Bios

Eddie Villa
Graduating Class of 1998

When asked what sets him apart from other students Eddie answered, “Passion--passion for education that others don’t have. I realize I can use school to learn more, be smarter, and get ahead in life.” Eddie is currently a third year medical student at Loyola.  He attended Notre Dame for pre-med, but was also accepted at Northwestern, University of Illinois, Harvard, and Purdue. He chose Notre Dame because he felt that the culture at Notre Dame was the best fit for him.

Talking more about his medical school experience, Eddie went on: “Medical school is almost 100% self-driven. There is no way to learn everything in a one-hour lecture. The core of the learning is done outside the class. My attendings always say that I have so much energy, and they notice how I love coming to work every day.”

Talking about his experience at Countryside, Eddie said: “I loved the way I could choose my own schedule and follow my interest. I learned algebra in fourth grade because I was interested! In medical school I take the extra time and go the extra mile. I’m inspired to go beyond the typical expectations, and I got those skills at Countryside.” Ed went on to say that he is grateful that his parents were willing to give up their dreams for a while so that he and his brothers could come to Countryside. He said, “By finding Countryside, they set the stage for us later in life.”

Of his elementary teacher Ed said: “Mr. Calise is amazing at finding your strengths and weaknesses and catering to that. He teaches to the individual, and always pushed me to do and be my best. I don’t settle for doing things well. I settle for fantastic! And I credit Countryside with the skills I have now.”

He has also been putting into practice the leadership skills he developed at CMS. According to Eddie, he shines in face-to-face interactions and credits his ease with working with others to being able to help and teach younger students while at CMS. Eddie was president of the pre-med honors society at Notre Dame, was on the board for five separate sub-specialty interest groups in medical school, and was the team captain for several sports in both high school and college. In spite of his busy academic schedule, he also makes time to volunteer at hospitals, nursing homes, church and in New Orleans where has been twice to help rebuild.

Eddie has received many awards and special recognitions. He was valedictorian of his 8^th grade class, an Illinois All-State Academic, an inductee into the National Honors Society, a member of the pre-med and Spanish honors societies at Notre Dame, and he graduated cum laude from Notre Dame.

Believe it or not, Eddie also manages to find time for fun. He taught himself to play the guitar, works out five or six times a week, and loves going to watch Cubs games from the rooftops downtown. He hopes that when he graduates he will be able to work with his dad in his gastroenterology practice. It seems to run in the family, as his grandfather was also a gastroenterologist. To conclude, Ed referred one last time to his parents. He referred to them as his heroes, and spoke again about his gratitude that they found and stuck with CMS.

Jacquelyne Read
Graduating Class of 2002

When asked what sets her apart from other students, Jacquelyne talked about how she engages with learning in a deeper way.  She said, “A lot of students are driven by maximizing the grade so they can get into college or med school. What is different about me is that I love learning. I am so grateful that my parents funded Montessori for me. It is the foundation of how I learn. I am used to exploring, thinking deeply, digging in, and probing. Critical thinking is essential to how I learned, and it has so much to do with Montessori. The way I learn, oh man, it contributes a huge amount, even more than you realize! Being a chemistry major, well, I am not the fastest reader, but I really know how to pick things apart, wrestle with a problem, sit with it for hours, and let it go deep. This deep thinking is essential, and I learned that at Countryside.

Jacquelyne is currently a junior at Wheaton College and on the day I spoke to her she was one day away from leaving for a semester abroad in Spain. She had also been accepted at Notre Dame, Northwestern, Furman and Colgate, where she was accepted into the honors program and offered $5000 for a senior research project. Jacquelyne initially visited Wheaton so that she could have an excuse to rule it out, but ended up loving it. She said, “Wheaton had the perfect combination of Christian influence and extremely challenging academics in the context of a small school. Class sizes are small and the students really get to know the incredibly kind and brilliant professors, which has been one of the most valuable experiences of my time at Wheaton.”

Jacquelyne is quite a trailblazer. She hopes to get a PhD in Molecular Gastronomy, a field which doesn’t even exist yet. If it is up to Jacquelyne, it will soon. She said, “I will talk to professors, try to get my own funding, develop my own research and program, and get a PhD. Then I want to teach at a university, open a department or a division in Molecular Gastronomy and offer courses for students who want to learn more.  There is no one teaching Molecular Gastronomy right now and I want to start it. I love speaking and teaching, and can’t be in the lab all day. I don’t know what is going to happen, but I really have a huge passion for this.”

Jacquelyne has received many awards and recognitions. At her high school, Willows Academy, not only was she Valedictorian, but every year they give out an award to the top student in each subject. She received the Spanish and science awards every year, and as a senior she received the awards for the best overall student in music, Spanish and science for the cumulative four years of high school. She was also a member of National Honors Society, the music honors society and the math honors society. In college she received the award for the best chemistry student her freshman year, and she also found time to be captain of the volleyball intramural team.

In the few minutes of spare time she has, she volunteers at church, loves to cook, sings in choir, tutors a high school student in chemistry, and does research for a Northwestern professor. She has also been involved with tutoring underprivileged children, and has volunteered at a summer camp associated with her college in which she was a counselor to ninth grade girls. She learned wilderness first aide and took them on week-long wilderness trips. Her eleven year-old brother is also a passion and she loves to play with him!

I asked her for some final thoughts on her experience at Countryside and she was happy to say more. She remembers Mr. Calise repeatedly telling her that she should never stop asking questions. She said that it is really intimidating to raise your hand in college in huge classes when you don’t understand what the professor is saying, so it was really great getting that drilled into her head. “You need to be able to teach yourself at college and my friends can’t do it. Learning with the Montessori materials helped me so much--being able to grab a physical object and transferring it into knowledge on paper. I know how to take a text from a book and teach myself, and my friends just can’t do that.”

Finally, she remembers clearly the amazing teachers, the humor and the loving faculty acceptance she had at CMS.  “I have the best memories!”