Episode Description
**What if the secret to a thriving school culture starts with a single question?** In this episode, we sit down with Mary Vandermolen, Superintendent of Northstar Montessori Academy, to explore how one intentional practice is transforming how leaders connect with—and truly value—every member of their school community.
About Our Guest
Mary Vandermolen brings decades of experience in educational leadership and a deep commitment to Montessori philosophy. As Superintendent of Northstar Montessori Academy, Mary has built a reputation for creating inclusive, joyful school cultures where every voice matters—from the classroom teacher to the bus driver.
What You’ll Learn
Too many school leaders become isolated in their offices while support staff feel invisible and undervalued. In this episode, Mary shares her approach to breaking down silos, combating educator burnout, and creating genuine connection across all roles in a school. You’ll discover how a simple but powerful practice can help you see your entire staff family differently and build a culture where everyone knows they’re essential to the mission.
Key Takeaways
– **The power of visibility**: Why leaders must step out of their offices to truly know and honor every staff member
– **Support staff aren’t support—they’re essential**: How bus drivers, custodians, cooks, and secretaries are foundational to student success
– **Creating joy in education**: Practical strategies to combat burnout and reconnect staff to why they do this important work
– **The Montessori connection**: How a prepared environment extends beyond the classroom to the entire school community
– **Asking the right questions**: The one question Mary asks every staff member that changes everything
Notable Quotes
*”The prepared environment is key to student success in Montessori.”*
*”I believe that everyone should have a voice and be able to express their thoughts and feel like they’re being honored and valued.”*
*”The best people that we can learn from are right next door to us or right across the hall from us.”*
*”Everybody is so important—whether it’s my bus driver, my school secretary, the lunch lady, the cook—everybody is so important.”*
—
**Ready to transform your school culture?** Tune in to hear Mary’s wisdom on creating the kind of joyful, connected community where every role is valued. Subscribe now and bring this episode to your leadership team for discussion.
FULL PODCAST Transcript
Lighthouse Therapy (00:05.829)
Hello everyone and welcome to the brighter together podcast. My name is Janet Courtney and my special guest today is Mary Vander Molen. Mary is the superintendent at Northstar Montessori Academy in Marquette, Michigan. Mary, I almost messed it up. Thank you for being here today. I appreciate it.
Mary Vandermolen (00:21.934)
Now you’re fine. Yeah, thank you. I’m glad to be here.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:28.747)
Awesome. So tell us a little bit about, mean, people have heard the word Montessori, and some understand what it is and some don’t. So let’s talk about your, your, where you’ve come from and your role and a little bit about North Star Montessori Academy.
Mary Vandermolen (00:43.342)
Sure.
Sure. This is my 41st year in education, public education. And thank you. Most of it has been spent in what we would call a traditional school setting, K through 12, central office, special education. Four years ago, I made the move to Marquette to become the school leader here at North Star Montessori Academy. It was actually my first exposure to a Montessori approach.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:49.071)
Wow, congratulations.
Mary Vandermolen (01:14.16)
And so I have learned a lot, but I still have a lot to learn regarding it. the model story approach really focuses on the whole child. In a lot of ways, it isn’t different than a you know, just approach for what’s best for the student. One of the keys that we really focus on
Lighthouse Therapy (01:35.994)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (01:40.558)
is the prepared environment, setting things up for student success. You may or may not know Maria Montessori really studied the different stages of development and aligned the Montessori teachings to match those. So we’re looking at creating a very comfortable, safe, and a home-like space
You won’t see any traditional lighting, any traditional roles. Often there is not a teacher desk. So it’s really, when you walk into the classroom, it looks different.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:25.539)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No rows, no rows of, no rows of, of, of seats and yeah, for the desk at the front, right?
Mary Vandermolen (02:28.326)
No, no, no rows. Lots of floor space, lots of gathering on the floor. Kids are free to do their work from the floor or from their tables in their various groupings.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:36.622)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:47.565)
Neat, neat. So what made you decide to move to Marquette? Marquette’s way up there. I know a little bit. It’s up there.
Mary Vandermolen (02:54.414)
It is. I moved just about 450 miles from where I was. We had been coming up here to spend some vacations and really fell in love with it.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:00.687)
Wow.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:07.789)
gotcha, okay.
