"A very unique connection and set of experiences are things I took away from my years with Ms. Sonia and never lost. My respect and gratitude for her have not faltered at all since she was my teacher. The Montessori Method is a unique one, not characterized by typical learning objectives or grades, but which covers a set of priceless lessons and techniques that I’ve been able to apply to pretty much every aspect of my life since I finished the program at age 12. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my academic career, it’s that a class and what you take from it is even more so reliant on the teacher than the material… If you have material you’re disinterested in but an amazing teacher that can light a fire somewhere in it for you, then you can learn endlessly. All that being said, when you have an amazing method, lesson, and teacher… the results are limitless. I know because I witnessed it as her student. For many of us, our friendship has been characterized by personal life guidance sought, invitations to our high school graduations, lunch/dinner dates, and sporadic phone calls. Most of us are even cool with her keeping an eye on us via social media in our college lives. Not every classmate, of course, had the personality to warm or open up to her as much as some of us did, but on the occasions I run into a given student of hers and her name is brought up, they never fail to have that same look in their eye while we reflect on the Montessori days… That unspoken, nostalgic, mutual understanding of the priceless, fulfilling experience we got with her. Among my many amazing academic and personal memories with her is when she aided me in my transition from a small private school to a large public school. The Montessori environment is very intimate and comforting, and that definitely made some of the parents worry whether we would be socially awkward or not able to be successful in mainstream education after being in the Montessori program. I’m not sure the right words exist to describe what I witnessed Ms. Slaven do with my peers and I before we each “fled the [Montessori] nest” over time… the way she got us to open up to her, the way she motivated us when we had zero interest or hope in a certain lesson… She made each of us confident in our unique personalities, whatever they may have been. I strongly believe the years spent in her classroom are the reason I’ve been capable of maintaining such long-term friendships with my peers from Montessori, despite the huge differences in the people we’ve become or the schools and social groups we found ourselves in. Moreover, in middle school, high school, and college, I witnessed students jumping over hurdles to find loopholes and techniques that would help them get a good grade all the time, but not that would necessarily help them learn the material. Ms. Slaven used the lack of grades in the Montessori Method to allow each of us to master the art of gaining what knowledge was required in each lesson without the objective of getting an “A”. When it was time for us to move on to schools that had grading systems, the result of this was that we were focused on the learning part, and the good grade was just a rewarding, happy coincidence of a result. She truly mastered the art of applying warm nurture and structured discipline where and when it’s needed. The relationship she manages to create with each one, extrovert or introvert, boy or girl, is something no child can shy away from when they’ve put in the effort to learn something she’s teaching and see the satisfaction she radiates when they’ve mastered a lesson. She’s so versatile in her care and teaching… she molds lessons in attempts to suit to everyone’s learning styles. Her drive is contagious… she instills work ethic as an instinct in her students. If one is looking for a place where their child can get a great education, a place where they’ll learn a lot, then all I have to tell them is that that is among the least of what Ms. Slaven will have to offer your child… I can honestly say that Ms. Slaven is one of the most passionately driven, genuine, and caring adults I’ve known. Ever since being her student, those are characteristics I value and notice to be vital to a person’s character. Still, I haven’t found anyone who possesses them in quite the way she does. A school taught by her, where she’ll plant her magical seed inside more young minds before they go out into the world, is something I’m extremely happy to see happen… something the world could definitely use. I love you, Ms. Slaven!!”