Director

Sandi V.
Hello everyone, I am Ms. Sandi Vincenti, a new, very eager, and excited addition to the Children Central Community. I come to you with open arms and a great desire to lend my knowledge, experience, hands, and heart towards becoming the best Child Care / Learning Center that we can be. I look forward to becoming part of a team, and family who share in my love of the early childhood field.

I am a devoted and loving mother of an 11-year-old daughter who is a drummer, singer, swimmer, and diver and a silly, creative, and energetic 2-year-old son who will also be joining the family here at Children Central. I am happily married to my husband Dan, who is an artist and musician, as well as and all around creative and useful guy! I currently live near Center City Philadelphia, where I am constantly looking for ways to become involved in my neighborhood’s green and sustainability efforts. My current passions in life are my family, music, nature and animals.

I began my professional career with a Bachelor’s of Science in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Development and Education, with a Minor in Music Theory and Education from Gwynedd-Mercy College. Prior to becoming the Director at Children Central, I worked at Children’s Village, a Keystone Star 4 center located in Chinatown/Center City Philadelphia. While there, I strived to maintain a safe, engaging, vibrant, inquiry-based, and child-centered classroom well within the standards of organizations such as NAEYC, OCDEL/Pa Keys/Keystone Stars/ECERS, DPW, Head Start, Pre-K Counts, and ECELS to name a few. I was proud to have worked extensively with PNC’s Grow Up Great program and Head Start on Science, through organizations such as the Franklin Institute and the Academy of Natural Sciences. I was a contributing and founding member of the Education Committee, Technology Committee, and Green Teams at my center. Most importantly, I had an innate passion and love for adding sparks of music, curiosity, singing, signing, silliness, and science exploration to those around me!

I was the Education and Conservation Coordinator at the Philadelphia Zoo prior to working for Children’s Village. That is where I gained most of my leadership and management experience. In this capacity, I ran, directed, and performed the Early Childhood Programming, Children and Family Programming, Home-School Programming, and developed and taught Teacher Training Programs as the Act 48 provider, directed the Summer and Winter Camp Programs, and worked one-on-one with Mayor Nutter’s WorkReady teen program. I designed, developed, and presented curriculum for zoo camps, early childhood series and daily programming workshops, family/home school/reader's club programming, and teachers’ workshops. I also staffed exhibits and designed and performed interactive educational shows and demonstrations. I gained respect for my efficacious ability to hire, train, manage, direct, and evaluate productive, passionate staff and volunteers. I was driven to motivate my staff in any way that I could! I truly loved to direct and support my staff on a day-to-day basis in the areas of curriculum, enhancement and adaptations, classroom management and discipline techniques, and health and safety concerns.

One of my proudest moments was when I was invited to teach and present at the DVAEYC Conference, which consequently achieved the second highest attendance numbers of the entire conference! I also authored the ever popular “Head, Thorax, Abdomen” song, dance, and lesson. I was awarded and recognized by Governor Ed Rendell and Mayor Michael Nutter for service and participation with the WorkReady Philadelphia Teen Program.

Looking forward, I cannot wait to achieve even more success and fantastic memories at Children Central Child Care / Learning Center. I look forward to fostering an environment that invites the sharing of diverse ideas and interests, where we can grow together to meet our fullest potential. I cannot wait to meet everyone and share a smile, a story, or a helping hand. For me, directing provides an opportunity for continual learning and growth. My own children and the children I have worked with have taught me to open my mind and my heart to the joys, the innocence, and the diversity of ideas in the world. Because of this, I will never forget how to smile with the new, cherish the old, and laugh with the children.