SANTIAGO GRADO
Executive Director
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Language & Education Training Center (1990-2002), Principal of Elementary and Secondary Schools, as well as Director and Board Member for Charter Schools. Vice Chair for the Colorado Association of Latino(a) Administrators and Superintendents, and Educational Leadership Mentor for Principals and Assistant Principals and aspiring teachers that want to become leaders.
Santiago R. Grado is an enthusiastic, motivated and powerful advocate whose entrepreneurial instincts and clarity of vision have carried multiple projects through rapid and continuous growth.
Santiago started his first business, a school for at-risk, dropout, expelled and migrant students, and has been an unstoppable advocate for children and parents ever since. From being an Executive Director for Hollingsead International, an Aerospace company, Santiago transitioned into the Educational arena starting as a teacher for A+/Network + certification and Economics for the Arizona Alliance of Business. He quickly moved into creating a computer-aided software program teaching English as a Second Language, which led him in establishing, The Language & Education Training Center where he succeeded in providing ESL, CTE and GED instruction for 12 years before moving to Morrison, Colorado.
Santiago is distinguished by his passion for ethical business practices, his focus on collaborative team-building, and his commitment to meeting higher student achievement and student/teacher buy-in. His contagious enthusiasm instills him and his team members with extraordinary energy and dedication in an environment where creativity and innovation are encouraged. Santiago does not just set out ambitious goals … he motivates people to deliver.
Santiago has achieved outstanding personal and team results. He finds his greatest motivation in coaching others to perform above and beyond expectations. His success formula for Excellence in Execution is | 10% Strategy (Improvise - planning it) | 40% Consistency (Adapt - sticking to it) | 50% Execution (Overcome - getting it done)
A Motivational & Dynamic Transformational Leader, Santiago enjoys mentoring students, parents, teachers and administrators. He transmits key concepts in Business Innovation supported by smart adoption of technology (Blended Learning) with emphasis on increasing student achievement, gaining student, parent, teacher buy-in and ownership, and helping those individuals who have dropped out of school regain their opportunity for a second chance.
Loriann Grado
Health Consultant & Financial Officer
Loriann Grado is the Co-Owner, Financial Officer and Health Consultant at Aspen Park Montessori. She has been a woman’s health nurse for approximately 27 years, working specifically in the field of Labor and Delivery over the past 24 years. Working in such a dynamic atmosphere, she has learned many important and invaluable lessons over the years. Working in a fast paced and demanding environment, multi-tasking and critical thinking are a few of the vital skills required to safeguard the patients’ health and safety. Loriann would have to on a daily basis evaluate various situations and scenarios and act quickly in emergency situations. Ultimately she is responsible for two lives, the mom and the baby.
Loriann has taught and oriented many new-experienced nurses over the years. She is certified to teach fetal monitoring and has taken lead roles as relief charge nurse and unit based counsel coordinator. Teaching is truly a passion of hers, and one that she wishes to nourish.
Loriann knows that communication is key to any successful endeavor and makes this a core component of Aspen Park Monetessori. By using these skills successfully, she has been able to connect and create a relationship with each patient and member of the birthing team as a nurse. These basic skills carry into her relationships with each child.
You will see Loriann in the classroom helping the teachers and interacting with the children. She loves spending time on the floor playing with the children. This time gives her the opportunity to connect and find the things that stimulate and excite each child.
Gabriela Torres Amador
Montessori Teacher
Gabriela has worked at a couple Montessori schools over the past 5 years and has done classroom observation assignments in 6 others.
"I must say that the culture at Aspen Park Montessori School feels positively different. My first impressions were that of feeling welcomed by the staff and a willingness to support me to succeed as a new student teacher. I like Aspen Park Montessori’s community awareness and commitment to academic excellence."
Wherever Gabriela goes, she seeks kindness, fairness and respect towards self and others; that is what the Montessori philosophy represents to her. She is enthusiastic about the Grace and Courtesy lessons, Peace Education and getting the opportunity to share the Montessori principles in guiding and supporting a child’s education for life. Gabriela acknowledges that even from a very young age, children can be shrewd judges of character. They can tell when teachers are being authentic with them and they respond accordingly. They keep you on your toes for sure!
The child's energy, curiosity and their ability to live in the moment are a few of the many things she loves about being a Montessori teacher. Prior to working in a school setting Gabriela worked in data processing centers in Texas. That was back in the days when computers were the size of a room and before computers were downsized to desktops. Gabriela worked at public schools as a Para before finally working at Montessori Schools as a classroom floater for ages 0 - 6 years.
The last 5 years Gabriela has worked as a Primary Classroom Assistant in Littleton and Douglass County. Recently, she finished MECR’s (Montessori Primary Classroom Certification Course) in 2016 - 2017 in Boulder, Colorado. For relaxation Gabriela enjoys sewing small projects for her grandchildren, hiking with her dog ‘Opie’ and taking her grandchildren to interesting places and photographing those precious moments as they grow. She certainly doesn't want to miss any of those precious memories!
