Alma was born and grew up in Mexico. She comes from a family of teachers; her grandmother, dad, uncles, and cousins ​​have been teachers for many years. Alma earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing.

When Alma’s first child started school, they looked for a Montessori school because they believed in this philosophy. She worked for a few months at the school her son attended, supporting a Primary class, until her family moved to the United States. Her son started at NewGate in August 2020 and her second child joined in January 2022. At the same time, Alma started teaching Spanish in the NewGate elementary program. In August 2022, she joined a LE class as an assistant and in April 2023 began her training as an elementary Montessori Guide.

Alma enjoys working with the children and learning from them. She also enjoys time with her family dancing, singing, and playing board games as well as cooking, crafting, knitting, sewing, and playing the guitar.

Noemi grew up in Hungary and studied there before moving to the United States and attending Remington College – Tampa where she earned a medical assistant diploma. Noemi started working in Montessori in 2004, initially with toddlers for 12 years and then with ages 3-6 since 2016. Noemi first saw the Montessori method in 2002 and fell in love with it. She received her Montessori diploma through the American Montessori Center in 2018 and joined NewGate School in 2020 (which she loved from the first time she visited). Noemi enjoys hiking, camping, fishing, kayaking, nature, animals, flowers, and taking pictures of them.

Jenn joined NewGate in August 2019. This year is her 30th year in Montessori education. Over the years, she has been a Head of School, Montessori Teacher Trainer, Curriculum Coordinator, Summer School Coordinator, Supervising Teacher, and Parent Educator. She has also taken many hours of professional development in order to continually meet each child’s needs.

Jennifer holds a B.S. in education from the University of Northern Michigan and has both her AMS early childhood 3-6 and elementary 6-12 certifications, with MACTE accreditation. She has been a teacher trainer and received additional training in Applied Behavior Analysis with an Autism specialization. Jennifer is excited to join the NewGate team. “I love Montessori Education!” As Dr. Maria Montessori said, “The essential thing is to arouse such an interest that it engages the child’s whole personality.”

Jennifer believes that her objective as a teacher is to help each child discover the joy of learning and to help the child develop a strong belief in his or her own ability. Each child is encouraged to do his or her best and to have a sense of pride in his or her accomplishments. She also believes it is of primary importance that her students appreciate and respect the differences of others.

Isabela Sosa was born in Cali, Colombia where she grew up surrounded by a big family and a vibrant city filled with arts, culture, and strong community spirit. Isabela’s elementary and high school years were attended at an IB British school in Cali, Colombia, where her mom was a teacher for over 30 years, being a strong influence in Isabela’s life. After school, Isabela would help her mom with the after care program that took place in their house in the south of Cali, to the east of the western mountain range known as the “Farallones de Cali,” joining students and helping in culinary, ballet, art and sports.

After graduating high school, Isabela moved to Colombia’s capital, Bogota, to pursue a degree in Psychology with emphasis in neuropsychology where she worked with kids and the elderly doing neuropsychological evaluations and recommendations. Isabela is a proud mother of 2 NewGate students, and during her free time she enjoys yoga, playing the guitar, and salsa dancing.

Joining NewGate in 2023, Niko recently graduated from New College receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. Niko has over eight years of experience working with young children.

Gillett joined NewGate in August 2021 after relocating from St. Paul, Minnesota. He has his AMI Montessori Elementary Teacher Certification from the Montessori Center of Minnesota. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications with a minor in French. He is a trained Montessori Model United Nations Instructor and a Montessori STEM practitioner. Among his many talents, Gillett is an entrepreneur, co-founding the Twin Cities Closet Company.

Alexandra (Alex) joined NewGate during the summer of 2019. She fell in love with the Montessori Method when her daughter Juliette attended a Montessori primary classroom. Alex has taught in the early learning environments in public and private schools since 2007, upon graduating from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. Alex also has an Early Childhood Montessori Credential from MACTE/Montessori Live and a diploma from the North American Montessori Center.

She is originally from Lima, Peru and is excited to be teaching Spanish language at NewGate. She is married and has three children, Linda, Juliette, and Thomas, and enjoys traveling, reading, spending time with her family and considers herself a ‘foodie.’ Her daughter and son attend NewGate.

Language and Humanities specialist Glenn Grizzard comes to New Gate by way of Key West, the Appalachian Mountain towns of Asheville and Boone, North Carolina, and his home in Georgia. After spending the Covid years at May Sands Montessori Charter School in Key West, Glenn spent last year teaching gifted children in a public middle school in Asheville.  Glenn earned his B.A. and M.Ed. at the University of Georgia. He took his Montessori Secondary training at the NAMTA program in Ohio.

