A Day in the Life at ROA
.png)
Our Team
"Teaching is not about answering questions but about raising questions-
opening doors for them in places that they could not imagine"
-Yawar Baig
We would like to think of ourselves as facilitators, motivators, or guides.
Learners are encouraged to take more control of their learning process.
Our role is to embrace each child's unique qualities, equip and support them
with resources to be problem solvers and creative thinkers even through failures,
empowering and motivating them to find what they want to accomplish in the world.
Vince grew up in Orlando, FL. His mother was a teacher for 32 years, and his father spent 40 years of his career as an Imagineer at Walt Disney World.
At an early age, with an instilled heart for service, he decided to join the military and served our country in that capacity for 20 years of service in the Navy. Since his retirement, he has established a woodworking business using laser engravers and CNC machines.
Vince has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering and is currently working towards completion of a Montessori AMI course diploma.
Vince is happily married to Ms Kathy, (a guide at ROA) and has four beautiful, awesome, and amazing children, and 3 granddaughters.
In his free time, Vince enjoys spending time with family, friends and enjoys the outdoors-camping, hunting, and fishing. His great love of woodworking was inspired by his father who was a master at lathes as well as a master carpenter.
Being at ROA gives him an amazing opportunity to offer his knowledge and tools to our Learners to learn some hands on training with wood working, providing each of them a chance to experience the joys and pleasures of woodworking and creating things with their own hands, just as his father did with him.
Vincent Wesson
Our Team
Guide
Kathy grew up in Miami. She is a military child of Japanese and Costa Rican descent. She moved to Jacksonville in 2017 to be closer to family. She's a proud mother of an 11 year old son whom she had raised as a Montessori child. She first learned about the Montessori method in her twenties while working part time at an AMI Montessori School, where she became mesmerized with how much a child can learn given the right tools. Witnessing them develop independence with the freedom of choice.
Kathy holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law and Forensic Science from Florida International University. Her intention was to enter the police academy but longed for something that nurtured her tender heart and spirit. She decided to change the course of her life and instead pursued training in a Montessori program at Loyola University. She has taught in a Toddler classroom for 7 years, a Primary classroom for 7 years, and in Lower Elementary for 9 years.
Her current Spark Learners at ROA seek her out for her special hugs and heart for listening, and understanding. She enjoys getting to know each child, especially on what has become an ROA tradition- playdates with a Learner on weekends.
During her spare time, she is an avid Crossfit enthusiast, she loves baking with her family and with our Sparkers whom she affectionately calls her "babies", go on family mini vacations visiting historical places, and living a healthy lifestyle.
“When a child is given a little leeway, he will at once shout, ‘I want to do it!’ But in our schools, which have an environment adapted to children’s needs, they say, ‘Help me to do it alone.’”
-The Secret of Childhood
Kathy Aguilar
Guide
Advisor
