Masor School Alumni Design Full-Day Retreat for Jewish Early Childhood Educators

Masor School Alumni Design Full-Day Retreat for Jewish Early Childhood Educators

For nearly 30 years, Mykenzie Busser has been shaping Jewish early childhood education—touching classrooms in the Bay Area, across the United States, and even in Poland. Today, as assistant director of education at the Oshman Family JCC Leslie Family Preschool in Palo Alto, she remains as energized by the field as ever. A major source of that inspiration, she says, comes from earning her master of arts degree in education in early childhood education through American Jewish University’s (AJU) Masor School for Jewish Education and Leadership.

Busser first learned about the Masor School’s MA program through EarlyJ, the Bay Area initiative strengthening Jewish early childhood education. She had long been searching for a way to deepen her practice, and the program immediately felt like “something that would inspire me to be more—and do more.”

She graduated AJU with her MA in 2025 and cherished the chance to refine her early childhood expertise through a distinctly Jewish lens. “There were so many fabulous tools I was getting from this program and filtering into the work I do every day,” she said. The Masor School’s early childhood MA program, which is completely online, provides students the opportunity to learn anywhere in the county. Her cohort became remarkably close—so much so that when they met in person at graduation, “it felt like we’d known each other for a long time.”

The program’s flexibility and faculty support made a lasting impression. When Busser needed to spend two weeks in Poland working with SOS International—an organization that supports Jewish preschools in Eastern Europe in strengthening their Reggio Emilia–inspired curriculum—the Masor faculty didn’t hesitate. The response was simple: go. “As long as you know what you’re doing, they have your back for sure,” she said.

That combination of challenge and support stayed with her. “The program is facilitated and curated in such an intentional way,” she reflected. “The professors want you to succeed, and you can tell just by the conversations you’re having with them.”

Looking back, Busser says the Masor master’s was everything she hoped for. “It was a wonderful experience. I miss it,” she said. For those considering the program, her advice is simple: “For sure, they’ve got to do it.”

Today, Busser continues her connection to the Masor School by mentoring four graduate students, helping guide the next generation of Jewish early childhood educators. She’s also bringing that sense of appreciation and professional pride to a new endeavor: an early childhood education retreat—titled “Kehillah and Kavod: Sacred Connections”—at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto. The idea originated with her classmate and colleague Karla Cianci, who also earned her master’s at the Masor School and serves as site director at the Helen Diller Family Preschool at the JCC of San Francisco.

“It’s been a great opportunity to work with Mykenzie,” Cianci said. “And this is just the beginning.”

The February 13 retreat—which has sold out—is expected to bring together 300 early childhood educators from across the Bay Area, including Sonoma, Palo Alto, Lafayette, Oakland, East Bay and North Bay, for a day of professional development, wellness and renewal. Some schools are planning to close for the day so that their educators can attend.

“How impressive it is that so many directors and educators are prioritizing wellness and capacity building by sending so many staff,” Cianci said.

The retreat’s learning track offers more than 36 workshops exploring best practices in early childhood education through a Jewish lens. Sessions, many of which will be led by Masor School students, alumni and professors, include “What’s Jewish About Loose Parts”—which examines the use of open-ended materials such as blocks, beads, and leaves and borrows its title from a book co-written by Busser, Cianci, and their Masor School cohort as part of their capstone project—to “B’Tzelem Elohim: Beginner’s Mind,” presented by the arts-based Jewish Studio Project.

A wellness track invites educators to choose from chair massages, breath-work sessions, journaling in the garden, challah making, Israeli dance, yoga, and more—activities designed to replenish a workforce that is often overlooked.

“ECE gets dismissed as ‘just preschool,’ but it’s so much more,” Busser said. “We’re professionals, we’re educated, and we see each child as an individual.”

EarlyJ, a philanthropic venture that supports early childhood education, provided Busser and Cianci with a $68,000 grant toward the development of the one-day retreat, and AJU is administering it.

Kicking off on Friday at 9 a.m., the jam packed day begins with a keynote by Dr. Tamar Andrews, senior director of the Masor School, and concludes with a presentation by Orit Wolberger, director of learning and talent development at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, along with a performance by the Firelight Shadow Theater, which, founded by Daniel Barash, brings Jewish stories to life through shadow puppetry. Programming concludes at 3:50 p.m., allowing everyone ample time to get home for the start of Shabbat.

Both Busser and Cianci describe the upcoming retreat as a “passion project.”

“Karla and I have designed and curated this day with meaningful intention, thoughtfulness, and immense gratitude for the educators we work with,” Busser said. “We’re excited to share this day with them.”

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