Meet Our Teachers
Diana Ji
Director
Teacher Diana was born in San Francisco but grew up mostly in South Korea and Hawaii. She is an alumni parent at Silverspot, whose son Alex, was enrolled in the first years the school was open in 2003. She served on our Board of Directors as the Fundraising Chair for two years and she designed the murals which still adorn our building today.
Teacher Diana has a BA from San Francisco State University and a Teaching Certificate from City College of San Francisco. She is in her 16th year of teaching and has been Silverspot’s Director/Teacher for 2 years. In 2022, Diana received the Outstanding Teacher Director Award from the California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools for her work at Silverspot. In her spare time she enjoys listening to books on audible, yoga and being an empty nester.
Vanessa Merino
Teacher
Teacher Vanessa was born in Los Angeles but lived most of her life in Aromas, California. She moved to South San Francisco with her husband in 2012. Teacher Vanessa has a background in business management but when she had her first child decided to be a stay at home mom. She joined Silverspot as a parent in 2017. She quickly fell in love with the program and decided to go back to school to study Early Childhood Education. While Vanessa attended ECE classes at Skyline College, she served on the Silverspot board as Fundraiser and then President. Vanessa began teaching at Silverspot in 2021. In her spare time she enjoys camping and hiking with her family.
Anna Vargas
Teacher
Teacher Anna was born and raised in the Bay Area. She has been teaching for the last five years while working on her bachelor’s degree in art and psychology. During that time she also studied early childhood education with Saddleback College’s online courses.
Teacher Anna discovered Silverspot through a friend who’s child attends the school. She quickly fell in love with the program upon hearing about the diversity in ages and cooperative structure of the school. Anna joined the school officially in January of 2023. In her spare time, Teacher Anna is working on a master’s degree in art therapy, and loves exploring the great outdoors with her partner.