Welcome!
Meet the Staff!
October 20, 2006
Welcome to the Rock Creek Parents as Teachers Program home page! We wanted to start off by giving you some information about our program and ourselves!
The Parents as Teachers program is one of over 200 in the state and one of thousands nation-wide. It is funded in part by a state grant and in part by our local school district. We have served hundreds of families with child development information, in-home developmental screenings, playgroups and family activities, group meetings, resource library and connection to resources county-wide since our beginning 10 years ago and continue to serve families today. Anyone who is pregnant or has a child ages birth to three and lives in the Rock Creek district can participate in the program.
Our program is staffed by Amy Wilkens, parent educator and Dena Schmitz, program coordinator and parent educator. Dr. Darrel Stufflebeam, district superintendent, oversees the program.
Amy is in her second year with the Rock Creek PAT program. She is married to Ty and has two delightful boys. Cadence is a first grader and Carter is a busy 3 1/2 year old. Amy is a certified teacher with four years experience teaching in the Manhattan schools and western Kansas before joining our program. Amy is also a trained parent educator through the comprehensive Parents as Teachers National training program.
She and her family currently live in Manhattan (near the edge of the Rock Creek school district). Her husband, Ty, manages and coordinates the menus of several care homes in Junction City and rumor has it he is an excellent chef as well! Ty operated his own restaurant for awhile before returning to KSU. Amy loves spending time with her kids and their extended families when she is not working.
Amy also enjoys reading and spending time with friends. You can reach Amy at wilkensa@rockcreekschools.org.
Dena is in her elventh year with the Rock Creek program. She is married to Terry and has three wonderful children, Lilly in fifth grade, Adam is a freshman and Caleb is a senior at Rock Creek. Terry is the Westmoreland elementary physical education teacher and also teaches a class at Rock Creek Jr. Sr. High school. He also coaches a variety of sports at the school.
Dena graduated many eons ago from KSU. Her degree field was in the College of Human Ecology (formerly Home Economics).She has had many jobs, but during her time as an assistant teacher at a speech and language preschool in Lawrence, she became aware of the Parents as Teachers program that served her school district and enrolled her second child into the program. Upon moving to the Rock Creek district in the fall of 97, she was dismayed to find that there was no Parents as Teachers program here and when the opportunity arose to help start one, she applied for the job and 'wa-la' here she still is! Dena attended the National Parents as Teachers training as well before implementing the program here at Rock Creek eleven years ago.
Dena enjoys attending her children's many activities ranging from concerts to basketball games. She also enjoys attending Rock Creek volleyball matches (her husband is the coach) and cheering on the Wildcats and the Mustangs. She and her family also like to spend time with their extended families and friends when possible. They both enjoy working with youth in their church and have had the opportunity to sponsor several youth mission trips in past summers. You can reach Dena at schmitzd@rockcreekschools.org
We are so happy you have chosen to visit our site and we hope that if you check out our enrollment information if you are not part of the program and also our other articles and newsletter links.
Come and visit us often!
