Stori Lauritzen – Guide
Stori is passionate about the arts, children’s literature, travel, and, of course, Montessori education. She has a diverse teaching background, having taught in a variety of subjects and settings throughout the United States and Asia. She joins us after teaching most recently in a lower elementary classroom at The International Montessori School in Hong Kong.
Before discovering Montessori, she spent time teaching English as a second language in both South Korea and Taiwan. Her ESL students inspired her to look for alternative teaching methods, which eventually opened a new world of discovery when she found Montessori. She decided to return to the United States and complete a Master of Education at Loyola University in Columbia, MD, along with her Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) diploma for Elementary 6-12 at The Washington Montessori Institute.
Stori also spent several years pursuing her love of the theatre arts, more specifically in the areas of theatre design and production. She completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in Scenic Design from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and worked as a technical director (the person in charge of getting the scenery built for plays) in Washington, D.C. and Orlando, FL. She has also worked painting scenery and backdrops, designing props, running the lighting board, sewing costumes, applying theatrical makeup, directing, stage management… You name it! Her theatre background comes in handy in the classroom, as she loves to inspire her students to explore their creative interests. Also, do not be surprised if you find yourself in a movie, as Stori also LOVES to make movies with her students.
When not in the classroom, Stori loves to take her dog, Zoey, to the dog park. Stori is also a portrait photographer and painter. She appreciates the beauties of other cultures and languages and has made efforts to study Chinese (Mandarin), Japanese, and Korean. Sadly, the gift of learning languages does not come easily to her, and she does not speak any of these fluently, despite her best efforts and time living abroad. She does, however, have a fluency for enjoying various international cuisines, especially Korean barbeque! She hopes to eventually visit other areas of the world, such as Europe and Africa one day.