Maria Kilgo, MA, LMT, is a teacher at heart. In her childhood years she tortured her younger brother with “fun” summer school lessons, then she began teaching group fitness in high school at the age of 16, and post high school completed her Bachelor of Arts in Education at BSU in the early 1990’s. After graduating, she put her K-8 Teaching Certification to work at Riverside Elementary School in Boise. Three years into a Master’s in Curriculum and Theory, she shifted gears, left the elementary school classroom, and took a position in Training and Education at Micron Technology. Her venture with adult instruction guided her to leave BSU and complete a Master’s in Adult Education and Performance Management from the University of Idaho Boise Center. After 13 years at Micron she left to be more available as Mom to her beautiful daughter and completed a two year degree through the University of Montana in Montessori Education. Maria saw her daughter graduate kindergarten while at Lakewood Montessori and taught 3–6-year-olds for 8 years. 

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In 2016 She shifted gears again and enrolled in OZ School of Massage. After graduating in 2018, she accepted Vicki Lozier’s invitation to bring her years of teaching experience to OZ School of Massage. It has been a dynamic partnership to merge her formal training in education, with Vicki’s decades of experience in the industry to form a rich partnership. 

It doesn’t matter to her the age of the student, whether three or seventy-three years of age, Maria is energized when she sees the student’s face light up and the epiphany of new knowledge and skills. Enabling students to open new doorways to opportunity and independence keeps her coming back to the classroom. Sometimes the classroom is in the pool for WATSU instruction, in the massage treatment room, or the traditional indoor classroom setting; no matter the location her energy and enthusiasm for transferring new knowledge, skills, and abilities through innovative means to reach all learning styles is evident.