Out - of - School Time Champion: Chawndee Dass

Best of Colorado Champion - Exceptional Supervisor - Mad Science 

Chawndee Dass

"Our Operations Manager is truly the backbone of our afterschool and enrichment programs. She handles everything from instructor scheduling and material logistics to parent communications and program delivery, and she does it all with consistency, warmth, and professionalism.

When our organization went through an ownership transition about a year and a half ago, she chose to stay on. That decision made all the difference. Chawndee welcomed a brand new CEO and made sure operations never skipped a beat during what could have been a really chaotic time. That kind of loyalty and dedication says everything about who she is and how much she cares about this work.

Chawndee keeps the team grounded by supervising support staff and coordinating instructors across all programs. She handles every parent and organization request with patience and professionalism, and she treats attendance tracking as a daily priority, making sure we always know exactly where every child is at any given moment. That attention to detail is not just good operations, it is peace of mind for every family we serve.

Managing multiple enrichment programs at the same time is no small feat. Chawndee juggles instructor schedules, kit and material rotation, equipment oversight, birthday party bookings, and school program logistics, all at once, all the time.

When the new owner arrived about a year and a half ago, Chawndee also took on the unofficial but critical role of helping orient them to every process and system. She kept all programs running smoothly while simultaneously supporting the ownership transition, handling every parent and organization request without missing a step, and maintaining her daily focus on attendance to ensure every child was accounted for. Families and staff felt no disruption, and that was entirely because of her.

Not long ago, one of our instructors had an unexpected emergency and could not make it to an after-school program that was scheduled to start in just a few hours. For most operations, that kind of last-minute situation turns into a real problem fast. Not here.

Chawndee immediately got on the phone, reached out to every available instructor, coordinated coverage, and made sure the program ran on time without families or kids ever knowing there had been an issue. No panic, no dropped ball. Just quiet, effective problem-solving under pressure.

That moment really captured what she brings to our organization every single day. Chawndee knows our instructors, she knows our schedules, and she has built the kind of relationships with the team that make it possible to call in a favor on short notice and actually get a yes. That does not happen by accident. It happens because of the trust she has built over time with everyone around her."

-Clemence Viot