My religion is very simple; my religion is kindness — His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama
This statement by the Dalai Lama is a favorite of Mount Madonna School (MMS) second grade teacher Jenni Leach, who draws inspiration from its simple, powerful message. For Jenni, kindness, compassion and respect — towards self and others — are more than desirable traits in her classroom, they are every day, practiced standards. These qualities and the timeless Golden Rule, “do unto others,” are values permeating not only her sphere as educator, but her personal life, too.
Jenni joined MMS in 2010. She is known for classroom standards integrating her own values-based philosophy with a focus on helping each student to practice empathy, self-discipline, kindness, compassion and other positive character traits — in their interactions with each other, their families and the community.
“I grew up in a family of teachers and have felt a natural calling to teach since I was a young girl,” Jenni shared. “My mother and father inspired me to work with children by demonstrating how to care for little beings with loving kindness. I began working with children when I was a teenager and have loved caring for and teaching them ever since. I love the funny things kids say, the questions they ask and all the love they give.”
“I feel strongly that every child deserves to achieve his or her potential and that is my job to ensure they have all the tools and skills to do so. I honor every child as an individual and have his or her genuine best interest at heart. The MMS ethos is kind and loving; it’s a place where academics, arts and the environment are focused, and my own interests and strengths are in harmony with this focus. I am excited to be teaching here.”
Jenni holds an M.A. in elementary education from the University of Colorado, Boulder and an elementary teaching credential and B.A. in psychology from Sonoma State University. At MMS Jenni has taught in the summer program for four years and in 2014 took on directing it as well. She also taught in the after school program. Her daughter Denali, is an MMS elementary student.
“Without question, the subject I most love to teach is an implicit and explicit curriculum of mindfulness and yoga,” she noted.
Second grade students begin class each morning with stories, songs and discussions about how to create happiness and kindness in the world. Each afternoon, they take turns recognizing their friends for showing empathy and compassion during the day.
“These lessons are supported with children’s literature as well as my own original stories that exemplify positive ways of being in the world and how to practice loving kindness. I model behaviors, ask questions and teach breathing, movement and meditation for calming, strengthening and focusing the body and mind.”
Second graders, for example, also study the brain, learning about the amygdala, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and their general functions. As a complementary piece of curriculum, Jenni and the students discuss healthy ways to calm and change unhelpful or harmful emotions to aid each person to live thoughtful, happy and healthy lives. She also teaches peaceful conflict resolution solutions through conscious communication practices, and students develop skits to practice these skills.
“One of my favorite and most fulfilling moments was when a student, at the end of last year, was nervous about performing her dance in the Ramayana!,” recalled Jenni. “When she stated this to the class, a classmate said, ‘Don’t worry, we always do stretches and take deep breaths in cast circle before each show, and you know, yoga calms the amygdala so the hippocampus can remember.’ Due to this amazing statement from an 8-year-old student, I felt the whole year had been a great success!”
Many rich and varied life experiences — perhaps less well known by the Mount Madonna community — all contributed to Jenni’s development into who she is today.
Jenni and her siblings, a younger sister and brother, were born and raised in a small house in Napa, California, with numerous relatives — grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all living in close proximity. Her father Bill, now retired, worked early on as a counselor before becoming a middle school resource teacher. Her mother Debbie manages a printing shop.
“My dad played basketball and coached football, so I grew up on the court and on the field,” shared Jenni. “Boxing, football, basketball, baseball, and golf were always on TV. I began swimming at age 7 and got to be nationally ranked at age 10! When I was 14, I started coaching; and later taught swimming, was the nanny to several families and worked in infant and early childhood daycares.”
Her earlier life also included several formative travel, cultural and educational experiences.
In her early 20s, Jenni pursued an interest in travel, visiting Hawaii, Mexico, Costa Rica and Tahiti. In her 30s, she traveled with a close friend to Honduras, where for a month she attended the Ixbalanque Spanish School in Copan, lived with a Honduran family and volunteered at a local elementary school.
