Liza Davis, Head of School

Liza earned her AMI Primary diploma from the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota in 2001 and earned her Bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College. She has worked at Montessori schools for the past 10 years. In addition to starting a new Children’s House, Liza has also served on the board of directors and contributed to committees such as long-range planning, development and marketing. Most recently, Liza helped found a new Montessori school in Germany and guided the vision of the school as head of pedagogy.

Xong Her, Administrative Assistant

Parent/ Infant Community

Emily Shubitz, Parent-Infant Guide

Emily holds a Bachelor Degree of Science in Sociology with an emphasis on Human Relations and Cultural Anthropology from Portland State University, Portland, Oregon along with a Master’s Degree in Education from Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland. In addition she possesses the Association Montessori International (AMI) Primary Diploma (3- 6 year old children) and Assistant to Infancy Diploma (birth- 3 years old children). She lives in Saint Paul with her husband, Tim, and their daughter, Olive.

Toddler Community

Mary Santleman, Toddler Guide

Mary graduated with a B.S. in Elementary Education/Special Education and began her teaching career as a public school Special Education teacher. She attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota for certification to work with deaf and hearing-impaired children. She also worked as a sign language interpreter for the City of Minneapolis. After receiving her AMI Primary diploma from the MTCM, she worked at White Bear Montessori School and Lake Country School.

Mary earned her AMI Assistants to Infancy diploma from the Montessori Institute of Denver and a master’s in Education from Loyola College in Maryland. She founded Oak Hill Montessori’s Infant and Toddler Communities. Mary enjoys traveling, volunteering, walking and reading. She treasures times with friends and family, her husband, two teenage daughters and her Cavalier King Charles dog.

Laurie Pittman, Toddler Guide

Laurie received her AMI Primary diploma from the MTCM in 1995 and began her teaching career as a Children’s House Assistant at White Bear Montessori School. She moved to the Toddler Community and then obtained her AMI Assistants to Infancy diploma from the Montessori Institute of Denver. Laurie is a certified birth doula through Doulas of North America International. She is a volunteer birth doula for Woodwinds Health Campus in Woodbury. She is also a member of Lions Club International. Laurie enjoys spending time with her adult sons, family and friends, as well as reading, dancing and playing tennis.

Patty Scofield, Toddler Assistant and Native Spanish Speaker

Patty moved to the United States from Mexico two years ago. Before joining the Cornerstone staff, she worked as an accountant. Patty took the Assistants Course at MTCM in June 2009. She loves working with the toddlers and speaking Spanish with them. She lives in St Paul Park.

Children’s House One

Dagmar Hoebertz, Children’s House Guide

Originally from a small town in the western part of Germany, Dagmar earned her master’s degree in Elementary Education at the University of Cologne and taught as an elementary teacher in Germany. Due to her husband’s work the family moved to Minnesota in 2003 and enrolled their three boys in a local AMI- accredited Montessori school. Dagmar entered into Montessori education through a parent perspective; her growing enthusiasm for this educational method not only influenced the family’s decision to stay in the U.S. but also led her to take the Primary Training at the MTCM in 2006/07. She worked as an Assistant at White Bear Montessori School, and gained experience in childhood education through her work at the Germanic American Institute in St. Paul, through volunteer activities at the Jeremiah Program in St. Paul and as a parent volunteer at Oak Hill Montessori School. Dagmar and her husband, Manfred, live in Lino Lakes with their three sons, who attend Oak Hill Montessori School.

Sara Papacek, Children’s House Assistant

Sara grew up in a small rural farming community in north-central North Dakota. She attended college at North Dakota State University and majored in psychology and early childhood development. While attending NDSU, Sara started working at a Montessori school, where she worked in a Toddler Community and Children’s House environment. After relocating to St. Paul, Sara worked for several years at Lake Country School at the Children’s House level and has most recently completed her AMI Primary training at the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota in May of 2009.  Sara and her husband Jay live in Minneapolis with their cat Louis.  She enjoys traveling and learning about new cultures as well as going home and spending time in her father’s fields photographing wildlife.

Monica Loughrey, Children’s House Assistant  and Native Spanish Speaker

Monica is from from Bogota, Colombia and has a bachelor’s degree in law with specialization in family law. While in Bogota, she worked as a child protector for several years. As a result of that amazing experience, she had the opportunity to be around children and know their world much better. At the same time, she also worked as a private English Teacher for children and adults for five years. When she arrived in the U.S one and a half years ago, she started working as a volunteer at the Adams Spanish Immersion School and also at the Head Start Preschool. Those fabulous experiences showed her the importance of early childhood education.

Children’s House Two

Liv Christensen, Children’s House Guide

Liv grew up on the St. Croix river in Scandia, MN.  She spent some time out of state in Portland, Oregon where she received her BA in studio arts from Lewis and Clark College.  Her moment of realization that she wanted to teach occurred while attending a TEFL certification course in Thailand.  Upon her return from southeast asia, she immediately enrolled at the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota and the Masters in Education program through Loyola College.  She completed her training and MEd three years ago and has spent the last few years guiding and learning!  She now lives in Minneapolis with her husband, dog, and cat.  Together (minus the cat) they love returning to the St. Croix and spending long days kayaking and laying in the sun.  Traveling has been an important part of Liv’s life, from an early age her parents took her to many different parts of the United States and countries. Liv continues to explore the world and hopes to share that same love and appreciation for other cultures with the children.

Kristen Campbell, Children’s House Assistant

Born outside Chicago, Kristen Campbell grew up in Wisconsin, where she explored the woods, played the piano for her Gershwin-loving dog and listened to her grandmother’s stories. At Northwestern University, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism; she also holds a master’s degree in theological studies. For more than a decade she worked as a religion reporter and columnist at the Mobile Press-Register, where she received local, state and national recognition for coverage of news, ethics and trends in religion and spirituality. In 2008, she visited Cornerstone Montessori School and was inspired by the joy, dignity and respect she found there. She completed her AMI Primary training at the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota in 2010 and is delighted to have the opportunity not only to share her grandmother’s tales with the children at Cornerstone, but to help them discover their own stories.

Soly Samaniego, Children’s House Assistant and Native Spanish Speaker

Soly was born in Ecuador but moved to Italy as a child. She completed her education in Italy studying travel and tourism. Shortly thereafter she moved to USA to visit family and then relocated to Minnesota where she met her husband. She decided to continue her education and completed the ESL program at the U of M. While attending the University, she worked as an instructor teaching Italian to children and tutoring students in Spanish. She really enjoys working with children which is why this school is a wonderful fit. In her free time she likes to travel and spend time with family and friends.

Meriel Koskar, Floating Assistant for Children’s House and Toddler

Meriel has a B.A. from the University of Minnesota; her major was English and she has minors in Finnish and classical Greek.  She also has a certificate for Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Hamline University.  She spent almost 10 years teaching in Japan, first as an assistant English teacher on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. She received her AMI Diploma in May, 2009.

Meriel has many hobbies; she likes to crochet, knit, make felt, practice painting in watercolor, go walking, and to read many types of books.  She would like to learn how to play the ukulele to accompany the children when they sing in the Children’s House.  Meriel is honored to be working with your children, and with the staff at Cornerstone and the Training Center.