Patricia Colby, PhD
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Position: Head of School
Joined: 2016
Prior to joining the faculty at Mountaintop, Patricia served as Head of School at Montessori Center School of Santa Barbara, CA. She taught in Montessori elementary classrooms in Livermore, CA and served as an Adjunct Faculty member in Elementary Montessori Education at St. Mary's College of California. She earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of Calififornia, Davis.
Janice Chapman
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Position: Director of Lower School, Assistant Head of School
Joined: 1993
Janice has worked in many of our programs serving a wide range of ages during her long tenure at Mountaintop and has developed a broad base of expertise as a classroom guide and an administrator. She served as a Children's House guide from 1998 to 2010 when she moved to the elementary level. Janice has also served as the director of our summer programs for several years.
Corey Borgman
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Position: Director of Upper School; Middle School Guide
Joined: 2004
Corey taught in DC and New York independent and Montessori schools prior to coming to Mountaintop. She completed the Permaculture Design Course with the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network in 2007. Corey provides middle school instruction in specific subjects, serves as the students' advisor, and oversees the work of the many faculty members who teach at the middle school level.
Becky Harris
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Position: Director of Business Operations
Joined: 2000
Becky was a Mountaintop parent and seasonal employee in our summer program prior to joining our administration full time. She came to Mountaintop with experience in banking and small business ownership.
Austin Robey
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Position: Director of Advancement
Joined: 2013
Austin is an experienced administrator who came to Mountaintop with five years of experience in university student activities and civic engagement. He is also a musician who has provided accompaniment for student performances at Mountaintop.
Thérèse Benzinger
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Position: Registrar
Joined: 1996
Therese was a Mountaintop parent for four years prior to bringing her front office experience to Mountaintop full time in 2000. She received a degree in Business Administration from Averett Univeristy.
Christy Perkins
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Position: Office Manager & Business Office Assistant
Joined: 2003
Prior to working in the business office, Christy worked in our after-school program and toddler community. She completed a degree in Business Administration from Averett University.
Laura Allen
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Position: Advancement Assistant
Joined: 2016
Laura joins the Advancement Office staff after teaching Communications at Towson University.
Katie Holtzman
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Position: Front Office Coordinator
Joined: 2017
Before her time at Mountaintop, Katie provided customer service in Financial Services offices. Katie joins our community after recently transplanting from Alabama.
Mike Scott
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Position: Facilities Coordinator
Joined: 2017
Mike joins the Mountaintop staff, having previously served on the school's Building and Grounds committee. He has previously worked as a superintendent and project engineer in the construction industry, overseeing commercial construction sites.
Susan Kennedy
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Position: Toddler 1 Guide; Toddler Coordinator
Joined: 1996
Susan has worked with infants, toddlers, and their parents since 1993. Her association with Mountaintop includes many years as a parent and service on our board of trustees prior to joining the faculty in 2009. Susan also helps local families solve parenting challenges in her work as a parent coach certified through the Parent Coaching Institute.
Kristen Mays
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Position: Toddler 1 Assistant
Joined: 2013
Kristen has several years of experience with young children in preschool and recreational settings.
Monica Ruiz
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Position: Toddler 1 Assistant
Joined: 2017
Monica joins the Toddler 1 classroom having served as a Toddler assistant in a Montessori school in Miami, Fl. She has also worked in classrooms serving older children in a Miami Catholic school.
Alissa McKown
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Position: Toddler 2 Guide
Joined: 2006
Alissa attended a Montessori Children's House as a child. She came to Mountaintop with experience in childcare and experiential environmental education. In addition to her work in her Toddler classroom, Alissa teaches Mountaintop's Parent Infant Class on Friday mornings.
Donna Gasapo
Position: Toddler 2 Assistant
Joined: 2015
Donna taught in Montessori toddler and Children's House classrooms locally before joining the Mountaintop staff.
Kallie Scheible
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Position: Toddler 2 Assistant
Joined: 2015
A proud Mountaintop graduate, Kallie has worked in childcare for years, both privately and as a frequent substitute in our Montessori classrooms.
Polly Beckington
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Position: Intro to Children's House Cardinal Guide
Joined: 2010
Polly's work as a nanny and her experience training and teaching at a Montessori school in Florida inspired her to pursue training for the 3-6 year old level at the Washington Montessori Institute.
Dashe Morton
Position: Intro to CH (Cardinal) Class Assistant
Joined: 2015
Before working at Mountaintop, Dashe worked at ARC of the Piedmont as a Direct Support Professional for disabled adults. She also served as a private nanny for a number of years.
