Our Teachers | Winters Chapel UMC Preschool

Our Staff

Beth Newton

I am honored and thrilled to have been given the opportunity to serve as your Preschool Director for the upcoming 2023-24 school year. Preschool and all it holds has a special place in my heart and has been a passion of mine for over 18 years! I believe in the importance of providing high-quality programs for all children. I consider it my privilege and honor to support the AMAZING teachers at WCUMCP so that they are able to provide your children with excellence in early childhood education. My personal goal is to work closely with the school faculty in providing supportive, nurturing, and Christian environments for the children. I plan to continue helping children and families to discover new relationships, to discover new ideas, to construct knowledge through play, and to cultivate a joy for learning. In addition, I look forward to working with the church and its staff to support one another as we show the children, families and community God’s love for all of us. WCUMC Preschool is an extraordinary preschool and I am very excited to be a part of this family. Prior to becoming the new Preschool Director at WCUMC, I had been a teacher in the 3’s class at Norcross First UMC Preschool for 12 years and then as the Director of the Preschool for the past five years.

I live in Duluth with my loving and supportive husband Lee for 39 years now and we have raised four amazing sons. In addition, we have four wonderful daughters-in-law (the only way to have girls in this family) and three fun and energetic grandsons. In my free time I love to garden, Shop, and cheer on our local sports teams. I’m a huge Braves fan!

Christina Dupuis

Christina is excited to begin her second year on staff at Winters Chapel Preschool as the office assistant to Mrs. Beth. Christina has spent her entire life in the dance industry as a student, then professional and now she owns her own studio. She loves teaching kids of all ages, but preschoolers are her favorite. She lives in Dunwoody with her husband and 2 children who both attended Winters Chapel. Brayden is in first grade at Kingsley Elementary and Madison is in the Cool Cats.

Martha Anne Singer

Martha Anne Singer is starting her 12th year at Winters Chapel Preschool. She has a bachelor's degree in Special Education and taught for 5 years in the Chicago Public School System. In her prior years at Winters Chapel, she taught Math and Science, assisted in the Flying Fish (3 year old) room and been lead teacher in the Flying Fish room. She has 3 children - Jake (21 at GA Tech), Jordan (20 at GA State University), Cara (17 at North Springs High School) and pug, Lou. She is excited to teach Mindful Mondays and STEM this year!

Dana Washington

Dana Started at Winters Chapel as a parent. While serving as a substitute she fell in love with teaching and quickly became a teacher in the busy bees class. She is now excited to be in the Cool Cats class! Dana and her family have been in Atlanta for 12 years. Before working in the classroom, she was a Customer Success Manager for a medical company.

Dana is very happily married to her husband Richard. You can almost always find them serving BBQ and baked goods to the community. She is proudly called mom by two boys, Xavier (11) and Donovan (7), and her fur baby, Buttercup.

Luz Garcia

Luz is originally from Guatemala. She has been a member of the surrounding community for 9 years. She loves working with children and is the lead teacher in the Marvelous Monkey class. Luz is happily married to her husband David for 15 years and is mom to three children ages 14, 12, and 6 years old, and pug Milo.

Allison Parkes

Allison Parkes was a Winters Chapel parent for three years, and began working as a substitute during that time. This will be her eleventh year as a two year old teacher. She will be in the Lucky Ducks this year. Allison has a degree in Political Science from Berry College in Rome, Georgia, and she worked at Turner Broadcasting for ten years. She has 3 children. Her son, Wade, is a sophomore in college; daughter Lindsay is a senior at Dunwoody High School; and daughter, Brooke is a freshman at Dunwoody High School.

Diane Chappell

Kellie Meehan

Diane Chappell will return for her 20th year at Winters Chapel as our primary substitute Diane has a B.S. in Psychology and a Masters in Therapeutic Recreation from Georgia State University. Diane teaches her Fun & Games Galore P.E. class at several schools in the area including ours. Diane’s daughter, Lindsay, is a graduate of University of Georgia this past year.

