I come from a military background and although I was born in Augsburg, Germany, I’ve lived most of my life in the State of Washington. I grew up in the small town of Steilacoom and after graduating from High School, I went to the University of Washington and lived in several cities up north from Seattle to Lake Forest Park, Bellevue and Renton. In 1985, I became interested in the Montessori Method of teaching while living with a college room-mate in North Seattle. She asked me if I had ever heard of the Montessori philosophy and of course I had not. She soon introduced me to Bellevue Montessori School where I became an assistant and then an intern. I received my Montessori Certification in 1986 from Montessori Teaching College Northwest. I worked in Bellevue and down-town Seattle for a few years, and then returned to the Tacoma area in 1991 and began working at MIM. I worked twelve years at MIM and my son Moreno was a student at MIM through the second grade. He is now a grown man with children of his own and I am a proud Grandma of three. Because I have been blessed to be here at MIM for so many years, I now have the privilege of working with children of our alumni as well! It’s wonderful to see them back with their own children. I feel extremely grateful they have remembered me and of course, MIM!