We are VdM: The Clarke Family

The very best part of Villa di Maria is our people. Our community of families, faculty and staff is something to be proud of. In this series, We are VdM, we’ll highlight the energies, talents, humor and wisdom of some of our amazing people. Today, we have a two-fer! We'll highlight a staff member and her family. Samantha Clarke is our Community Coordinator and her son Auggie started in the Children's House this year. Read on for more about Samantha, her husband Joey and Auggie.Villa di Maria: Tell us a bit about you and your family and what brought you to VdM.Samantha: Joey and I are both from St. Louis, from the other side of 270 in Chesterfield, and, in fact, went to the same high school (hello, Parkway Central). We hardly knew each other at the time but we reconnected later in life while he was living in Los Angeles and I in Aspen, CO. After importing Joey to Colorado, we spent a good year skiing and exploring all the mountains have to offer! The next thing we knew, we were moving home to St. Louis to focus on raising our 3 year old son, Auggie. We currently live in South City with our two perfectly insane dogs, Bacon and George.While a million months pregnant, I interviewed for a job at VdM and began working in July of 2017. I had some experience working in Montessori while finishing my graduate degree and knew it was a path I wanted my family go down!VdM: What do you and your spouse do, career-wise?Samantha: Obviously, I currently work at VdM and have always worked in schools or education based non-profits. Joey operates a soap manufacturing company in north St. Louis city, Derrick Soap. HOWEVER, he is hoping to switch gears soon to exclusively furthering his writing career. **Proud spouse alert!** After finishing undergrad at Wash U, he left for LA to fulfill his dream of being a screen writer which is a fairly competitive, difficult thing to do. After nearly a decade of relentless pursuit, he caught his "break" winning a fellowship through the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for an original screenplay he wrote, "Miles." Since then, he has acquired a manager and worked on several scripts, both original and adapted. We hope to see "Miles" in theaters (or somewhere) soon! Stay tuned...VdM: What is your favorite thing to do as a family on the weekend?Samantha:We LOVE sleeping in a bit and sitting around in PJs watching Premiere League soccer on Saturday mornings. We also enjoy eating ice cream at Clementine's and heading to the zoo whenever we can!VdM: A question specifically for Auggie: What's your favorite animal and why?Auggie: "mmmmm Bacon!" (It really is his favorite food, but also our dog. Not entirely sure which he is referring to!)Thank you, Clarke family, for the photos and for being a part of Villa di Maria!