From 2004-18, Glenn launched and taught in the middle school – and also served as the Director – at Mountain Pathways Montessori School in Boone. He also taught educational psychology at Appalachian State University during this period, where he raised his two children, Sawyer and Savannah. Prior to moving to Boone, Glenn taught gifted classes and social studies at a public middle school just outside Athens, Ga. where he had attended the University of Georgia for his undergraduate and graduate work. (Go Dawgs!)In addition to his passion for college football, Glenn enjoys golf, travel, and learning all he can about the world so he can share it with kids!

Anthony joined NewGate in August 2021, moving to Florida from Nebraska. Anthony grew up in a Montessori classroom from the ages of 4-14 which helped promote his passion for the sciences with an inclination toward conservation and animals. He graduated from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in 2015 with his B.S in Fisheries and Wildlife with study abroad experiences in Puerto Rico performing data collection on the terrestrial and marine life on the island. Anthony joins NewGate with 6 years of professional background working law enforcement for the Nebraska Humane Society as an animal control officer having many experiences with a variety of animals from bobcats to house cats. Anthony is currently completing his Montessori accreditation through the Center for Guided Montessori Studies and is looking forward to starting his journey at NewGate.

Amy has taught throughout the New Gate Secondary Program since 2002 primarily with English reading, writing and theater projects and has been teaching for 25 years. She is also an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Instructor, Librarian and CAS Advisor. She has spent many years developing the Secondary Program’s experiential learning programs and looks for every opportunity to get students off campus and into the community for learning opportunities. She also leads the annual Drama Immersion Weeks with students at each Secondary level to build memorable theatrical productions in the space of a week. One of her great joys is helping every student find gateway books that lead to a life long love of reading, and she builds every opportunity possible to share books with students from toddler through high school levels.

Amy earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology at Loyola University where she also enjoyed studying Spanish during a study abroad term in Quito, Ecuador and learning about world religions as her minor. She began her teaching career in a refugee resettlement program teaching ESL to adult students from around the world followed by teaching Spanish at the elementary level. While teaching at a Great Books Foundation high school in Arizona, she earned her Master’s Degree in Experiential Education at Prescott College with a focus on building schools and learning experiences to promote engagement, eco-literacy and stewardship.

Amy enjoys her family time, reading, and travel, all preferably at the beach!

Amy has taught throughout the NewGate Secondary Program since 2002 primarily with English reading, writing and theater projects and has been teaching for 24 years. She is also an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Instructor, Librarian and CAS Advisor. She has spent many years developing the Secondary Program’s experiential learning programs and looks for every opportunity to get students off campus and into the community for learning opportunities. She also leads the annual Drama Immersion Weeks with students at each Secondary level to build memorable theatrical productions in the space of a week. One of her great joys is helping every student find gateway books that lead to a life long love of reading, and she builds every opportunity possible to share books with students from toddler through high school levels.

Amy earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology at Loyola University where she also enjoyed studying Spanish during a study abroad term in Quito, Ecuador and learning about world religions as her minor. She began her teaching career in a refugee resettlement program teaching ESL to adult students from around the world followed by teaching Spanish at the elementary level. While teaching at a Great Books Foundation high school in Arizona, she earned her Master’s Degree in Experiential Education at Prescott College with a focus on building schools and learning experiences to promote engagement, eco-literacy and stewardship.

Amy enjoys her family time, reading, and travel, all preferably at the beach!

Pam has taught math at the upper elementary, middle school, and high school levels for many years in a variety of settings: public and private, accelerated and remedial, in small groups, in large classes, and one-on-one, most recently in a Montessori Adolescent Program. She enjoys helping students explore the connections and overlaps between algebra and geometry and, as a result, gain depth of knowledge in both of those mathematical disciplines. She loves seeing all sorts of students gain confidence in their abilities as mathematicians. Pam graduated from the University of Richmond with a B.A. in Mathematics and International Studies. She did her undergraduate honors math research in number field theory and its application in the proofs of certain cases of Fermat’s Last Theorem. In addition to her experience as a mathematician, she also taught English to students of all ages during a two-and-a-half year adventure living in China. Now Pam lives in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband and three children. She enjoys cooking, reading, spending time with friends and family, and being outdoors.

Lydia Dumais teaches high school science and art. She is also an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Instructor. This is Lydia’s 6th year at NewGate. She graduated from New College of Florida with a double major in Biology and History and an M.S. in Biology from Clemson University. She presented academic papers at the Florida Conference of Historians and New Scholars. Part of her undergraduate research included working with wild sea turtles in Costa Rica as part of international conservation efforts.

Lydia is a Secondary Montessori Teacher. She is a lifelong learner and earned the IB Diploma in high school; she brings enthusiasm, hands-on learning, and a spirit of keen intellectual inquiry to the secondary program. She works on conservation projects in her spare time, including working with leatherback sea turtles, gopher tortoises, and wetlands water quality monitoring.