At Wildflower, we embrace the idea that “it takes a community to build a school.” This community includes the founding team of Teacher Leaders and stakeholders like parents, students, fellow Wildflower teachers, community members, and fundraisers. In June, Wildflower partners Daniela Vasan and Sunny Greenberg had the opportunity to spend a day with Liz Ross of The Overdeck Family Foundation, exploring distinct local partnerships and school design projects across New Jersey – from open schools like Sea Lavender and Dahlia Montessori to deep conversations with Emerging Teacher Leaders Adassa Brutus, April Davis, Caitlin McGrath, and Deja Jones about the schools they are bringing to life.
Overdeck Family Foundation was an early investor in the growth of Wildflower schools in New Jersey. Their general operating support helped provide startup grants and supported Wildflower’s focus on increasing access for Black, Indigenous, and Teachers of Color to attend Montessori training and lead Wildflower schools in New Jersey.
The day started at Sea Lavender, a dynamic elementary school in Belmar, NJ where Teacher Leaders Nicole Bacak, Shanel Ingram, and assistant Will Happel hosted Liz, Daniela, and Sunny to observe the morning work cycle. Shanel led the children in a building competition: Who could build the tallest spaghetti tower that would hold a marshmallow? Students worked in teams designing their towers and solving the challenge of making them tall and strong enough to hold the weight. All the groups shared a sense of collaboration, purpose, and a desire to continue building and improving their towers. Daniela, Liz, and Sunny also found themselves invested in each group’s success.
Next, Liz met with aspiring Teacher Leaders, who reflected on the successes and the challenges of starting their schools. Deja, the founder of Honeypot, shared her journey of finding a space at Rutgers University-Newark for her nature-based lab school opening this fall. April and Caitlin were inspired by Deja’s story as they dream of opening Amaryllis, a possible lab school in central New Jersey. Adassa also shared her entrepreneurial journey to create Birds of Paradise Montessori, a school she plans to open in East Orange in 2025 where children have agency and voice. She had researched many models but found her purpose in Wildflower Schools.
Teachers rarely get the chance to engage in meaningful, personal conversations with philanthropic funders. Hearing about Overdeck Family Foundation’s priorities and approach to education investments added a new dimension to the conversation. Liz shared details on the Foundation’s commitment to improving academic and social-emotional outcomes for all children and offered advice on how to cultivate new stakeholders.
The day ended with a visit to Dahlia Montessori School, a Spanish immersion program in Allenhurst. The children, ages 3-6, worked with purpose and pride, eagerly sharing their work with each other and the observers. They had a quiet confidence nurtured by the founding teacher Renée Ibáñez and her partner, Katie Blunden.
Wildflower’s mission to open and support child-centered, accessible schools relies on community collaborations. Our day in New Jersey highlighted how each new school relies on the advice they receive from other school founders, the community resources they leverage from universities to neighborhood gardens, and the commitment and energy of local funders.
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