Stephanie Gist
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Position: CH1 Turtle Class Guide
Joined: 2009
Stephanie completed the classroom portion of her Montessori training in the summer of 2014. She has also worked as an assistant in our toddler program and as an afterschool enrichment instructor at Mountaintop. Prior to joining our staff, Stephanie cared for infants and preschoolers and shared her dance experience through the teaching of movement.
Maria Cantor
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Position: CH1 Turtle Class Assistant
Joined: 2016
Maria began her Montessori journey as a parent. Interested in what she saw, she worked as a classroom substitute on our campus. Previously, she has worked for University Credit Union and in the technology sector.
Sue Alston
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Position: CH2 Dolphin Class Guide
Joined: 2001
Sue came to Mountaintop with three years of experience in other Montessori schools. In addition to being a Children's House guide, Sue has also worked at the toddler level.
Shawn Carey
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Position: CH2 Dolphin Class Guide; After-School Coordinator; CH After-School Guide
Joined: 2001
Shawn came to Mountaintop with several years of experience in preschool special education in the city of Charlottesville. She began here as a member of our afterschool program staff and went on to pursue Montessori training. Shawn has been a leader on our faculty especially in the area of afterschool programming where she has help us achieve a high level of consistency with the Montessori classrooms.
Micaela Raine
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Position: CH3 Hummingbird Class Guide
Joined: 1995
Micaela began her Mountaintop career in our afterschool program in 1995 and went on to obtain Montessori training. She then served as a Children's House Guide at MCS until 2001, when the first of her two children was born. Micaela worked in our summer program in 2005 and returned here full time in 2006. She also teaches health and wellness to our middle school students.
Mary Reitsma
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Position: CH 3 Hummingbird Class Assistant; Substitute Coordinator
Joined: 2002
For several years, Mary has often been found lending her experience as a classroom substitute with students of all ages at Mountaintop. She also works behind the scenes coordinating substitutes for school days and organizing care for our students during evening and weekend events for parents.
Debby Norton
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Position: Lower El 1 Guide
Joined: 2007
Debby has been working in Montessori schools since 1990. In 1995 she returned to WMI to assist with Montessori teacher training and album reading. In addition to her many years of experience in Montessori toddler and Children’s House classrooms, Debby provided Montessori-inspired childcare in her home for six years. Debby completed level 1 of the Orff-Schulwerk training at VCU in 2010 and completed level 2 in 2011. She is also certified as a Hoopnotica instructor. Debby joined the elementary faculty in 2014.
Brittney Morgan
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Position: LE1 Assistant
Joined: 2016
Brittney brings to the classroom her experience as a Montessori child! Before working at Mountaintop, Brittney taught English at an elementary school in Thailand. She completed her Outdoor Leadership Certificate in Patagonia, Chile, then led an afterschool program in Asheville, NC. She is currently completing her Montessori elementary certification.
George Logan
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Position: Lower El 2 Guide
Joined: 2006
Prior to joining the Montessori movement, George directed and taught educational programs at a state museum of archaeology and history in southern Maryland.
Alicia Trice
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Position: Lower El 2 Assistant
Joined: 2016
Alicia worked as a Special Education Instructional Assistant in Charlottesville City Schools before joining the staff at Mountaintop. She has been active with the local Upward Bound and Computers4Kids programs.
Becca McNair
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Position: Upper El Guide
Joined: 2014
Prior to obtaining her Montessori training, Becca served with AmeriCorps in Colorado, led outdoor adventure tours for international groups and taught English in South Korea. She recently served as a long-term substitute in the upper elementary classroom at Butler Montessori School in Maryland.
Nica Waters
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Position: Upper El Assistant Guide
Joined: 2014
Nica's background as an educator is long and varied, working with children from elementary through high school, in subjects ranging from the humanities to health. She is a self-taught cook and believes strongly that fitness begins in the kitchen! Nica also has her own Youtube series about fitness and healthy eating.
Trisha Willingham
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Position: Elementary Resource Guide
Joined: 2001
Trisha served as an elementary Montessori guide in Vancouver for seven years and has several years of experience as a Montessori school administrator. In addition to her Montessori classroom experience, Trisha holds a certification in Orton-Gillingham Language instruction. She was our Director of Education in the 2001-2002 school year and served on our board of trustees for two years.
