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Former Montessori Student Helps Farmers and the Planet

May 12, 2025 by Rachel Kincaid Leave a Comment

Dr. Jake Jordan helped Mati Carbon, the first ever delivery of engineered carbon dioxide removal, win a $50M Grand Prize by the Musk Foundation.

Dr. Jake Jordan, Chief Science Officer of Mati Carbon, works in Enhanced Rock Weathering in India, Zambia and Tanzania. The company was recently announced as an XPrize winner of $50M.

Dr. Jordan is a former student of Raintree Montessori School in Lawrence, KS. Pamela Shanks, Jordan’s Primary Guide at Raintree and author of The Montessori Approach to Classroom-Based Interventions, remembered, “Jake was a curious and enthusiastic learner. He was as happy at work as he was a play. He loved it all!”

Ann Anderson, another of Jake’s former teachers, recalls Jake with pride. She writes,

“Enhanced rock weathering. Who knew that a bright boy attending Raintree Montessori School in Lawrence, Kansas would grow up and be a part of a company, Mati Carbon, that won the prestigious $50 million prize for carbon removal?  That boy, now grown, is Jake Jordan, Mati Carbon’s Chief Science Officer. 

“It was a privilege to guide Jake during his upper elementary years at Raintree.

“Considering the great importance of this work to our world, my mind immediately rushed to Maria Montessori’s Great Lessons. These lessons are important, unique to Montessori education and set the framework and order for the lessons that follow in each area. They are the keys to important ongoing study for children.  The first great lesson:  The Coming of the Universe and the Earth is usually done on the first day of school or during the first week.  It is a profound story to tell, enhanced by demonstrations and experiments, and impressive large charts to spark the mind. These demonstrations and experiments can be repeated by students, solids and liquids to tell/how the earth came to be, with her continents and oceans.

“Scientific study continues with other broad Great Lessons in Astronomy, Meteorology, Chemistry, Physics, Geology and Geography. Within that first great lesson there will be some children who are drawn to certain areas. They will do work that will lead them deeper in the subjects. They will do other work and dig deeper for information. They can put on child sized lab coats and wear safety goggles and do big work.  The outside is always available with immeasurable opportunities.

“The school sits on fourteen acres with a creek running through it so it is a natural setting for more natural rock exploration. These are all materials, information and stories that relate to how our earth came to be. We are also fortunate to have The University of Kansas just a few miles away. There has not been a professor who has turned away individual students who want to interview, ask more questions, get a museum tour or go into a lab. Sometimes a student will invite that professor to our school / class to make a presentation and continue that sharing. The beauty? It can be anything for anyone. Was Jake Jordan influenced by those great stories and lesson moments? Did he flourish in individual ways of experimentation and study? Who knows?

“Children make use of the self-discovery style of learning. Any Montessori elementary guide will say this self-guided learning process is ongoing for most. Some of these lessons, perk their interest and further study.  It becomes a part of lifelong learning for a student and the students around them.  Jake Jordan had exceptional abilities and was supported with love and care from strong, talented and nurturing parents. He was surrounded by a classroom of unique children each with a strong eagerness to learn.  

“Remembering the Jake then and the Jake now, it is no surprise that he has been a part of a strong and talented team working to change life for farmers around the world, removing carbon to make the world better for all people.”

Filed Under: All News, Business, Entrepreneurship, India, News, Students in the News, Tech

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