Program Directors

Colleen O’Connor

Colleen has been at Pilgrim Children’s Center for 14 years. 10 of those were spent teaching in the three year old classroom before stepping into the Co-Director role when re-opening the center during the COVID-19 Pandemic in October 2020.

She has loved her time in the classroom and as a director. She enjoys greeting each child and family each morning as they start their school day. Miss Colleen has five children that she raised here in Carlsbad. During her free time she enjoys drinking coffee, walks with her dog, and gardening.

Sami Neblett

Sami started her early childhood career at Pilgrim before spending some time in the community working for state funded programs as both an educator and administrator. She holds a MA degree in early childhood and is passionate about ensuring the center is using developmentally appropriate, evidence based practice across all of our classrooms.

She is also a mother of three and most of her free time is spent with her children.