Welcome to the MasZen Foundation. My name is Monja Evans Nordyke, and this organization grew from both lived experience and a lifelong commitment to public education. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology (1997) and a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology (1999), both from the University of Colorado at Denver, as well as a Master of Arts in Language, Literacy, and Culture (2005) from Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado. These studies shaped my understanding of human behavior, learning, emotional wellness, and the cultural contexts that influence our schools—and they continue to guide the mission of MasZen today.
Personal Story
In the 1970s and 1980s, I grew up as a hippie kid in a rural ranching community where we were clearly the outsiders. Ours was a different way of living. Today, we're far more accustomed to individuality and unconventional lifestyles, but in the 1970s, especially in a small rural town where everyone knew everyone else, different was not always welcomed. There was a quiet but unmistakable line between "us" and "them." As children, we inherited judgments we had never earned.
We lived without running water or electricity, and the basics of food, stability, and emotional safety were never guaranteed. Home offered very little structure or routine. The adults around me embraced the free spirited counterculture of the 1960s, where alcohol, drugs, music, and late nights were simply part of everyday life. There were no bedtimes, no one checking homework, no one waking us for school, and no one making breakfast. If we got to the bus on time, it was because we got ourselves there. We knew that once those bus doors closed, so did our chance for breakfast, lunch, and the place we depended on most. School became the one place where I could count on structure, consistency, and caring adults.
School was my sanctuary. It was the one place I could depend on. Sitting at my desk, I dreamed of a future where my basic needs would always be met—a life where I would be safe, valued, and where I would finally know what it felt like to belong.
I dreamed of creating the kind of home I saw only in passing. From front porches, through screen doors, and beyond living room windows, I caught brief glimpses of ordinary family life with warm kitchens and families around the table. Those fleeting moments stayed with me, quietly shaping my vision of the home I hoped to create one day. Their homes were clean, orderly, and filled with the smell of dinner. I also dreamed of the beautiful homes my Gran created, homes where there was peace instead of chaos, order instead of uncertainty, and the quiet comfort of knowing everything was exactly where it belonged. A home I would finally be proud to open to others.
I didn't have a name for it then. Today, I call it Front Porch Love.
School gave me hope that one day I could create that life for myself.
Because I knew what it felt like to go without, I became the kind of educator who led with empathy, compassion, and love. Long before I founded MasZen, I understood what Maslow taught us: children cannot fully learn until they feel safe, valued, and know they belong. That belief became the foundation of my twenty eight year career in education. In truth, only about thirteen years of my life have been spent outside a school setting. Education has been the constant thread in a life otherwise marked by instability.
After retiring, I felt a renewed and powerful desire to continue serving children and the adults who shape their lives. MasZen was born not from luxury, but from lived experience: four library books, a notebook, and decades of understanding what it means for school to be a lifeline.
When I first read Haim Ginott's words, "I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom," I realized he had put into words what I had believed throughout my entire career. I had seen firsthand how one caring adult could become the safest place in a child's world.
Through MasZen, I hope to encourage everyone who touches a child's life, parents, grandparents, educators, mentors, neighbors, coaches, and community members, to create places where children feel safe, valued, and know they belong. I believe those simple choices can change the course of a child's life.
As a little girl, I stood on front porches looking into homes I dreamed of someday creating.
The front porch was where I first saw the life I hoped to build.
As an educator, I stood at classroom doors hoping every child would find what I had found in school, a place of safety, belonging, and hope. For twenty eight years, that classroom door became my way of welcoming children into a place where they mattered.
School was my lifeline. Through MasZen, my hope is to help create that same lifeline for children, families, schools, and communities by fostering environments where every person feels seen, valued, and welcome.
That journey from the front porch to the classroom door to helping others find their own lifeline is the story of my life.
Why “MasZen”?
Vision
A world where children experience belonging and emotional well-being at school, at home, and in the communities that shape them.
Our Commitment
Although we are at the beginning of our journey, we are grounded in research, lived experience, and compassion. At MasZen, emotional well-being is the foundation of safety, belonging, and connection.
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