Nina DeBates

I grew up in a small town in the state of Hessen, Germany. After graduating school, I spent six months in London, England, where I worked as an Au-Pair. The time in England encouraged my decision to become a teacher, so I am able to combine my passion for nature/ science, the English language, and working with children. I studied TESOL and Biology at Justus-Liebig Universität in Gießen, where I received my First State Examination (1. Staatsexamen). I did my teacher training in Krefeld and continued teaching for four more years after passing the Second State Examination for teaching in elementary, middle and junior high school (2. Staatesexamen).

In 2016, I decided to join my husband in the US and moved to Beaverton, where I started working as a preschool assistant teacher in a private preschool. In 2017, I joined GIS for the first time as a preschool teacher for the Drachen class. Two years later I took a break from working to be a stay at home mom. During the pandemic, my family decided to leave the area for a little bit and we ended up in Memphis, Tennessee, where we stayed until the beginning of this year. We enjoyed exploring the South, but we decided it was time to come back to Oregon.

I am very happy to be back at GIS and excited about all the changes the last years have brought.