Mary Vandermolen (03:08.622)
our hope, my husband and I, hope one day is to this will be where we are when we are fully retired. And so I found the job opportunity and I came in for an interview. It was interesting. They offered zoom interviews at the time because it was so far away, but I said, no, I need to go. And I came in and I interviewed with the principal and the school leader at the time. And
Lighthouse Therapy (03:15.322)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:27.909)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (03:37.992)
It was just like, it was so different than anything I had ever experienced before. And I had, worked in great districts. I was surrounded by great people really much for my whole career. But this was just different. It was small, which I was not used to where…
Lighthouse Therapy (03:51.813)
Mm-hmm.
All right.
Mary Vandermolen (04:01.496)
people wear many different hats because we just don’t have the support to have everybody be able to focus on one thing. And so I just felt the community and that family, that feeling right from the start. when I was offered the job, I said, I will be there.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:28.437)
Awesome. One of the things that you said at the beginning when you were introducing yourself was I’m still learning. And I love the fact that 41 years into your career, you’re still learning. Because that’s us. We never stop learning. And I think if you stop as a leader, you’re no longer a leader, really. Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (04:46.476)
right, right. It’s, you know, you’re always, always learning and as we know, with many years of experience, there are initiatives that come and go. But really, if you just keep focusing on getting better, we talk a lot about the growth mindset and just, you know, moving forward all the time. And I think
Lighthouse Therapy (04:57.627)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (05:11.626)
in order to do that I think you have to really have a passion for what you do and you know 41 years it hasn’t always been easy but I truly believe that this is the most important work that anyone can do.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:28.507)
Absolutely. Yeah. And that’s a message that the United States of America needs to hear. Our public needs to hear that message because it’s so important. And it’s, I mean, it’s, part of the reason why, brighter together exists so that we can get these stories out. So tell us, a little bit specifically about North star Montessori Academy. And we talked a little bit about Montessori and about you, but tell us a little bit about the school and what’s going on there.
Mary Vandermolen (05:34.423)
Yes, absolutely.
Mary Vandermolen (05:43.234)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (05:53.208)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, so we are a small pre-K through eighth grade public school academy focusing on the Montessori approach. The school as a Montessori school has only been in existence since about 2010. Prior to that it was a more traditional school. We have about 140 students. We have about 25.
staff. We are located in Marquette, which is the largest city in the Upper Peninsula, about 20,000 people. We’re home to Northern Michigan University, so that gives us a lot of opportunities. There’s a lot of cultural things happening.
sports events, it’s a very to live in the harsh climate I guess. You you gotta love to be outdoors and you gotta learn to adapt and it’s interesting that as part of
Lighthouse Therapy (06:57.861)
Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (07:04.467)
Maria Montessori’s approach, was that outdoor time every day. so unless the wind chill prohibits it, our kids, all of them, from three-year-olds through eighth graders, go outside every day. Sometimes it’s very unstructured, but at other times we’re doing, you know, snowshoeing, hiking in the warmer weather.
We’ve gone taking the kids fishing, they go skiing at the local ski hill. So we just kind of help them to learn how to be a part of the community that way, the outdoor community, because that’s a big thing up here.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:46.149)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, you purse. You purse, you guys are you purse. lived in, we talked a little bit about this before, but I was a troll. I lived down in near Jackson. That’s funny that, know, if you don’t know Michigan, people that live in the upper peninsula are you purse and anybody that lives below the bridge are called trolls.
Mary Vandermolen (07:50.87)
Yoopers, that’s right. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yep.
Wait.
Yep. It was funny, our ISD brought in John Hattie a couple of years ago to do a PD for the entire county and he was up there talking in his, I think it’s Australian accent and he kept referring to us as uppers and somebody had to correct him. I know it’s youpers. It was funny. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:24.965)
Hoppers.
