Executive Director
I would like to introduce myself, Maria Perez Gali. I am the executive director of Circulo de Amigos. I was born and raised in a beautiful city, Tampico, Mexico.
I hold a bachelor’s degree in education with a major in Social Science. I graduate from the School of Superior Education in Tamaulipas. I really enjoy working in the field of education and being constantly active, exploring, learning, creating, innovating and executing ideas to improve the art of teaching.
I have been in the education field for the last 17 years and working in my own Spanish program since March 2003.
I consider a teacher’s role to be very important since we support the developmental growth and education of the child. I believe that kids should love to learn and be given many opportunities to feel successful in a safe educational and most natural environment to learn and grow. For this reason, I am always involved in the center’s activities and creating wonderful experiences for each child who walks through our doors.
I am very passionate about what I do and I am very serious about my profession! My favorite quote that reflects how much I love my career, and what I do, and inspires me to do more to waken the hearts of others is:
“I am not saying that I am going to change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will”.
Program Manager
My name is Tania Rivera and I graduated from Minneapolis Community and Technical College and received my early childhood education associate’s degree in 2015. From there, I went on to receive my BA degree at Metropolitan State University in the individualized studies program that focused on business and education.
Currently, I am in pursuit of a master's degree with a focus on nature-based education and I'd also like to take on more business management coursed to expand my knowledge in efficient and innovative business operations.
My favorite part of my career is working with children who need differentiated instruction and have individual learning needs. I like to help teachers to identify these needs so that we make adaptations when needed and modify our curriculum proactively to increase the learning opportunities for our students.
It is my goal to stay working in urban communities that are enriched with diversity and have various needs, to share my knowledge and provide resources to our staff so that they can be enriched on best practices in early childhood education, and to continue to be the best leader I can be at our program to ensure everyone in our Círculo community feels supported and uplifted.