Our Team
Svenja Iglesias, Principal
Svenja Iglesias was born in Essen, Germany, and has lived and worked there until the year of 2000. Now she lives with her husband and two daughters in Sunrise and enjoys life in the Sunshine State.
She attended the 'University Comprehensive University Essen' and passed the ‘First State Examination for Elementary School Teachers’.
Following that, she concluded a two year internship at the ‘Study seminar for Elementary School Teachers – Essen’ and passed the ‘Second State Exam for Elementary School Teachers’, which is the equivalent of the US degree 'Master of Science in Elementary Education'.
Svenja has been principal and teacher of the 'German School of Ft. Lauderdale' since 2002, loves her profession and is a teacher with 'body and soul'.
Our Team in Ft LauderdaleOlga Bacher
Mrs. Olga Bacher was raised in Augsburg, Germany.
She graduated from the Leopold-Mozart-Conservatory in Augsburg with the ‘State Exam for Music teachers’ and went on to teach at the Music School of the City of Königsbrunn, Germany.
She met her husband Neil at the New Jazz School, Munich, where she completed a two year program.
After moving to the USA in 2005, Mrs. Bacher became a certified Early Music and Movement teacher through extensive additional training by Musikgarten, a foundation that is concerned with music-based learning since the 1970s. She also graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida, Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music. Mrs. Bacher has two sons, Jonathan and Joshua, who were both born in Germany.Since her arrival in the USA, Mrs. Bacher has been teaching at Miami Dade College, St. Ann Catholic School in West Palm Beach, the German School of Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach Atlantic University, and the School District of Palm Beach County. She also has been performing with various orchestras and ensembles.
Nina Schwerling
Nina Schwerling comes from Hessheim, a small village in the beautiful ‚Pfalz‘, Germany. She met her husband in New York, where they were both working in an institution for adults with disabilities. For the last three and a half years, she has been living in Miami Beach with her husband and two daughters. She attended the Pedagogical University in Heidelberg, passed the first state exam as a special needs teacher and then taught children with special needs at an elementary school in Ludwigshafen for one year. She then successfully completed her internship at a school for children with special needs in the ‘Pfalz’, and passed the second state exam. Nina Schwerling has been with the ‘German school of Ft. Lauderdale’ for years.
Angela Masak
Angela Masak was born and grew up in Dresden, Germany. She is married, has two grown children and one grandchild. Mrs. Masak worked with children ages 3 - 10 in Germany for over 20 years. She worked as an elementary school teacher and taught art and music, worked with children in aftercare, as a preschool teacher, as well as an independent educator.
At the institute for teacher’s education ‘Loebau’, she earned her degree as an art and music teacher for Grades 1-4, as well as her degree as an aftercare teacher. Later on, she extended her professional knowledge once more and passed the federal state exam for educators for children aged 0-21 years.
Mrs. Masak has been teaching at the ‘German School of Ft. Lauderdale’ since November of 2011. She is our lead preschool teacher and enjoys bringing the children closer to the German language and traditions in a very motivated and fun way. At the same time she can be closer to her daughter and grandchild who live in Florida as well.
Juliane Roberts
Juliane is very excited to be in the team of the German-American School of Fort Lauderdale.
She studied Elementary Education with ESOL endorsement at the Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, where she graduated in April 2015 with Honors.
She completed her student teaching internship where she taught a kindergarten class which she enjoyed immensely.
Juliane was born and raised in Germany where she studied Social Studies at a University in Germany. She also studied English as a second language in school for many years. This helped her pursue her dream of traveling all over Europe and the US to meet and learn about people from other cultures.
She built strong relationships with many friends in the US and eventually decided to move to Florida in 2008 to further explore her understanding of the American culture and language. She believes that in todays increasingly interconnected and globalised world it is important to learn about and understand people from other cultures. She is excited to share stories, sing songs and nursery rhymes in the German language with the children and foster global awareness and international collaboration in her classroom.
Over the last couple years she has built her life and family here in Florida and enjoys reading, going boating, snorkeling, bike riding, and swimming. She has a five year old son who will be going to kindergarten this August.
Elisa Iglesias
Elisa Iglesias was born in Essen, Germany but has lived most of her life in sunny South Florida. She has gone through traditional American schooling along with being a student at the German school of Fort Lauderdale herself for 13 years. she is one of the first graduates of the German school and has completed the "Sprachdiplom" with us, which is the equivalent of a German high school diploma and allows her to attend university in Germany. Elisa has been an assistant in our German preschool for five years, and has completed an associate in arts degree at Broward College and childcare training. Elisa now attends Florida Atlantic University and hopes to complete her directors credentials. Elisa enjoys teaching and sharing German language and culture as it was taught to her.
Yvonne Bailey
Yvonne Bailey was born in Paraguay, South America. Her mom is from Latin America her dad is German. She was raised in Bremen, Germany and speaks German, Spanish and English. After completing her apprenticeship she worked as a Personal Banker and in a couple short years was promoted as a Private Banker at Deutsche Bank in Germany. She moved to South Florida 5 years ago, met her husband here got married and has a 3 year old son. Yvonne has been a stay at home mom but decided to take the Child Care Training program for the State of Florida for her in home child care 9 months after her son was born. Ever since she has been working with kids ages 0-5. She is part of the team now since June 2017 as a teachers assistant, and would like to extend her credentials in Early Childhood Education within the next year. Yvonne really enjoys working with young children.
Maha Rostom
Maha Rostom is originally from Egypt, has attended a German private school in Cairo and graduated after 14 years with the Abitur. After achieving the bachelor's degree in mass communication she started her career as a German teacher in the German kindergarten in Cairo and worked then at Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Air Berlin and the German Arab Chamber of Commerce. Maha Rostom has moved to the states since 2010, and has been with the German school of Fort Lauderdale since 2016.
