Staff
Jen Belcourt, Director
Jen Belcourt collaborates with the Shorenorth Board of Directors and members to accomplish the business of the co-op that gets us into the classroom, learning with our children and one another. Joining Shorenorth as a parent in 2016, she has served on the Shorenorth Board in various capacities and was recruited by her fellow parents to the Director role in 2021.
Growing up in Seattle, she wanted to be a teacher and gravitated toward life-long learning opportunities. Prior to working in nonprofit business development, she served as a leadership consultant for college students and an AmeriCorps Member running intergenerational programming for local classrooms and afterschool programs. At Shorenorth, Jen brings together her experience collaborating with nonprofit boards, love of community building and desire to support play-based learning in early childhood education.
Jen is passionate about building connections between people and loves getting to know the unique skills and interests each family brings to the Shorenorth community. When not at preschool, she enjoys spending time with her family, exploring outdoors, reading, baking and traveling.
Erin Middleton, Lead Teacher
Erin Middleton teaches the Movers, Explorers and Baby n’ Me classes and has been a parent at Shorenorth for 7 years and served two terms on the board. She attended Huxley College of the Environment at Western Washington University and earned a BA in Environmental Education with a focus in Outdoor Education.
Erin taught outdoor preschool for 6 years through the city of Shoreline as well as spent 2 years teaching English and Environmental Education in Peace Corps Armenia. Before that she spent summers as a counselor at outdoor summer camps.
Erin is passionate about play, outdoor education, and helping to build an inclusive community. She is mother to Angus and Emilia and wife to Adam (met in the Peace Corps). Together they enjoy family time biking, camping, and exploring the woods and the beautiful Washington beaches.
Kristen Stevens, Teacher
Kristen Stevens is the teacher for the Toddlers and Groovers classes. Originally from the Boston area, Kristen has her Bachelors in Early Childhood Education from Salem University in Salem, MA. She has been working with children most of her working career and has been a nanny, camp counselor, teacher and an administrator over all these years. Most recently she has been teaching yoga to children in schools in the area.
After a move to Los Angeles in 2003, she met her now husband, Craig and they moved to the Seattle area in 2007. When her twin boys were born, they took part in the co-ops on the Eastside and in Shoreline. Kristen loves movement, yoga, cooking, art and relaxing! Her family is passionate about sports, hiking, community and travel. She also has a super cute Aussiedoodle named Clover.