Our Administration Team

Jonnie Cardinale is the owner and founder of Natural Bridges Children’s Center and has over two decades of experience educating young children in both the elementary and preschool settings. Her passion for teaching young children stems from her interest in early brain development and its correlations to optimum learning. Jonnie's ultimate goal is instilling children’s belief in themselves, knowing they have the intrinsic courage to persevere and be resilient through any challenge, as these are the mindsets that ensure academic, social and life success.  

• Expertise & Credentials: Jonnie holds two degrees in Early Childhood Education from Chapman/Brandman University and has a national certification as a handwriting tutoring specialist. She attended UCSC as Psycobiology major and received her Total Quality Management certification from San Jose State University. These combined areas of focus have been seamlessly applied throughout her teaching career and in her opening of two top quality  successful preschool centers. During her tenure Jonnie has served hundreds of families and children in Santa Cruz County. 

• Specialized Training: Scaffolding Jonnie’s academic education, she additionally earned a micro-credential in the Neuroscience of Growth Mindsets, a certification in educator mindfulness and attended Yale’s prestigious Center for Emotional Intelligence. 
• Advocacy & Leadership: A fierce advocate for early childhood education, Jonnie has served on both statewide and local boards and frequently speaks on the importance of quality early learning and its direct correlation to smooth transitions into Kindergarten. She has authored several articles on the topic and is dedicated to advancing early education.

Jonnie’s work is grounded in providing children with meaningful & enriching learning experiences and in fostering strong home-school partnerships.

Behind the Scenes: Jonnie has called Santa Cruz her home for 45 years, and lives with her husband, Joe, and her three prized English Cream Retrievers, Winnie, Walter & LibbyLou. She is a fierce advocate for animal rights and weaves her passion for ethical, compassionate care throughout all of her teaching curriculum. In her spare time, Jonnie studies canine behavior and has developed a specialized, three-pillared framework for understanding how dogs’ early experiences, learning, and developmental processes shape their behavior. Her background in early childhood development helped scaffold this framework, and has created a meaningful bridge between these two wonderful worlds. It is Jonnie's hope and dream to one day have her whole canine institute alongside her amazing preschool.