“I then spent two months traveling, practicing Spanish, hitchhiking from town to village and playing with children wherever I went. I spent a week sleeping on the porch of a visitor’s center in the Celaque cloud forest. I visited coffee plantations and met amazing mountain children; and went out to the islands to dive and complete my deep water scuba certification offshore from Utila Island. I traveled up and down the eastern coast and especially enjoyed spending time with the Garifuna people (descendants of shipwrecked slaves and native island people) and learning about their culture and customs.”
The following year, after completing her Master of Education degree, Jenni left for an extended journey with a friend, first to India and Nepal for nine months, where the pair visited national forests and reserves, explored ancient ruins, saw wildlife, architectural wonders and elaborate temples and spent time at ashrams and spiritual centers, including the Mount Madonna Center-sponsored Sri Ram Ashram in Haridwar.
“I took yoga and meditation and attended huge spiritual festivals,” recalled Jenni. “The highlights included courses at the Bihar School of Yoga, and the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. I studied Buddhism at the Root Institute for Wisdom Culture in Bodh Gaya for three weeks and attended ten days of focused teaching with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.”
Her focus on service bloomed as she volunteered at a community health center, where she gave massages to children afflicted with polio; and later studied and was certified in acupressure and magnet therapy through Mumbai’s Institutes of Alternative Medicine.
“I traveled by camel on the sand dunes of the Thar Desert in Jaisalmer. In Gujarat, Kutchi tribal women taught me to bead and embroider; and in Kerala, I cared for elephants and spent a lot of time talking to and feeding homeless children. In Chitwan, Nepal, I bottle fed orphaned baby rhinos and in Kathmandu I cared for a group of homeless children. I hiked the Annapurna circuit in the Himalayan Mountains, and crossed the pass at 17,600 feet, rafted down Himalayan rivers and hiked in Royal Bardia National Park.”
With her head and heart full of new experiences and teachings, Jenni headed next to Oman and then Tanzania, where she and her friend spent three months exploring the country.
“We spent a week in the capital, Dar es Salam, getting familiar with the culture,” Jenni shared, “before travelling to Arusha City, and then on safari to the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, the Taragire and Mount Kilimanjaro.
“We saw all types of wildlife and slept on the ground at night under the amazing African sky,” recalled Jenni. “We headed to Tanga, a mountain village and spent several weeks volunteering in different school and orphanages. AIDS was very prevalent and many children were left to older relatives and orphanages. We finished the journey on the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. We did a lot of scuba diving and beach swimming. We visited the Jozani Forest and visited clove plantations and small farms. Everywhere we went, children surrounded us. The Swahili people are predominantly Muslim and we learned a lot about their culture. This year-long trip taught me to be independent, spiritual without religious affiliation and it gave me the opportunity to love many children in the world.”
Just a few months before this travelling adventure began in 1999, while a student at UC Boulder, Jenni met her future husband, Brian Spector.
“We dated for six months and then I left him to go on my year-long journey. Leaving him was one of the hardest decisions in my life,” she acknowledged. “When I returned home, he called me. He had left his job, stored all things and came to Napa to be with me. We have been together ever since.
“Brian and I traveled to Alaska in 2003, and he proposed to me on the back of a boat with glaciers crashing down, whales breaching and seals floating on icebergs. We hiked Denali National Park, where we saw the top of the mountain in the blue sky, and later named our daughter Denali Sky.
“Our honeymoon was in India, where we did a camel safari in the desert, visited forts, ruins, and temples in the north. We also travelled to the south and went to ashrams and the beaches. We ended our ‘monsoon honeymoon’ in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It was so beautiful!
“Since then, we had a baby, bought property, built our home, came to MMS, created a little family farm and started our business, Spector Corbett Architects Inc.”
Ever-active, Jenni spends time when she’s not teaching caring for her animals — two mastiff dogs, cat, goats and chickens — on the property where her family lives. Daughter Denali dances and plays volleyball and Jenni attends all of her performances and games.
“I enjoy going to the beach and walking my mastiff or playing ball with my family. We also have a good time hiking locally, in the Sierras or along the coast. I like backpacking and camping, horseback riding, kayaking and sailing. I go to farms, festivals, concerts, rodeos, pow wows and parties. I like to cook and host dinner parties, as well as, go out for fine dining meals. My favorite thing to do is spend time with my family here and in Napa.”
