The entire Futuro Verde project began with two moms, Andrea and Astrid, several years ago, when their daughters were reaching school age. The idea to set up an International school with an internationally accredited degree was born and they started slowly but steadily to get all the necessary data together. The business plan got developed and more people become involved in the project.
Then, at the end of January 2008, to the surprise of everyone, even for the initiators, ESCUELA FUTURO VERDE began operations, initially with only 3 students, in Astrid’s private house. In March 2008, ESCUELA FUTURO VERDE moved to the new location between Montezuma and Cóbano and opened its doors to more students in Preparatory (5-6 year olds) and Primary School. This was complimented with an exciting afternoon program, open to all children of the area, at the school’s facilities. As of June of 2010, ESCUELA FUTURO VERDE moves to its new location in Cóbano and educates over 25 students from 8 different countries.
Andrea Drost, Montezuma
Tropisphere Real Estate S.A.
Project Coordinator Escuela Futuro Verde
Andrea’s strength is conceptual and structural thinking. She developed and wrote the project plan, with support from Astrid, and is now coordinating the ESCUELA FUTURO VERDE project. Her good people skills gathered the many talents now involved in this endeveaour. As a former PR consultant in Germany and being one of the Tropisphere S.A. Real Estate founders she is familiar with marketing and the requirements of the business world. In this project she can bring together her professional experience with what is close to her heart. Being in Costa Rica since 1998, she knows how to get things to work here. She has one daughter, 11 years old, at the school.
Astrid Schultze, Cabuya
Property Management Schultze
Project Organization Escuela Futuro Verde
Astrid is a practical minded and a very effective organizer from Germany. She worked for years inconcert production and tour management for Italian music bands all over the world. She came to Montezuma in 1994, speaks four languages fluently and is an all around talent – be it translations or painstaking proofreading, info research, or as a convincing promoter. She is also a great cook, a wonderful asset helping the initiators through brainstorming sessions and hours of working on documents over the weekends. She has one daughter, 9 years old who attends the school. For inquiries in German and Italian, please contact Astrid.
Ekaterina Barquero Chaves
Founding Teacher/Director
Integral to the formation of the Escuela Futuro Verde, Ekaterina served as the first teacher and then director of the school. Ekateriana is a licensed Psychologist with Honors Degree from the University Iberoamèrica, San Josè; Audience year University of Nancy, France. She also posesses the “Diplôme des Etudes de la Langue Française du Second Degré” from the same university. Ekaterina started her teaching career in 2003, where she taught French for the Primary and Secondary level of Saint Basilio College, Escazù. In 2007, she was the main teacher and in charge of the basic subjects for the primary grades of the Montessori School Cabuya.
In 2008 she, along with Andrea and Astrid, founded Escuela Futuro Verde. She used her experiences in Psychlogy, Education and Arts to implement personalized teaching, where the strengths and weaknesses of each child determines the methods of learning. In this way, she discovered, together with the child, how to conduct a more effortless and entertaining way of learning. We all wish Ekaterina the best of luck persuing further studies in the field of psychology and hope to welcome her back to the school in the future.
Rico Reolon, Montezuma
Ricobau Builders
Rico has provided enormous support to the school in the form of materials, labor and architectual expertise for the facilities in both the old and new campuses. Simply put, we could not have moved to our new facilities without him! Rico and wife, Kris Cook (Montezuma Spa and Nativa Realty) met in her native Bay Area of the US and moved here in 2003. They have two daughters, ages 6 and 8 who attend the school.
Madeleine Morton, Montezuma
Graphic Designer
Madeleine, from Sweden, brings in her great eye with the camera and graphic design skills and works together with Khalida and Andrea Pieke on promotion material. And she is a wonderful cook & pastry chef which she proves during fundraising events for the school. Her husband, Patrick Morton from Canada, puts his many skills to work at the school as a general handyman saving us from draught, darkness, and encroaching jungle. Madeleine was born in Thailand and grew up in Sweden. In her early twenties while working on a cruise ship, she met her husband Patrick on a Carribean Island. A decade later life brought them together again and feeling their life’s destination seemed to wait for them in the tropics, the adventurous Mortons set off from Canada by car to Costa Rica with their four month baby in tow. Now they have two children, 8 and 10 years old, attending the Escuela Futuro Verde Primary school. If you would like to communicate in Swedish, please contact Madeleine.
