Rebecca McGaugh is the director of Reach Early Learning Center. She began her teaching career in Columbus, Ohio as a 2nd grade teacher.During her first year, she was trained and coached through The Ohio State Literacy Collaborative program.  With This experience she moved to Nashville where she taught K-3rd grades for 9 years in Metro Nashville Public Schools. Rebecca was then hired as a Reading Recovery certified teacher in MNPS under the direction of Georgia State University and The Ohio State University professors, many of whom were previously trained by Marie Clay. As a Reading Recovery teacher for three years, she helped many young children who struggle to read and write overcome barriers and gain the confidence to excel. With tremendous gains in student achievement, Rebecca began Professional Developments and coaching cycles to help train teachers with strategies for their own classrooms.

Rebecca has a passion for watching students grow and take pride in their learning. She is excited to be a part of a new preschool program focused on the early foundational learning skills.

Rebecca received her Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from Ohio Dominican University and a Master of Education in Reading Specialty and Leadership endorsement from Lipscomb University. She holds an English Language endorsement from Trevecca University.

Byjan Kajaei is the assistant teacher at Reach Early Learning Center. She has a B.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She spent her first two years of teaching in the Japanese public education system as a part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.There, she taught English lessons and lead internationalization activities atone junior high school and four elementary schools. In addition, she led two EFL conversation classes for adults in the community and was a co-host for an elementary English radio program in her city. Byjan has always had a great love for teaching children and enjoys preparing children for the world of learning.

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Saige's experience with working with children began when she was 18 with tutoring Elementary school children in their varying classes. Once in college, she continued to tutor not only children but teenagers as they prepared to apply for college. Once Saige graduated from the program, she moved onto working as an Early Interventionist for a year and a half. There, Saige worked with children from 0 to 6 years old, with speech, developmental, physical, and behavioral delays by using a mixture of modeling and play therapy. Saige also worked as a Service Coordinator for both children and their parents to help transition them into day care or schools, or just to get needed financial and emotional support.

Saige received her Bachelor's of Science in Psychology with a minor in Visual Arts in 2018 with a split focus between research and clinical counseling. To further her education, Saige will be attending an Ed.S program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling to work with children up to 18 years old with a mixture of CBT and free play.