Alumni

Montessori education: A priceless gift

Over the past four decades, Mountaineer Montessori School has served an estimated 1,000 students who’ve gone on to pursue lives filled with learning, achievement and service. Former students consistently tell us their time at MMS provided not only excellent preparation for future academic work, but gave them the priceless gift of a lifetime love of learning. Perhaps the greatest compliment our alumni can pay is by returning to MMS to enroll their own children. We are proud to say that at least 10 current students are second-generation Montessori!

To learn more about life after Mountaineer Montessori Montessori, please read the stories below:

Meet some of the 1,000 Mountaineer Montessori School alumni:

(Please send your alumni news and photos to marketing@mountaineermontessori.org)

Travis Crouse, director of IT for WVU Physicians of Charleston, is an MMS alumnus, son and father. He says his Montessori education gave him the confidence to ask questions and be a leader.
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Clifton Clark, JD/MBA, says MMS taught him to be a problem solver and leader. A senior executive with a national bank and leader of Generation Charleston, Clifton says MMS was the only choice for daughter Eliza and future student Jay.
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Sarah Feinberg is administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, and previously was chief of staff to the Secretary of Transportation. A graduate of Washington & Lee, she also held senior positions at the White House, Facebook and Bloomberg LLP.
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Hana Glasser was valedictorian of her class at George Washington High School and president of student government at Wellesley College.
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Katie Kelsh is a third-year law student at Stanford. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from USC and was a Fulbright Scholarship recipient, which supported her studies in Austria, where she taught at a Montessori school.
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Paula Kaufman, a graduate of Brown University, calls her MMS education “a priceless gift.” After returning to MMS to help as a primary assistant one spring, Paula is now teaching in Japan.
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Calling her time at MMS “magical,” Lee Roush couldn’t wait to enroll her daughter Madison at our school. Lee is a graduate of Marshall University and active MMS volunteer.
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Alexandra Persily was the valedictorian of the Charleston Catholic High School Class of 2015. She attends Wake Forest University.
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Emily Beal, PhD, is an environmental consultant for Henthorn Services. Her son, Ethan, is an MMS student. She says her Montessori education prepared her to embrace challenge and the unknown. Click the photo to read Emily’s story.
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Zahavra Urecki, pictured as an intern for U.S. Senator Joe Manchin III, is the first West Virginian in history to be named a Truman Scholar. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Roanoke College.
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Mira Stanley, a graduate of the University of Michigan, performs with Chuck E. Costa as the award-winning indie pop due “The Sea The Sea.” A single from their new CD “Love We are Love We Love,” was recently recognized as a million play on Spotify.
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WVU Homecoming King Omar Wazir was a former MMS student.
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Upon her graduation with a BFA from the Pratt Institute, Caroline Kaufman was recognized for her innovation in textile and fiber arts with the highly prestigious Windgate Fellowship. She recently launched a knitwear collaboration with Anthropologie.
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Trish Weisberg received a full leadership scholarship to Southern Methodist University, where she is president of Delta Delta Delta.
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