Meet Your Instructor
Suzette Vetrini
Ms. Suzette Vetrini is the lead instructor at Red Tulip Montessori who brings years of experience in Montessori education, dedicated to nurturing each child’s individual growth and learning journey. She is a first-generation Italian-American, with Greek heritage who grew up between Houston and Naples, Italy, and has lived and worked all over the world shaping her curiosity and love for learning about other culture and geographies.
Ms. Vetrini earned her B.A. in Political Science with a minor in History and Italian at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. Later, she pursued a Master’s degree in Marketing with an emphasis in Italian fashion, art and tourism at the Istituto Europeo di Design. She loved living in the heard of Rome for over 11 years. After getting married she moved back to Houston, Texas where here husband’s career as a Geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine brought their family to Carmel, Indiana.
Ms. Vetrini started her Montessori journey at the Post Oak School in Houston, Texas over 13 years ago. Her love of Montessori motivated her compassion for children’s education. She earned an AMI (Association of Montessori Internationale) Elementary (ages 6-12 years) Montessori Certification in St. Paul, Minnesota and her AMI Adolescent Training (ages 12-18 years) from Montessori Center for Work and Study in Rydet, Sweden. She is an active member in Montessori Model United Nations as both a Teacher Coordinator and Bureau Member. Her hope is to bring this enrichment for all children to experience. Throughout her Montessori studies Ms. Vetrini has refined her teaching style by observing and practicing internationally, including Hong Kong, Brussels, Belgium, Cascais, Portugal, Bordeaux, France, Austin, Texas and Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is fluent in Italian and is conversational in Greek.
Ms. Vetrini is an AMI Certified Montessori educator with specialized training in elementary, middle and high school curricula, committed to fostering a supportive and engaging classroom environment.
Focused on cultivating independence, creativity, and critical thinking, Ms. Vetrini designs lessons that adapt to the unique needs and interests of every student.
In Ms. Vetrini’s words,
“One of the most exciting experience for an educator is to witness how and to which extent the children are able to learn and grow on a social level. In the elementary years Maria Montessori used the term “2nd plane characteristics” to describe the human development at the ages of 6-12.
The characteristics of the second plane include the reasoning mind and the self-construction of the child, a stage in which the child is building himself intellectually as a person. In this peculiar stage of their lives there is a great curiosity and imagination accompanied by herd instincts and desire to work in groups with their peers. This is the age when children enjoy learning about heroes and mythology and are eager to explore the world surrounding them as a means of understanding themselves and the other being in the human consortium.
In this regard, Montessori education offers infinite possibilities to explore within the classroom but also outside the classroom with its organized Going out activities lead by the children.
The Montessori prepared environment allows the children of the elementary years to have a functionally and aesthetically appealing space that meets their needs and curiosities. Children are free to sit where they want and work with whom they want and are able to decide what works they would like to do and most important, when and how they want to do it. This helps children learn how to make decisions and not be afraid to make mistakes, giving them a great room to grow, to explore possibilities and improve unconditionally.
Lastly, I cherish observing all the creativity the children are capable to create when given the environment suitable to their characteristic needs. It is a true treasure to see this human energy wanting to change the world for the better.“
Suzette Vetrini