GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (GRPS) – Grand Rapids Montessori Academy and Middle High School Principal Kerri Reed has known she wanted to be a teacher since she was a child.
“I decided to declare my major when I was in first grade,” Reed explained. “I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher.”
That early aspiration was inspired in large part by one of her own teachers.
“Mrs. Clark was just one of the kindest people you would ever meet,” she said. “She just really made me want to be a teacher that kids enjoyed coming to see.”
Reed’s mother, a school board member, also played a major role in shaping her future.
“Becoming a teacher and working in education was a big focus in my family growing up,” she said. “My mom was volunteering all of the time at school. I can remember many conversations with her about how every child has something that they're passionate about and you have to find that passion in every child and make them want to be there.”
Reed completed her student teaching at Straight Elementary in Grand Rapids, an experience that made a lasting impression.
“I really fell in love with Grand Rapids Public Schools at that time,” she recalls. “I felt like it was where I was supposed to be.”
She taught at GRPS for 13 years before becoming an administrator. A conversation during a parent-teacher conference eventually led her to Grand Rapids Montessori.
“I was having a parent-teacher conference with one of my sixth-grade students - the younger sister had come along and she started talking to me about her school,” Reed said. “She just really sold me on Montessori and the opportunities that the students have here.”
As principal of Grand Rapids Montessori, Reed now has the unique opportunity to support scholars from preschool all the way through graduation.
“I'm here to support them and to help them find a path that fits for them,” she said. “I really enjoy that opportunity to hear from the younger children what they want to be when they grow up, and then to watch them through high school and see how that changes or doesn't change.”
