Teachers

Emelie Kallen

I started Illuminate in 2007, and love teaching!  I absolutely love my work.  I look forward to every day and the little adventures and funnies that happen. I have been working with young children in the early childhood world since 1998.  I taught at a local inter-generational daycare center while in high school and continued there after graduating while taking Early Childhood courses at night. I was a nanny for 5 years and during this time I switched gears a little and became interested in the Montessori learning method.   I earned my Montessori teaching certificate from the North American Montessori Center in Surrey, BC in 2004.   I pull aspects from both the Early Childhood world and the Montessori world to create the atmosphere you see at Illuminate. I’m so proud of our little school and the joyful work we do here. It’s an amazing blessing to do work that fills my soul!

My husband and I have two children, both adopted from Ethiopia. Kepler is in high school, and Senna is in middle school.

I'm looking forward to teaching your child and getting to know your family!

Hilary Gosnell

I have been teaching at Illuminate since 2009 and enjoy it so much! My focus with the students is reading, writing and Kindergarten readiness. I grew up in the Seattle area and attended Loyola University of Chicago for my undergraduate degree. I enrolled in a few education classes, and on the very first day of class, I knew I wanted to be a teacher! I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, with a minor in English. After graduating, I taught in an inclusive special education pre-Kindergarten classroom in Chicago before moving back to Seattle. Upon my return, I was lead teacher in the pre-Kindergarten program at Holy Family School in West Seattle. I love working at Illuminate and can honestly say that I wake up every morning excited to come to school and teach!

I husband and I have three boys! My eldest, Jude was born in 2015. Ellis was born in spring 2020 and my youngest, Arlo, who attends Illuminate was born in 2022.

I look forward to this upcoming school year!