“Many of my Texan and New Mexican relatives are teachers. My dad was a teacher, my sister, Kendra, teaches fifth grade and my brother, Dylan, has coached high school football for years. I think it is in our blood.”
Before becoming a faculty member at MMS, Jenni’s previous experience included teaching bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to K-fifth grade students in Boulder and Denver; third grade at Luther Burbank Elementary School in San Jose and at Tara Redwood School in Soquel. It was the philosophy, the productions and the physical environment of MMS, however, that really captured her heart — and mind.
“The beautiful forest and meadow surroundings on the ridge are special,” she enthused. “The 355-acre campus allows me to utilize the outdoors, and I enjoy nature walks and hiking with my students to teach conservation and environmentalism. I like to take second graders and their workbooks, journals and art materials outside to work by the lake and in the forest.”
Jenni cites MMS’ carefully articulated mission statement and three foundational pillars — academic excellence, positive character development and creative self-expression — as helpful in guiding the faculty in developing their curriculum.
“I so appreciate that the school’s mission charges us with working to develop articulate, innovative young people who care about others and contribute meaningfully to society. These fundamentals make teaching to a diverse group of learners much easier, and all students get an opportunity to shine.
“I enjoy teaching academic subjects and I hold each student accountable to learn at their individual highest level. I teach by assessing students, scaffolding them to the next level and assessing again. The metrics I employ include tests, observation, projects and portfolios. I also love teaching positive character development. I read a lot of books to the students that exemplify empathetic and compassionate characters, have students set a daily intention for speaking and acting in a positive way. We celebrate our positive compassionate actions at the end of each month.”
Beyond their own individual development, the second grade class coordinates two community social service projects each year: the Grind Out Hunger, Second Harvest Food Bank drive; and a blanket, toy and pet food drive benefitting the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.
“When I ask students to write about what they liked best about the school year, most include these two social projects. Parents tell me their children are very excited to help others and continue to ask if they can make donations throughout the year. Student involvement in the community teaches thoughtfulness and compassion.”
The cross-grade buddy/mentoring program is another aspect of MMS that Jenni really values. Second graders buddy with Pre/K students to hike and learn about nature from scientific and conservationist perspectives, and share a field trip to a local organic farm each fall. They join with fourth graders to work on mathematics and positive character development projects; and partner with eleventh graders to share weekly science lessons. In addition, collaboration for second graders and middle school students is under discussion.
“This focus on an integrated buddy program helps to create community and a culture of kindness,” Jenni said. “My daughter has a lot of friends her age or a grade or two ahead of her, but she had no experience talking to or working with high school students when she started elementary school five years ago. She met Rudy [Hooven ’13] and the other big buddies her first year at MMS. He has been her buddy ever since, and two years ago the group kayaked together!
“This system has built my daughter’s confidence in interactions with older children. No other program I know of provides 7 to 9-year-old students with this type of experience. Denali plans on continuing as an MMS student through 12th grade, so that she can provide someone else with the same ‘little buddy’ experience Rudy has given her.”
During her years at MMS, Jenni said she’s noticed the elementary school program becoming more cohesive and connected, with teachers and administration working together to map the curriculum; discuss and share how each educator ‘teaches’ to the school’s mission, as well as measuring their individual and collective progress. She acknowledges greater collaboration on teaching methods and techniques that work well with an array of learning styles.
“Teachers and administrators are in constant communication to support and advise one another. We are friends, not just colleagues,’ she noted, smiling. ‘And, as a team, we have become more organized, articulate, consistent and cooperative — and kind. I love working at and being a part of the MMS community. My family and I feel very fortunate to have found this jewel on the mountain.”
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Contact: Leigh Ann Clifton, Marketing & Communications,
Nestled among the redwoods on 355 mountaintop acres, Mount Madonna is a safe and nurturing college-preparatory school that supports students in becoming caring, self-aware and articulate critical thinkers, who are prepared to meet challenges with perseverance, creativity and integrity. The CAIS and WASC accredited program emphasizes academic excellence, creative self-expression and positive character development. Located on Summit Road between Gilroy and Watsonville.