LEAD TODDLER GUIDE:
Jane joined the Hillside Community as a parent in the Fall of 2023. After witnessing the positive impact Montessori Education had on her son (and their whole family!) she decided to learn more and do more within the community by enrolling in the Infant/Toddler Teacher Training program through the Montessori Teacher Education Institute in Atlanta. In the fall of 2024 she became the Lead Toddler Guide for the newly created 2nd Toddler room. Jane holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Horticulture that she used primarily for native plant habitat restoration for nearly a decade in Georgia, California, and Illinois for various organizations including Callaway Gardens, Chicago Botanic Gardens, and Sierra Streams Institute of Nevada County, CA. Her interests took a drastic turn when she found the field of Speech Language Pathology and went back to school to earn her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Disorders and then on to earn a Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology. She worked in Chicago Public Schools with pre-k to elementary aged children while working part-time with adults in acute care and rehab at a local hospital. She transitioned to working with adults full time in both acute care and rehabilitation in the hospital setting until May of 2020 when she, her husband, and son moved from Chicago, Illinois to Pine Mountain, Georgia. Jane has a passion for developing language in children and rehabilitating the language abilities of adults believing that the gift of communication is one of the most essential things in life. She values being able to connect the children she works with to the natural world that surrounds them and enjoys guiding them and communicating with them the importance and wonder of nature. In her free time she enjoys teaching cycling classes at the YMCA in Columbus, GA, birding with her husband and their son, and kayaking.