Funny. my goodness. That’s awesome. That is so awesome. Yeah. I love the fact that the kids get outside, but I’m telling you the whole time you were talking about that, I was like cringing. that’s so cold. I know it’s good. I absolutely know it’s good. But I moved to Corpus Christi because I did not like the cold. Yeah. there you go. Yeah. Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (08:42.668)
Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (08:47.438)
Well, and maybe we can think of it as just fresh air. Whether it’s warm air or cold air, it’s fresh air, it’s exercise, and it helps in their learning.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:58.629)
There’s a whole, mean, and when you get to the upper peninsula, you’re north of many, many, people that are in Canada. So, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s definitely up there. So it’s beautiful. I absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Yeah. So, Yeah. One of, one of my, one of my bucket lists, and I can say that I was very excited to check it off was
Mary Vandermolen (09:05.683)
Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yeah. We’re right on Lake Superior.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:22.715)
putting my toe in, or at least being in the water of all of the Great Lakes and Lake Superior was my last one. We went up to Taquamonon Falls. Beautiful, beautiful. If you get to the UP and you don’t go to Taquamonon, you’re missing it. But we also did the bridge walk and all of that kind of stuff. But yeah, it was fun. That was a long, it’s, what is it? Five, I think we walked at least 10. It’s five miles across, but I think we walked like 10 miles that day and we had a stroller and.
Mary Vandermolen (09:26.487)
Okay.
Mary Vandermolen (09:30.83)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. There it is.
Yeah.
cool.
Mary Vandermolen (09:45.378)
Five miles, yeah, yeah, sure.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:51.28)
two of the kids, this was years ago, two, cause my kids are 28 to 23 now. But it was fun. It was really fun. It was just a lot of walking. And my, my, my, my oldest at that time, she walked the whole way the whole time. The boys got in the big old stroller and crashed out.
Mary Vandermolen (09:55.958)
Mm. Mm.
Mary Vandermolen (10:00.876)
Right.
Mary Vandermolen (10:06.462)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I haven’t done that, but it’s certainly something that, you know, is on my bucket list as well, but it’s something that you have to plan for it happening because they close the bridge and it’s Labor Day weekend and there’s a lot of travel back and forth, so just have to plan.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:14.885)
Yeah.
Yes, you do.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:25.967)
Yeah. Yeah. It’s an, it’s an awesome thing to do, but you can only do it on labor day. They don’t do it. And they don’t let you walk across it any other time of the year. So, yeah, no. Yeah. What it would be so dangerous if you tried to anyway, cause it’s way up there too. When you get to the middle, you’re really high up. So, but it is a beautiful thing and Michigan’s a beautiful state. So, okay. So one of the things that
Mary Vandermolen (10:32.13)
correct.
There’s no sidewalk, there’s nowhere for pedestrians at all. yeah, it is. It is, yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:51.003)
that we had talked a little bit about and you talked about before we had was your kind of your philosophy and how you are managing the school. And I’d love for you to give people your insight. Gosh, you have 41 years. I know you have amazing insight on how you manage your people and how you empower people.
Mary Vandermolen (10:55.95)
Hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (11:02.958)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (11:07.0)
Yeah. Yeah.
I think the first thing I mentioned that, I I believe this is the most important work that anyone can do. And I want the people around me to feel the same way too. I mean, I think that rubs off on our students, on our families, and on each other. I’ve said for, my background is in special education, but right from the start, I really wanted to kind of marry the…
special education with general education. mean, we’re all students of whatever school we’re at, and that should be our focus. And so I think, you know, I believe that everyone should have a voice and be able to…
Lighthouse Therapy (11:41.744)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (11:58.706)
express their thoughts and feel like they’re being being honored and valued. I used to, you know, we’d bring in, people would bring in different people to do professional development. We’d go places to hear people and learn the latest and greatest. And I always thought, my goodness, the best people that we can learn from are right next door to us or right across the hall from us. Let’s get our
Lighthouse Therapy (12:15.781)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (12:28.56)
staff together, let’s give them time to learn from each other. Everybody has strengths and everybody has areas where they can improve and we don’t have to go outside of our schools or our districts and spend a lot of money because you know to a great extent it’s right here, it’s right like I said it’s right next door to you and so
Lighthouse Therapy (12:34.561)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (12:53.474)
That’s kind of always been in the back of my mind, like let’s learn from each other, let’s grow together. I think that I really kind of take a coaching.
approach to things. If I walk into a room, I don’t want people to think that I’m there for evaluative purposes, you know. I’m kind of just there to see and to learn and to, you know, because everybody is an equally valued part of the team, whether it’s, you know, my bus driver, my school secretary, the lunch lady, the cook, you know, everybody is so important.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:15.605)
Mm hmm. Can be intimidating, right? Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (13:37.344)
and you know, I tell a quick story.
