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| Faculty |
| ___________________________________________________________________ |
| Reghan McAuley |
Robyn Milos |
Nidhi Bhojak |
| Directress |
Directress |
Guide |
| Children's House |
Children's House |
Elementary |
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| Christina Snoke |
Edye Kendrick |
Melissa LeBeau |
| Assistant |
Assistant |
Assistant |
| Children's House |
Children's House |
Elementary |
| Staff |
| ___________________________________________________________________ |
| Lisa Trout |
Megan Moffitt |
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| Head of School |
Business Manager |
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| Children's House |
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Reghan McAuley, Directress
A.S. Northern Oklahoma College
A.M.I. Primary Diploma
Montessori Training Center of St. Louis
I first discovered Montessori as an educational method I wanted for my own children. As I observed and learned more through my children’s experiences, I became more passionate about the importance and the impact of Montessori for the future of our children and the world as a whole. My desire to become an active participant in creating a gift for the children led me to my current role of being a Primary Directress.
I am a proud holder of an A.M.I. Primary Diploma from the Saint Louis Montessori Training Center under the training of Dr. Annette Haines. My first position at Villa di Maria was as an Assistant in the Primary environment, which began in 2007. After completing my training, I was given the opportunity to be a Primary Directress here at Villa di Maria in 2010. It is a pleasure and an honor to work at such a magnificent and beautiful school with a community that knows how to truly facilitate the Montessori principles.
The gift of Montessori is amazing and immeasurable. As the children construct their personalities in these precious years, they must be free to do so. The Montessori environment acknowledges this importance and aids the children by giving them the tools for success in life. |
Christina Snoke, Assistant
B.S. Mental Health & Human Services
Franciscan University of Steubenville
A.M.I. Primary Training
My first encounter with Montessori was during my undergraduate training in early childhood education. A brief overview of the philosophy whetted my appetite. I spoke to the director of the education program, and she was hesitant to share information with me and said it wasn’t her style. I thought, “it must not be important or a popular approach to education.” The seed was planted and lay dormant for nearly seven years.
I received an undergraduate degree in Mental Health (2008) and worked a variety of jobs after graduating. One was a substitute assistance teacher in a special education preschool. This was a wonderful experience that brought me back to the idea of teaching. However, I wasn’t satisfied with the mainstream education system. There was a lack of individuality; the education was forceful and very unappealing to me. It brought back all of the horrible feelings I had towards school when I was young.
After my temporary experience, I began to search the internet (thank you Google, a service developed by those educated in Montessori) for what I was to do with my life. Montessori came up in my search, and I was attracted to everything I read about it. I signed up for the AMI training in St. Louis for the summer of 2010. Within the first weeks of training, an assistant position at Villa opened, and I knew that I was in the right place.
I thoroughly enjoy working at Villa and am very grateful for the doors that have been opened to me to experience Montessori first hand everyday with our children. |
Robyn Milos, Directress
A.A. in Art - Southwestern Illinois College
A.M.I. Primary Diploma
Montessori Training Center of St. Louis
I am an AMI certified Primary Directress who is in my twelfth year in the classroom, and ninth year at Villa di Maria. I had my ‘coming home’ of sorts in 2003 when I came back to Villa di Maria as a Children’s House Directress. I attended VdM as a child in Pearl Vanderwall’s class and consider those memories some of my “golden treasures of childhood.”
It was my great fortune to come to VdM from another AMI school and bring my two older sons to be a part of our wonderful Elementary program. Since then, I have been blessed to have two more sons; one is in his first year of our Elementary and the other is an infant.
I feel a strong community sense at VdM as I have enjoyed full cycles with many children and their siblings. I enjoy the busy hum of the Children’s House, allowing them to discover reading, writing and the operations of math, exploring cultures of the world, singing with the children, helping them to care for the plants and pets, and celebrating holidays, birthdays, and changes of season. My class is truly a Children’s House in the most literal sense of that description. |
Edye Kendrick, Assistant
B.S. in Psychology
Stephen F. Austin State University
A.M.I. Primary Training
I discovered Montessori during a quest for a new career path for myself and for a better educational opportunity for my boys. My first career of twenty plus years was spent as a competitive gymnastics coach and clinician. While I thoroughly enjoyed working with the children and watching them grow and develop as they tackled new challenges and gained self confidence I was ready to find a new arena in which to work with children. At the same time, I was struggling with the options I had for educating my nearly school aged children. For nearly two years, I scoured the internet, researched and asked anyone who would listen, searching for options and ideas. I figured there had to be something out there that fit my background in psychology, love of children and the philosophy that I had coached with – that children are capable of so much more than they are often given the opportunity to do.
