Two weeks changed the course of her life

"Montessori ... means patience, peace, freeing the child and freeing the child that we all have within."

Dania Ortiz is the mother of a boy and a girl, Sebastian and Darianis, who study at the Montessori Antonio Paoli school in Vega Alta. 

In 2015, the first atmosphere of the Children's House, Ambiente Girasol , was born in the Antonio Paoli with the guide Julie Figueroa. Among the 28 families that gave Montessori the opportunity at that time was Dania's. 

Before saying yes to Montessori education for her son Sebastian, Dania searched for information. Among the things that led her to make the decision to enroll it was the development of independence in the boys and girls. 

Sebastian started first. Then his sister joined at just 3 years old. Dania talks about the advantage of being able to enroll them at that age.  

At that time she was working as a medical secretary, a profession she had been practicing for 16 years. In September 2015, he donated his two weeks vacation to the school and assisted Julie in the environment.  

Those two weeks in the environment led her to reconnect with her youth vocation: to be a teacher. '' This is what I want. This is not the education that I got, of sitting there and everyone learning the same. This is what I want to teach, what I want my children to have and leave to the world. A quality education, '' Dania told her husband.

With this determination and security, Dania left her job and became the assistant in the sunflower environment of Antonio Paoli. At that time this was the only Montessori environment at the school. The success of this environment raised a lot of interest and enthusiasm in the school. The school then invites Dania to be a Montessori guide. 

Dania accepts this new challenge and completes both her university studies in K-3 education and the Casa de Niños Montessori guide training course at the New School Institute (INE). 

For her, this Montessori philosophy has contributed a lot to her person, to her life and above all it has helped her to understand her children and serve them well. Montessori has become a way of living at home. 

Today Dania is the guide for Ambiente Margarita , which serves 23 families from the Antonio Paoli school in Vega Alta. Dania is one of the many faces that the Montessorian school transformation has experienced and she firmly believes that education is capable of transforming a family, a community, a country.