Faculty and Staff
Mater Amoris Montessori School staff are experienced educators committed to guiding children in their learning while also facilitating community-building and creating an engaging, empowering, and productive learning environment.
Administration and Staff
Alicia Davis-Enright
Head of School
Alicia is a passionate educator with a diverse professional background. During her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program in the early 2000’s, she developed an interest in curriculum design and evaluation, which led her into educational consulting with a specialization in accreditation. Her later choice to homeschool two of her children helped her realize her interest in working with children. With newfound determination to offer alternative and progressive education to children, Alicia pursued her Master of Education (MEd) in Montessori Elementary Education at the Washington Montessori Institute. She received her Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) certification and MEd in 2014. Alicia joined Mater Amoris in June 2019 and is wholeheartedly committed to building upon the rich history of the school and community. Alicia lives with her husband, five children, two dogs, and three cats in Colesville, Maryland.
Chris Chafin
Groundskeeper
Chris was born and raised in Montgomery County, Maryland. From an early age, he found an adoration for creating and an appreciation for the outdoors. Chris received his A.A.S. from Montgomery College and studied art at Frostburg State University. He expanded his project management and customer service knowledge while working in Bethesda, MD as a Servicing Analyst for many years. Chris was previously a professional groundskeeper, managed property maintenance in VA, and has basic carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical skills. He has two young children that attend Mater Amoris and a variety of pets including geese and a gecko. For fun, Chris enjoys painting, homesteading, and completing renovations to his home.
Susan Slattery
Operations Manager and Administrative Assistant
Susan Slattery comes from a large family of eight siblings. Her family originated from Buffalo, NY. And when she was five they moved to Miami, FL. She is retired from the United States Navy, where she spent 20 years working in different fields around the world. She loves spending time with her family and their dogs. She enjoys fostering dogs and finding them their forever homes. She looks forward to meeting each of you and spending time with your children.
Lindy graduated from the Washington Montessori Institute (WMI) at Loyola University Maryland in 2005 receiving her primary Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) diploma and Masters of Education degree. She has worked as a Children’s House guide, assistant and co-teacher since 2005 at Christian Family Montessori School in Washington, DC, where she helped to establish the All Day Primary Montessori Program. Lindy received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Psychology from Towson University with a concentration in Human Development. She has enjoyed her many years of working with children in a Montessori classroom. She was born and raised in Maryland, although she has a great love for her family's homeland of Puerto Rico. She is fluent in Spanish and fairly fluent in French. In her spare time, she enjoys sewing, crafting, reading, gardening, and spending time with her husband Johnn, son Mason, and chihuahua mix Tanner.
Lindy Rivera
Student Support Specialist
Beryl Chafin
Director of Admissions & Community Engagement
Beryl started her career in business administration and management after graduating with her bachelors degree from East Tennessee State University with a major in Business Management and a minor in Marketing. After working in business administration and management for a number of years, Beryl found her way to Barrie School through her lifelong love of horses. While there she worked in Admission, advocated to continue the school's development of diversity, equity and inclusion programming, implemented new processes and systems, and she also developed a passion for Dr. Montessori's philosophy and practice and is excited to continue learning and sharing that at Mater Amoris. Beryl has 2 young children, 2 dogs, a cat and 4 ducks to keep her busy at home.
Sophie Peet
Nature Ed and Special Programs for YCC & Children's House
My name is Sophie Peet, I am 24 years old from Parkville, MD. I have a Bachelors of Science from University of Maryland, Baltimore County in Environmental Science where I focused on Ecology and GIS work. I am currently working on my Masters of Science from Towson University where I am focusing on water resources assessment and management. I am passionate about the environment and about education. I think that everyone deserves a chance to learn and grow from it, and my skills as a scientist bring a unique perspective to my teaching. During the summer of 2021 I had the opportunity to go on a 10 week solo road trip around the United States where I could focus on some of my joys in life which include traveling, hiking, camping, crafting, painting, and yoga! I hope in my role as a Nature Educator at Mater I can find success and fulfillment and grow as an educator and a leader.
