by Lorie Ann A. Cascaro
Since childhood, her family already had dreams for her—to become an educator and entrepreneur. And, she had embraced these dreams as her own while growing up into a fine woman. In fact, Binky D. Leuterio did not only become a professional teacher, but also put up her own school, Vines and Branches Montessori School, of which she is the directress.
While she was growing up, her parents had encouraged her to have an entrepreneurial mind. She recalled that her father, Leopoldo Leuterio, once told her, “You’re not just going to be a teacher, but you will have your own school someday.”
The spirit of entrepreneurship runs in their blood, she confessed, saying that her mother, Victoria Diel Leuterio, founded the Holy Child School of Davao (formerly Holy Child Day Care and Learning Center) in 1981. It was the first and biggest among the eight units of the Holy Child Group of Companies.
Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Ateneo de Davao University in 1990, Leuterio immediately worked as a pre-school teacher at the Holy Child School of Davao. “As I grew within the organization, I finally appreciated the teaching profession,” she said.
But, being employed at her parents’ school as a regular teacher, Leuterio wanted to check for herself if she would be hired by another company as a way of assessing her level of competency vis-à-vis teachers in other schools.
To fulfill this, Leuterio left for Manila in 1992 where she was introduced by a friend to a Montessori school. She not only taught there, she eventually got to run the school. “I started as a teacher and ended up becoming head of the school. When the school owners put their faith in me, they let me run it,” she said.
Having learned to appreciate the Montessori method of teaching, Leuterio enrolled in the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA, specializing in Montessori education from 1993 to 1995. After graduation, she returned to Davao, and was appointed principal of the Holy Child pre-school in where she introduced the Montessori program.
In 2002, she decided to return to the United States where she taught in a Montessori school. As a pre-school teacher there for six years, Leuterio observed that American students are vocal and independent. She explained that Philippine culture has resulted in Filipino students being shy and timid.
“My goal in Davao is to break that culture,” Leuterio told Edge Davao.
She wants to build a generation of Filipinos who are globally competitive, not only academically, but holistically. “The Montessori program can do that,” she said, adding that the best foundation for a child is from age zero to six years.
Montessori has an infancy program which Leuterio was also trained for. She plans to open an infancy program in Davao City in the near future.
Learning does not only happen when a student is sitting silently, while looking at the board or the teacher who is conducting a lecture. This is what Leuterio wants to break because in a Montessori school, she said, students are free to speak their minds.
“Montessori is very different from ordinary schools,” she said.
In late 2009, Leuterio opened her dream Montessori school at No. 2 Ruby Street, Marfori Heights in Davao City, although she had earlier intended to establish it in Las Vegas. It was due to “spiritual drowning,” as she described her struggle of being at the crossroads back then in the US, that this 41-year old Christian educator decided to seek spiritual transformation in her own hometown.
“In the States, I grew up within the organization (Montessori school). I began working as a teacher, then became the head trainer, and ended up being promoted to school director. I said to myself, “Wow! I had a house. I had cars… but something was missing…Let me go home,” she finally said.
And that’s how she came to realize her dream…in Davao city.
But, of course she didn’t just jump into the pond to swim without first testing the water. Like any kind of business, she said, there was a need for some sort of survey, either formal or informal.
She then conducted an informal survey by way of “feeling the heartbeat of Davao City for the Montessori method of education, so to speak.”
“That’s how I learned that Davao was ready for this type of school,” she said, feeling proud of her own two teenage kids who are products of the Montessori program she started herself for Holy Child School of Davao.
About to end its first formal school year (2010-2011), Vines and Branches Montessori School has four regular teachers, specially trained in Montessori education, including Leuterio herself who “observes and jumps in if need be.”
Leuterio’s school can accommodate a maximum of 90 pupils, and does not close doors to “challenged” children. She said, Montessori is known to help children with special needs, and its method was first applied on children in slum areas of Italy who were able to pass a national test after the program.
“God has promised me more children this summer and school year 2011-2012—and the years to come,” she said, smiling with optimism that her school can only grow from hereon, the way her mother’s own school has. [Lorie Ann A. Cascaro]
