Leonard Presberg
Headmaster & Middle School Teacher
leonard@hillcountrymontessori.org
Leonard Presberg, originally from Rochester, New York, received his B.A. from Oberlin College in 1989. At Oberlin, he was President of the Oberlin Student Co-operative Association, where he learned how to run a non-profit organization and facilitate group decision-making. He then worked as a computer programmer and technical writer in the Philadelphia area while his wife Elizabeth attended medical school. After her graduation, they moved to Richmond, Virginia, where Leonard attended the University of Richmond Law School on a full scholarship. Upon graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1996, Leonard worked as a Judicial Clerk for a year. Elizabeth and Leonard then decided to return to Elizabeth's childhood home so she could join her father in medical practice. Following several years as an attorney, Leonard felt the need to do something that contributed more towards society. He was drawn into the Montessori philosophy through his daughter and then attended an AMI Primary Training course in Atlanta. After receiving his teaching certificate in 2001, Leonard was a lead teacher in a primary classroom for three years before embarking on his current adventure: to build a great place for children to spend their day.
Clifford Blizard, PhD
Director of Place-Based
Education
clifford@hillcountrymontessori.org
Dr. Clifford Blizard grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, spending his childhood wandering along stream banks in the woods behind his house. After eighteen years in an area becoming overdeveloped with golf courses and shopping malls, he fled west, to Minnesota. There, among the fields and woodlands of the southeastern part of the state at Carleton College, he obtained a BA in Geology in 1992 followed by an MS in geology at Colorado State University. He then returned to the northeastern US, first as an environmental consultant on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and then as a Ph.D. student in Geology at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
Through one of his classes for his minor in education, Clifford visited the Elizabeth Ann Clune (EAC) Montessori School of Ithaca, and shortly thereafter began his new career as a Montessori teacher. Clifford taught at the EAC Montessori School of Ithaca for five years working with students from Primary through Middle School. While in Ithaca, he also became involved with several local organizations, including serving as president of a nonprofit organization supporting local volunteer surface water monitoring efforts as president of the Town of Ithaca Conservation Board.
Feeling the pull of an uncompleted Ph.D., Clifford returned to graduate school in 2002, attending the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, NY. There, he conducted research in environmental education, exploring how cultural and natural history stories (true accounts about the forest's former human inhabitants, its geology, and its ecology) might effect 4th and 5th grade students' senses of place. He received a Ph.D. in August, 2005. Clifford and his wife Valerie relocated to the Chattahoochee Hill Country in June of 2006.
Mary Brandner
Primary Assistant
mary5inall@gmail.com
Mary Brandner, originally from Indiana, has lived in Georgia for 13 thirteen years. She has five children, one husband and a dog. She has been a classroom assistant for ten years and loves watching the children master their work. She is a devoted member of the local Catholic community and has served as a sacramental prep teacher for the past ten years. She's an avid swimmer who coaches the Heritage School swim team and teaches swimming during school breaks. Mary is also a master multi-tasker and the mother of five.
Jennifer Dorrell
Elementary Teacher
jen@hillcountrymontessori.org
Jennifer Dorrell was born in Toledo, Ohio in a year not to be named. She grew up in a big Irish-Catholic family, was taught by nuns (lovely people who don't deserve the bad reputation), and went on to an institute of higher learning, graduating with a BS in mechanical engineering. She moved to Michigan where she met the fabulous Mr. Dorrell while performing in community theatre. A job transfer brought her family to Newnan in 1997. In 1999, she left the corporate world for the much more relaxed atmosphere of education, completely stumbled onto a job in a Montessori school, found her calling and has been at it ever since.
In her copious spare time, she does theatre stuff locally, volunteers with various organizations, occasionally tap dances, and is mom to three, count 'em three, teenagers - Elizabeth, 17, Ellen, 15, and William, 14.
Jodi Henderson
Art
jodi@hillcountrymontessori.org
Jodi Henderson grew up in Rome, Georgia, at the confluence of three rivers and among the rolling hills that begin the foothills of the north Georgia mountains. Her family spent its summers camping and exploring the Smoky Mountains and every historical marker from north Florida to southern Montana. Because Jodi always longed for the beach (“like all my friends”), she and her mountain-loving father, find it funny that now she’s returned to that first home of the woods and the river – just a little further south.
Jodi left Rome to pursue a BA & MA in Psychology at the University of West Georgia where the focus is on the study of people through the lens of potential and actualization rather than illness or deficiency.
After spending many years working in psychology, primarily with children and adolescents, in settings from outdoor wilderness camp to school to emergency rooms to private practice, Jodi followed her oldest daughter into Montessori. A long-time fan of Montessori Primary, she had the chance to explore an elementary community during Journey and Discovery and she was hooked. She did her 9-12 training at CMTE-NY that year.
