Welcome New Busy Bees Staff!

Busy Bees Preschool is “busy” preparing for its 32^nd year serving young students and their families in Buena Vista.  For the past 31 years, the preschool has been under the direction of Joyce Markham, who has just retired at the close of the 2014 spring term.  “We’re deeply, deeply grateful for Joyce’s years of dedicated and loving work with our preschool students,” commented Erik Ritschard, DPCA Administrator, “and for all the staff at Busy Bees over the years who have made it such a great place for our preschoolers. We’re also grateful for new staff who will continue moving us forward with fantastic programming for our youngest students.”

 Monica Holick

The board and administration of DPCA are very pleased to announce that effective July 15, 2014, Busy Bees will be under the direction of Monica Holick.  Monica has recently moved to Buena Vista from Wichita, Kansas,  where she completed her Master of Arts in Teaching degree (Early Childhood Unified) through Wichita State University.  Monica also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Public Administration and Health Science from Wichita State, and is a 1986 graduate of Rhema Bible Training Center.  In addition to church and public and private school experience with preschool and elementary students, Mrs. Holick has years of experience in business administration in non-profit organizations.  Regarding joining the DPCA staff at Busy Bees, Monica says, “I am excited to be part of Busy Bees Preschool and the Buena Vista community.  I have served the Lord all my adult life and now I can serve Christ in my career as an early childhood teacher and director. I believe I have the best job ever!”  Monica has two grown daughters, both residing in the Wichita, Kansas area. Monica also enjoys all kinds of outdoor activities and serving her community.

In addition to a new Director for Busy Bees, DPCA is delighted to be adding a new assistant director as well.  Andrea Vijverberg has been a Buena Vista resident since 2012 and has been working for Young Life at Frontier Ranch.  Andrea is currently completing both her Director credentials through Colorado Mountain College, and a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership through Eastern University.  Andrea notes, “I am thrilled to be starting this school year with Busy Bees! Teaching preschool has been a dream of mine for some time and I have spent years volunteering with little ones. I have been drawn to teaching my entire life and especially love the preschool years. Preschoolers possess a natural curiosity and openness to learning; these years are the prime time to instill a love of learning in a child.”

Andrea Vijverberg (VI-ver-berg)

Andrea has four children, the youngest of whom  just graduated from Chaffee County High School, and in addition to her family and preschool students, loves gardening and enjoying “the complexity of God’s creation” so evident in and around Buena Vista.

“We are grateful and blessed to be adding two such exceptional women to our DPCA and Busy Bees staff,” says Ritschard. “Both Monica and Andrea are highly energetic, enthusiastic, and experienced staff who are going to be phenomenal at building on Miss Joyce’s legacy at Busy Bees and helping our preschool program thrive and grow.  They are both deeply committed to preschool students and their parents, and we couldn’t be happier to be welcoming them both to our DPCA community.”

Busy Bees Preschool is enrolling students for fall 2014 and will be holding an Open House August 7^th.  More information is available by calling 395-2661, or by emailing info.busybees@dpcaweb.org