Celebrate Chiaravalle 2025 with Good Shepherd Montessori School

Join us for a special evening honoring the 2025 Chiaravalle Award recipient, Dr. Maria McKenna.

Chiaravalle translates to “valley of light” in Italian and is the birthplace of Maria Montessori. It is a fitting name for Good Shepherd’s annual fundraising dinner, where we celebrate our mission and those who spread the light of learning and compassion in our community.

Gala Dinner—February 22

You’re invited to enjoy a scratch-made, farm-inspired dinner prepared by Good Shepherd’s talented culinary team. A silent auction and other festivities are planned to create a special evening celebrating Good Shepherd’s unique educational mission, nurturing the character and uniqueness of each child.

  • Date: February 22, 2025 at 6:00 p.m.
  • Location: Good Shepherd Montessori School
  • Tickets: $100 per ticket, tables of eight available at our Square Storefront

2025 Chiaravalle Award Recipient: Dr. Maria McKenna

Dr. Maria McKenna
Dr. Maria McKenna

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Maria McKenna is the 2025 recipient of Good Shepherd Montessori School’s Chiaravalle Award, honoring those who spread the light of learning and compassion in our community. As a researcher and advocate of Montessori pedagogy, Maria has championed holistic education throughout her professional career. Dedicated to social justice, Maria holds dearly the wisdom that you help the person in front of you, meeting them where they are.

A faculty member at the University of Notre Dame, Maria holds a joint appointment in the Institute of Educational Initiatives and the Department of Africana Studies. Her research and teaching focus on educational equity, youth empowerment, and peace education. In her current role at the University, she oversees all of Notre Dame’s scholarly programming for first-generation and historically underserved students from a variety of backgrounds.

Maria’s research can be found in a variety of peer-reviewed journals and publishers. Her most recent collaborative work, The Bloomsbury Handbook of Montessori Education, published in 2023, is the first-ever complete compendium of Montessori education. The compilation, which took over two years to complete, included four editors, 90 authors, eight languages, and almost 600 pages with the goal of sharing the time-honored philosophy and pedagogy of Maria Montessori with the wider educational community.

Maria is also a research associate with the University of Kansas’ Center for Learner Agency, Research, and Action, the head of the American Educational Research Association’s Montessori Education Special Interest Group, and a founding member of the Montessori Research Working Group, a nationwide group of educators committed to rigorous inquiry of Montessori education. Maria completed an AMI Montessori Core Principles certification and an AMI Adolescent Orientation course.

Over the past sixteen years, Maria has been a tireless supporter of Good Shepherd, serving as an atrium assistant, kitchen helper, academic adviser, farm driver, and board member for seven years, including two terms as president. During that time, the school grew substantially with the addition of the Primary program for children ages 3 to 6 years, inaugural accreditation by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, classroom renovations, and the addition of our campus farm. She also had the privilege of having two of our current GSMS staff members in her courses at Notre Dame! 

Maria and her husband, Mark, have four children, Kieran, Connor, Julia, and Analise, all of whom graduated from Good Shepherd. Their youngest, Analise, had the honor of being the first class of students to complete the entire GSMS program, starting at three-years-old in Primary and completing the adolescent program.

Clockwise from top left: Kieran, Connor, Mark, Analise, Julia, and Maria McKenna
Clockwise from top left: Kieran, Connor, Mark, Analise, Julia, and Maria McKenna

Past Chiaravalle Award Recipients

  • Charles and Barbara Asher | Freedom 22 Foundation
  • Carolyn Hahn | The CASIE Center
  • Kirby Falkenberg | YMCA of Michiana
  • Terri Kosik | Early Childhood Development Center, ND/SMC
  • Reg Wagle | Memorial Health Foundation
  • James Kapsa | South Bend Community School Corporation
  • La Casa de Amistad
  • Daniel J. Myers | University of Notre Dame & President Emeritus, GSMS Board
  • Barbara Reed, posthumous | Montessori Pioneer
  • Sue Christensen and Ann Rosen | The Family Connection
  • Gerry Gingras | Saint Mary’s College & GSMS Educator
  • JoAnn DeCloedt | Countryside Montessori School 
  • Marianne Surges | The Montessori Center
  • Bonnie Boilini Baxter | Children’s Dance Workshop
  • Daniel W. Driscoll and Felicia Leon-Driscoll | Good Shepherd Montessori School
  • Kate Sollmann | Good Shepherd Montessori School 
  • Children’s Museum of South Bend