Instituto Nueva Escuela: An Introduction!

Hi everyone! My name is Gabby Veciana and I’m a sophomore from New York City (probably) studying music with certificates in entrepreneurship, theater, and Latin American studies. These are my highest hopes, we’ll see what happens. I love to sing and play the piano which was probably pretty annoying for my neighbors through the thin walls of First college. I’ve always been really interested in a career in the arts, whether that be on the performance or production side of things, but with the pandemic shutting down all live theater, it posed an unexpected opportunity for me to try something totally new this summer. 

For the past eight weeks, I have been interning at Instituto Nueva Escuela (INE), a non-profit education organization in Puerto Rico. On the island, one-third of public schools were shut down after the hurricanes in 2017, and today they are still severely underfunded and neglected. A majority of students in public schools live under the poverty line, contributing to a deep cultural divide between public and private schools. INE works between Puerto Rico’s public schools and the department of education to facilitate the reopening and transformation of schools with the Montessori method. INE has programs for Montessori teacher and assistant certification and has even been able to establish laws and an auxiliary secretary of Montessori in the department of education.

The Montessori movement is very strong in Puerto Rico, which has been something so inspiring to learn about. My understanding is that this movement comes from a place in wanting to invest in the future of the island. After two deadly hurricanes, earthquakes, political rebellion, and a global pandemic, Puerto Rico has been faced with a lot of challenges beyond its control. Communities are counting on their future generations to be inquisitive, critical, and empathetic citizens who are civically engaged, and this is what the individualized approach of Montessori does so well. 

My work has primarily been focused on one of INE’s special projects, a proposal to implement music education into four of their schools this fall. A big part of their philosophy is that education doesn’t just end with the student in the school, education involves engaging with the full community, especially the families of those students. A child won’t be able to succeed in school if their parent does not fully support them and understand what they are going through, so I have been researching and compiling materials to create a parent-facing music curriculum. I’ve loved seeing full communities rally around their Montessori schools; a lot of the time parents themselves actually want to train to become teachers. 

As part of the ProCES Derian Fellowship for research internships, I’ve created four workshops for parents wishing to start their musical journey with their children. Additionally, I’ve kept a journal of reflections of many of the other contextual experiences I’ve had, for example, visits to some of INE’s schools, visiting the department of education, sitting in on lessons, etc. The twice-a-week Derian meetings have been a really helpful tool to stay connected with Princeton this summer as well and tap into all of our resources. 

I will never stop wanting to give back to this beautiful island. After the hurricanes, my own family was forced to abandon their home, so I’ve taken every opportunity I could to be some sort of help in the recovery efforts. After taking an amazing freshman seminar on pedagogy, I felt really drawn to work in education as I believe in its power to transform communities. I’ll never forget all I’ve learned and I can’t wait to share it with all of you! See you in the fall!