Montessori Children's Community now accepting applications for the 2022-2023 School Y
Staff
Children's House Teachers
Terri
Terri is a Co-Head in the All Day Children's House. Terri holds Pennsylvania Private Academic School certification in Early Childhood Education (ages 3-6) and in Elementary Education (grades 1-6) as well as well as School Management Certification from the American Montessori Society. Terri received her Early Childhood Montessori teacher training from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and her Elementary Montessori teacher training form The Center for Montessori Teacher Education in New Rochelle, New York. She earned her Master’s in Education from Xavier University. Terri founded Montessori Children’s Community and has served as its School Head since 1991. She has been a Montessori Teacher since 1973.
Becky
Becky is the Co-Head Teacher in the morning session. Becky holds a Master of Education in Early Childhood Education from Carlow College and a B.A. from Carnegie Mellon University, with a double major in Psychology and Literary/Cultural Studies. She has Montessori teacher certification at the 3-6 level from the Montessori Western Teacher Training Program. Becky has experience working as the Education Director and Head Teacher at the Western Pennsylvania Montessori School in Allison Park.
Sandy
Sandy is a Co-Head Teacher in the Children’s House Morning and Extended Day Program. Sandy holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from La Roche University, Pennsylvania state teacher certification for Early Childhood and Kindergarten, Pennsylvania Department of Education Directors Certification, and her Montessori Early Childhood Certification from the American Montessori Society. Prior to joining Montessori Children’s Community, Sandy was the owner and administrator of the Garden Montessori School in Cranberry Township.
Heather
Heather is an Assistant Teacher in the morning classroom. Heather holds a Masters in Education: Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts: Sociology and Anthropology from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. She has been a Communication Skills Instructor at Robert Morris College, the Assistant Coordinator of International Field Programs for the Institute for Shipboard Education in Pittsburgh and a Basic Writing Instructor at the University of Minnesota. Heather previously taught at the Sunshine Montessori School in Minneapolis, MN.
Brooke
Brooke is an Assistant Teacher in the Children’s House Morning Session and Extended Day Program. Brooke has taught 4th grade English, Math, Science, and Creative Arts for four years at the Muscat International School in the Sultanate of Oman. She taught pre-kindergarten at the International Pacific School in Dong Nai, Vietnam, and English as a Second Language at the Shane English School in Wuxi, China. She is a graduate of Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, and is currently working on a Masters in Early Childhood Degree at Carlow University.
Carmen
Carmen is the Assistant Teacher in the All Day Program. She has a Masters Degree in Music from Duquesne University and has been the Spanish and Musikgarten teacher for Children’s House for five year, as well as the Spanish teacher for grades 1-8 for the same time period.
Elementary
Kristie
Kristie is the Head Teacher in the Lower Elementary classroom. Kristie holds a Pennsylvania state teacher’s certification (Kindergarten through 6th Grade) and Montessori certification from Montessori Education Teacher Training Consortium (METTC) in Boston, MA. Kristie is a graduate of St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and a minor in psychology. She has worked in Human Relations for Mylan, Inc., served as the Assistant Director and Pre-Kindergarten Teacher at the Children’s Center, and worked as a substitute teacher in both the Quaker Valley and North Allegheny School Districts.
Cathy
Cathy is Head Teacher in the Upper Elementary classroom. Cathy holds AMS Elementary I-II certification from Center for Montessori Education, NY, Montessori Orientation Programme to Adolescent Studies from AMI/NAMTA, and PA Private School Teacher Elementary Education K-8 certification. She holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Pennsylvania. Cathy returns to MCC after two years in adolescent programs in VA and FL. She is currently working toward the AMS Certificate of Teacher Education Instruction.
Kathryn
Kathryn is an Assistant Teacher in the Lower and Upper Elementary classrooms. Kathryn obtained her Lower Elementary certification from Center for Montessori Teacher Education, New Rochelle and holds a Pennsylvania Early Childhood (PreK-3) certification. She earned a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and has her Masters of Arts in Teaching in Early Childhood Education from Duquesne University. She has been teaching in Montessori classrooms since 2012 in Pittsburgh Public Schools and at Carlow's Campus School. She recently taught at Winchester Thurston School before coming to MCC.
