classroom nido (infant)
Kinnari Pandya
Ms. Kinnari Pandya is the Lead Teacher for the Infant Nido and is from Ahmadabad, India. She attended a Montessori school in her early childhood and studied Advanced Accounting and Criminal Law at Gujarat University. After settling in Arizona with her husband, Ms. Kinnari fulfilled her American Red Cross Nurses Training. An Assistant Teacher in the Infant Nido since 2004, Ms. Kinnari earned her North American Montessori Center Training Certificate for 0–3 years and became the Lead Teacher in 2007. She has two children: a son in high school and a daughter who was recently married.
classroom 1 (primary)
Pamela Narcy
Ms. Pamela Narcy is the Co-Lead Teacher for Classroom 1 and has been a Phoenix resident for over twenty years. She attended the Center for Montessori Education in New York and completed her Montessori Training at Ottawa University. Ms. Pam is certified in Primary 3–6 and Spalding. She was an Assistant Teacher for two years and has been a Lead Teacher since 2003 at DGM.
Katie Edgecombe
Ms. Katie Edgecombe is the Co-Lead Teacher for Classroom 1 and is from Chugiak, Alaska. Ms. Katie has a BA in Humanities and French which she earned from Northern Arizona University. While attending NAU, she had the opportunity to spend her junior year abroad in Paris, while also working as a nanny. After being exposed to the Montessori Philosophy, she began her 3–6 Montessori Training and received her AMS certification in May of 2011. Ms. Katie enjoys being outside with her dog Rex, but misses the cool Alaskan breeze. However, she does not miss the snow!
classroom 2 (primary)
Adrienne Alexander
Ms. Adrienne Alexander is the Lead Teacher for Classroom 2. As a child she lived in Saudi Arabia and New York before her family came home to their roots in Arizona. Ms. Adrienne received her B.A. in Psychology from Arizona State University the same year she was lucky enough to discover Desert Garden Montessori. She has since fallen in love with and developed a profound respect for the Montessori Method, earning her AMS Early Childhood 3–6 Certificate through South Mountain Community College in 2010. She has a wonderful family, including her husband (who was a Montessori child himself), one year old son Theodore, and Jack Russell Terrier. Ms. Adrienne enjoys teaching her son Theo yoga, researching the wonders of the world on Wikipedia and watching documentaries with her husband.
classroom 3 (toddler)
Hillary Stewart
Ms. Hillary Stewart is our new Lead Teacher for Classroom 3. Ms. Hillary has been a member of the Desert Garden Community for 13 years and has had the opportunity to work in all of our programs. She was an assistant in primary for 8 years and most recently was a valuable assistant in our Toddler community. Ms. Hillary is currently taking her training through CMTE and is one of few to be trained by Virginia Vaga, a world renown Montessorian and the creator of the infant/toddler program her in the U.S. Ms. Hillary has three children, ages 8,7 and 1, who have all attended Desert Garden.
classroom 4 (toddler)
Maria Gamez
Ms. Maria Gamez is the Lead Teacher for Classroom 4 and is originally from Mexico. She has lived in Phoenix for over 15 years. Ms. Maria discovered her love for education working as a nanny and joined DGM as an Assistant Teacher 8 years ago. She earned her Montessori Certification for 0–3 years in 2007 and has experience in the Infant Nido and in both Toddler classrooms. Ms. Maria is bilingual and is one of the instructors for the Spanish Curriculum.
classroom 5 (music)
Dawn Corso
Ms. Dawn Corso is a specialist in the fine arts and cultural studies. She has been a fine arts teacher at DGM since 2009. Her goal is to situate the arts in their cultural contexts in order for children to better understand our brothers and sisters around the world, while also providing skills instruction for students to further pursue the arts in depth. Ms. Dawn holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Illinois in which her research focused on how African-American children learn music and dance from one another outside school environments. She’s a K-12 Arizona certified teacher who has taught and acted as a principal in public and private schools, most recently serving as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Arizona. She enjoys making music, dancing, traveling, reading, and learning about humanitarian issues. Her favorite pasttime, though, is spending time with her two beautiful children, two silly dogs, Monk and Mingus, and wonderful husband of 12 years, Jeremy.
classroom 6 (primary)
Jorganne Forbes
Ms. Jorganne Forbes is the Lead Teacher for Classroom 6 and is originally from Minnesota. She attended the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies for four years and earned her Montessori Training Certificate for Primary 3–6. Ms. Jorganne joined DGM over 10 years ago as a Lead Teacher. She has three daughters, and her youngest, Olivia, is currently attending the Lower Elementary Program.