Krissi Disharoon
Director of Health and Wellness
Raised in Montgomery County, Maryland, Krissi is a career educator who has always loved art, nature, wildlife and being active. She is a former competitive synchronized ice skater, ballet dancer, snowboarder, field hockey, and soccer player who still enjoys staying active in a variety of ways. Always pursuing artistic endeavors, she has a love for theater, dance and fine arts. Krissi joins us after first becoming a member of the Mater Amoris community as a parent to two students. Before her role as Director of Health and Wellness at Mater Amoris she taught in a variety of settings. First earning an Associate of Arts in Art Education, a BFA in General Fine Arts with a minor in Sculpture and a Masters Of Arts in Teaching from Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore. Her Experience includes over a decade with MCPS as a High School Art Educator and MCPS Art Show Coordinator, Krissi was named “MCPS High School Art Teacher of the Year” from the Maryland Art Education Association. Evenings and weekends were often filled with coaching ultimate frisbee and soccer, teaching ballet and children's yoga. As an artist she enjoys working with a variety of media and processes including; photography, glass, natural materials, oil and acrylic paints, fiber arts and printmaking. She loves spending time with her family, pets and friends or getting outside in the woods, hiking on a trail, being in/on the water or plein air painting. She continues to nurture her lifelong love of learning, and recently completed AMI Orientation training for ages 6-12 at the Washington Montessori Institute.
.jpg)
Enyah Perez
Sunrise Club Lead and Sunset Club
Hello! My name is Enyah Perez and I’m so happy for the opportunity to introduce myself to the community and in a returning capacity as I am also proudly a MAMS alum! And now, after spending most of my life in education-I feel more poised and honored to return along side the amazing staff here at Mater Amoris. Studying and learning from the Montessori method has offered so much in my understanding of the world - how it works in terms of the physical and how it is shaped, designed and built. As a child, it gave me the internal structure for understanding my passions and interests and has laid a foundation for which I connect with the world and find inner peace. A little about me - my primary interests and hobbies surround positivity, music, art, science, nature and how we all can relate to each other through these wonderful things. My education after Mater Amoris led me to the Field School in Washington D.C. and then the University Of Hartford where I graduated from the Hartt School of music with a BFA in Music Production and Technology. After college I spent some time working as a DJ/musician and teacher in Oregon where I spent part time as a wedding DJ, 10 years as a High School special needs assistant teacher, a mac and cheese chef and a basketball coach with Special Olympics Oregon. All this said, I can’t wait for a chance to get to know you all and work with the students here at Mater Amoris!
Emily Tremblay
Director of Education
Emily began her teaching career 15 years ago as an ESL teacher in South Korea. It was while working in a Montessori school there that she found a new passion for teaching and decided to move home and pursue her Master of Education in Primary Montessori at the Washington Montessori Institute. She has spent the past 6 years working as a Primary Guide in Maryland. At Mater Amoris, she is dedicated to honoring the school's rich history while building into the future. It is a joy for her to work with children and families in the community while sharing and implementing Dr. Montessori's philosophy. Outside of school, Emily enjoys running, reading, and doing yoga. She is also a 200-hour registered yoga teacher, and loves bringing Montessori and yoga education to young children.
Cicile Elnas
Acorn Class Lead Guide
Cicile was born in the Philippines, where she attended university and received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Management. She worked in different companies as accounting staff before moving to Dubai where she worked as a human resources executive and an Executive Secretary in an aviation consultancy for six years. She then decided to focus on taking care of her twin daughters (now 6 years old and students at Mater Amoris) as a full time mom. Cicile spent a year as the Assistant in Mater Amoris’s Young Children's Community (YCC) and loved spending time with the children, watching how they mature and grow - becoming more independent each day. This experience led her to enroll in the AMI Assistants to Infancy training in preparation for becoming a Lead Guide in the YCC. Outside of school, Cicile loves creating beautiful memories with her family, traveling, and cooking
Ammara Malik
Liatris Class Assistant Guide
Ammara received her bachelors degree in accounting in 2009 from the University of Maryland. She started her career with Ernst and Young in 2009 as a staff accountant and moved to Nielsen, Inc., in 2011. In 2014, she took a position at Lockheed Martin Corporation as a senior tax accountant, where she worked for five years before deciding to be a stay-at-home mom. Ammara has two children. She lives in Laurel and enjoys cooking, spending time with family, and traveling in her free time.
