Dear Parents and Friends,
Peace. It’s one of my favorite hallmarks of a Montessori education. I recently reviewed a high school student’s college admission essay that focused on what she learned at the Peace Table and how those early Montessori lessons stayed with her, shaping what grounds her and how she engages with the world. I was inspired! Now more than ever, our world needs more young folks like her anchoring the communities they grace and radically shifting conversations and relationships in conflict. There seems to be far too little peace in the wider world around us, and I yearn for more. Each morning headline seems to remind me how precious this community is and how lucky we are to be a part of it.
Maria Montessori said that “education is the best weapon for peace,” and we see that lived out daily in our children’s classrooms and throughout campus. There is a spirit of peace and a delightful energy that pervade the spaces we get to enjoy here. That is no accident - it is the careful and consistent application of Montessori principles along with a subtle but extensive attention to security. In the last year, MSD has upgraded the security systems with additional features. Did you know these upgrades were purchased through donations to our Annual Fund?
Last year, we raised nearly $50,000 to support these security upgrades along with the new solar panels. This year, we would like to further enhance the safety of our campus. I realize there are a lot of differing opinions about fundraising for security upgrades. While we collectively long for a world where these things are rendered wholly unnecessary, we also need to be able to exit campus, leaving our beloveds behind us, knowing they are safe, nurtured, and becoming a generation who will champion peace. It is my goal that together we can exceed last year’s generosity and not only fund these additional safety measures, but also pay for new awnings over the porches of some of our classrooms.
Donating is easy - you can give on the support page of MSD's website. I hope you’ll join me in donating to this year’s Annual Fund! I’ll be keeping you posted about our progress, and in the meantime I want to leave you with another Maria Montessori quote that’s been lingering with me lately:
“Times have changed, and science has made great progress, and so has our work; but our principles have only been confirmed, and along with them our conviction that mankind can hope for a solution to its problems, among which the most urgent are those of peace and unity, only by turning its attention and energies to the discovery of the child and to the development of the great potentialities of the human personality in the course of its formation.”
I’m so grateful that you and your family continue to be part of this community, and I’m grateful for the opportunity we have together to support an environment of peace. May our investments today render abundant blessings of peace and unity tomorrow.
Peace to you,
Lyn Dickinson
MSD Trustee, 2018-Present
Chair, Development Committee
Admin Team, 2012-2017
Parent, 2011-2017