Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate Paoinchantara.
Let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Nate Paoinchantara, one of the co-founders of Mariner Montessori School. Our school is a new Montessori-STEAM preschool, located near the Galleria, that serves students from infancy (6 weeks) through K (6 years old). Doing something related to education has been a dream for me and my wife since we were married seven years ago. We have a strong belief that good education can lead you to a better quality of life and you can create good impact and give back to your community or to the world.
My life in the United States started when I came from Thailand for my master degree in Structural Engineering at North Carolina State University in 2002. (Go, Wolfpack!) After I finished the graduate school, I moved to Dallas for my first job as a structural engineer for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART). Not long after that, I decided to go back to school again for my MBA at Texas A&M University at Commerce while I was still working full time as an engineer. Right after graduation, I put everything I learned from my business classes to the test by becoming a restaurant owner in 2009. During that period I had worked more than 16-18 hours a day for three years to cover both roles as an engineer during the day, and an entrepreneur with the remaining of my time. It was not easy, but I enjoyed and had learned a lot. Then I got married and moved to Houston in 2012.
After moving to Houston, I started a real estate investment company while still having a great professional career as a structural engineer. At that point, I realized that every big step and new experience was preparing me for something bigger and better. Certainly, a quality education played an important role to the success of both my engineering and business careers. Realizing that, I wanted to provide an option and opportunity for children starting at a very young age in Houston to have a unique and quality educational experience, too. And that’s how Mariner Montessori school started.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Starting Mariner Montessori school, I would not say it has been a smooth road. Certainly, we have had a few bumps along the way. But luckily, they weren’t too difficult to smooth out. Just like how Jim Collins said in his bestselling book Good to Great, “Get the right people on the bus…” and that’s exactly what we did. We have the right partners who believe in the same core values as my wife, and I do. We have one of the best Montessori school directors working with us. We have an adviser who is very well respected in the Houston education community. With the right people, nothing is difficult. The difficulty only lies in finding the right people.
The challenge now is how to effectively reach families who would see the value of our offerings. We’re not a traditional school, nor are we a daycare. So, often times we’re not thought of when parents begin the process of placing their children in early education. But with the individualized attention and focused teaching method that we provide, we believe our school will gain more attention from the families who are looking for top quality early education for young children whose ages range from infant to Kindergarten.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Mariner Montessori school is the newest Houston’s high-quality preschool, located near the Galleria area. We have an open enrollment for children six weeks to 6 years old. What’s unique about us is that we are a Montessori based preschool with a focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) principles.
We also offer spacious classrooms with a low student to teacher ratio. We have more than 10,000 square feet of age-appropriate outdoor playgrounds, soccer field, and open space.
Beyond that, I strongly believe what sets us apart from other preschools is the value we provide to our parents. We define value as the quality of education, facilities, and services provided by our staff versus the cost of tuition. And when our value is compared with that of other schools, we definitely come out on top. So, not only are we the newest, high-quality preschool, we can say Mariner Montessori is the best value preschool in Houston as well.
How do you, personally, define success? What’s your criteria, the markers you’re looking out for, etc.?
My personal success is not how much money I have or the title of my job. Rather it’s about knowing that I am doing something good for myself, my family, and my community. Success is always working hard on what’s meaningful to me, challenging myself and being as best as I can be in whatever field I am working on. To be able to do what I do today and still have time for my family and friends, I consider it a blessing. I have been intentional about creating a life that I absolutely love – being able to have a career that allows me to make a big impact with children, giving back to my community where it counts, and being able to spend time with the people I love. It has been an intentional choice from the beginning. I am so excited for what the future holds.
Contact Info:
- Address: 6018 Fairdale Ln.
Houston, Texas, 77057 - Website: https://www.marinermontessori.com/
- Phone: 713-783-7490
- Email: info@marinermontessori.com
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