Associate Pat Montgomery received the ATHENA Leaders of the Huron Valley 2017 Leadership Award for her innovative work in developing young people. Pat, along with her husband Jim, founded the Clonlara School—an accredited K-12 school supporting self-directed learning in the U.S. and over 30 countries with a campus and home-based education program—in 1967. Their vision was to create a school where children of all creeds, races and ages would learn and grow in an unhurried, relaxed atmosphere; where enrollment would be a limited number of students so that the children, staff and parents would all get to know one another; and where parents would share intimately in the life of the school and in the education of the children.
The award was presented at the ATHENA Awards Luncheon on May 22, 2018, at The Kensington Hotel in Ann Arbor, MI as part of the ATHENA Executive Women's Forum.