Administration
Christi Crittenden, Director
Christi grew up in Huntsville Alabama and as a young child attended the Children’s House of Montessori, presently named The Montessori School of Huntsville. She has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Alabama (Huntsville) with a minor in math. She was the Director of the child development center at First Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, Alabama (First Place Development Center). She also served on the Board of Directors for Yellow Brick Road, an early childhood center here in Lexington. Her career began as a teacher in the early childhood education program at First Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama. She has three fabulous children, Joseph, Condé and Harrison and is married to Tom Crittenden, the Rector of R. E. Lee Memorial (Episcopal) Church.
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 Misty Camden, Assistant to the Director
Misty is a graduate of the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina with a BS in Education and a minor in Early Childhood Education. She is a native to Rockbridge County and taught third grade at Fairfield Elementary for three years. Misty’s husband, Kris, is a general contractor and owns High Country Outfitters; they have a son and daughter, Zoe who attends Waddell Elementary and Kohen who is a current Montessori student.
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Teachers
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 Amanda McKemy, Lead Teacher, Pre-toddler
Amanda McKemy has been a Lead Teacher over the Pre-Toddler and infant age groups since 2001, both here at Woods Creek Montessori as well as another preschool. She received her RIE (Resources for Infant Educators) certification in Florida during the summer of 2008. Amanda truly has a passion for working with young children and finds them to be very interesting. “It is amazing what we, as adults, can learn from children.” Amanda and her husband Eddy are life-time natives of Rockbridge County. They have one son, Logan, who is presently a high school student.
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 Kelley O'Connor, Assistant Teacher, Pre-toddler
Kelly grew up in Rockbridge County on her Grandfathers farm. Graduated from Rockbridge County High School then attended Blue Ridge Community and Dabney S Lancaster Community Colleges. In 2005 she married her Husband Jarromy and moved to Missouri to be with his family. After 2 years in Missouri and Kelly being homesick they decided to move back to Virginia to be closer to Kelly’s family and Friends. In 2008 they had their daughter Adalynn. Kelly loves spending time with family and friends. She has always enjoyed working with children and hopes to have more of her own one day. Kelly has been at WCM since April of 2007.
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 Chat Stroh, Lead Teacher, Toddler
Katharine “Chat” Stroh grew up in St. Louis but fell in love with the Lexington area when on vacation with her family. She attended Washington and Lee University, graduating in 1990 (the second class of women) with a degree in American History but a passion for archaeology. She worked as an archaeologist in the Delmarva Peninsula and moved West in 1993 where she met her husband, Dean, in a field camp in the middle of a desert in Nevada. Soon after their marriage in 1997, Chat and Dean moved back to Lexington where Chat worked as the Research Archaeologist at W&L. She “joined the Montessori family” when her son, Dylan, entered the toddler room in 1999. After the birth of her daughter, Gabrielle, in 2001, Chat left W&L to be a stay-at-home mom. Chat did a lot of volunteering at Montessori and when the toddler teacher decided to move, she urged Chat to take the Montessori Toddler training. Chat became the Toddler Lead teacher in August 2002 and received her Infant/Toddler Montessori Certification in June 2003. Chat loves being the toddler teacher and watching how much the toddlers grow and change while they are in the toddler room.
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 Eileen Head, Assistant Teacher, Toddler
Eileen has spent almost all of her life here in Lexington. She has a B.A. from Hollins University and her M.Ed from the University of Virginia. After spending many years teaching elementary students in a public school setting, she is excited about working with the children, parents, and staff at WCM. Although she loves spending time with her family and friends, and has many varied interests, her greatest passions in life are children and animals.
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 Farishte Irani, Lead Teacher, Primary I
Farishte Irani was born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. She holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Maryland. Farishte and her family moved to Virginia in the summer of 2010 from New Hampshire. There she worked for 8 years at Mont Blanc Montessori Academy in many capacities including Lead Primary Teacher, Elementary Teacher and Middle/High School Teacher. She is passionate about the Montessori Philosophy and truly believes every child is a natural learner.
