Getting to Know Our Finalists – T-shirt Design Contest

Our t-shirt contest was a raving success and we want to thank everyone who participated in designing a Montessori inspired t-shirt. The response was overwhelming! We had entries from Washington to New York! Even a teacher took time the last week of school to have her students create beautiful designs as well.

As many of us know, Montessori swag is very minimal and we wanted to inspire our community to help design a t-shirt that Montessorians could “rock.”

So here are the three selected finalists that will compete for your votes:

1. Montessori – It’s Old School By: Katy Allen

Katy is Montessori! She was lucky enough to be born into a Montessori family where her mother and father were both Montessori teachers and opened the first Montessori School in Maine. She is proud to be the product of a Montessori education. After being miserable in a career and much soul searching, she decided to open a school with her sister and received her Montessori training for primary, lower elementary and upper elementary. Katy has been teaching for 20 years and her only son just completed his first year in our Montessori high school.

2. “This is the art of those who aspire to serve the spirit.” By: Nora McNamara

Nora is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Case Western Reserve University Hospital. In 2009-2010, she earned her AMI Elementary diploma from the Hershey Montessori Training Institute because she wanted to learn more about Montessori as so many of the youngsters she works with absolutely hate going to school yet her own children enjoyed their Montessori schools so much. She felt the training was amazing, and it reinforced her advocacy for all children to be able to access authentic Montessori environments from infancy through adolescence. Even though she will not likely ever practice as a Guide in an Elementary community, the training transformed the way she works with all of the children, adolescents, and caretakers in her capacity as a physician, and has also transformed the way she guides the resident doctors and medical students.

Nora believes the training has helped her to become a better and happier doctor, mother, and friend. She has met wonderful people because of her training experiences, people she is just awed by, and honored to call her friends. She believes these folks are going to save the planet someday if authentic Montessori becomes the default pedagogy that all children get to experience as a birthright. She chose the chart of the little angels carrying buckets of fire away from the baby earth and returning with gifts of ice from the cosmos because it is her favorite chart that is used in the Elementary classrooms and also in the first great Story, God Who Has No Hands, which is her favorite of all the stories told to the children.

3. I did it myself. By: Kelly Cummins

Kelly grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and is a multi-faceted creative person. She is the Creative Director and Owner of a graphic design and marketing firm in Royal Oak, Michigan. Aside from her career, Kelly is also a wife and mother. Kelly learned about Montessori from one of her friends and became extremely interested in the pedagogy. Upon having her daughter Saige, she knew that she wanted to raise her following Montessori principles. She loves supporting Montessori Rocks because of all the information she gains and is able to apply in her own life with her daughter. Kelly works to step back and allow her daughter to “do it herself” and experience hands-on learning on a daily basis. Kelly’s shirt was inspired by her daily interactions with her daughter and she encourages everyone to let their children “do it themselves” too!

Again, thank you to all that entered our contest. We loved all of the thoughtfulness and creativity you poured each and every design. We hope to run more contests in the future. If you have an idea you would like to share with us, please email amanda@montessorirocks.org.

Happy Voting!