Teacher Vrinda is passionate about education, outdoors, cooking, art, music, languages and effortful living. A Kashmiri Pandit, born and raised in Rajasthan, India, she is fluent in English, Hindi and basic Spanish vocabulary. Vrinda is the founder of Avid Kids Circle program and teaches daily, year round. Vrinda believes that ages 1-5 years are the most critical in human development but least recognized. Avid Kids Circle is her wish school where Vrinda works with 15+ month olds to 5+ year old children feeding her passion for teaching along with a like-minded community of teachers and parents.
 
Vrinda has been an avid teacher as far as she can recollect. Her initial exposure to preschoolers was at her father's preschool program in India where she worked during her high school/college years. She taught Mathematics and Biology to middle-schoolers (grades 6-8) for a year at a grades 4-12 boarding/residential school (Mayo College Girls' School, Ajmer, India) after achieving her undergraduate degree (BA Honors in Psychology) from Indraprastha College, Delhi University, India. Every moment of teaching preschoolers or middleschoolers was loved but like many young persons, Vrinda chose to continue her academic pursuits with a MBA in Human Resource Management from NMIMS, Mumbai, India and a Certificate in Computer Applications Development from College of San Mateo, San Mateo, USA. After 18 years of software development as an individual contributor, Manager and Director of Engineering, Vrinda chose to resume her passion for teaching by founding Avid Kids Circle. Vrinda Mushran also has an Associate of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE) from Cañada College, Redwood City, USA. She continues to take classes at the local community colleges to keep learning and to network with faculty and students of ECE.

Teacher Trina joined Avid Kids Circle in November 2022. She is a SF Bay Area native, born in San Francisco and raised in South San Francisco. She is a mother to two daughters who has cared for and taught children for over 20 years. She is fluent in English and also knows French.

Teacher Trina has a Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education. She has worked for 10 years as a preschool teacher and for 10 years as a nanny. Teacher Trina hopes to be a positive, inspiring impact on children’s lives. By working together with a dedicated team of educators and parents, she wants to instill our future generation with good ideals, thoughts, and interesting things about life. 

Outside of the classroom, Teacher Trina is active in the community. She volunteers at food banks, organizes fundraisers, and campaigns for local politicians. Teacher Trina believes the best way she can help improve/enrich our community is to give back and be involved. Avid Kids Circle classroom in a short time has benefited from her smiles, arts or craft ideas, direction and attention to details.

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Teacher Vasudha/Vasu is a linguist, educator, avid hiker, biker and strong believer in mindful and compassionate living. She is fluent in English, Hindi and Spanish languages. Vasudha has been a part of Avid Kids Circle since its inception in 2017. She has been an inspiration to Teacher Vrinda to return to her love for education.

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Vasudha holds a Bachelor and Masters in Spanish Language and Literature from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. She also completed 3+ years of pre-doctoral coursework from University of Granada, Granada, Spain in Translation Studies. Teacher Vasu moved into education and non-profit organizational leadership after a 10+ years career in educational publishing as a Bilingual Managing Editor for elementary and middle school content for all subject areas. She is the Managing Director at Jhamtse Gatsal Children's Community (http://jhamtsegatsal.org/) for the last 7+ years which is a home and learning center to 100+ orphaned/abandoned children in Arunachal Pradesh, India. She is assisted by a dedicated staff of 40+ along with donors, supporters and volunteers from all around the world. When not at Avid Kids Circle, she is in Boston, traveling to connect with like-mind-hearted people or at the Jhamtse Gatsal community in Arunachal Pradesh, India, leading a wide range of executive responsibilities, but above all collecting infinite hugs and smiles from children healing from trauma and taking their place in the world as compassionate leaders.

Barbora teaches weekly music lessons at Avid Kids Circle. She is fluent in English and Czech languages aside from the language of music. She joined the program in August, 2018. An accomplished musician and teacher, Barbora's lessons span songs, rhythm, beats, musical patterns, instruments, movement and much more.

Barbora has a Masters Degree in Music and Czech Language from University of West Bohemia, Plzeň, Czech Republic. She is also the Director of Education and Teacher at the Czech School of California in the Bay Area where she teaches 1st and 2nd grade Czech Language to preschoolers and young age children. Barbora has a Certificate in Early Childhood Education (ECE) from Canada College, Redwood City, USA. Teacher Barbora's interests are teaching and working with children, music, hiking, skiing and jazzercise. Teacher Barbora and Vrinda met through a common ECE class and enjoy collaborating over their mutual interests, most of all enriching minds of young children.

Teacher Deepti teaches weekly mindfulness lessons at Avid Kids Circle. She is fluent in English and Hindi languages. She joined the program in August, 2018. Development of mindfulness in children and staff to better control our emotions is a much needed area of learning for all. It is easy to loose patience, calm and thought for the present moment weighed by the past, our individual triggers, and our anxieties. Teacher Deepti injects her learnings and reminds us to be in the present moment, thoughtful in our words and actions through many techniques/games/art/conversations that makes the subject matter relatable to our young audience. She also uses her passion for art and craft to help our students explore their creativity and enjoy artful mindfulness.

Teacher Deepti has a Masters in Chemistry from Delhi University, India. She is also a certified Mindfulness professional. Her first career was in the Pharmaceutical Industry (Pfizer and Amgen) before she embarked on her teaching journey. She has part-time teaching credentials and has worked as a substitute teacher in the San Mateo Foster City School District. She has been working in the fields of meditation and mindfulness with adults as well as kids since 2016. Teacher Deepti also conducts mindfulness lessons in the Burlingame schools.

Teacher Vlada joined Avid Kids Circle in March, 2019. Raised in Russia until teenage years, she is fluent in English and Russian languages. Vlada has a passion and drive to work with young children. As an older sister to 3 young siblings, she has always been around children and helps in looking after them. When not in the classroom, Vlada is studying to achieve her Associates degree and in time her undergraduate degree in education/psychology. In 2022, she achieved the Early Childhood Education Certificate from Cañada College. She also helps parents with in-home childcare. She injects a lot of energy in the Avid Kids Circle program and takes pleasure in playing, reading, teaching students along with managing all the assistance in running a busy classroom.

Teacher Nirmal joined Avid Kids Circle in February, 2022. Raised in India where she was a teacher in elementary school, Teacher Nirmal has been a Redwood Shores resident and in-home infant care provider for over 15 years. Ever ready with a smile, infinite energy and the 'can do' spirit, Teacher Nirmal helps at Avid Kids Circle in preparing school lunches or being a substitute teacher as needed. She continues to help in the larger RWS community as an infant care provider or meal preparator since her own children and grandkids don't seem to exhaust her energy supply :) We are appreciative of all her efforts both within our little AKC community and the larger RWS one we inhabit.