Flourishing in the World

News, stories and profiles of Arbor Montessori graduates.

An Enduring Friendship

Kelli Gavant and Katie Wepfer entered the MCDC Toco Hills primary class, located in Beth Jacob Synagogue, in the fall of 1984. They were not yet 3 years old, the youngest children in the class. Arabelle Luckhardt, their teacher along with Barbara Lynch, said in their first conference reports that the girls had “a hugging relationship.” This began a lifelong friendship built on the shared experience of a Montessori environment where the freedom to interact, work through conflict, and understand oneself in relationship to others was modeled and protected.

After four years at the primary level, the girls entered the elementary at the new LaVista location of what was now Arbor Montessori School. They each had their own lower elementary class, Kelli in Jan Deason’s class and Katie in Ruth Reese’s. They were part of the group of fourth year students to join Jan Deason founding Arbor’s second upper elementary class and graduating with a then record breaking 24 sixth year students in 1994.

After Arbor, they attended the Paideia School together, but after only one year Kelli moved to Newnan, GA and the girls began a long distance friendship that has lasted for almost thirty years. During this time Katie and Kelli completed high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees, and entered their professional lives.

Katie graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2004. After five years as a design engineer in the Aviation division of General Electric, she went back to grad school to earn her MBA from the Sloan School at MIT. As a compliment to her life as a scientist, Katie has always followed her passion, dance. During her ten years in Boston, MA, Katie pursued ballroom dance competing as a professional Latin ballroom dancer. Upon graduation, Katie moved to Washington, DC, where she currently works for Microsoft.

Kelli completed her undergraduate degree at Mt. Holyoke majoring in American Studies and English. Her passion has always been writing, so after working as a reporter for The Montgomery County Sentinel, Kelli went back to school and earned a Masters in Journalism from The Medill School at Northwestern University. She then moved to Washington, DC where she served as an editor for the Thompson Publishing Group. After three years she decided to redirect her talents by going back to what gave her such joy in those early years, the Montessori classroom. In 2010 Kelli graduated with her Elementary Diploma from the Washington Montessori Institute. She is now the upper elementary teacher at Aidan Montessori in Washington, DC.

Both Kelli and Katie say their enduring friendship is rooted in their experience at Arbor in the Montessori environment. As Katie says, “I remember how much fun it was to go to school each day, in fact I was disappointed to have a day off. Arbor allowed me the freedom to choose among an unending variety of things to do all day. I left with a well-rounded education that prepared me to pursue excellence as both an engineer and a dancer. I am especially grateful for the life-long friendships that I have retained with classmates, teachers, and staff. It’s incredible to think that I would never have known my adopted sister, Kelli without Arbor.”

Kelli adds, “Arbor was an idyllic setting to learn, grow and develop. Montessori helped me discover the pleasure of learning and the ability to know myself. I am grateful to the wonderful teachers I had, particularly Jan Deason who nurtured me in her classroom for six years and continues to support me in my life's work. She made it look so easy, but I now know just how challenging—and joyous—it was! I also have so many fond memories of my time in Primary with Arabelle, Barbara and Miranda. Many of those remembrances came flooding back when I was doing my coursework to become a Montessori teacher. I am so thankful to Arbor for connecting me with Katie and the Wepfers, who are part of my extended family. I cannot remember a time when I did not know and love Katie.”

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