Patrick McLaughlin
Maple Class Lead Guide
Mr. Pat grew up in Southern California, and spent a decade in the United States Air Force. With years of volunteering as a tutor and a young family of his own, it’s no surprise he found the Montessori Method to be a compelling life choice. Mr. Pat has been a teacher since 2018, and joined Mater Amoris in the midst of the pandemic in 2020. His B.A. is from George Mason in Integrative Studies - Social Sciences; he has a M.Ed. from Loyola (Maryland) in Montessori Elementary Education, and lastly received a M.A. from St. John’s College in Liberal Arts. He enjoys spending his evenings and weekends with his wife and four children, hiking, reading, painting, and visiting with friends and family.
Athena Gaalswyk
Monarch Class Assistant Guide
Athena grew up in California and graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz with a degree in history. After an early career in marketing, she decided to stay home to raise her two sons. When her youngest son started Kindergarten, she went back to work as a preschool teacher, a role she loved for 13 years. She particularly loves the wonder of children and tries to capture that wonder in her own life through reading, hiking, traveling with her family, and ice cream!. She lives with her husband and two sons in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Cam McFeeters
Sunset Club
Cam McFeeters is pleased to be joining Mater Amoris as part of the Sunset Club team. She has lived in a lot of places but considers the DMV her hometown. She has worked in a lot of different jobs, but her passion is helping people use art to learn about the world and about themselves.
After a career in graphic design, Cam stayed home for ten years to raise her three sons. During that time, she was an active volunteer at her sons’ schools, chairing their preschool and serving as the fundraising chair at their elementary school. She returned to art as a teacher at St. Michael the Archangel School in Silver Spring, Our Lady of Lourdes School in Bethesda and at two locations of Brightview Senior Living.
Cam lives in Silver Spring with her husband, Jim, their dog, Echo, and Phoebe the tortoise. She is adjusting to being an empty nester.
Carmen Ascencio Coto
Acorn Class Assistant Guide
Carmen is 23-years-old. She lives in Rockville but is originally from El Salvador. She came to the United States in 2014 with her mother and sister. She has been a nanny for the past 3 years and is very passionate about working with children because they can view the world from a different perspective and we can learn so much from them. Some of her favorite things are baking, cooking, painting, and photography.
Trevor Imedi
Cedar Class Lead Guide
Trevor Munyaradzi Imedi is from Zimbabwe. He also lived in China as a teacher and tutor and has permanent residence there with his wife. He has taught varying ages of students, including adults in Africa and Asia for the past 8 years. Prior to teaching, he worked as a paralegal in a law firm. In China, Trevor began working a Montessori environment and decided to pursue receiving his Montessori training. He recently graduated his Elementary Montessori training at Southwest Institute of Montessori Studies (SIMS) in Arizona. Mater Amoris is excited to be a part of Trevor’s journey in his plans to open a rural Montessori school in Zimbabwe once he has gained the required experience to become a Montessori teacher trainer. He enjoys tennis, cricket, travel,
Marlene Phillips
Maple Class Assistant Guide
Marlene is an Assistant and Nature Educator for an Elementary classroom. She has worked as an Assistant Teacher in Montessori Schools for 9 years. She enjoys working with children, especially in a Montessori environment, where she has had the privilege of instilling the love of learning in each one of her students. She recently completed the AMI Orientation Course for ages 6-12 through the Washington Montessori Institute. When she is not teaching, she spends time working in the garden, playing tennis and travelling.
