Staff
Don Kronenberger - Director; Head Teacher, Elementary Classroom
Jennifer Smith - Head Teacher, Early Childhood Classroom
Andrea Brzezinski - Associate Teacher, Elementary Classroom
Keely Strohl - Assistant Teacher, Early Childhood Classroom
Angie Waren - Assistant Teacher, Early Childhood Classroom
Megan Mulcaire-Jones - Teacher Intern, Lower Elementary Classroom; Administrative Coordinator
Don has been Director of Silver Bow Montessori (SBM) and Head Teacher of the Elementary classroom since 2000. He holds the American Montessori Society (AMS) teaching credentials for Elementary I and Elementary II education and is also a certified Montessori Early Childhood Educator. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and an MBA degree from Rice University in Houston, TX. Don is Principal Tuba with the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra and an active performer on tuba throughout the region. Originally from Houston, TX, Don worked for ten years in the field of urban planning and development in Houston.
Jennifer has been involved with SBM since 2004. After nearly 20 years as an international banking human resources manager, and working with people throughout the world, including Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan, Jennifer moved to Whitehall in 2001 with her husband and two children. She began volunteering with SBM and received her AMS Early Childhood Certification from the Montana Montessori Teacher’s Education Institute in Kalispell. She has been Head Teacher in the Early Childhood classroom since 2007. Jennifer also has a BA in Public Policy and Religion from Duke University. She is thankful that she is blessed in her middle age years with energy and experiences to share with the amazing children in her class and to learn and grow each day with the dynamic SBM community.
Andrea received a BS degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She taught 8th grade math, science, and language arts, as well as 4th grade summer school literacy in the Madison Metropolitan School District. She moved to Butte with her fiancée in March 2010, and obtained a Montana Teaching License, grades K-8. After substitute teaching for the Butte School District #1, she joined SBM in June 2010.
Keely has been with SBM since September 2010 as an Assistant Teacher in the Early Childhood classroom. Her Montessori career started as an assistant in a toddler classroom in Seattle in 1993. She then moved to the East Coast, where she was a nanny in New York City and Connecticut. After moving back to Seattle, Keely completed her AMS Infant/Toddler training in 1997. She became the Infant/Toddler program head at Montessori Children’s House in Redmond, Washington, and oversaw five classrooms. Keely moved to Butte in April 2010 with her husband and two children. She is currently a board member of the Montana Montessori Education Association (MMEA).
Angie has worked in the Education field since 1998. She spent 10 years working with students in Special Education for the Helena Public School District. During this time, she assisted in Montessori classrooms, and managed the after school and summer programs. Angie moved to Butte in 2007 with her husband, and three children. She began working with SBM in September 2009 as an Assistant Teacher in the Early Childhood classroom and as a teacher in the summer program.
Megan joined the SBM community in July 2010. She spent the past two years working as an upper elementary assistant at Learning Circle Montessori in Bozeman, and as an early childhood assistant at Garden City Montessori in Missoula. She was a subsitute teacher for SBM in 2009. Megan graduated with a degree in French from Gonzaga University in 2006 and trained at Montana Montessori Education Institute in Kalispell. She is currently working toward receiving her AMS Elementary I credential.