Who We Are: Jade Venditte

As part of a series we’re calling Who We Are, we’re working to build and connect our community by interviewing the talented, dynamic parents and staff who make up the people of Villa di Maria. Today, we meet Jade Venditte, Villa di Maria’s new Director of Development, Diversity and Inclusion.  In addition to being a friendly face among the parents at VdM (her daughter, Nolie, is currently in P1), Jade comes to us with extensive development experience and a passion for equity work. Read more about how Montessori has empowered her daughter and how she hopes to help our community better reflect the city of St. Louis, below. Villa di Maria: Welcome to the team, Jade! We are so happy to have you. Tell us a bit about your family.Jade Venditte: Our family is Joe and I, then Nolie, who is six, and Beckett, who will be two in February. My parents live here, and Joe's family lives in St. Louis as well. We moved here from Chicago when we decided to start a family. Two months ago, we bought a house only five minutes from here, which is really nice.VdM: How were you introduced to Montessori education?JV: I grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, where my mother was a Montessori Directress. I grew up in the Montessori world until the third grade, when I moved to a more traditional school. That transition was fine - it was definitely a different experience - I remember walking in and seeing desks in rows, with everyone doing the same thing at the same time, which was so different. Part of that transition had more to do with the number of students; my Montessori school in Little Rock had a combined Lower and Upper El, with only 10 students in a class, versus 30 kids in one class in the traditional school.I've been in non-profits and education ever since I graduated. After having Nolie, it was really hard to figure out where we were going to send her, but when we found that Villa di Maria was accessible financially to us, that made a really big difference. My mother, who was also Head of School at one point, was a big fan of Pearl [Vanderwall] and told us we had to send Nolie to Villa di Maria!  We love the Montessori philosophy, but we're also big proponents of making education accessible to all people.VdM: What do you love most about Montessori?JV: The focus on the child. I love how it prepared me to feel so confident in myself, from my own personal experience. There's this constant desire to move forward, to see what's next, that's so amazing. Seeing it through the eyes of my child has made me even more appreciative. Nolie has Type I diabetes, which she was diagnosed with before she came here. One of the things I've loved is seeing how the Montessori experience has empowered her to own her own illness, and it does not stop her. She is the expert; she trains the adults. The adults in this community listen to her. Our motto is "Trust but verify" because she is six. But she is aware of her own body, and it's not isolated in a nurse's office, it's not considered "other," it's just part of her.Also, Nolie is coming home and showing us long division! At dinner every night, she sets the table the way she thinks it should be set; she writes place cards, and wants to put out place mats and cloth napkins... it all translates.VdM: Tell us a bit about the role you've accepted as Director of Development, Diversity and Inclusion.JV: I will be doing fundraising along with equity work - in particular diversity and inclusion. It's a new position, created by the Board of Trustees, who saw identified the need.Regarding fundraising, it's my job to make sure the school has the resources to be sustainable for the long term. Given that Montessori and our school in particular is working to make sure that anyone who is a good fit for the environment will have the resources to attend. Communicating the importance of participation from families in our Annual Fund and ensuring that families understand how this impacts all students is important. Another piece has to do with our Capital Campaign. Our facilities are in dire need of updates and repairs.The other component to my position involves equity work. I did Teach for America, and through this became really passionate about diversity and inclusion. I've personally been on a journey regarding this, including Witnessing Whiteness, and volunteering with We Stories, an incredible nonprofit here in St. Louis. We've purchased We Stories-recommended books for our classrooms here at VdM, which is great. Our family has been learning how to talk about issues of race and equity regularly, and I've seen how powerful that is with Nolie.I think that if we're preparing our children to go out and be successful in the world, we need them to be in communities that look like the places in which they will work and live. Here at VdM we are in collaboration with Crossroads, which is an anti-racist, anti-biased organization, where our staff will be going through training. We're also in collaboration with Diversity Awareness Partnership (DAP). I think it's really important to know that the administration to date has sought to bring in initiatives to see what we can do differently and how we can improve in this area. I'm also looking forward to working with the Diversity and Inclusion Committee here, to get a better understanding of where they have felt they've been successful and where they feel they've hit some roadblocks, to make sure we're working toward the same goals. I'm really excited about that because I think the long term implication, the sustainability of our school and the success of our alums really depends on our community reflecting our city.VdM: What are you most looking forward to regarding the job?JV: I really like systems, so I'm looking forward to finding ways we can increase efficiency.  I'm also really looking forward to building relationships with other families, both in my daughter's class and beyond. I'm also really looking forward to seeing if Beckett is developmentally ready to join the crew soon. It's just a really great place to be.VdM: Do you have any hobbies? What do you like to do in your spare time?JV: I'm a reader. I've recently been really into fantasy books. I just finished the last book in the trilogy of The Magicians, and I don't have anything lined up next! We also read lots of books as a family. Also, Nolie is very into crafts. Nolie's favorite place is Painted Zebra, and we do a lot of outdoor play. We also spend a lot of time at our family's houses.It's really great to be working here. I love seeing Nolie in her element, just thriving. I also love - despite it being so cold lately - drop off! Seeing kids transition from their comfort zone to the school environment is cool. The kids here are just really quirky, creative, and interesting people. We love it here.