Amy, who grew up on a horse farm in Missouri, graduated in 1997 from GrinnellCollege with a B.A. in History. During college she was President of the Jewish Student Organization - Chalutzim, student taught in a rural school's 4th grade classroom, was a Girl Scout leader, and became involved with college and community politics. After travels and teaching in Brisbane, Australia; Jamestown, Virginia; Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; and Tijeras, New Mexico she moved to Minnesota for law school at Hamline University and became a member of the Minnesota Bar in 2002. Throughout law school, Amy taught extensively in the Jewish community, including Mount Zion's 4th, 5th, 8th and 9th grades and preschool class. Spending the summer of 2000 in Israel, Amy studied the relationship between religious minorities and state law. In 2005, Amy became Mount Zion's full-time Teen and Young Adult Activities Director. Under her leadership, Mount Zion piloted the URJ's Sacred Choices program and now implements it in junior high and high school classes. In Chai School - our 7-12th grade program - Amy leads a Torah Trekkin' Shabbaton (a 3-day camping retreat at a Minnesota State Park) to complement the trimester electives available to the 8th and 9th grade students. A committed and passionate educator, Amy's favorite chocolate is the kind from Israel with pop rocks in it.

As Lower School Director, Dana Prottas will focus on formal and non-formal Judaic education from pre-K through 6th grade. Dana has been a teacher in the Talmud Torah/Mount Zion Hebrew School for years and a teacher and Program Director at Talmud Torah Day School.  She has a Master of Art in Art History from Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and a Master of Education from the University of Minnesota.

Michelle is the Religious School and Administrative Assistant. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in May 2010 earning a B.A. in Communication Studies with minors in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature as well as Studies in Cinema and Media Culture. She will be working with the Board of Directors, doing event set ups and calendaring, and working with the Lower School program. She is excited to have the opportunity to get to know more of the congregation especially the children and families. She enjoys running, traveling, and cooking for her friends and family.

Bob grew up in Worchester, Massachusetts, where he attended Temple Emanuel (Reform). In 1973, he received his undergraduate degree in Religion (with emphasis on Biblical Studies and Judaica) from Boston University. Bob moved from Boston to Minneapolis in 1975 and received his master's degree in Librarianship in 1978. He married his wife, Wendy, that year; they have one child, Hannah, who is now in graduate school. In the late 1970's Bob worked at the libraries of what was then the JCRC-JDL; the Minneapolis JCC; and Talmud Torah of Minneapolis. In October 1986 he was hired as an assistant to Mount Zion's librarian, Janice Leichter, from whom he learned a great deal. When she left to become a law librarian in 1988, Bob became Mount Zion's librarian. He also works as a full-time cataloger and reference librarian at Hennepin County's Ridgedale Library. To contact Bob: library@mzion.org