My kids, have 25, almost 25 year old twins. And they grew up, went to school in the district that I worked at. And so they went to childcare there, they went to preschool there. So they always went to work with me. They never rode the bus until they got to middle school. And they had to be, it was a little bit far to walk. So most parents drove their kids to the bus stop. And so, you know, they’re what, 11, 12 years
the first time they get on a school bus, and I sat there in my car and I watched the bus driver just open the door, welcome every single student, greet them by name, and I thought to myself, that is how…
these kids start their day. And so how important is that person? And now I see it when I help our little three and four year olds get on the bus and our bus drivers do the same thing. And it’s so important in today’s world because some kids don’t hear that they’re loved or valued at home. And so this is like, what a great way to start your day. And so it’s just, it’s everybody.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:34.937)
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:51.887)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:57.499)
Yeah.
Yeah. And I think there is some magical gift that bus drivers are given because you have to be a certain kind of person to be a bus driver. And they are, they are the most unsung heroes, think in it. Well, that and the janitors, think those, those two and the lunch people, all the people that do that, the behind the scenes stuff, but those bus drivers, man, I, I, I never in my life wrote a bus, not once I was, I don’t
Mary Vandermolen (15:05.726)
Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (15:11.214)
Mm-hmm.
I think so. Yes, absolutely. Yep, yep, yep.
Mary Vandermolen (15:26.22)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:28.013)
know why we didn’t have buses when I was a kid, but we never, mean, I remember my dad walk. grew up in grand Island, Nebraska, and I remember middle school by we w my dad would take us in the morning. It was a two mile, ride to school. And then we walked home. This was in the seventies. So, you know, different world, different time. It was cold in the winter. And, but I don’t remember why we didn’t have, I don’t, I don’t even know. I don’t even
Mary Vandermolen (15:32.419)
Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (15:41.43)
Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:56.698)
It’s funny. They’re gone now. I would love to like know why I didn’t have a bus, but, we never rode the bus. We never rode the bus. And, so then when my kids started riding the bus, it was a totally new experience. And I’ll tell you that first, you have that picture of your child, the most patient person in the world is that bus driver on the first day of school, because there’s no way they’re getting done in time. There’s either having to stop and let the moms take the pictures. Cause you gotta have that picture and
Mary Vandermolen (15:59.98)
Yeah, interesting.
Mary Vandermolen (16:06.754)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (16:13.772)
Yes, yes. No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:23.009)
But it’s a beautiful thing seeing that, but it’s just everybody’s got a different experience. And I love the fact that you pointed that out because it’s so true. I never really thought about, man, they’re amazing people.
Mary Vandermolen (16:25.077)
It is.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (16:34.536)
Well, yeah, and I think that sometimes we forget about those people and I just really want to focus on making sure that everybody feels valued and a part of the team and that they have that voice. Yeah, because everybody’s contributing equally important roles. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:38.607)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:44.827)
Bye.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:55.077)
So, what advice would you give specifically to a new superintendent, somebody that’s never stepped into this role before and they are going, they’re going to be doing this and they’re going to be medium schools, large school, whatever. what kind of advice would you give them?
Mary Vandermolen (17:02.158)
Mm.
Mary Vandermolen (17:09.836)
Yeah, yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (17:16.582)
Stay positive. You’re always leading by example. So be aware of that. Be intentional with your words, with your decisions, with your actions. Because you’re the face. You’re where…
you know, so the buck stops here, right? I think communication is very important. And I know it’s easy for me, I have the best of both worlds because I get to be with kids every day because we are a small school. If you’re a superintendent in a larger…
Lighthouse Therapy (17:43.939)
Right, right.
Lighthouse Therapy (17:59.673)
Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (18:03.016)
area, my advice is to make sure that you schedule time to be in the schools, to be in the classrooms, to just be, people know you, they have to know you, and it’s so easy to
you know, to get behind the desk or behind the computer. And yeah, and so my advice is to schedule it. Put it on the calendar. And I always had best success doing it first thing in the morning. So like I would, I was a central office administrator in special education and I would schedule time at the beginning of the day, one day each week to go to the school. So I did that before I even went into my office.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:25.657)
Yeah, caught up by the,
Lighthouse Therapy (18:32.731)
intentionality.
