Why We Volunteer as Trustees:

Quite simply, we believe we are touching future generations in profound ways. Through our work with the school, we are helping young children develop a love of learning that will continue for the rest of their lives. We believe that by helping them establish a firm foundation in areas like academics, initiative, grace, courtesy and respect, they will become valuable additions to our society, making our world a better place to live for everyone.

In addition, serving on the Board strengthens our community. As with any volunteer opportunity, such an effort allows you to meet new people, learn new skills, and share your knowledge.

Composition of the Board:
Regular Board members with full voting privileges attend most scheduled meetings. Ideally we would like to have 9 regular members - including parents of students, alumni parents, and members of the community. We also welcome Members at Large- individuals usually invited to be part of the Board for a short period of time for a specific purpose, and Advisory Members-people with skills in a specific area who cannot meet the time requirements for the other types of membership. (Voting privileges for these latter groups are negotiable and depend on the reason for recruiting such a member.)

The Board has four officer positions (President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary) along with General Members.

Board of Trustees:

Monica Stephens is serving her third term on the board and second year as Treasurer; her oldest son attended Bryant Woods and she looks forward to her youngest son attending when he is of age. Monica comes from a family of teachers and strong adherents to the Montessori teaching methodology. Her professional experiences are varied: she has handled an array of accounting and finance duties, served as an operating room technician in the Air Force, and is currently operating a small consulting company. She has a Bachelors Degree in Businesses Administration and enrolled at UMUC for her Masters in Financial Management and Information Systems. Monica lives with her husband and two sons in Columbia, Maryland.

Anita Gottschalk, a Montessori Directress, has been a Trustee on the BWMCH Board since 2007. She has a BA in Sociology from the University of Maryland and attained her Montessori Teacher Credential in 1983. Along with her teaching experience at several Montessori schools in the Columbia area, she also home-schooled her three daughters, Laura, Alison and Mary, through elementary school. (Laura is a volunteer with Americorps in New Orleans, Alison is a Montessori teacher in Mexico, and Mary will be a junior at St. Mary's College this Fall.) Anita also teaches the music curriculum at a Montessori teacher training center in Maryland.

Her other passions include tutoring children in reading and language skills, sharing her love of music with children, swimming, and hopes to one day, write and publish children's stories. Anita and her husband, Paul, (who works for the Capital Police in Washington D.C.), have resided in Columbia for the past 23 years.

Angela Galarza, a Montessori teacher from Florida with 19 years teaching experience, is gladly switching professional roles and is now serving as the Executive Director for BWMCH. In addition to her experience in Montessori Education, Angela also holds a degree in Early Childhood Education/Child Care Center Management and is a certified Musicgarten music teacher for ages birth to five. Other positions Angela has held during her educational career have been: Music Teacher, Summer Program Coordinator, and Adult Education Instructor and Music Workshop Presenter for Summit Montessori Teacher Training Institute and South Florida Montessori Education Center. She also developed an Assistants Training Program, Character First Cheerleading Program and French Music yearlong program for the schools where she taught in Florida. Being a wife and mother, reading aloud to children, performing in local plays and singing in choirs are Angela’s longtime passions. Angela, her husband Santos and her two boys (4 and 10 years old) are happy to have made Columbia, MD their new home.

Jenny Hobbs is serving her first year as Board President after being the Board Secretary last year. She is a busy mother of three sons: her oldest, now in the Howard County public school system, is a former Bryant Woods student, her middle child is in his second year at the school and her youngest has begun his first year at the school. Jenny, her husband, and sons moved to Columbia from London in 2004. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and worked for 8 years with Cisco Systems in various technical roles, including as a Network Design Engineer. She is now fortunate enough to be at home with the children during the day, but she also finds time for her hobbies-learning to fly and cooking and gardening.

Erinn Mansour is a stay-at-home mother of three. Her oldest daughter just completed her first year at BWMCH, her son will start his first year this year, and she has an infant daughter. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with a second major in Russian language, from The Johns Hopkins University. After college, she worked as a legal assistant in the area of labor and employment litigation and then as a management consultant, specializing in change management, process change, and technical training. She worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers for the last three years of her career and left to start a family and obtain a master’s degree. Erinn has a Certificate in Intelligence Analysis and a Master’s degree in Public Policy, specifically International Security and Economic Policy, from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. She has been on the board of directors for her homeowners’ association for three years, first as Secretary, and now President. She attended Montessori school as a child and feels that it engendered both her love of learning and interest in public service. She hopes her change management, public policy, and community experience can be useful to the school. She also enjoys cooking, swimming, tennis and photography.

Bob Scharff joined the board in December 2007 and is an Alumni parent. His children, Miles and Joanie, both graduated from Bryant Woods in the past three years.

Radhika Joglekar joined the board in August 2008

Ajay Gupta joined the board in August 2008

Teresa Bauer joined the BWMCH Board during the 2006-2007 school year. She was born and raised in Spain. She came to the United States after graduating from college to pursue her dream of learning English and teaching. She began working as an assistant at a Montessori school in Atlanta. During her second year working at the school, she undertook the A.M.I. Montessori Training Course held at the Montessori Institute of Atlanta for children from 3 to 6 years of age. She graduated in 2001 and started her new career as a Montessori teacher, as well as a Spanish teacher using the Montessori philosophy. After working for 5 years in Atlanta, she and her husband, Andy moved to Ellicott City where she decided to devote all her time raising her children Alicia and Marc who currently attends the Bryant Woods Montessori Children’s House. Her favorite hobbies including teaching Spanish and Flamenco dance.

Michael Lucero joined the BWMCH Board of Trustees in December. Michael brings experience in helping non-profit organizations become financially secure through capital planning and strong fiscal discipline. Michael and his wife Cheryl are long-time advocates of the Montessori method--Cheryl's mother is a Montessori-trained educator. They have two boys: Michael Edward Jr. (Mikey) and Matthew Pierce. Mikey currently attends BWMCH's half-day program. In his professional life, Michael Sr. serves as an advisor to CIOs and CISOs for public and private sector organizations. Michael holds a Master of Science in Information Systems and Telecommunications from Johns Hopkins University (JHU), a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Maryland at College Park, and is completing an MBA through JHU's Carey School of Business. Michael is a guest lecturer at the JHU School of Medicine and a Project Management Mentor with the University of Maryland Incentive Awards Program.