Interview with Westmont Montessori School PARENT, Tricia Lang
Tricia, a current parent at Westmont Montessori School, shared her perspective on the school's supportive community, emphasis on independent learning, and strong academic program. She highlighted how her son thrived both academically and socially, appreciating the passionate teachers, beautiful campus, and the school's focus on fostering lifelong learning and personal growth.
Highlights from the interview
We love the idea that students were able to follow their own interests and passions at their own pace. We visited Westmont during an open house twelve years ago, and we learned about the small classroom sizes, the low student-to-teacher ratios, and we were drawn by some of the energy and passion of the staff that we met there.
My son began Westmont thriving academically and socially right from the get-go. He was a really strong student, a strong reader. I love that he was encouraged to work at his own pace and read well beyond his age level for reading, which instilled in him a real passion for reading, which I very much appreciate. He experienced some troubles regulating his emotions in his upper elementary years, and the school was really quick to respond with tools and classes to help regulate his emotions, including art therapy, which were incredibly useful tools that helped get us through those challenges.
The location of Westmont backing onto Witty's Lagoon was a huge appeal. We were drawn to the beauty of the campus. That was the first thing that we noticed.
The school offers them so much independence and a great deal of respect. Those students have the opportunity to learn on their own terms who they are, how they choose to be valued rather than being told what's expected of them and told who they're supposed to be. It was great for them to feel supported and have a voice within that community. It also gave them the confidence and a certain bravery to know who they were outside of the school environment.
One of the things my son loves about Westmont, particularly at the high school level, is the idea of working on passion projects. It's an opportunity for students to take anything under the sun that is of interest to them and work through it with everything they've got during that term. They recently had a mock legal trial where my son was the defense for a comic book character, and it was the entire high school that was involved in it. My son was very excited and passionate and researched for months on this trial.
The other thing that I think my son is most appreciative of is his community at the school. The group is fairly small in the high school, but they're very close. He has great friendships that he's developed in his time at Westmont, and he's offered a great deal of respect and support from the students and the teachers.
I'm so grateful to the teachers at Westmont, teachers that are not only passionate about teaching and learning themselves, but also taking the time over the years to get to know my child, to understand who he is, what makes him tick, and what he's passionate about.
I'm also grateful for the academically challenging program at Westmont, not just in a way that's going to feed a great report card for schools, but it's a program that really instills a love of learning and curiosity for learning. I see it in everything my son does. No matter what his latest interest is, he needs to pursue it completely and entirely to really understand it. I think that's a lifelong love of learning that he'll always have, not just grades on a report card.
Our experience with teachers and administrators has changed a lot over 12 years, but the one thing that's been consistent throughout is an open dialogue with our teachers. If we contacted them for any reason, they would always make time for us, whether that was about school subjects or beyond. Accessibility and communication have always been consistent throughout.
If I had to choose three reasons for recommending Westmont to another family, it ties back to those things that we find such value in Westmont. Your child will be valued at this school. They will be respected as part of a community. They'll be heard, they'll have a voice, and they'll understand how important they are to the community that they're a part of. Academic excellence and not just excellence—your child is going to learn to love to learn. The teachers will do everything that they can, and the community will do everything that they can to engage your child into really being passionate about learning, not just getting A's for working hard.