Kellie Meehan was a parent at Winters Chapel. She has twin girls in Middle School that will be home schooling through the Georgia Virtual Academy again this year. Kellie has helped us with logistics for Kids Closet and around the school, filling in where needed for the past 11 years. She loves the outdoors and vacations at the beach. She will be instrumental this year in helping us adhere to CDC cleaning/disinfection guidelines.

Sherry Meek

Shaina Rodriguez

Sherry Meek was a Winters Chapel parent for three years and worked as a Lead Teacher of the Two-year-old class for four years. She graduated from the University of Georgia with an undergraduate degree in Comparative Literature, and Master's Work in Art History. She lives in Peachtree Corners with her husband of 33 years, and they have 2 sons (Ryan, 26, a graduate from University of North Georgia with a BS degree in Finance and married to Ashley, and Devin, 23, a recent graduate from University of North Georgia with a BS degree in Marketing). Sherry is excited to be back at Winters Chapel and working with the Lucky Ducks!

Shaina enjoys working with children of all ages. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Development from the University of Rhode Island. After moving to Atlanta with her husband in 2014, she taught young toddlers at a Montessori school. Shaina started substitute teaching at Winters Chapel four years ago before becoming the lead teacher for the Busy Bees. Shaina’s two sons have attended Winters Chapel since they were babies. Eli is now in second grade, and Caleb is in first grade at Crossroads Christian Academy. In her free time she enjoys doing art and science projects with her children, baking, hiking, spending time with her husband, and playing with their dog, Pickles.

Marissa Wadsworth

Marissa Wadsworth is excited to begin her 5th year teaching music at Winters Chapel. She finds joy as she sings, dances, and creates music with young children. She received a BA in Music Education with an elementary music specialist emphasis from Brigham Young University. She has four children: Adelyn in 6th grade, Hudson in 3rd grade, Elsie in Kindergarten, and Bennett in the Marvelous Monkeys.

Erin Canal

Erin Canal is no stranger to Winters Chapel. She volunteered her time serving on various school committees and helped organize the library. Most importantly, her daughter Mira, now a 1st grader, is a former student. Erin has a BA in psychology and a Master’s in library and information science and has worked in various capacities with children including 12 years as a private school librarian. In her free time, she enjoys family hikes, tennis, cooking, and gardening. Erin is excited to assist with the Marvelous Monkeys!

Rosemary Gorham

Rosemary is originally from Australia and has lived in the Dunwoody community for the last 20 years. Rosemary returned to the workforce during Covid as a substitute teacher and discovered her love for teaching, especially working with infants. Rosemary is the assistant teacher in the Busy Bees class. Rosemary is happily married to her husband Alec for 22 years and is mom to two children ages 15 and 18.

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Myca Mitchell

Laura Moody

Shannon Hawkins

Hi! My name is Ms. Myca, and I am so excited to be teaching our Cool Cats this year! This will be my first year teaching Pre-K although I have previously been a preschool teacher. I also have a long background of working with children from ages 2-17. I am a former collegiate Volleyball player and played at Wake Forest and Howard University and am currently studying Psychology and Early Childhood Development. I moved to Atlanta about 3 years ago and have been loving it ever since!

I love teaching and working with children! It has been a passion of mine as far back as I can remember. I am committed to creating a classroom environment where your child is valued, trusted and an integral part of our family of learners.

Shannon Hawkins is a former WCUMCPS parent and teacher. Her 10-year-old daughter, now attends Kittredge Magnet School; and her 14-year-old son attends Dunwoody High School. Shannon earned her Bachelor's degree in Special Education from Bowling Green State University, and her Master's in Special Education from Georgia State University, and her Ph.D. of Education of Exceptional Students from GSU. She enjoys working with the Lucky Ducks and subbing in other classes when needed.

I am so excited to be teaching again at Winters Chapel in the Marvelous Monkeys! This is my second year at Winters Chapel and it is truly a hidden gem of a preschool. I have a degree in Therapeutic Recreation although I took a different career path and spent 15 years in the corporate world. My husband, Kyle and I have two children (Crosby and Rose) and a crazy new rescue pup names Riggs. I love spending time outdoors and cheering on our kids in their various sports and activities. This is going to be a great year and I am eager to work with your children!