Welcome to Our Little School!

Amy Cain has always had a love for children and an interest in teaching. Prior to becoming a paraprofessional in 1993- supporting and working closely with teachers, administrators, team members and parents-Amy was an administrative assistant at an electronics firm and also in the St. Louis Public Community Schools. Amy Cain and Linda O'Connell have worked as a team for 16 years. Amy facilitated for eight years at an inner city summer day camp which served children in preschool through sixth grade. Her involvement in Clean Stream and other environmental agencies made her a natural for the science and nature programs. Educators and parents often commented that her projects and experiments were superior to science curriculums being offered in private schools. Amy brings her love of nature and science expertise into the preschool classroom daily; she is devoted to piquing the interest of young children and involving them in discovery, wonder and awe about their natural world.

She and her husband, Larry, have a 13-year-old son, Christopher. As a family they are actively involved with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Clean Stream, Scouting and church activities. Amy's hobbies include reading and outdoor activity.

Carol Sestric started first grade at the age of 4, when her parents were told that she was "big enough to go to school."  Without the benefit of kindergarten, not part of the curriculum in the olden days in the country, she began her formal education.  

After undergraduate and graduate school Carol began her teaching career at Fontbonne College, now Fontbonne University.  She didn't consider early childhood education until her oldest child (nearly 3 at the time) refused to detach herself from her mother's leg long enough to attend morning play sessions.  With other neighborhood moms, she started a Montessori-based co-op preschool that eventually moved to three different locations in South St. Louis, and successfully functioned for about 10 years. 

After twenty plus years at Fontbonne, Carol spent two years with Catholic Charities, becoming increasingly aware of inadequate housing in the City. She spent 10 years volunteering in a community service organization working to address the deteriorating housing situation. In that time she chose to join the Communications and Marketing Department at BJC. She retired after 18 plus years in 2008.

Because of her lifetime relationship with the director of St. Stephen Preschool, she immediately said yes when asked to join the part-time staff in the ECD room - the perfect post-retirement job!

Carol and her husband Tony are empty nesters, welcoming their 3 kids, 3 spouses and 5 grandkids to drop in at any time. 

A life-long resident of South St. Louis city, Laura Schulte always wanted to help the world.   Studying marine biology at Texas A&M, Laura thought she would start with oceans.  Unsuccessful in finding employment, however, she moved back to St. Louis and worked as a secretary and paralegal for a local law firm.  After meeting her husband, Dan, and having two boys (Ben and Joe) her priorities changed - Joe had many health complications in his first years, so she decided to stay home as a MOM.  Looking for home office work, she took a position with the AmeriCorps VISTA Program through the National Society for American Indian Elders. 

After completing her service years, Laura decided to find a job outside of the home.  Unable to find suitable care for her children during work hours hindered Laura's search:  both boys had food allergies, and no place took into consideration their food issues and wellbeing.

Convinced she was not the only parent with these issues, Laura looked to her parish, St. Stephen Protomartyr, and started a summer program with volunteers for children of the preschool age.  The program's success and support led to opening St. Stephen ECD & Preschool in 2002.  After several years under the parish's umbrella, Laura applied for and received a separate 501(c)(3) status for an educational foundation, and opened an independent school, now in its current location.

Besides finding a safe place for her own children, Laura sees the school as a labor of love.  It has become another part of her family, including all the staff that has joined her over the past eight years!

Linda O'Connell always wanted to be a teacher. The summer of her 10^th year she rounded up the neighborhood children and played school during summer break. When she was awarded a big, fat piece of teacher's chalk as a Bingo prize, she came home very excited and used the side of her dad's green car as her chalk board. When she heard her dad coming, she learned quickly that coat sleeves don't work as well as school erasers!

Linda's career has spanned 32 years. She began teaching in two private preschools. She taught four year olds on M-W-F at one school, and three year olds on T-Th at the other. She then taught for 16 years in the St. Louis Public School Community Preschool program. Linda received numerous awards for outstanding program, curriculum development and teaching excellence. Tom O'Neal, local television anchor, interviewed her in her classroom, and the clip aired on Channel 2's "A Class Act," which honored local educators.

Linda is in her eighth year at St. Stephen Preschool. She is now teaching the children of her former students. She and her husband have a blended family of four adult children and nine grandchildren. Linda enjoys writing (her work appears in hundreds of publications), camping, dancing and walking on the beach.