Jen Bahou is the 1st /2nd grade teacher at the Mountain School. She was raised in New York and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder. Jen holds a BA in Fine Arts as well as an elementary teaching license in the state of Colorado. She received her certification in lower elementary Montessori education at the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies in Boulder. In 2003, Jen moved to Telluride and began her involvement with what was then Telluride Montessori School, where she designed and implemented an enrichment program, eventually taking on an assistant teaching role. During the 2004-05 school year, Jen became a liaison between the merging Montessori and Mountain School programs, teaching and coordinating the Montessori enrichment program, as well as teaching art to the 1st - 4 th grade Mountain School students and assisting with reading instruction of 1st and 2nd graders. During the 2005-6 school year, Jen further facilitated the transition between the schools as she designed a uniquely transitional first and second grade classroom that integrates Montessori and the more traditional Lower School curriculums. Combining her passion for the arts, her understanding of traditional education and her dedication to the Montessori program, Jen has enjoyed two years of her dream position at the Mountain School. She is looking forward to new opportunities in the 2007-8 school year, such as expanding class size and mentoring a student teacher. In her free time, Jen enjoys traveling, skiing, hiking and running with her husky Shanty, cooking, and painting. Her watercolors and pastels have been exhibited in local galleries.