The Team

Karey M. Lontz, M.A., Association Montessori International (AMI) Trainer for Assistants to Infancy, holds AMI diplomas for the 0-3 and 3-6 levels. Karey has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia, a master’s in education from Loyola College and AMI Teacher Trainer credentials. She has been working in the Montessori community since 1998.

Karey’s Montessori experience began as a child when she was a Montessori student and has extended into her adult life with teaching, administration, training and consultation. She has worked nationally and internationally with teachers, assistant, parents, and administration offering trainings, workshops and evaluations. Karey is a member of the AMI/USA Consultation Committee, is an AMI Examiner and Trainer Mentor, and is a local volunteer at the Elementary level. Karey resides in Denver, Colorado where she lives with her husband Tom and dog Mary.

Alejandra Rosas is the Director of Training for the 0-3 level at the Montessori Stoppani Institute in Tijuana, México and Los Angeles, CA. Alejandra has been part of the Montessori Community for over 25 years. She holds AMI 0-3 and 3-6 diplomas and has worked at both levels, serving countless young children and their families as they navigate their children’s development. Alejandra also holds a degree in Puericulture and Early Childhood Education and a master’s in education.

Alejandra is a member of the AMI Scientific Pedagogy Group and works internationally offering 0-3 courses and workshops for teachers, parents, and school administrators. In addition, she serves as an examiner, and consultant for AMI. Alejandra enjoys traveling and having new experiences with her loving family.

Janet McDonell became Director of Primary Training at the Washington Montessori Institute in 1996. In addition to her Primary diploma, she also holds AMI diplomas at the Elementary level and for Montessori Special Education. She has over 20 years teaching and administrative work in Montessori schools throughout the U.S. with children of widely varied backgrounds.

In addition, Janet is a past Director of Consultation and Coaching at AMI/USA and also served as a board member of AMI/USA for 6 years. Janet was the Head of the AMI Training Group for 10 years. Currently, Janet is a member of AMI/USA’s Consultation Committee.

Molly O’Shaughnessy is an accomplished AMI trainer, consultant, and lecturer. She has led the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota (MCM) for 25 years of expansion, growing a teacher training center into a movement to bring high-quality Montessori education to hundreds of underserved children.

A noted authority in the field of Montessori training, she served on the board of the Association of Montessori Internationale in Amsterdam, was a long-time member of the AMI Trainers Group, chairs the board of the MM75 fund, which assists future AMI teacher trainers, and was a member of the Montessori Leaders Collaborative. She is in demand as a speaker nationally and internationally and has presented keynotes and workshops across the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico, China, India, Japan and Europe. She has consulted on several Montessori projects nationally and internationally.   She has a master’s in education from Loyola University in Maryland and a bachelor’s from the College of St. Scholastica.  She serves as Community Faculty for Metropolitan State University and served as an adjunct faculty for St. Catherine University for several years.

Jennifer Shields has been an Association Montessori Internationale  primary teacher-trainer since 2010. Jennifer is also a lecturer, examiner, and consultant. She taught primary children for over ten years and now serves as a Director of Primary Training at the Washington Montessori Institute.

Jennifer earned her 3-6 Primary AMI diploma in 1992. Twenty years later, she earned her 0-3 Assistants to Infancy diploma. Jennifer holds a BA in English from Georgetown University, where she graduated summa cum laude. She earned an M.Ed. from Cleveland State University.

Jennifer has trained teachers at WMI, nationally, and internationally. Jennifer joined the Board of AMI in spring of 2019. Jennifer delights in the adventures of her three young adult children who all “grew up Montessori.” She loves to eat vegetarian food, thrift shop, and to hike with her husband and their dog, Niblet.

Allyn S. Travis has a bachelor’s degree in English from Michigan State University and a master’s degree in education from Loyola College of Baltimore. She also holds both Primary and Elementary Diplomas from the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and has fifty years of experience in Montessori teaching both children and adults.

Mrs. Travis is an AMI Elementary Teacher-Trainer, lecturer, examiner and school consultant. She helped establish and ran the Montessori Institute of Milwaukee for 29 years. She also ran training courses for 6 to 12 teachers in Portland, OR, Hangzhou, China, Washington, D.C. and Sydney, Australia.

Mrs. Travis was a member of the AMI Training Group for six years and is a past chair of the AMI-USA board of directors. Currently she is a Pedagogical Advisor for the Elementary Alumni Association (EAA) and Chair of the Consultation Committee for AMI/USA.  She consults schools, lectures and gives workshops around the world.

Virginia Viscovic holds diplomas at both the AMI Primary and Elementary levels, is Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Levels I and II trained and is a Montessori coach. She is a consultant at the Elementary level and serves as a member of the Consultation Committee for AMI/USA. Virginia has a B.A. in Anthropology and an M.A. in Education/Child and Family Studies from SUNY Stony Brook in New York. She is both a national and external examiner for AMI.

Virginia has a wide range of school experience across her more than twenty-five years in the classroom, including with corporate, private, and public school programs. While Virginia has served in school administration, as well as on the boards of Montessori schools, she is most passionate about supporting children and the adults who serve them (in training and after).

Laurie Ewert-Krocker (she/her) is the Director of Training for the International Montessori Training Institute of Ohio in the US and the 12-18 trainer for the AMI 12-18 Diploma Course through the Sydney Montessori Training Centre in Australia.

Laurie was founding head teacher of the Hershey Montessori Adolescent Community in Huntsburg, Ohio. She spent 28 years as an elementary guide, adolescent guide, Language Arts specialist, Middle School and Upper School Program Director, and Pedagogical Consultant. Laurie holds AMI diplomas at the 3-6 and 6-12 levels, and a BA and MA in English.