Meet the Team

Robbin Hawkins has been a lead teacher at the ECC since 1998, but she has actually been teaching at the ECC since 1991.  She began her tenure as a fieldwork student while studying early childhood education at Westchester Community College.  She moved into a teaching assistant position as she finished her undergraduate degree at Sarah Lawrence College, and then became a lead teacher as she entered the Art of Teaching graduate program pursuing her MSEd.  Robbin is the lead teacher in the Tuesday/Thursday Threes class, one of the Monday/Wednesday/Friday Threes classes, and the afternoon Threes/Fours class.  Robbin enjoys cooking in the classroom and creating muffins out of almost anything.  Robbin leads graduate seminars and workshops on cooking in the classroom, loose parts play and using intentional language with children. Sarah Lawrence, 1991–

Sarah Phillips Mathews has taught at the Early Childhood Center since 1992.  She is the lead teacher in the morning Fours Class and the afternoon Twos and Parents class.  Sarah is a graduate of Vassar College and holds an MSEd from the Sarah Lawrence College Art of Teaching program.  Her previous experience includes research at the Children’s Hospital in Boston on early brain development, as well as teaching at the Harvard Law School Child Care Center and the Bank Street School for Children.  She leads graduate seminars and workshops in the areas of block building and using intentional language in teaching children.  Her interests include community building in the classroom, conflict resolution, dramatic play and separation/adjustment to school. Sarah Lawrence, 1992–

Debi Riessen has been lead teacher of the morning Twos and Parent class and one of the Monday/Wednesday/Friday Threes classes since 2012.  She discovered Sarah Lawrence College by attending the Child Development Institute’s Summer Empowering Teachers Program.  Debi taught previously at the Larchmont Temple Nursery School.  She graduated from SUNY New Paltz and earned her MSEd in Early Childhood Education at Hunter College.  Debi especially enjoys working alongside the Sarah Lawrence College students and seeing the life of the classroom through their eyes as they integrate theory and practice.  Debi delights in the wonder of seeing children make discoveries for themselves.  Her goal is for the children to be comfortable enough to take ownership of the room and their experience.  The children’s experience is everything to Debi. Sarah Lawrence, 2012–

Evangelyn Santana is thrilled to be joining the ECC as the lead teacher for the Four/Fives class. She first came to the ECC as a fieldwork student from Westchester Community College in 2017. Enamored with the ECC’s philosophy and progressive education as a whole, Evangelyn continued to teach, and learn, as an assistant teacher in the Twos and Parent program while she completed her undergraduate studies at Lehman College. She worked as an assistant teacher in the Five/Sixes class as she pursued and completed  her MSEd from the Sarah Lawrence College Art of Teaching program.

Evangelyn’s hope is to foster an environment that allows children to feel empowered in their learning; this hope is inextricably connected to her being passionate about nurturing children’s creativity through open-ended materials, emergent curriculum, and making space for children’s curiosities and questions. Sarah Lawrence,  2022-

Cassandra Santos became the lead teacher for the Five/Sixes class in 2019.  She began teaching at the ECC in 2011, while a field work student at Westchester Community College.  She continued to work as an assistant teacher at the ECC while she earned a degree in Childhood Studies from City College of New York and during her graduate studies in the Art of Teaching program at Sarah Lawrence College.  She recently discovered that she enjoys leading seminars and workshops and hopes to do more of this work in the future.  Cassandra’s passions are books, cooking, and nature.  She is thrilled to be sharing those interests through her teaching. Sarah Lawrence, 2019–