Mary Vandermolen (18:53.04)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:53.337)
Nice, yeah. And you don’t get distracted and it doesn’t get pushed to the side if it’s the first thing you do. That’s very good, very good.
Mary Vandermolen (18:58.68)
Right, right. And I think, you know, sometimes things come up and you have to push it to the side, but I think every time that happens, that’s also sending a message that, yeah, something else is more important. Yeah, yeah. But I think, too, just advice for anybody going into education is that you just really have to keep that balance in your life and it can’t be all work.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:08.171)
Mm-hmm, yeah. More important, Mm-hmm, yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:24.911)
Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (19:25.166)
You’ve to have fun at work. We laugh all the time. And it gets us through the hard times. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:35.003)
1000 % and 1000%. I am so right there with you. love to laugh. love to, you know, it’s really interesting that you say that because, you know, it’s like I’ve worked from home since 2011 and I started this company in 2018 and it’s my family and, you we’re a family business and we have staff, but we don’t have a central anything anywhere, you know? no, we’ve been together, you know.
Mary Vandermolen (19:47.384)
Hmm. Hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (19:55.534)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (19:59.461)
huh. Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:02.556)
pockets of us has been together at different times. First of all, family first always, you know, I’ve always said, you know, if, if, if you need to go take care of your family, bye, see you later. Go. Everything else will be there when you get back. Right. But it’s, we get together on Mondays, we have our department head meetings and my daughter, a couple of years ago, and it started because we were just, my, my husband and I were doing a long drive somewhere.
Mary Vandermolen (20:07.34)
Yes, yes.
Mary Vandermolen (20:13.122)
Yep, yep, absolutely. 100%.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:30.251)
And I don’t know, I looked up a bunch of jokes and they were dad bad, know, cheesy dad jokes. And I got on a call with a bunch of people and I was, they were like, she’s torturing me. Please help me. She’s torturing. So my daughter then as a joke bought me the calendar of dad jokes. And so I have a calendar of dad jokes and this is the third year she’s given it to me. And every once in a while I’ll pull them out and I will just read them and they all groan. know, but they chuckle too.
Mary Vandermolen (20:34.235)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (20:40.116)
Hahaha
Mary Vandermolen (20:50.589)
my gosh. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Right.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:59.279)
And then sometimes I’ll go into the chat and just like, it’s a tough day. Here’s some funnies for you. you know, put a meme to go with the joke and just, you know, just cause it’s, it can be a grind if you don’t laugh about life.
Mary Vandermolen (21:03.36)
Yep, yeah. Yes, yes, yeah. Yeah, and it’s, you know, and nobody else really does what we do in education. And so I think it’s a way to connect. I’ve always enjoyed the fact that it doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re, you know, six months experience or 40 years experience.
You’re basically doing the same work. And so you have that connection. You’re not necessarily promoted because of experience like sometimes in other fields. So you can have that camaraderie and that relationship with people who, you know, really are in a different phase of their life, different situations with family. But when you come through those school doors, you know, you are one. You you have that
Lighthouse Therapy (21:36.165)
Mm-hmm.
Mary Vandermolen (22:02.0)
you’re working towards the same thing. And so I think that’s pretty unique, yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:05.891)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah. And we all want our kids to be successful. Everybody wants this next generation to have a good education and to, cause they’re, they’re our future. They absolutely are our future. So, yeah. All right. Well, Mary, where would people go if they want to learn a little bit more about North Star Montessori or I’m sure you’re on the website as well.
Mary Vandermolen (22:18.815)
Absolutely, yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (22:28.59)
Yeah, so we have a website. It’s www.northstaracademymqt.com. It’s all one word, all lowercase. Northstaracademymqt.com. Yeah, we have a Facebook page, Facebook at North Star Montessori Academy as well, but most things are on the website. Get in touch with us if you want to come and visit the UP.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:45.989)
Fabulous.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:57.443)
Yeah, absolutely. I’ll do that in the summer. All right, Mary. Well, thank you for your time. Thank you for being on Brighter Together. It has been just such a pleasure to have this conversation with you and I really appreciate it.
Mary Vandermolen (22:59.726)
It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful. Yeah.
Mary Vandermolen (23:13.048)
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. It’s been a good time. Okay.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:17.564)
Awesome.
