A Community of Program Speaker

Tina Booth is currently a humanities and ethics teacher and associate pedagogical director at the Montessori High School at University Circle (Cleveland, OH). She holds the AMI Elementary Diploma from Bergamo, Italy, a BA in archaeological studies from Boston University, and an MA in anthropology from Northern Arizona University.

Alyssa Conklin-Moore is an Assistants to Infancy teacher at Hershey Montessori School in Concord Township, Ohio. She received her BA in anthropology and psychology from Oberlin College, her master’s in education from Cleveland State University, her AMI Primary Diploma from the Ohio Montessori Training Institute, and her AMI Assistants to Infancy Diploma from The Montessori Institute in Denver, Colorado.

Gena Engelfried has more than thirty years of experience as a Montessori teacher and administrator, and serves as Head of School at The Grove School, a 7th-12th grade program in Redlands, CA. which she helped to found in 1999. She holds the AMI Primary (3-6) Diploma, a BA in English and history, and an MA in educational administration.

Laurie Ewert-Krocker is pedogogical advisor at Hershey Montessori School’s Adolescent Community in Huntsburg, Ohio. She holds AMI diplomas at both the primary and elementary levels, a BA in English from John Carroll University (OH), and an MA in English from the University of Washington. Ms. Ewert-Krocker was the founding head teacher of the Hershey Montessori School’s Adolescent Community, a Montessori farm school model.

Jenny Höglund is an AMI Elementary (6-12) Trainer. She holds AMI Primary (3-6) and Elementary Diplomas. Jenny co-founded the Montessoriskolan Lära för livet in Sweden in 1995 and has taught elementary and adolescent students for over tweny-three years as well as serving as head of school since 2006. She has also lectured at the Bergamo Centre in Italy since 2006.

David Kahn has been Executive Director of the North American Montessori Teachers’ Association for more than thirty years. Mr. Kahn was Founding Director of the Hershey Montessori School Adolescent Community in Huntsburg, OH. He now serves as Founding Director of Montessori High School at University Circle (Cleveland, OH). Mr. Kahn holds a BA in fine arts and classics from the University of Notre Dame (IN) as well as the AMI Elementary Diploma from Bergamo, Italy.

Tony Losasso teaches humanities and occupations at Hershey Montessori School’s Adolescent Community in Huntsburg, Ohio. He holds a BA in Zoology from Kent State University and an AMI Montessori Elementary Diploma from the Washington (DC) Montessori Institute.

Pat Ludick began the adolescent program at Hudson Montessori School where she served as program director for eight years. She taught humanities in the middle school program of Ruffing Montessori School East (Cleveland Heights, OH) for eleven years and served as middle school coordinator at Ruffing. She also spent two years as project director of the land school model at Montessori School of Raleigh (NC).s

John McNamara is a teaching principal at Ruffing Montessori School West (Rocky River, OH). He holds the AMI Elementary Diploma from Bergamo, Italy and has a BA from the University of Windsor, Ontario and an MA in educational administration from the University of Toronto, Ontario. John is in his fortieth year of teaching, thirty-three of which have been at the adolescent level.

Jacqueline Miller teaches adolescents at Arbor Montessori School where she has worked for fourteen years. Jacqueline holds the AMI Elementary Diploma from the Washington (DC) Montessori Institute and a BA in architectural design from the University of Pennsylvania.  

Michael Waski is a math teacher at Montessori High School at University Circle in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds the AMI Elementary Diploma from Bergamo, Italy, a BS from Kent State University (OH), and an MA in educational administration from California State University, San Bernardino. Michael has been teaching for  fifteen years, eleven of which have been at the adolescent level.

Under the direction of Laurie Ewert-Krocker, the summer staff of Hershey Montessori School’s Adolescent Community will assist participants during the first and second weeks. Staff includes a biologist, a naturalist, a wood shop director, a farmer, a bioshelter manager, a cook, a fine arts specialist, humanities leaders, and AMI-trained Montessorians. Additional speakers may be added according to program needs.