Earlier this year, one of Hollis Montessori School’s founders, Erin Moskun, stepped down from her position as Board Vice President. Erin had been involved in every aspect of the school since 2008. Erin became involved in Montessori through her three daughters, who started attending Montessori schools starting at age 3. Prior to starting Hollis Montessori School she volunteered in her children's Montessori Schools. When her eldest child reached Montessori’s upper elementary level, she teamed up with friends who also wanted a local Montessori program to create Hollis Montessori School.
Erin (second from left), with other school founders Jim Moskun, Frank Grossman, Stew Campbell, and Camille Campbell at the School’s 10th anniversary celebration.
“Starting the school and running it in the early years was like an uphill climb,” says Erin. “Every day brought new challenges and the learning curve was sharp and steep.” After going through the startup process, she ”realized that projects like these only get off the ground when they are fueled by a huge amount of passion.” For her, the effort was worth it to “create a beautiful learning environment for the children. Nothing seemed more important at the time.” But, she says, many other things were sacrificed in the process, “we lost many nights of sleep and ate too much pizza.”
All three of her daughters attended Hollis Montessori School through the Adolescent Program. Her oldest, Magnolia, just graduated from Middlebury College, where she played soccer and majored in math. She is living in Vermont and working in solar energy before applying to graduate schools. Erin’s middle daughter Siena is living in Boston this Summer, and working on social justice and climate issues. She will be going to Costa Rica in the Fall to pursue a degree in Global Studies. And her youngest, Capri, just graduated from Lawrence Academy and is headed to St. Lawrence University in the Fall. This Fall will be the first year with all of her daughters out of the house, and “it is somewhat of a new chapter. I am excited to watch them continue to grow and become more independent.”
Once HMS was up and running on its own, Erin went on to open Ripple gluten free bakery. After discovering that she and her family were allergic to gluten, she took her degree in Nutritional Science from UNH, her background as a nutritional counselor, her passion for cooking, and her childhood experience with homemade bread, and set out to learn all she could about gluten free baking. Ripple went on to supply gluten free baked goods to many markets and restaurants in the area before the pandemic.
Recently, Erin has changed course and gone back to school for a Masters’ in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Northwestern University. For her, this degree will be “another path that I feel passionate about and another way to give back in a different way.”
Erin keeps an open mind about her future, and hopes to work in the mental health sector for many years. She continues to train for and run marathons, “something that has always been a positive outlet and analogy of life,” for her. She also hopes to travel and take cooking classes around the world. She is also passionate about pursuing social, gender, and economic equality by working with nonprofits like the Trevor Project, Planned Parenthood, and Together Rising.
The staff and board of Hollis Montessori School are so grateful for everything Erin has done for the school over the years. Her energy and generosity have been an essential part of creating the beautiful and nurturing school that we have now.
Below is an article that Erin wrote for Hollis Montessori’s 10th anniversary celebration about the founding of the school:
How Hard Can It Be?
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. We were supposed to partner with another Montessori school, its headmaster eager to expand her program. We had a building with plenty of room to grow, allowing for several more years of education for our children. It was a perfect plan, until our partner backed out.
Jim and I sat with our friends Camille and Stew at an outdoor cafe, sharing appetizers and disappointment. What would we do now? We had both turned down other schooling opportunities for our eldest daughters for the coming fall. It was then that we had the bright idea. I remember all of us agreeing…”How hard can it be?”
We decided to go forward and open the school on our own. The renovation and zoning permits had already been acquired, so we formed a non-profit organization. Using every connection we could think of, we ordered materials, hired teachers, recruited families, renovated offices into classrooms, and created Hollis Montessori School.
That summer seems like a blur. So much was accomplished in so little time. We all took on things that we had no experience at: building shelving units, painting walls, creating lesson plans. There were endless hurdles to navigate, but our children were our motivation. We worked long days and into many nights. There was no time for home cooked dinners, so our kids ate more pizza that summer than ever before.
Here we are ten years later…a new campus, a growing student body, a full staff of trained teachers, and a school to be proud of. “How hard can it be?” Really hard! But looking at how many lives HMS has touched has made it all worth it.