Farishte lives here in Lexington with her husband, Afshad (Professor at W&L) and her two children Kaizad and Parizad.
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 Ann Sullivan,Assistant Teacher, Primary I
Ann Sullivan recently moved here to Lexington from Loudoun County, VA where she spent many happy years living on a farm, raising 6 beautiful daughters, home schooling, and working as a Teacher's Assistant for Special Ed for Loudoun County Public Schools. Since moving here, she was a full-time care giver to her father-in-law until his passing last October, helped her husband restore a home on Maury River Rd, and wrote, "Simply Sullystone", a cookbook filled with recipes and memories of life on the farm. She enjoyed a part-time position here at Woods Creek this summer and fell in love with the school and children. She is now the Primary I Teachers Assistant and has possible plans to get her degree to teach in the future.She feels so blessed to be here at Woods Creek because her passion is loving people, big and small!
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 Dawn Antigua, Lead Teacher, Primary II
A Colorado native, Dawn originally moved to Rockbridge County to attend Southern Virginia University where she studied Family and Child Development and Early Childhood Education. Following college, Dawn started at Woods Creek Montessori and began to fall in love with the Montessori philosophy. Dawn left us for a year to complete her M.A. in Educational Psychology (emphasis in Early Childhood Education) from the University of Colorado, following which she returned to WCM. In 2009 Dawn received her Montessori Credential from Northern Virginia Montessori Institute. Outside of the classroom Dawn enjoys dancing, yoga, reading, singing, and spending time with her husband Vladimir.
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 Carrie LaRose, Assistant Teacher, Primary II
Hello families. I am a second year assistant in the Primary 2 classroom. Joseph, my son, and I moved to Lexington last year from Williamsburg and have just loved getting to know this beautiful area. I finally finished building my house, Joseph and I are very excited to be moved in and raising our chickens! When I am not teaching, I love to knit, read and garden. I have recently started hiking and could not have asked for a more amazing area in which to start a new outdoor activity like that! I look forward to meeting all over our new families!
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 Brittany Gibbons, After School Staff
Brittany Gibbons Feinauer graduated from Parry McCluer High School in 2009 and is currently a junior at Southern Virginia University majoring in fine arts. She is also on the women’s tennis team at Southern Virginia and helps organize and teach tennis clinics for young children ages 2-10. In the Spring of 2010 she traveled to the Dominican Republic where she taught English to young orphan girls in Santo Domingo. Brittany loves working with children and seeing life through their wide open eyes. In the summer of 2010, she visited many different parts of Italy and then studied Impressionism art in France. Her travel experiences have deepened her passion for people and culture in general. She got married at the beginning of this summer and enjoyed working as a summer camp assistant at Woods Creek. She looks forward to working with the pre toddlers and toddlers in the after school program this fall.
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 Jessica Brotherson, After School Staff
Jessica Brotherson moved to Buena Vista when she was only four, and loves this area! She is currently completing her senior year at Parry McCluer High School, and will be attending college next fall. Jessica has so many interests, but a few of her most prominant ones are music, biology, and theatre. Jessica has worked the past four years as a councelor at Kid's University during the summer, and loves the knowledge and joy she gains from working with children. She was a sub at WCM last spring, and is pleased to be a full time afterschool teacher this year! |
 Amanda Nix, After School Staff
Hello all! I started working in Montessori after-school care in the Fall of 2011 and I absolutely love
it! My family and I moved from Radford to Lexington in 1999 when I was about 7 years old. I was
homeschooled up until I graduated from high school in 2010, and I am currently taking classes at Dabney
S. Lancaster. After this year, I hope to transfer to a 4-year school where I can major in psychology with
a minor in youth ministry. I’ve been involved in childcare for several years, and I am very excited about
working with Montessori! Outside of work, I enjoy babysitting, leading worship for my church’s youth
group, hanging out with friends, playing/listening to music, and writing. I can’t wait to get to know the
students of Montessori and their families this coming year! |
