Mrs. Victoria Rutkowski, 6-8

Mrs. Rutkowski was born and raised in the Raleigh area. She is a graduate of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where she earned a BA degree in Hispanic Studies. Mrs. Rutkowski also attended both Sacred Heart Cathedral School and Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, and is very happy to be a part of the Catholic school system again.

Mrs. Rutkowski was also very fortunate to have the opportunity of spending six months studying abroad in Quito, Ecuador, where she attended the Universidad San Fransisco de Quito. In Quito she learned the conversational and cultural aspects of the Latin American culture while living and interacting on an everyday basis with a local family.

Her interests include traveling and spending time with her family and friends. She currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and their three daughters.

Mrs. Kelly Damare, K-5

Mrs. Damare is originally from Charlotte, NC, however has been living in Raleigh, NC since graduating from Meredith College in 1990.  Mrs. Damare received her B.A in Spanish; however her love of the Spanish language and culture began in middle school.  As a very shy fourteen year old she was sent as a summer exchange student to live with a family in Madrid, Spain.  While in Spain her love of the language and culture was sealed!  During college Mrs. Damare spent a year in Sevilla, Spain studying (and playing basketball) at La Universidad de Espana, Sevilla.

In the time period after college and before children Mrs. Damare worked as a project manager and training developer for a computer software company.  This job was a wonderful opportunity as Mrs. Damare was able to travel the world teaching software classes in English, Spanish and Portuguese.  After children Mrs. Damare began teaching Spanish at area preschools as this allowed her to have a schedule that worked well with her children's schedule, plus preschoolers are really fun!  She has also tutored high school students from Cardinal Gibbons.  Mrs. Damare is thrilled to be part of the OLL community and share her love of Spanish with so many new students!