New Director!!
Jun 03, 2010
As you know, for the past 2 months, we have been in a process of interviewing and hiring for a new Kids Community Director. After looking through 21 resumes, conducting 5 phone screens, and interviewing 2 candidates in person, we have offered the position to our very own Jeannie Traback and she has accepted!
Rest assured, that even though Jeannie is "one of our own", we put her through the same level of scrutiny as any other candidate. And on her end, Jeannie took this opportunity to thoughtfully explore whether or not this is where God was leading her next. We are confident that of all the people who were considered, Jeannie has the best combination of personal work experience, passion for children and families, understanding of child development, and the right cultural fit for our church.
For those of you unfamiliar with Jeannie's background, she has years of experience working directly with children, as well as managing programs and staff who work with children, and did it quite "successfully" in layman terms (she won't brag, but we can do it for her, right?). Most recently, she has been pursuing a Masters in Education and has been student-teaching in a 4th grade class. She has been serving in Kids Community at The River for 2 ½ years, most recently as a Godly Play storyteller with the preschoolers. If you've seen her interact with your kids, you know she has a big heart and a special touch with the children.
In her role as Kids Community Director, Jeannie will oversee all our Children's Ministry programs (Sunday mornings, All Church Family services, special events and service opportunities, etc.), including the support of volunteers for those programs. It also includes the important but less visible work of championing the integration of children into the life of The River and helping to figure out how to form and mark milestones of faith in our children.
One difference you'll see in Jeannie's role vs. Jill's role is that Jeannie will not be responsible for parent development. That was not really in the scope of a KC Director position, especially one working only 20 hours a week (it's more the responsibility of a Family Life Pastor). We are so thankful that Jill had a passion and a natural way of doing this for parents through her Spiritual Director experience and her personal style. And we know that this is something that many River parents have appreciated, so we are hoping to be able to continue to support parents in our roles as primary spiritual influences on our children. Providing ongoing support and resources for parents will be a team effort for the pastoral staff to shoulder, with Brad taking the lead. You can contact him with questions or suggestions.
Jeannie is currently busy finishing up her Master’s program at UC Santa Cruz. So, she will not take on the full leadership burden until July 28. However, she will carve out time in the coming weeks for training and overlap with Jill. During this transition, we will also have the steady support of Danielle (continuing on in her role as K.C. Admin) and Jeff Gee (continuing in his role assisting on Sunday mornings), so we expect a smooth transition.
Please join us in thanking and blessing Jill, in welcoming Jeannie onto the staff team, and in continuing to pray for God's best for our children and families at The River.
With Gratitude,
The K.C. Search Committee
Judy Tsao
Dorothy Chang
K.C. Yatsko
Robyn Barron
Jill Bekaert
Brad Wong
Rest assured, that even though Jeannie is "one of our own", we put her through the same level of scrutiny as any other candidate. And on her end, Jeannie took this opportunity to thoughtfully explore whether or not this is where God was leading her next. We are confident that of all the people who were considered, Jeannie has the best combination of personal work experience, passion for children and families, understanding of child development, and the right cultural fit for our church.
For those of you unfamiliar with Jeannie's background, she has years of experience working directly with children, as well as managing programs and staff who work with children, and did it quite "successfully" in layman terms (she won't brag, but we can do it for her, right?). Most recently, she has been pursuing a Masters in Education and has been student-teaching in a 4th grade class. She has been serving in Kids Community at The River for 2 ½ years, most recently as a Godly Play storyteller with the preschoolers. If you've seen her interact with your kids, you know she has a big heart and a special touch with the children.
In her role as Kids Community Director, Jeannie will oversee all our Children's Ministry programs (Sunday mornings, All Church Family services, special events and service opportunities, etc.), including the support of volunteers for those programs. It also includes the important but less visible work of championing the integration of children into the life of The River and helping to figure out how to form and mark milestones of faith in our children.
One difference you'll see in Jeannie's role vs. Jill's role is that Jeannie will not be responsible for parent development. That was not really in the scope of a KC Director position, especially one working only 20 hours a week (it's more the responsibility of a Family Life Pastor). We are so thankful that Jill had a passion and a natural way of doing this for parents through her Spiritual Director experience and her personal style. And we know that this is something that many River parents have appreciated, so we are hoping to be able to continue to support parents in our roles as primary spiritual influences on our children. Providing ongoing support and resources for parents will be a team effort for the pastoral staff to shoulder, with Brad taking the lead. You can contact him with questions or suggestions.
Jeannie is currently busy finishing up her Master’s program at UC Santa Cruz. So, she will not take on the full leadership burden until July 28. However, she will carve out time in the coming weeks for training and overlap with Jill. During this transition, we will also have the steady support of Danielle (continuing on in her role as K.C. Admin) and Jeff Gee (continuing in his role assisting on Sunday mornings), so we expect a smooth transition.
Please join us in thanking and blessing Jill, in welcoming Jeannie onto the staff team, and in continuing to pray for God's best for our children and families at The River.
With Gratitude,
The K.C. Search Committee
Judy Tsao
Dorothy Chang
K.C. Yatsko
Robyn Barron
Jill Bekaert
Brad Wong
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