Nurturing Our Community’s Youth As the beloved founder of the Happy Montessori School of Port Washington and a treasured member of the Conservancy’s Board of Directors, Amrit Sethi is honored this evening with our deepest thanks for her loving dedication to the children in her care, as well as her nurturing support of the Sands Point Preserve – helping to make this venue a valuable educational resource for all. Mrs. Sethi has nurtured two generations of Port Washington children since opening the doors of the Happy Montessori School 48 years ago. She transformed her own early experiences of upheaval and loss into a wellspring of stability and love, expressed by countless hugs and warm welcomes. When Mrs. Sethi was a child, the partition of India forced her family to leave their home with only the things they could carry and find a new home that was hundreds of miles away. As a young woman, she left home again to come to the United States with her husband and older brother. After completing her Masters in Speech Pathology at Emerson College, Mrs. Sethi worked at the Salvation Army Nursery School in Boston. When she moved to Long Island, she immediately saw the need for quality early childhood education. Despite having a newborn son, Mrs. Sethi found the time to start her own program. At a time when working outside the home was rare for mothers and running one’s own business was even more so, she opened a school on Manorhaven Blvd. with the encouragement and support of her husband. The school soon outgrew the space. The Sethis then found an abandoned, historic building and together they transformed it into the Happy Montessori School: a bright, cheerful place where many friendships are born and where discovery happens daily. Mrs. Sethi raised three children who are very proud of her: Anita, a psychologist who works with her; Rita, a lawyer and professor of law; and Paul, an orthopedic surgeon. She has eight grandchildren in addition to the hundreds of Happy Montessori graduates who have shared in her love.