Professional Development Day February 9, 2016 On Friday, February 5 th , 2016 Utopia Preschool closed so that all our staff could attend a professional development day at Our Lady of Mercy. It was a day of reflection, intellect, and team building among Utopia teachers and other staff members from Catholic preschools in San Francisco, the North Bay, and Peninsula. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Joe Gumina, a clinical Psychologist who works with children, teens, and families at the CPMC Kalmanovitz Child Development Center. Some of the key points he discussed focused on building resilience in children so this skill can continue on into adulthood. Resilience is defined as, “the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens.”( www.merriam-webster.com ) All people deal with some kind of stress, some stress can be beneficial. We want children at Utopia to be able to deal with age appropriate difficult/stressful situations and learn eff...