Irene soon became qualified as a school principal and began a principalship at Pasteur Elementary School. Irene embarked upon the challenge of a new school only once she found that she had transformed the last school; that she had contributed to it all what she felt she could accomplish there. She later would go on to serve as a principal to Whittier Elementary School and Roberto Clemente Community Academy.
Her legacy at Clemente Community Academy is unparalleled, having instituted the Small Schools system and introducing important university resources to hundreds of high school age students in the Near North communities of Chicago.
In the year 2000, while serving as a principal in Chicago, Irene assisted a group of motivated teachers eager to establish the cooperative school, ATIVO, here in Macaé, Brazil. Five years after ATIVO was founded, Irene set out to establish the English Immersion Program through the ATIVO – A Global School project. Irene’s visionary work continued in Macaé, as she strived to meet the learning needs of both Brazilian children who benefit from a bi-lingual education and newly-arriving expat children in need of an international curriculum.
After serving over 30 years in the Chicago Public School system, Irene retired from her work in the United States and moved permanently to Brazil. She arrived in Macaé with the intention of delivering, once again, a transformation of a school and to accomplish what she believed she could contribute to ATIVO – A Global School. She realized her vision for the A Global School project with the emergence of the International School of Macaé in 2008. International School of Macaé stands today a herald to her goodwill and visionary life.
Irene led a life of service driven by a grand vision. Her memory remains an inspiration to us all.
Irene Esther Mika DaMota, b. May 12, 1949 d. May 15, 2009
