for the next ten years. Virna moved to Half Moon Bay in 1996 and worked part time as a nanny. She also has worked in Italian restaurants since moving to San Francisco. She loves cooking and kids and is happy to be able to enjoy both while working at the Piccola Scuola.
Board of Directors
Past Board Members
Consultants
Job Opportunities
We'd like to hear from fully qualified Italian preschool teachers (or teachers with native-like fluency in Italian) who are passionate about the Reggio Emilia approach.
Please contact us if you are an Italian native speaker or have native-like fluency and are interested in substituting our teaching staff.
You need a valid US work permit to work at La Piccola Scuola Italiana di San Francisco. For further information, please email Valentina Imbeni at director@lpsisf.org