LAKELAND, Fla. — Opening only three years ago, Mi Escuela Montessori in Lakeland now serves 200 students.
“We’re in our third year now, and it’s incredible if you think of where we were in year one,” said Kelly De La Cruz.
De La Cruz is the founder and executive director. She said the idea to open a dual-language school came from her desire to provide her own children with a bilingual Montessori education. With her kids now in high school, she wanted to expand opportunities for other families.
“The benefits of being bilingual are more than just being able to talk to other people. It builds more flexible brains, better problem solving all of these external things that you don’t even think about,” De La Cruz said.
Mi Escueta Montessori is a tuition-free, public charter school for preschool to eighth grade. All subjects are taught in both English and Spanish.
Jarel Campbell said dual-language education offers his two sons the opportunity to connect to their family heritage.
"They just love it and the Spanish that they are learning here, they do utilize more with each other than us, but the program is great,” said Campbell.
For others, having their child learn in both English and Spanish allows them to experience another culture.
“The Hispanic culture is so much about family, it’s so much about connection, and I think it’s also the culture that Mrs. Kelly is trying to bring here,” said Tori Bateman.
De La Cruz said being bilingual has been such an advantage to her, and she is thrilled to offer that gift to her students.
“To see our founding kids and how far they’ve come and how much they now value Spanish as not just learning the colors but as a legitimate communication tool in the world, as a valuable culture to be a part of, that’s pretty phenomenal,” De La Cruz said.