Corey Borgman
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Position: Director of Upper School; Middle School Guide
Joined: 2004
Corey taught in DC and New York independent and Montessori schools prior to coming to Mountaintop. She completed the Permaculture Design Course with the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network in 2007. Corey provides middle school instruction in specific subjects, serves as the students' advisor, and oversees the work of the many faculty members who teach at the middle school level.
Britt Gendell
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Position: Middle School Guide
Joined: 2010
Britt first joined us as a seasonal employee in our SEED summer program with two previous years of experience teaching and coaching in area high schools. She became a full-time member of our middle school faculty in 2012.
Jeannine Ellis
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Position: Technology
Joined: 2015
Jeannine is an experienced web and software developer, and has worked for years in both the Military and the Private Sector. She holds a BS in Neuroscience form George Mason and worked in the Air Force and Army in Signals Intelligence and Communications.
Tara Morrison
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Position: Garden to Table
Joined: 2015
Tara comes to Mountaintop with 16 years of experience as a caterer in Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and New York. She has worked with schools to install and maintain school gardens, and been an active advocate in the local food movement across the South Eastern United States. Tara guides the Garden to Table program for lower elementary, upper elementary and middle school.
Pat McCafferty
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Position: Ecology
Joined: 2011
In 2011, Pat began working as a lead counselor in our ecology and garden-to-table summer program, SEED, where his experience with environmental education in a variety of settings was a boon to the growing program. As an Echols Scholar at UVa, Pat designed his own major to focus on the ways that environmental stewardship work fosters human growth and development.
Heather Donaldson Cormons
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Position: Elementary Science and Innovation
Joined: 2000
Heather attended a Montessori school as a child. She worked at Mountaintop from 2000 until she moved from the Charlottesville area in 2003. She returned to guide our elementary summer program in 2005. Heather has also pursued specialized training in reading instruction and worked as a resource teacher and consultant. She returned to Charlottesville in 2006 and rejoined our faculty in 2007.
Ali Sullivan
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Position: Children's House Spanish
Joined: 2013
Ali came to Mountaintop as a parent in 2009 and has taught Spanish in our after-school enrichment program since 2010. She joined our staff officially in 2013, and also teaches at the International School of Charlottesville and privately.
Stasia Greenewalt
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Position: Permaculture
Before joining us as a part-time faculty member in 2011, Stasia shared her extensive gardening experience with the Mountaintop community as a parent volunteer and provided leadership to major efforts such as the building of our greenhouse and the large garden adjacent to it. Her experience includes biology research lab management at Cornell University and gardening at Monticello Gardens and the Center for Historic Plants. Stasia completed the Permaculture Design Course with the Blue Ridge Permaculture Network in 2011.
Emily Hunt
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Position: Art; Elementary After-School Guide
Joined: 1995
Emily is formally trained in painting and sculpture including an intensive summer studio art program at Virginia Commonwealth University and studying under the renowned portrait artist, Nickodemus Hufford. Emily has worked with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to maintain an educational partnership between our school and the museum. She is also a long-time public servant who has served in local government in Nelson County and on a task force of Central Virginia art supporters studying resources for art education in the state.
Alma Scheible
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Position: Children's House PE; Elementary After-School Guide
Joined: 1986
Alma worked at a Montessori school in Texas prior to joining the Mountaintop faculty. She assisted long-time Lower Elementary 1 guide, Estra Roell, in the classroom for many years including the years when our Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary was established. Alma has guided art, PE, ecology and garden-to-table sessions for students of all ages.
Laura Leva
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Position: Music, Dance & Drama Guide
Joined: 2005
Laura began working at Mountaintop as an assistant and attended Montessori training at Northeast Montessori Institute in the summer of 2006. Laura began assisting with performing arts instruction at Mountaintop in 2010. She also coordinates our after-school enrichment program during the school year.
Cydney Young
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Position: CH aftercare
Joined: 2015
Cydney joins the Mountaintop staff with years of experience at local private childcare facilities. She is currently completing her Certification in Early Childhood Development at Piedmont Virginia Community College.
Pete Sacco
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Position: Art Assistant, Elementary Aftercare
Joined: 2011
Pete serves as the art assistant and as one of our elementary afterschool guides. He worked at Mountaintop 2011-2013, then returned after completing his degree.
Jackie Xiang
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Position: CH1 Turtle Class Assistant
Joined: 2010
Jackie worked as a mechanical engineer in China and California for several years before entering Montessori training in 2010. After a few years away from our community, Jackie is returning to work with our toddlers during aftercare!