Assistant Director of SAGE Center, Sara Switzer
Sara joins SAGE Center for Gifted with over 20 years of experience working with children from different backgrounds with diverse educational needs, including giftedness and other learning differences, in a variety of settings. She worked as a classroom teacher at an early childhood and elementary level in both private and public schools before joining SAGE as an Educational Therapist in 2018.
In her extensive time at SAGE, Sara has gained a tremendous amount of experience working with gifted and twice exceptional children and adolescents from preschool age through high school, and now serves as a senior-level Educational Therapist. She also has exceptional expertise in supporting parents of gifted children with parent education and guidance. Sara collaboratively guides classroom teachers with accommodation and differentiation strategies to support the growth of children at SAGE. As an exemplary, seasoned professional, honoring and executing the mission of SAGE for a number of years, Sara was advanced to the role of Assistant Director. This role has provided the opportunity for her to interact with and support the parents and families at SAGE at an administrative and leadership level.
She graduated from the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education in 2002 and then earned her Master of Education in Reading from Regis University in the spring of 2019. The coursework from her educational background and work experience has provided her with exceptional knowledge pertaining to best practices for gifted learners that coincides with the holistic philosophy of SAGE, specifically focusing on those with exceptionalities such as dyslexia, hyperlexia, ASD, and ADHD. Her personal educational philosophy centers on meeting the unique academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of individual learners through a flexible, multi-sensory approach that emphasizes the individual's strengths and interests. Holistic learning at SAGE Center emphasizes the cognitive, affective, and regulatory domains in a child-centered approach that coincides with Sara's educational training, teaching style, and philosophy.
Sara’s interests include reading, photography, arts and crafts, crocheting, learning new hobbies, going to musicals and concerts, and watching sports. Reading, and more recently listening to audiobooks, has been a lifelong love for Sara that she finds extremely therapeutic. Helping children and adults, especially struggling or reluctant readers, discover a love of books is very important to her. Though most of Sara’s time outside of work is spent at her son’s baseball and soccer games, she also enjoys spending time with her dog and being at the lake with family and friends!
Sara offers, “I am thrilled at the opportunity to work with children in an environment that not only supports my philosophy but also recognizes the importance of holistic learning in an adaptive and accommodating environment.” SAGE is honored to have this gifted professional, mind and heart as part of our faculty.
Administrative Assistant,
Kirsten McCue
SAGE has been in an overflow growth and expansion mode for a few years, and even more so in these very challenging times of COVID as families manage much distress at home and school. To support our current exceptional admin. team of Executive Assistant, Kyoko Wilson and Assistant Director, Sara Switzer, we are pleased to add Kirsten McCue as Administrative Assistant. Kirsten’s passion for the mission of SAGE, her empathy and understanding of gifted children as a mother of three, and her organizational abilities are exemplary.
Kirsten is a Colorado native and a graduate of Colorado State University. She met Ms. Rose as she sought out her own answers and help for her three gifted children (now in their 20’s) and remained in touch ever since; hoping to give back in some capacity to families that find themselves in similar situations as she did so many years ago. It can be daunting and overwhelming and both she and SAGE hope to be an empathetic ear and support system in this journey as a parent of these special children that continues as they become adults. The support in this area does not end.
Kirsten enjoys time volunteering for the local library, time with her three dogs, Pilates, walking and hiking, reading and any time spent with her busy grown kids spread out along the East Coast is a bonus! She is so excited to join the SAGE family and give back all she received.
IT & Website Manager,
Beatriz M. Rose
We are pleased to welcome Beatriz Rose as our IT & Website Manager for SAGE Center for Gifted! Beatriz’s keen expertise and diverse experience in the complex field of technology will be a tremendous asset to a rapidly growing company serving clients nationally and internationally, as we expand our reach with our website platform, graphics development, social media, and search engine optimization to serve an ever-growing referral base of families in need.
Growing up in Brazil, Beatriz was lover of problem solving and puzzles, and was drawn to computer programming when she was 11 years old. Although she loves to code, Beatriz has been passionate for languages and arts since she was a young child. In her teens, she was the “go to” at her condo in Sao Paulo when neighbors experienced trouble getting on their devices, new PC, laptop or setting up a router. Friends who were taking tutorial classes for foreign languages such as English, Spanish or Italian, would ask Beatriz’s parents to let her come over and help them. “I was always happy to help the kids or adults around me. Every time I taught someone, I was learning more.”
Beatriz holds degrees from Sao Paulo, Brazil in the areas of: Arts and Systems Analysis and Development. After moving to Colorado in 2011, she taught young children in Montessori programs and taught foreign language at schools for gifted children. Beatriz is a Solutions Engineer Analyst at a Telecom company.
Beatriz enjoys the Colorado life style with her husband and two dogs. When she is not learning new technologies and languages, she loves to enjoy dance and yoga, To balance her busy life, she enjoys running outdoors in the spectacular nature of Colorado. Beatriz is also a gifted artist, creating extraordinary work in the mediums of painting, drawing, sewing, and jewelry design. Her intelligences in languages of all types, foreign languages and coding, as well as her creative, visual-spatial intelligence, along with her delightfully wondrous sense of curiosity and problem-solving are an extraordinary combination for this role. Her inter-personal intelligence, her capacity to connect with others with deep compassion, empathy, and sensitivity, also an exceptional gift. She truly embodies as an adult, the mind and heart combination we aspire to nurture within our children at SAGE.
Beatriz’s favorite quote is: “Learning provides creativity. Creativity leads to thinking. Thinking provides knowledge. Knowledge makes you great.” A.P. J. Abdul Kalam “I am super excited to be at SAGE Center. I feel honored to work with such caring people, where I can passionately utilize my technology expertise and creativity to support the growth of SAGE in serving its mission to care for gifted children locally, nationally, and internationally.”