Khalida Katz Lockheed, Montezuma
Graphic Designer, Web Designer
Khalida is a very talented Graphic Designer from New York City who voluntarily took over the big job of re-doing the website and its ongoing maintenance. She also works with Madeleine on the school’s promotional material. After meeting her husband, Alex, here in 1993, they eventually moved to the US where they lived for 9 years. In 2006 they came back to Costa Rica where they run Agua Vista Casitas and raise their two girls, 4 and 7 years old, the oldest attending the school. Please contact Khalida for link exchange or dead links.
Alexander Jimenez Gutierrez, Montezuma
Alex, Khalida's husband, comes from one of the oldest families of the area and is the school’s contact & guide concerning the local community. Tirelessly promoting the school he knows who to contact in order to solve any of the myriad challenges confronted by the school. Alex has also been integral in finding the facilities for the school's new campus and for facilitating the renovations and move along with Rico.
Andrea Pieke, Montezuma & Betel de Manzanillo
“zoom” & “Cobano Flyer”
Andrea supports the school with publications and ads in zoom magazine and helped a lot with the information gathering Questionnaire and other infomative material. When it comes to event organization Andrea is the one to ask! She will get the crowd together, as proven at the flea markets and the memorable Halloween Party held at the school.
Tom Ruck, Montezuma & Betel de Manzanillo
Architect
Tom was integral for early work at the school for everything related to building and remodeling and was a great brainstormer about how to start projects thanks to ample experience from Berlin, Germany. In 1994 Andrea and Tom came together to Costa Rica from Germany. The first years here were dedicated to an alternative life style on their farm in Betel/Manzanillo, without electricity and far away from everything. Today Tom is successfully working again as an architect and builder, and Andrea is busy with her several publications. They have one daughter, 8 years old, who attends the school.
Karin Hallstroem, Stockholm, Sweden
Teacher
Karin was the first teacher involved in the project, who deserves enormous appreciation for her valuable input on education matters. She now teaches at a public school in Stockholm, and will be happy to come back with her youngest three children (5–12 yrs. old) and her husband Peter, a musician who produced the first CD of the Montezuma band “Yucamote” which helped to start them out. We hope to see you here again teaching!
Rocio Valverde Hidalgo, Delicias
Rocio was involved in the project very early on with Spanish/English translations and vice versa. In addition, she did a lot of research with the Costa Rican Ministry of Education and general legal issues. Rocio has been very helpful for effective brainstorming sessions. She and her husband, Peter from Germany, have one daughter, 7 years old. In 2008, Rocio set up the private one year pre-school program, Las Chispitas, for children who were still too young for Escuela Futuro Verde. They currently live in Germany.
Geoff McCabe, Delicias
Tropisphere S.A.
Geoff set up the initial website for the school project, and as one of the Tropisphere Real Estate partners, he voted to put a part of the Tropisphere donations into this project (10% of each commission go into local projects).
Our Teachers and Volunteers
Of course, we have our great teachers and instructors – many of them are working voluntarily or on additional issues to get this project off the ground – mil gracias to all of you!
Formal advisors:
Juan Carlos Fonseca, Lawyer-Notary, Cóbano
Juan Carlos contributes with his work setting up the foundation for the project for free and is our legal consultant. He has two children, ages 3 and 7, the oldest attending the school.
Juan Manuel Zuniga
Asesor Supervisor Circuito 07 - Cóbano
Regional Direction of Education, Puntarenas
Ministry of Public Education
Manuel is excited about the Escuela Futuro Verde Project, and though private schools are not his domain, he supports us by providing all kinds of valuable information.