Our Montessori School Celebrates 40 Years of Education in Yorktown

For the last 40 years, Our Montessori School has been caring for and providing education to thousands of Yorktown children. It all began in 1972 when Betty and Werner Hengst opened their own school because they wanted to make sure their daughter Christy goes to a good school. 

Before moving from Arlington, VA to Westchester County, they had attended an open house for a Montessori School and the Hengsts knew they wanted to send their daughter to a similar school. So the search for the perfect school began.

"When her search for another convenient school proved fruitless, we realized that the only way of making sure Christy could go to a good school was to start one ourselves," Werner Hengst said.

In record time, Betty Hengst became a certified Montessori teacher and the Hengsts decided to name the school, Our Montessori School, because they said they wanted the children and parents to feel like the school was also in a way – theirs.

Our Montessori School had seven children enrolled at the one location when the lease was signed four decades ago. Currently the school has more than 300 students in four locations – three in Yorktown and one in Carmel. There are available programs for infants, toddlers, nursery and kindergarden-age children as well as elementary school children through the sixth grade.

Betty Hengst, who is now the school's director, and her husband believe the school's success over the last 40 years is due to Our Montessori School setting the pace for learning and letting the child take as long as he or she needs to understand the concept.

"Any case of pressure is eliminated – there is no shame to multiple trials," Hengst said. 

Our Montessori School differentiates itself from other schools because it contains a three-year age span in each classroom, according to its founders.

"We try to set it up so there is a good chance that the child will have success but if they don’t succeed, no one is judging them," Betty Hengst said. "If we see that a child is doing something wrong, such as a math problem, we’ll make a mental note and we’ll teach them again the right way to do it without singling the child out."

In celebration of 40 successful years as a school, Our Montessori School’s website recently had a makeover to freshen it up.

Alexis Levitan, a photographer and mother of a student at Our Montessori School decided to take on the task to redesign the website.

"We chose to redesign the website to appeal to today’s computer savvy parent," she said. "We provided photos and updated information and broken down the programs to make the website more user-friendly."

As a photographer, Levitan often goes to Our Montessori School to take pictures of the activities the children are doing and posts it to the school’s website and Facebook page.

"The children are so comfortable with me that I can take a step into their everyday activities, get on their level in their own comfortable environment and really capture the energy, spirit and dedication of the students and faculty of Our Montessori School," Levitan said. 

Overall, the Hengsts are thrilled with the success of Our Montessori School, saying the children don’t see Montessori work as work, but as play.

Our Montessori School is located at 2300 Crompond Road, 2405 Crompond Road and 1243 White Hill Road in Yorktown. Check out their website here.

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