Middle School
Tess
Tess is a Co-Head Teacher in the Middle School. Tess received her Montessori Adolescent training at the Montessori Adolescent Teacher Training Course at Hershey Montessori Farm School. Tess is a 1990 graduate of Allegheny College with a Bachelor of Arts in History. She also holds a Master of Arts from the University of Delaware in American History and Museum Studies (1992). She has been an adjunct faculty member at Seton Hill University and at the University of Pittsburgh where she taught Children’s and Adolescent’s Literature Courses. She served in Literacy AmeriCorps and was a staff member of Beginning with Books for 11 years, and prior to joining us, she was the Children’s Manager at the Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley. Tess completed the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project’s Summer Institute for Teachers in 2016.
Kerri
Kerri is a Co-Head Teacher in the Middle School. She is certified in Montessori 12-18 Orientation by the Association Montessori Internationale, holds a Level II Pennsylvania Instructional Teaching Certification in 7-12 Mathematics, and has previously taught secondary mathematics at South Side High School in Beaver County, Pennsylvania from 2012-2021. Kerri earned her Bachelor of Secondary Education in Mathematics with a Minor in Educational Psychology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a Master of Education in Mathematics Education from University of Pittsburgh. Kerri designed and implemented action research to study motivation and application of growth mindset in the classroom during her course of studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
Specials
Chris
Chris is a physician, having practiced medicine as a member of the South Hills Radiology Associates at St. Clair Hospital for 30 years. He is the father of four sons. Chris is a graduate of Case Western Reserve Medical School in Cleveland, Ohio. He teaches Middle School science and current events.
Heidi
Heidi is the Art Teacher. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Central Oklahoma with a minor in Fine Arts. She has taught art classes locally at the Sweetwater Center for the Arts, is a member of the West Hills Art League and the Art Guild at Sweetwater. She is a practicing artist and enters her work in regional art shows. Heidi is proficient in Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator, Digital Photography, Painting, Sculpture, Collage, Encaustic, and Drawing.
Carmen
Carmen is the Spanish Teacher. Carmen is a native Spanish speaker from Caracas, Venezuela. She has taught Spanish courses at St. Bernadette Catholic School in Monroeville as well as served as an Instructor for the Spanish Summer Camp and Saturday Spanish School Program at Winchester Thurston. Ms. Blanco is also accomplished in the field of music performance – having studied and played the cello in the Pittsburgh area (Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and Duquesne University Symphony Orchestra). She also trained as a Suzuki Cello Teacher at the School for Strings in New York. With her musical background as well as “Musikgarten” certification, she teaches the music program in the Children’s House.
Lindsay
Lindsay is the music teacher for the elementary and middle school students. She is a graduate of Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. She also holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Penn State University. In addition to teaching for both MCC and the Center for Young Musicians, Lindsay also performs with various choirs and opera companies around Pittsburgh.
Coach Annette
Annette is the Physical Education Teacher for the Lower and Upper Elementary Classes. Annette holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Educational and Professional Studies from the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom and a Masters of Education from The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom. She was the Science and Foreign Language Teacher Year 1-12, Normanton School, Buxton, United Kingdom for 6 years and a French Teacher, at Le Club Francais, Buxton, United Kingdom for 2 years. Annette speaks Danish, English, French, and German. She is currently the Quaker Valley Tennis Junior Varsity Head Coach for both the Boys and the Girls Teams.
Office Staff
Melissa
Melissa worked for 17 years as the Special Events Manager in the Marketing Department at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. She previously worked for 11 years as the Executive Assistant / Customer Service Supervisor / Production Manager at J&L Specialty Steel Corporation. Prior to joining our staff, she worked as the Director of Project Management at Fireman Creative. She has been with MCC seven years.