Geva McAdow, Little Star School’s beloved Managing Director, will be moving on after a decade of service to the school. In her years at Little Star, Geva filled almost every role, from assistant teacher to lead teacher, program supervisor to high-level management and strategy, a press release said.
“Many of the beautiful connections you see at Little Star between teachers, families and community partners originated from her insightful leadership, incredible work ethic, dedication to improving the quality of educational and social emotional learning for children, and drive to support teachers,” says Executive Director Brad Halm. “It’s been an honor to work with and learn from Geva during her tenure at our school.”
“Geva is a force of nature,” Program and Operations Manager Emily Nelson says. “She has an unabashed passion for what she’s doing — she’s all in.”
Geva McAdow mimicked pop megastar Taylor Swift at the Little Star School’s annual action.
Emily described the school’s auction kick-off meeting, where Geva embraced the “Under the Sea” theme by wearing a pink crab hat that Emily had picked up at Goodwill — not realizing it was a dog costume.
Brad echoed his admiration for Geva’s energy and enthusiasm. “After putting her heart and soul into spearheading this year’s Little Star auction, she still had the bandwidth to arrive as a spitting image of Taylor Swift,” Brad pointed out.
Along similar lines, Office & Finance Manager Erin Clark recounted a time when Geva did a somersault across a stage to help rally support for teachers, even though she had just had her appendix removed.
Erin is in awe of the “endless Rolodex” lodged in Geva’s brain that she “uses generously to connect people and solve everyone’s challenges.”
Former Executive Director Dani Reynaud feels the same way. “Geva is a powerhouse bundle of joy with unfettered enthusiasm for schedules and class placements. I’ve never seen anyone get as giddy as she does about organizational tasks: color-coded three-ring binders, student documentation, auction project plans.” Dani calls Geva a “master puzzle solver” who contributed to staffing solutions by rearranging teaching teams and classroom placements.
Dani says that Geva’s energy for helping families extended to evenings and weekends. “She knows every family and child by name and answers texts throughout the night and on weekends to support parents. She goes above and beyond to meet needs of families and create warm welcoming experiences for them: organizing meal trains, arranging carpools, introducing friend groups, supporting behavior plans — she’s a major connector.”
Geva pays as much attention to individuals as she does to families, Erin says. “She’ll notice a child feeling sad at drop-off and get down to their level and make sure they feel seen, understood and comforted, and give them confidence to acclimate into the magic of the classroom.”
“Geva has helped shepherd the school to the place it is now,” Emily says, “both as a solid nonprofit rooted in the community and in the spirit of devotion to the children and families.”
