Claire Compton grew up in Savannah, Georgia, and graduated from the University of the South in May of 2003. She then participated in a post-graduate internship at the Cloud Forest School in Monteverde, Costa Rica for five months. There, she assisted inthe 1-2 classroom, helping the six- to eight- year olds with their English immersion, while simultaneously immersing herself into the Tico language and culture. She also took the opportunity to help out in the development office at the school. Claire moved to Telluride in May 2004, and began assisting Jenny Shoup in the early childhood Montessori program in January of 2005. Since then, she has led afternoon enrichment programs including literacy and Spanish, while constantly exploring the Montessori environment. Claire enjoyed assisting in this joyful, promising program so much that she trained for the lead teaching position through the Montessori Education Center of the Rockies in Boulder in the summer of 2007. She is excited to begin her first year as lead teacher, and to get to know all the new people in her class! She can't imagine a better place to do this!