Family Spotlight

Department of Psychology, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences › Children’s School › Resources › Resources for Families of Young Children › Family Spotlight

May 2023 Family Spotlight:
Children’s School Journey

Hello Children’s School families, we are the Andrianos Family: Theo, Emilee, Lillianna (5) and Olivia (3). As Lilly nears the end of her Kindergarten year, we are amazed at how she thrived over the past 3 years being around her school friends and the wonderful staff and educators. Her fondness for hands-on activities, reading, and nature has grown exponentially, and she absolutely loved the performing arts unit. She proudly demonstrated her tap-dancing skills and shared enthusiastic accounts of enacting “I’m the King of the Mountain”. Lilly leads the Kindness Pledge with us at mealtime and explains to Olivia that she will get to do fun activities next year when she starts in the Red and Blue Rooms.

Outside the classroom, Lilly enjoys swimming, Ninja Gym, and soccer. As a family, we spend time hiking, playing in our yard, and chasing our “boysies” Cooper and Boone. We love to visit museums, play games, and have dance parties! During Lilly’s first 2 years at the CMU Children’s School, we lived in Regent Square and were board members of the Run Around the Square, a 5k foot race in which Lilly placed 2^nd last summer. We loved walking the trails through Frick Park and throwing rocks in the creek! Theo was raised in the Square and returned to the area after finishing his BS at Penn State. He enjoys mountain biking and camping, which he has taught Lilly to do as well. He has worked for PNC as a project manager and scrum master for the past 10 years. Emilee is originally from Ohio and played soccer for Marietta College. She was inducted to her high school’s athletic Hall of Fame shortly after Lilly was born and completed her Doctorate in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health in 2012. After a post-doc, she joined ProImmune, Inc., where she is currently a Senior Immunology Specialist working with pharmaceutical, biotech, and academic institutes developing novel therapeutics and vaccines.

We moved from our Regent Square home to Bradford Woods last summer and have enjoyed exploring the area and meeting new friends. We will miss our daily drives with Lilly and hearing all about her day, but we look forward to continuing our CMU Children’s School journey with Olivia!