Newton Montessori School Announces 2019 Summer Travel Fellowships

NEWTON, MA, March 6, 2019 -- Newton Montessori School (NMS) has announced the recipients of its annual faculty Summer Travel Fellowships. Vanessa Irzyk, Art Specialist, and Katie Quann-Ng, Music Specialist, will each receive a grant to help fund international travel related to their respective disciplines. Irzyk will travel to Barcelona, Spain to study the work and lives of architect Antoni Gaudi and surrealist painter, Salvador Dali, while Quann-Ng will tour Vienna, Prague, Berlin, and Amsterdam to attend concerts in the venues for which they were composed.

“I am beyond excited to receive this grant,” Irzyk says. I can't wait to explore Barcelona and see the architecture of Gaudi and the home and museum of Dali.” These thoughts are echoed by Quann-Ng, who remarks, “I am incredibly excited to travel around Europe and experience music in some of the most renowned venues in the world. There is something magical about hearing music in the same place it was created. It re-energizes the soul.”

The NMS Summer Travel Fellowship provides grants to faculty and staff members at the school in order to fund “experiences that will re-invigorate them as adult learners, deepening their ability to teach from what Montessori called the ‘spirit’ within them,” according to the fellowship’s guidelines for application.

The Fellowship was established in 2018 with a gift from an NMS alumni family. Inspired by their three children’s experiences at the school, the family wanted to help inspire continued learning and development among NMS staff.

“We wanted to do whatever we could to help the school attract and retain the best caliber teachers by providing a unique experience that is meaningful to them and also enriches the classroom environment,” the family stated. The gift was also inspired by the broad diversity the donors experienced as part of the NMS community.

“This fellowship offers a unique opportunity for personal and professional development among staff,” says NMS Head of School Beth Black, “which definitely helps us achieve the school’s strategic goal to attract and retain top educators. It also helps enliven the entire school community by promoting global awareness and cross-cultural exchanges,” Black continues. “We’re very grateful to the donating family for making [the fellowship program] possible.”

Irzyk and Quann-Ng are the second cohort of NMS Fellowship grantees; the inaugural round, in 2018, funded travel to Peru and Iceland. The 2019 grantees will travel this summer and share their experiences with colleagues and students in September.

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Newton Montessori School is a welcoming, diverse school community in which learners are inspired to strive for excellence and contribute positively to their communities, challenged to explore big ideas independently and collaboratively, and empowered to pursue their goals with confidence, persistence, and integrity. Located in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, the school serves students age Toddler through Grade 8 and was recently named “Family Favorite for Montessori Elementary Schools in Greater Boston,” by Boston Parents’ Paper. Learn more at www.newtonmontessori.org.