About Bergamo Academy

Founded by Michael and Meredith Malak, seeking the best education for their own children, and with the goal of bringing an AMI school back to Denver for the first time in a decade. Bergamo Academy was incorporated in April, 2008, the first school year began September 2, 2008, received AMI Association in March, 2009, and AMI Recognition, the highest level of AMI accreditation, in August, 2009, less than a year after opening.

Bergamo Academy was named after a city in Italy where Dr. Montessori's son lived and founded the International Centre for Montessori Studies Foundation.

Staff

Meredith Head of School and Primary Guide	Meredith is not only a founder and the Head of School, she also is a guide (teacher) in one of the Primary (ages 2.5-6+) environments. She has a B.A. in German and completed her AMI Primary training at the Montessori Institute of San Diego under Dr. Silvia Dubovoy, a member since 1982 of the board of AMI headquartered in Amsterdam.
Jacquelyn Assistant Head of School and Toddler Guide	Jacquelyn did her Assistant to Infancy (ages 0-3 years) training under Judi Orion at The Montessori Institute (TMI), and she has a B.A. in Statistics from Rutgers. She has worked at a number of well-known Denver-area Montessori schools, and brings that wealth of experience and knowledge to Bergamo Academy. She continues to help out at TMI, reviewing student teachers' albums.
Cecily Toddler Guide	Cecily did her Assistant to Infancy (ages 0-3 years) training under Judi Orion at The Montessori Institute, and continues to assist student teachers there with material making and album reviews. She studied Special Education with a concentration in Early Childhood Education at Metropolitan State College of Denver. Having worked in Montessori, conventional, and Special Education early childhood programs since 1998, she was drawn back to Montessori by the individualized education provided to each child.
Erin Primary Guide	Erin did her Primary (ages 2.5-6+) training at Montessori Institute Northwest under Ginni Sackett, a renowned world-wide AMI Montessori lecturer and author of the forthcoming book, "Classroom Management: The Art of Normalization". Erin also has a Bachelors in Early Childhood Education from the University of Kansas. She moved to Colorado from her home state of Kansas in order to enjoy all that the mountains have to offer, and soon got a job at Mountain Shadows in Boulder, working her way up from assistant to being one of the most requested teachers. After a brief stint at a charter school after that, she is pleased to return to the AMI world. She loves to ski, hike, practice yoga, and travel. And she is passionate about the Montessori philosophy and loves the work she does with the children in the classroom.
Virginia Lower Elementary Guide	Virginia completed her Elementary (ages 6-12) training at the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee, has an M.Ed. from Loyola in Maryland and a B.A. in History from Marquette. She is currently attending the AMI Primary training over the summers, also at the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee..

History of AMI Assistants to Infancy

Although Dr. Maria Montessori opened the first Casa dei Bambini in 1907, she did not open a Montessori toddler environment until 1947. One of her students, Adele Costa Gnocchi, began training adults to be toddler guides the following year. Dr. Silvana Montanaro began training adults there at Rome Montessori in 1955, and is still teaching to this day. Dr. Montanaro has fleshed out the Montessori toddler program during her over half century career. Judi Orion was one of Dr. Montanaro's first U.S. students in the 1980's, and in 1994 founded The Montessori Institute (TMI) here in Denver (actually in the same building currently occupied by Bergamo Academy, so that Bergamo Academy was able to utilitze her classroom configurations). Judi Orion, still based in Denver, is the only U.S.-based AMI Assistants to Infancy Director of Training, and she also is called to train teachers around the world. Judi Orion and Dr. Silvana Montanaro, who is still based in Rome but also still comes to San Diego to teach, are the world's top two AMI Assistants to Infancy teacher trainers.

Bergamo Academy has no affiliation with TMI other than contracting for occasional consulting from TMI, but Bergamo Academy is pleased that its two toddler guides were trained by Judi at TMI and continue to help Judi out there.

Facility

See online brochure for photos of the school.