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OUR STAFF
We are fortunate to have a dedicated and excellently trained group of educators and support staff at Virgin Islands Montessori School and International Academy. All of our teachers from the Toddler Program (La Casa) through Upper Elementary have Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) teaching diplomas. Many of our highly qualified and dedicated Academy teachers have received additional training in the International Baccalaureate curriculum.
L.A. Casa - Toddler Program
Diana Woods - Program Director/Toddler Directress
Ms. Woods holds an AMI Primary Teaching Diploma, and a BS in Geography and Anthropology. Ms. Woods has worked at VIMS since 1996 and has been LA Casa - Toddler Program Director since 2002. She is currently working on her Bachelor’s Degree in Inclusive Early Childhood Education at the University of the Virgin Islands. She was born in India and raised in Hong Kong, Kenya and England.
Shirlin Browne - Toddler Directress
Mrs. Browne joined LA Casa at its inception in 1994. She holds an AMI Primary Teaching Diploma, and is taking classes in Inclusive Early Childhood Education at the University of the Virgin Islands. She is a native of Trinidad, and moved to St. Thomas in 1973.
PRIMARY
Mandy Boyle – Primary Directress
Ms. Boyle has both AMI Primary and Elementary Teaching Diplomas. Ms. Boyle has been a Primary Directress with us since 1993. She was born in Dublin, Ireland. After taking both trainings in Ireland, Ms. Boyle moved to St. Thomas and has made it her home.
Eve Matthews – Primary Directress
Ms. Matthews holds an AMI Primary Teaching Diploma and a BS in Social Science. She also joined VIMSIA in 1993. Prior to coming to St. Thomas, Ms. Matthews taught for five years in Ireland and New York. She was born in Maryland, and raised in Ireland.
Simone Summer – Primary Directress
Ms. Summer holds an AMI Primary Teaching Diploma and a BA in Elementary Education. Prior to joining VIMS in September 2002, she taught for five years in Montessori Schools in the United States and New Zealand. Ms. Summer was born on St. Thomas and is a proud alumni on VIMSIA.
LOWER ELEMENTARY
Ryan Katz – Lower Elementary Director
Mr. Katz holds an AMI Elementary Teaching Diploma, a BA in History from Pennsylvania State University, and a MA in Education from Loyola College. He has traveled to many places throughout the world, including Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Japan, South America and Mexico. Mr. Katz began teaching at VIMSIA in 2006.
Aideen Keating – Lower Elementary Directress
Ms. Keating has both Primary and Elementary AMI Teaching Diplomas. Ms. Keating is our most tenured teacher, though she is reluctant to tell anyone exactly how long she has been a fixture at the school. Many of our existing parents (and one teacher) still think fondly of Ms. Keating as "their" teacher. Through her strong interest in the culture of St. Thomas and the Caribbean, Ms. Keating has been instrumental in bringing these important aspects of our community into our school and classrooms. She was born in Dublin, Ireland.
UPPER ELEMENTARY
Jere and Lynn Newman - Upper Elementary Director & Directress
Jere and Lynn come to us in 2008 from Tokyo, where they taught at a Montessori School. They have a combined 21 years of experience as Montessori teachers and are a welcome addition to our Montessori teaching staff.
The International Academy - Grades 7 and up
Camille A. McKayle, Interim International Baccalaureate Director
Dr. McKayle holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and has taught at the collegiate level for fourteen years. In addition to her classroom activities, Dr. McKayle has been quite active in a variety of outreach activities aimed at increasing interest in science and mathematics for students in grades 3 through 12. These activities include GEMS (Girls Exploring Math Stuff) for 6th grade girls, Math Lab for students in third through seventh grade, Science Awareness Saturday Academies and Summer Science Enrichments Academies. Through these activities, she tries to relay her love and enjoyment of mathematics to elementary, middle and high school students.
Bridget Heersink – English/Humanities/Arts
Ms. Heersink holds a BA in English and an MA in Literature, and has taught high school since 2000. She has MYP certificates in Humanities, English and Visual Arts and DP certification in English A1. At VIMSIA she teaches Humanities, English, Drama and Visual Arts, as well as some specialty classes such as Cooking, Gardening and Community Service. This will also be her third year as head of the VIMSIA Model United Nations team. Ms. Heersink loves being a part of the Montessori community and the amazing programs offered by the growing International Academy.
Gloria Zakers – High School Coordinator/Dean of Students, Science Educator
Ms. Zakers holds a B.S. in Marine Biology. She formerly worked as an aquarist and in the student education program at Coral World, and as a research scientist studying the health of Caribbean coral reefs and endangered sea turtles. She has taught science at the both the high school and college level. Ms. Zakers has attended three IBO Middle Years Program Workshops and will be attending two Diploma Program Workshops this fall. She plans to work towards her master’s degree in Marine Science and Education at UVI in the near future. A few of her proudest accomplishments at VIMSIA include her involvement with the Montessori Model United Nations, as well as her efforts towards helping to develop a “green” campus. Ms. Zakers is married with two beautiful children who also attend VIMSIA. She has been a resident of St. Thomas for almost 15 years.
