Meet the Owners... -
Ray, Sharon and Julie Drum have been the proud owners of The Goddard School® located in Gahanna for eleven years, and they love the children as if they were their own.
Julie (Drum) Ryon graduated from The Boyd School with an Associate’s degree in Business and specialized in Travel and Tourism. She also earned an Bachelor's degree in Business from Ohio Dominican University’s Lead Program. Julie worked for an airline and spent four years in the travel industry as a travel agent before becoming a Goddard School owner. With the exception of a short period of time when she lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Julie has lived in the community all of her life. Julie and her husband Dave, have five children together, four girls and a boy.
Mr. Ray graduated from Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York with an Associate’s degree in Electrical Technology. He also attended OSU where he majored in Electrical Engineering. He spent thirty-two years working at AT&T and Lucent Technologies before becoming a Goddard School owner. Mr. Ray and Ms. Sharon have lived in the community for thirty years.
Meet Our Teachers - ...
Shelly - Ms. Shelly is our Romping Roses Pre-K Lead Teacher. She has a degree from OSU in Elementary Education with specializations in Early Childhood Education (ages 3-8) and Social Studies. She and her husband live in Columbus and have two wonderful children. Ms. Shelly has been with us since November 2000.
Ms. Gloria - Ms. Gloria is our Lead Teacher in our Lively Lilies Get Set classroom. She has been teaching for twenty-six years and starting working at Goddard in 2006. For fourteen years she worked at a daycare/preschool in Texas where she was the Lead Teacher in the Infant room for eleven years as well as three years in the Toddler room.
Ms. Laurie - Ms. Laurie is our Assistant Teacher in our Darling Daffodils Infant Room. She has a CDA (Child Development Associate) credential. Ms. Laurie started with Goddard in 2006. Prior to Ms. Laurie joining our team, she was a nanny and worked in a childcare center for fifteen years. She has a daughter of her own as well as a baby granddaughter.
Ms. Leigha - Ms. Leigha is the Lead Teacher in our Darling Daffodils Infant classroom. She graduated from Ohio University with a degree in Electronic Media. She is currently working on her CDA Credential (Child Development Associate). She joined the Goddard staff in 2008. Ms. Leigha is married and has a young daughter of her own.
Ms. Danielle - Ms. Danielle is the Lead Teacher in our Tumbling Tulips classroom. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Child Development from the Ohio State University. Ms. Danielle and her fiance have three young children. She started with Goddard in August 2009. She is also a professional photographer and does portraits for families on weekends.
Ms. Kara - Ms. Kara joined our staff in June 2009. She started working as a floater, but became an assistant teacher a few months later. She is currently working as a substitute teacher. She loves working with children of all ages and has six children of her own. Prior to working here, she did babysitting in her home and was a toddler teacher in a childcare center.
Ms. Lois- Ms. Lois works as our Assistant Teacher in our "Lively Lilies" Get Set room in the morning and is our After-School Teacher in the afternoon. Ms. Lois started with us in 2006 and then left in 2009 to pursue another adventure but returned to us in 2011. Ms. Lois has a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Ohio University, over five years experience working with after-school children and ten years of experience as a director.
Ms. Rosi- Ms. Rosi is our Lead Teacher in our "Blooming Bluebells" Younger Preschool classroom. She started as a substitute during the summer of 2011 and took on a Lead Teacher position in the fall. Ms. Rosi has a Master's degree in Education from Ohio State University. She has over twenty years of experience in the school system.
Ms. Arun -
Ms. Arun started as a volunteer last year and helped out with implementing our SPARK/BASE fitness program. She floated and helped out in different classrooms. Ms. Arun accepted an Assistant Teacher position and is currently helping to run our Pre-K classroom with Ms. Shelly. She earned a degree in Elementary Education from American College of Higher Education. She has experience teaching both preschool and school-age children.
Ms. Shannon -
Ms. Shannon started with us in January 2010. She was hired to be a floater which basically means she does a little bit of everything. Prior to joining the Goddard team, she worked as an assistant art teacher.
Ms. Hope - Ms. Hope joined our Goddard faculty in February 2011. She is one of our substitute teachers that helps out in all of our classrooms. For nine years she helped chaperone the New Albany High School Band.
Ms. Susan - Ms. Susan joined our faculty in December 2011 as a substitute teacher. She is currently working on a Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (K-8). She was a preschool substitute for six months for another preschool.
Ms. Lisa - Ms. Lisa joined our faculty in 2000 when we first opened our doors. She left us in 2004 to work on her day classes for her Bachelor's degree. Since she left us she switched her majors and graduated from Ohio Dominican University with a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice. Ms Lisa has rejoined our faculty and is now our Assistant Teacher in our Toddler classroom. She has over 15+ years of experience working with children.
Ms. Emily- We are delighted to introduce our new Preschool Assistant Teacher Ms. Emily. Ms. Emily has a Bachelor's degree in Education from Bowling Green State University. Her experience includes working with children who are deaf/hard of hearing. We look forward to Ms. Emily teaching our Sign Language program in the Spring.
Ms. Nicole Ms. Nicole joined our team in March as our Assistant Infant Teacher in our "Darling Daffodils". She loves to sing and read to our babies. She graduated from Gahanna Lincoln High School and is working towards a Bachelor's degree in Special Education/Early Childhood Education.
Ms. MaryKay MaryKay is our Curriculum Director and she started in April 2012. She graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in Elementary Education and has a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Development from Georgia Southern University. She is a veteran teacher of public, private, charter, and university level teaching in Ohio, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Thourghout her career, she taught all grade levels from Kindergarten through 8th grade with twenty-two of those years in Early Childhood classrooms. She is thrilled to be back home in Ohio and at our school.
Ms. Hilary Ms. Hilary is our Lead Teacher in our "Dazzling Daisies" Preschool classroom. She started in May 2012 and has a degree in Art Education form Harding University. She enjoys working with all age levels and looks forward to teaching our Preschool class. After graduation she moved abroad to teach in Shanghai, China. There she taught children from 2 to 10 years old at an English language school, and also worked as a head preschool teacher at an International School.
Ms. Nicole Ms. Nicole is our Assistant Teacher in our "Darling Daffodils" Infant room. She is a senior at Grand Canyon University studying Early Education and Special Education. She haws worked in the Early Childhood field for two and half years. She has a wonderful family: a loving husband, two beautiful step-daughters, and one beautiful daughter.
Ms. Lisa Ms. Lisa is our "Tumbling Tulips" Toddler Teacher. She has twenty-five years of experience working with children. She has been employed at our school for five years before leaving to continue her education. In December 2011, she graduated from Ohio Dominican University with a degree in Criminal Justice. She has two children and two grandchildren. She enjoys movies, comedy clubs, and relaxing at home.
Ms. Alyssa Ms. Alyssa is our afternoon floater and started with us in May 2012. She recently graduated from Pickerington North High School in June 2011 and is currently attending Columbus State Community College in the Early Childhood Development program. She plans to transfer to Otterbein University to complete her degree as an Early Childhood Intervention Specialist. She hopes to gain valuable experience here working with children that will help her in her studies as well as create great experiences for the children that she will have the pleasure of meeting.