Winthrop Resident Vanessa Irzyk Earns 2019 Summer Travel Fellowship

Winthrop resident Vanessa Irzyk will receive one of two faculty Summer Travel Fellowships announced today by Newton Montessori School (NMS), where she teaches art. Irzyk will travel to Barcelona, Spain to study the work and lives of architect Antoni Gaudi and surrealist painter, Salvador Dali. Irzyk, originally from New Bedford, lives in Winthrop.

“I am beyond excited to receive this grant,” Irzyk says. I can’t wait to explore Barcelona and see the architecture of Gaudi and the home and museum of Dali.”

The NMS Summer Travel Fellowship provides grants to faculty and staff members at the school in order to fund “experiences that will re-invigorate them as adult learners, deepening their ability to teach from what Montessori called the ‘spirit’ within them,” according to the fellowship’s guidelines for application.

The Fellowship was established in 2018 with a gift from an NMS alumni family. Inspired by their three children’s experiences at the school, the family wanted to help inspire continued learning and development among NMS staff.

“We wanted to do whatever we could to help the school attract and retain the best caliber teachers by providing a unique experience that is meaningful to them and also enriches the classroom environment,” the family stated. The gift was also inspired by the broad diversity the donors experienced as part of the NMS community.

“This fellowship offers a unique opportunity for personal and professional development among staff,” says NMS Head of School Beth Black, “which definitely helps us achieve the school’s strategic goal to attract and retain top educators. It also helps enliven the entire school community by promoting global awareness and cross-cultural exchanges,” Black continues. “We’re very grateful to the donating family for making [the fellowship program] possible.”

Irzyk is part of the second class of NMS Fellowship grantees, following the inaugural awards, given in 2018, which funded travel to Peru and Iceland. She will travel in the summer of 2019 and share her experiences with colleagues and students at the start of next school year. Irzyk is in the second cohort of NMS Fellowship grantees; the inaugural round, in 2018, funded travel to Peru and Iceland. Irzyk will travel this summer and share her experiences with colleagues and students in September. Newton Montessori School is a welcoming, diverse school community in which learners are inspired to strive for excellence and contribute positively to their communities, challenged to explore big ideas independently and collaboratively, and empowered to pursue their goals with confidence, persistence, and integrity