Adalio Araujo - Spanish & Physical Education
Senor Araujo is a native of Sao Tome, a Portuguese principality, and holds a MA in Linguistics obtained in Bescincon, France. Since 1989, “Senor” has been offering a quality Spanish program to students starting at the elementary level. In addition, “Senor” teaches Physical Education and coaches our Soccer teams. He is a FIFA-certified soccer coach and has refereed JV/varsity soccer for 13 years.
Patricia Villegas – International Academy Language B Spanish
Ms Villegas has been teaching the MYP since 1993 as an area of interaction coordinator in Argentina. She has taught language, humanities and literature in the MYP and theories of knowledge (TOK) in the IB Diploma. She is one of the three IB MYP senior moderators for Personal Project in Cardiff, Wales. Every year she meets with her senior colleagues to agree on the standards for moderation for the current year and then later on meets with an international group of moderators to lead the standardization meeting that would set the criteria for the personal project for that year She is a faculty member of the OCC for Personal Project and Areas of Interaction. She has worked as a workshop leader for the IBLA region in Peru, Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay for the last 6 years. She has actively participated in the review of the Personal Project guide on the last 6 years and on designing teachers support materials (TSM) for the OCC. She is finishing her MA in Education with the University of Bath focusing her dissertation on the MYP curriculum. During her stay in Dublin, she did a year course on Linguistics in UCD and raised two wonderful kids: Patrick and Kathleen. They have both followed her footsteps working as teachers in Argentina while going to university . She is delighted to have joined the VIMSIA and is looking forward to meeting the new challenges of implementing the MYP in this promising venture.
AFTER SCHOOL ENRICHMENT PROGRAM
Jessica Murphy - Bougainvillea Center Directress
Ms. Murphy comes to us most recently from St. Thomas Yacht Club. She is responsible for running the Bougainvillea Center (our after school enrichment program). She also coordinates our After School Programs, which have grown significantly in the last few years, and is responsible for the "Coqui" camps that are held on campus during school holidays.
ADMINISTRATION
Dr. Peter J. Samaranayake - Head of School/International Academy Director
Dr. Sam started with us as the Head of School in 2008. Dr. Sam brings a wealth of International Baccalaureate experience to help us tackle the challenge of becoming a fully accredited IBO World School.
Shournagh McWeeney - Administrator
Ms. McWeeney has been the school’s administrator since 1980. She graciously accepted a position as Montessori Director in 2008 and has been instrumental in facilitating the transition to our new Head of School. She holds an AMI Primary Diploma and taught Montessori for ten years prior to joining VIMS in 1977. A native of Dublin, Ireland, her teaching took her to the U.S. mainland where she taught in Boston, Denver and San Francisco before moving to St. Thomas.
Katherine Huttel - Administrative Assistant
Prior to joining our staff in January 1997, Ms. Huttel was a very active PTA member and served on its Board for a number of years. Her two daughters, Margo and Lauren graduated from VIMS Upper Elementary. She is originally from Texas, and moved to St. Thomas in 1979.
Peggy Hunt – Business Director
Ms. Hunt has a degree in Business Administration from Ohio State University. Her experience includes working at two major Fortune 500 companies for over 18 years in Operations and Computer Systems Development. Ms. Hunt moved to St. Thomas 1997. She and her husband, Harry Gauriloff, have a daughter, Karen who has been flourishing in the Montessori envirnoment since her admission to La Casa in 2003. Ms. Hunt has been very active with our school, including serving as VIMSIA President and Vice President prior to her coming on board as part of our staff.
Maryann Paul - Front Office Secretary
Ms. Paul, a native New Yorker, moved to St. Thomas in 1987. She attended Drake Business School in New York before joining VIMSIA in November 2000. Ms Paul takes care of parent, staff and student needs.
Betty Story - Librarian
Betty Story is an American Library Association accredited librarian
who has worked at public, university and school libraries.
She has been a librarian in the Virgin Islands schools, and schools
in Asia, Africa, and Europe. She loves being back in St Thomas. Betty has a son in Florida who is a lawyer and two beautiful grandchildren.
Heather Anderson – Guidance Counselor
Ms. Anderson holds a BA degree in Psychology and is finishing her thesis to receive her MA degree in Counseling. In addition working as our part-time guidance counselor, she provides therapeutic services to adolescents at Seaview Rehabilitation Center on St. Thomas. |
