Our Primary students spent an afternoon with Paul Ibsen, Interim Head of School, late in the week. With just a touch of encouragement, they started asking him questions, mostly about his favorite things. Throughout the dialogue, Paul included stories about his time growing up in California and his first career as a helicopter pilot in the United States Coast Guard. Not everything made it into our transcription for you, but the kids certainly loved every moment of their time with him.

Q: Why do you want to be a principal here?
A: I got a call from somebody that said Greensboro Montessori was a wonderful school, and they just needed somebody to be a head of the school for a short time to help the school find somebody to be a head of school for a long, long time. They asked if would I come and help out and I said, "Sure, I’d love to help out because its such a great school."

Q: Why are you here?
A: I’m here because I like being with children. I like to see what children do, and how they learn together, and how they explore. It's so much fun!

Q: What's your favorite snack?
A: Popcorn

Q: What’s your favorite ice cream?
A: Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. You know what else I like to do too… I have two grandchildren, a granddaughter and a grandson. They live about three hours from where I live, and I love when we can get together and eat ice cream. My granddaughter is going into middle school and my grandson is in fourth grade.

Q: Do you have a cat?
A: I don’t have a cat, but I have a dog named McDuff. Have you ever read the stories about McDuff? There are some great books about McDuff, and I should come by and read some of those to you because McDuff gets in trouble a lot. We call [our dog] McDuff, and just like in the book, he is a white West Highland Terrier. When I go to bed I have to move him off my pillow because he's on my pillow when I get in bed. And he doesn't like moving very much...We have a lot of fun with McDuff.

Q: Is your dog bad?
A: He's very good, and he loves people. He won't bite people. You know what he'll do? He will lick your nose.

Paul's Cinnamon Candy

Paul's jar of hard cinnamon candies can be found on the desk in his office.

Q: What's your favorite candy?
A: You know, I like those little red, cinnamon candies. I have some in a jar on my desk.

Q: Which favorite popsicles do you like?
A: Wow, I haven't had [a popsicle in a while]. You know those orange popsicles that have the white creamy stuff on the inside? Those are awesome.

Q: What’s your favorite color?
A: Ooooh, I think blue. I have a little blue here [on my shirt]. I think blue, but it depends, sometimes I like red. I also have pink shirt that I really like...You know the color I really like? It's the green color of Greensboro Montessori School.

Q: What’s your favorite shoe, shoe to wear?
A: I don't know. Whatever I grab in the closet pretty much is fine.

Q: What’s your favorite tree?
A: You know I grew up in California, and one of my favorite trees was a tree called a Giant Sequoia. They were hundreds of years old, and they were huge. Taller than these buildings. There was one tree, and they made hole in the bottom of it. You could drive through it with your car. It was that big.

Q: What's your favorite animal?
A: Probably my dog. Yeah, I like my Westie.

Greensboro Montessori School has announced two major changes that will launch in fall 2017: 1) The expansion of its middle school to include ninth grade and 2) The transition of sixth grade, previously a part of Greensboro Montessori’s middle school, to the School’s upper elementary division. Both changes will enable the School to more authentically deliver the Montessori experience for both students and faculty, a hallmark of which is three-year, multi-age groupings within each division.

The three-year groupings that will result—grades four, five and six in upper elementary and grades seven, eight and nine in middle school—are consistent with the pivotal three-year cycle first articulated by educator Dr. Maria Montessori (1870–1952) and later supported by the American Montessori Society, of which Greensboro Montessori is an accredited school member.

Montessori’s three-year cycle recognizes sensitive periods of growth and development shared among each age group. It also allows for skills and concepts to be introduced, explored and mastered through three consecutive and collaborative years of learning.

Commenting on the addition of ninth grade to Greensboro Montessori’s offerings, Associate Head of School Nancy Hofer said: “As researchers and educators increasingly refer to ninth grade as the make-or-break year of high school, Montessori methodology changes the conversation by positioning ninth grade as a capstone year in middle school. Young adolescence is a monumental time in the life of a child. Rather than lead every student down the same path, the Montessori philosophy empowers us to look at each student individually and develop a custom learning plan to unlock his or her full potential. Offering ninth grade to our students and their families is just another way Greensboro Montessori School supports this philosophy in both theory and practice.”

Richard A. Ungerer, the American Montessori Society’s Executive Director, added: “Greensboro Montessori School is one of only six AMS-accredited schools in North Carolina, and it is the only AMS-accredited school in the state’s Piedmont Triad region offering middle school. We are thrilled to see their commitment to the continued process of self-reflection and school improvement that is a critical part of what it means to be AMS-accredited. And by introducing these curriculum shifts, the School reaffirms its commitment to developing the whole child through the time-tested, research-based educational approach of Maria Montessori.”

Greensboro Montessori will graduate its first ninth grade class at the end of the 2017-18 school year. To inquire about enrollment at Greensboro Montessori, please contact Rhea Egbert, director of admission.

Greensboro Montessori School alumni have a built in network of support with each other, and we got a bird’s eye view of how special that network is when we welcomed our college-agedalumni back to campus for a reunion and cookout on the evening of Sunday, August 7. The spirit of belonging was palpable. As each alum walked through the door, the alums who had already arrived would call the person's name and cheer. For those of us faculty in attendance, it was heartwarming to see and feel!

Several of the alumni asked for a tour of our recently renovated classrooms and reminisced as they walked through their Toddler, Primary and Lower Elementary classrooms recalling the names of their teachers and pointing out Montessori materials that they remembered. Our director of marketing and development, Jillian Crone, commented, “They wanted to see everything and kept remarking how nice the School looked. One alum asked, 'Can we see Cathy Moses’ Lower Elementary classroom?' I had to tell them things had changed and Cathy had moved to Upper Elementary, but more importantly, I was amazed how personally invested they were in their former teachers and classroom details. They clearly relate to Greensboro Montessori School as if it were their childhood home.”

At dinner, the alumni were joined by long time Middle School faculty members Deirdre Kearney, Doug Williams and Jonathan McLean, plus former teacher Angela Cook, who taught middle school science for eight years and led the School in the founding of the our nationally acclaimed Land Program in Oak Ridge. The alumni were eager to reconnect with their mentors, and share stories of their recent adventures. International travel was a hot topic since no less than eight of our youthful dinner guests had either just returned from, or are soon departing for, an extended trip abroad; some traveling with the university and some exploring on their own. We heard stories of visits to London, Mannheim, Madrid, Rome and Amsterdam and shared our well wishes for Bridget Lavender (Class of 2010) who departs very soon for a semester in Perugia, Italy. For many of our alumni, their capstone field trips in 8th grade to the United Nations in the Fall and Costa Rica in the Spring ignites a passion for experiencing life and culture around the globe.

Alumni gatherings like these are a great way for us to follow the evolution of our graduates and learn how their foundational experiences at Greensboro Montessori School continues to shape them into adulthood. As we approach our 20th graduation ceremony in June 2017, we look forward to sharing more alumni stories as a way of telling the world just how transformative a Greensboro Montessori School education can be.

At a glance - Where are they now?

Greensboro Montessori School alumni attend a variety of colleges and universities across the nation. Our Alumni Reunion on August 7, 2016 welcomed students who attend the following:

· Davidson College (Davidson, N.C.)

· East Carolina University (Greenville, N.C.)

· Lees-McRae College (Banner Elk, N.C.)

· North Carolina State University

· Rice University (Houston, Texas)

· University of Chicago

· University of North Carolina at Asheville

· University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

· University of North Carolina at Greensboro

· University of South Carolina (Columbia, S.C.)

· Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, N.C.)

· Washington University (St. Louis, Mo.)