Staff

Director: Laura Ratcliffe

Assistant Directors: Sarah Urias & Endion Shichtel

Program Assistant: Amy Palladino

Bios

Laura Ratcliffe/Director

Laura has an MFA from the University of Illinois, Chicago and a BA in Visual Art from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Her background is in graphic design and arts administration with a focus on education, particularly early childhood education. She has been the Assistant Director and Program Coordinator at the Zia Family Focus Center prior to becoming Director in July 2019. Her son attended Zia Elementary school and she has volunteered at Zia, been a substitute at APS and Serendipity Pre-school and worked as an Assistant Teacher at Zia in both kinder and visually impaired classrooms and at Kirtland Elementary in the developmentally delayed preschool. Laura believes that kids need a place to call their own and build community amongst themselves, a place where they can feel free and at ease with their peers, while learning, creating and making art of all kinds! The Zia Family Focus Center is that place!

Before focusing on education Laura was the Program Director and Curator of Visual and Performing Arts at the Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque. She has curated at the local and national level and done volunteer and contract work for The Albuquerque Museum and SITE Santa Fe. She co-founded and was Project Director for the Window Project, funded by the McCune Foundation. The Window Project was both an art event and ongoing exhibition devoted to presenting contemporary art installations in non-traditional venues. Her alternate career has been in horticulture, where she learned a great deal about native plants while employed by the Albuquerque Biological Park and Plants of the Southwest.

Endion Shichtel/Assistant Director

Endion has a BS from UNM in Conservation Biology and Psychology. She is the Ring Leader/Director of the Conservation Carnivale, New Mexico’s only Science Circus, focused on the Rio grande ecosystem. In addition to joining ZFFC as a teacher and administrator Endion is a Forest School Leader at Soulful Outdoor Learning where she conducts forest school pedagogy for an all day pre-K in the East Mountains which her young daughter attends. She has worked as a water resource specialist and biologist for the Albuquerque Water Utility Authority Education Program and as a Nature Immersion Specialist for the Elevation Children's Learning Center.

Sarah Urias/Assistant Director

Sarah has a BA in History from UNM with a minor in Psychology. She has worked as preschool teacher and administrative assistant at Serendipity Day School where she organized fundraisers and community events and assisted the Directors with the day to day operations. Sarah is a mom and focused on providing support and guidance to children and families and working collaboratively with the school community. Sarah cultivates a warm, inviting and safe environment for kids and families where the health, safety and well being of children and staff is paramount.

Amy Palladino/Program Assistant

Amy comes to ZFFC with a long history at Albuquerque Public Schools. She retired from APS as an IT specialist but has also worked in elementary schools as an assistant teacher and school secretary. Her daughter attended APS and later earned a PhD. She loves gardening and working around the kids, plus she is a local and lives in our neighborhood!