A Passion for Learning
As the plight of America's education system
became more and more apparent, educator and former Head Start Supervisor Sonya
Lanzen-Castellanos implemented her long held dream of developing a creative,
multi-faceted learning center. In 1986 she founded the New Dawn Center,
thereby launching the first phase of her much broader vision. This
developmental and highly creative early childhood program was designed to
serve not only as a school, but as a forum for educators in both the private
and public sector to explore and implement innovative learning methods.
Today the New Dawn Center provides children from 3 to 9 years old with a strong foundation of self worth where they can discover more
powerful, more tangible, more creative and more meaningful ways to break
through learning barriers. All areas of development - physical, emotional,
social, intellectual and spiritual - are promoted and valued.
While founded on the principles of world-renowned educator Dr.
Maria Montessori, The New Dawn Center is also an integration of other well
respected educational methods including those of noted French researcher Dr,
Jean Piaget and innovative music instructor Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. Important
sensory / motor and neurological research findings also spur new ideas and
techniques for incorporation into the program. In its on going quest to create
new pathways of success for children, the New Dawn Center continually explores
a variety of methods that may facilitate learning.