Enter in a part-time job at the Container Store working with Kim Lakin, a wonderful Montessorian that many of you may know and adore. One April morning, I was restocking a shelf of small acrylic boxes with Kim and she made a comment about how she had used these little boxes so often in the classroom. The next four words out of my mouth changed my life; I asked her, “What do you teach”? She told me about Montessori and her experiences, and I knew it was the answer I had been searching for. I was very excited to find there was an AMI training center right here in St. Louis and that a new class was forming that summer. I signed up for the training before I had ever stepped foot in a Montessori classroom.
Montessori education is one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself and my family. I get goose bumps every time I stop and think about the wonderful gift I am giving to my boys and how fortunate I am to have found a calling that I will love for the rest of my life. |
| Elementary |
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Nidhi Bhojak, Guide
B.S. in Botany - Rajasthan University, India
A.M.I. Elementary Diploma,
Montessori Institute of Milwaukee
I joined Villa di Maria in 2007 as the Elementary Directress for both Lower and Upper Elementary, after graduating with an Elementary Diploma from the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee, which is accredited by the Association Montessori Internationale. I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Botany with Honors from the Rajasthan University in India. Before starting training in Milwaukee in 2006, I worked with young children as a volunteer in India while receiving training to work with children from primary through elementary. During the training in India, I learned about the teaching methods of Dr. Maria Montessori through a family friend and came to the U.S. to pursue further education as no such program was available in India at the time. Through training at the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee along with observations and practice teaching in supervised AMI classes, I discovered the importance of the work in the Montessori classroom, which helps children to develop their own potential.
I take great pride in being a part of the VDM community. I enjoy seeing children become responsible, develop independence and participate socially while working with different materials, and sharing their thoughts and ideas with friends. They have the freedom to shape their own work. To develop this sense in the children, Villa di Maria provides the prepared environment necessary to encourage interest and to help practice self-directed learning. As Quintilian said, “Children have the natural capacity to continue their own development if they have reasonably good teachers and a healthy home environment.”
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Melissa LeBeau, Assistant
I have been working with the VDM Elementary class since 2002, and since 2003, I have been running the school's revered summer camp program, Camp Pegnita, which has a long history in the Kirkwood community. I enjoy helping the students find new ways to expand their school work by coordinating and facilitating going-out trips into the community to research a topic of their choice. Among my treasured experiences with the children are assisting with the development and execution of science fair projects, hot lunch on Fridays in which they plan the menu, shop, prepare and serve a meal and giving the children opportunities to show their creativity with a variety of art projects. What the children are capable of is just amazing, and it is such a joy and privilege to be there for them as they learn and grow.
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| Staff |
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Lisa Trout, Head of School
Master’s in Education - Loyola University
A.M.I. Primary Diploma
Montessori Training Center of St. Louis
I had the joy of discovering Montessori in 1995 when I moved back to St.Louis from Dallas, TX. I had just gotten engaged and was looking for a new career in education when I stumbled upon writings from Maria Montessori. I was hooked! Her “follow the child” approach appealed to me as well as the idea that even very young children are capable of SO much. To my surprise there was a training center in St. Louis with a new program starting the following week. I quickly signed up and embarked on a new journey of learning and discovery.
After a year of intense training, I went on to get my master’s in Education from Loyola University, and began teaching at the Montessori School in Belleville, IL. I also applied the Montessori principles to my parenting style and enrolled my children at Villa di Maria over ten years ago. I loved my years as a VdM parent, and I am thrilled to be back in this community as the interim Head of School.
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Megan Moffitt, Business Manager
B.A. Psychology - Rockhurst University
Graduate Student - Fontbonne University
As an alum of Villa di Maria, I am excited to be part of the the VDM community again as an administrative staff member. I received a Montessori education for both my primary and elementary years, and treasured my learning experiences here at VDM.
A few years after graduating VDM, I could hardly stand being away from this amazing place any longer, so I came back and signed on as a counselor at Camp Pegnita in 1999. I still work at Pegnita as a program director, and continue to enjoy spending my summers working with children and planning/running the camp’s programs and special events.
Most of my education and work history is within the mental health field. For many years, I worked as an administrative assistant in a private outpatient mental health clinic in Kansas City, MO, and for one year I worked as a social work intern at an adolescent mental health treatment facility in Pennsylvania. After moving back to St. Louis a few years ago, I decided to pursue my real passion of teaching, and have begun working towards my teaching certification and master’s degree in Elementary Education.
I strongly believe in the value and teachings of a Montessori education, and attribute much of my own academic and personal achievements to my VDM experiences. This school has enriched my life in so many ways, and I am extremely pleased to be part of this organization.
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