Alden Kendall
Blue Heron Class Guide
Alden Kendall is AMI-trained in Montessori Primary, Elementary, and Adolescent, and has been teaching in DC-area schools since 2011. An avid gardener, woodworker, and cook, Alden brings a wide range of interests and experiences to Mater Amoris. Having studied theater, film, and philosophy prior to becoming a teacher, he firmly believes that curiosity and love of learning are a few of the most important characteristics of not only students, but of all people. He enjoys experiencing the world through the eyes of his students as they discover the wonders that surround them, and looks forward to joining the Mater Amoris community as it continues to grow!
Bhavna Bhandari
Floating Substitute
I am Bhavna Bhandari, mother of two boys, who started their education in the Montessori system. I have lived in the US for the past 15 years and was born and brought up in India. I spent seven years teaching elementary level students and leading administrative activities in India prior to moving to the United States. I love and enjoy working with children of all age groups and believe patience and understanding is the key to success with children.
Felma Lichtenberg
Liatris Class Lead Guide
Felma completed her undergraduate studies in Elementary education from a prestigious university in Cebu, Philippines. She taught preschool and elementary students for 5 years in the Philippines before moving to the United States. She completed two Child Development Associate (CDA) degrees in Washington, D.C., and then worked as a preschool teacher from January 2006 to August 2013 and an as an infants and toddlers teacher until 2017. In the summer of 2019, Felma completed her in-class Montessori studies and served as an intern in a Mater Amoris Primary class during the 2019-20 school year. She completed her Montessori Primary training and earned her Nature-Based Teacher certification during the summer of 2020. Felma lives with her husband and four children in Brookeville.
Patricia Salazar
Cedar Class Assistant Guide
Patricia was born in Bogota, Columbia, and came to the United States 30 years ago. She is fluent in both English and Spanish. Patricia has been an integral part of the Mater Amoris team for 29 years, serving as a Primary Assistant throughout her tenure. She established the Elementary Spanish Program during the 2019-20 school year and is passionate about supporting children in their Spanish learning. This year, she will be serving as a Lower Elementary Assistant, and in preparation, she completed the AMI Orientation Course for ages 6-12. Patricia has two adult children who are graduates of Mater Amoris.
Marcia Perez
Monarch Class Lead Guide
Marcia taught primary Montessori before receiving her AMI Elementary diploma from Washington Montessori Institute and completing a master’s degree from Loyola College. She has taught Montessori Elementary 6-12, Upper Elementary 9-12, and Primary at Mater Amoris. She is a recognized Montessori lecturer and has presented the complete Montessori music curriculum throughout the United States and internationally. She has been an examiner for the AMI Elementary teacher training centers in both Dallas and San Diego. During her time at Mater Amoris she has played an integral part in both the annual holiday programs and spring musicals. Marcia is married and has two adult children who both attended Mater Amoris Montessori School from ages 2 ½ to 12 years of age.
Mary Hanyok
Blue Heron Class Guide
Mary Hanyok has a lifelong love of learning. She just loves school. She loves school so much that she can’t get away from it. In one form or another, Mary’s always been in school- as a student, as a teacher, or as a parent volunteer. After earning a Bachelor’s in Anthropology, she stumbled into her first job as an assistant in a local Montessori school. While there, she became enthralled with the work the children did. It seemed amazing that such challenging concepts were always presented in such a straightforward and concrete way. What followed next could only be described as a flurry of graduate school. First, Mary attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, earning a Master’s in Liberal Arts. It was here she rediscovered her love of philosophy and became convinced that Euclid most certainly was a genius (until she came across non-Euclidean geometry and had to rethink things). After that, Mary attended the Washington Montessori Institute, earning her AMI Elementary Diploma and a Master’s in Education from Loyola. Since then, she’s enjoyed working in both Upper Elementary and Adolescent classrooms, and is constantly reaffirming her belief that Maria Montessori was the smartest person ever. Recently, Mary has been working on her most challenging position yet, Montessori mother to 3 young boys. In her “free” time, Mary enjoys anything that can be done outside or in a kitchen, or both.
Ridah Raja
Sunset Club
I’m a recent graduate from Reservoir High School and in my second semester of college. I’m currently enrolled at University of Maryland in the College of Education. In my spare time I like to read, skateboard, and am passionate about photography.