During her five years teaching elementary, Jodi also taught children’s art and pottery classes in a variety of settings – classrooms to summer camps. She has found that her passion is combining a lifelong love of art with her love for Montessori education.
Jodi lives in Newnan with her husband, Paul, 3 beautiful daughters, and 2 loveable German Shepherds. In her spare time, Jodi is a volunteer for an equine therapy program, Rachel’s Wish Foundation. She is also a potter, an avid reader and a budding gardener.
Jonah McDonald
Wilderness
jonah@surefootadventures.com
Jonah McDonald grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, where he learned his love of the south, barbeque, and the blues. Upon graduating from college with a BA in history and religion, he decided to embark on a pilgrimage--hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. After six months and 2,172 miles on foot, Jonah completed the Trail and settled in Atlanta and became a Montessori middle and high school history teacher. He soon developed an integrated wilderness program at his school, teaching wilderness skills and leading day hikes and backpacking trips for teens. After five years of teaching, Jonah decided to set out on his own, starting Sure Foot Adventures, a wilderness and adventure travel company. He now helps schools around Atlanta develop their own wilderness programs and leads trips with all ages.
Jonah is trained as a Wilderness First Responder and is certified in Wilderness First Aid and Professional CPR. Since the Appalachian Trail, he has gone on many adventures, including two multi-week trekking expeditions in the Alaskan Arctic, bicycling the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain, and hiking the Colorado Trail, the Bartram Trail, and the Benton MacKaye Trail.
Jonah is also a professional storyteller, a member of the Southern Order of Storytellers. He loves throwing boomerangs, reading, and bicycling. Together with his wife, Dana, he raises chickens in his backyard and exults in nature, exercise, and playing basketball.
Lisa Miles
Primary Teacher
lisa@hillcountrymontessori.org
Lisa Miles made her way to Georgia via Jackson, Mississippi. Growing up, the house was full of maps and history lessons. Along the way, this early love of geography and understanding how you can affect your environment and how it effects you, led to a BA from the University of Alabama in Geographic Techniques. While President of the University’s Geographical Society, she spent part of a summer participating in an archeological dig on the banks of the Black Warrior River. As a member of the Delta Zeta sorority, she worked with the SGA and volunteered with the Arthritis Foundation.
After marrying her husband John in 1991, she worked with the cities of Mobile and Marietta before becoming a mom. At the suggestion of a friend, she enrolled her son Paul in a Montessori school. His love of school and the things he brought home intrigued Lisa. She began to substitute teach in the fall of 1999. The next year, she became a teacher in the Infant and Toddler program. Further study of the Montessori approach led to Lisa completing her AMI Primary training in 1995. She then started a new Primary community at Carolyn Barron Montessori School experiencing many “Ah-hah” moments with these children over the last several years.
Lisa lives in North Coweta County with her husband, John, two children, Paul and Madeline, and assorted cats, dogs and other pets. The family attends Central Baptist Church in Newnan, where Lisa is a member of the handbell choir. They are active in community activities and the Coweta County Soccer Association. Lisa is a sustaining member of the Newnan Junior Service League. Lisa, along with the rest of the family, is enjoying renovating a rustic cabin and spending time outdoors on the Little Tallapoosa River near Wedowee, Alabama.
Rachael Shaw
Music
Rachael Shaw has a M.A. in Speech/Theatre and a B.A. in music. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University in 2004 and has been working in music ever since. Rachael created and has led the music program at Carolyn Barron Montessori School for the past three years and has grown a special bond and friendship with the students there. She teaches private voice & piano lessons every week to eager students as well as a parent/ child movement and music class with Tiny Tunes Music Time. During the summer, she directs music & drama camps where she teaches students of all ages how to dance, sing, act, write scripts, and learn lines. With her free time she sings on the vocal team at her church, and she performs in musicals at community and professional theaters.
Kelly Whisenhunt
Elementary Teacher
kelly@hillcountrymontessori.org
Kelly Whisenhunt lives in Newnan with her wonderfully supportive husband, Wesley, and two energetic children, Stella and Crosby. Currently, they have two Chihuahuas, Carlos and Rita and a fish, Anthony.
Kelly attended The Heritage School in Newnan and then continued her education in Auburn, Alabama at Auburn University. She graduated in 1997 with a BFA in Theatre Performance. She moved after college to work in Boone, North Carolina, then returned to Atlanta for a couple of years and finally returned to Newnan. Once Wesley and Kelly began to settle into marriage and life together, she started to look for a more permanent job in Newnan.
A friend introduced her to Carolyn Barron Montessori School and something incredible jumped inside her. Kelly just knew that Montessori was the most logical, fun and basically best way to educate children. She began as a primary assistant and then received her lower elementary and primary training from North American Montessori Training Center. She is currently enrolled in the birth to three training as well.
Kelly’s family attends Community Christian Church in Sharpsburg where she is a member of the drama team and Wesley is serving on the tech team.