Kati Novak (Blossoms Class, ages 18 months-2 years) was born in Aspen, Colorado. She lived in a restored early 20th century schoolhouse on the mountain above El Jebel until she was seven. Kati lived for the scrub-oak trees and cold irrigation ditches and helped care for an arrangement of farm animals. Her family eventually moved and settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico when she was nine. At nearly nineteen, she left the desert for the rainy forests of the northwest and for almost 16 years lived on the Kitsap peninsula working first as a cook and being a young mother before finding her calling as a teacher.
She was a part of Boys & Girls Clubs of Seattle for eight years at the Bainbridge Island branch where she worked as program director, then ventured on to teach the toddler program at Building Block preschool for three years. During the last seven years in Washington State, she was also a shared nanny for three families. In 2013, she returned to Santa Fe to live and also to reunite with her sister and brother. She continued to be a seasonal nanny and personal assistant until her sister (Glory, who also teaches at Dragonfly) introduced her to Dragonfly School in 2014.
Kati’s strengths include allowing children the space and time to accomplish their own goals, her playful, yet calm nature and inspiring inquisitiveness through asking pertinent questions.
Miraj Bukhari-Frayer (Sprouts Class, ages 3 & 4)Â was born in London, U.K and moved to New York in her teens. She studied Illustration and Product Design for four years from the High School of Art & Design and went on to obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts & Sciences (Speech and Hearing) from the City University of New York with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education.
She has travelled globally in her youth over the winter and summer breaks exposing herself to a lot of the real world issues of poverty. She has continuously advocated for child development, literacy, and is sympathetic to the disadvantages and homelessness that afflict people in developed,as well as underdeveloped nations.Her experiences include feeding the New York’s homeless, working as a behavioral therapist for those with special needs, a Preschool teacher in Minnesota, a Volunteer Activity Art coordinator for a Science and Technology based school in Michigan for kids aged pre-K to 9th grades, a Child Life volunteer for Alexander Cohen’s Children’s Hospital, NY, and most recently coordinating the “Story Stretchers” program at the Santa Fe’s Children’s Museum.
She continues to enjoy art as a mixed media artist, loves creative story telling, gardening, dabbling in vegetarian cuisine, and exploring the mountains of New Mexico while dedicating the rest of her time to family, community, caring for a pair of love birds, named Paco and Pico, and being grateful for the inspiration she receives daily from children and their ability to live in the present and dream of tomorrow.
Eve Apodaca ( Saplings class, ages 4 & 5 ) grew up in Portales New Mexico, next door to her grandparents. She spent a lot of time watching her grandmother sew and design clothing. That’s where she developed a love for fabric, buttons and patterns. She holds a B.S in Family and Consumer Science from Eastern New Mexico University. In college she studied ethnic dance and yoga. In 2001, she had the opportunity to travel to India to study yoga and Bharatam dance. This first international trip inspired a great love for traveling and learning more about people and their cultures.
Eve came to us with over 10 years experience working with infants to middle school aged children, in both public and private schools. She worked at Alta Vista Middle School in Carlsbad New Mexico for 3 years teaching Family and Consumer Science. In 2009, she moved to New York City. The 6 years she lived there she worked as a preschool teacher and nanny. She worked at Preschool of America in the infant room and also with the young 2’s. At Beginnings Nursery, a Reggio inspired school, she worked with 4’s & 5’s.
On recent trips to Peru and Turkey she was able to observe classrooms, and was delighted to meet teachers and students. Eve moved to Santa Fe in August with her husband Mark who also teaches at Dragonfly. They are excited to be closer to Eve’s family and to explore New Mexico. Eves interests are sewing, batiking, cooking, and reading.
Heather Gonzales  ( Saplings class, ages 4 & 5 & Aftercare ) is one of the founding staff members of Dragonfly School and helped Dragonfly create methodologies still in place today. She has had thirteen amazing years of working with young people in the field of early childhood education and has worked at several private schools in Santa Fe besides Dragonfly, including Reach the Children, Playschool of the Arts and Santa Fe Sprouts. Her teaching career led to operating a small but fun and loving toddler program in her home, with several of her students continuing on to attend Dragonfly.
She then took a break from teaching and began training as an EMT and firefighter. She experienced an exciting few years working for the Santa Fe County Fire Department. Heather is currently studying towards a degree in the field of Physical Therapy. She is very grateful to her daughter Raven,18, and her son Paz, 15, for being so supportive of her many endeavors.
Heather offers young children an environment in which they simultaneously feel safe and have the opportunities to test boundaries and be creative.  Her open and inquisitive form of communication  plays an important part in Heather’s natural teaching style. She enjoys creating safe and interesting learning environments that encourage children to explore and develop their own interests and create loving relationships with their peers and teachers.