Category: Featured

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In our quest for Simplicity, we sent the children out this morning into the woods to build fairy houses. We never asked if they actually believe, but children from 6 to 16 were actively engaged, caring about their creations.

This exercise was part of “Pre-Meeting”, our weekly hour of spiritual exploration before Meeting for Worship. The focus this quarter has been on Simplicity of Lifestyles, exploring how the value of simplicity plays into our choices around technology, consumerism, time management, recreation, and even fashion. So to model the beauty of a simple activity, we gave them the instructions to (a) not kill anything (ie, no picking flowers), and (b) not use anything man-made. We also had a few queries to ponder during and after:

• How does it feel to interact with nature this way?
• How does this activity relate to our theme of simplicity?

As you can see in the photos below, the children were deeply engaged, creative, tender, worked in mixed-age groups, and very proud of their creations.

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The theme for our school last year was Equality.  So when Monteverde participated in the international Women’s March yesterday, it was no surprise to see over 1/3 of our student body come out in support.

The march started at our school and went down to CASEM, where we sat on the lawn to sing and share a picnic.  We were students, parents, teachers, members of the Monteverde Friends Meeting, community members, and visitors.  We were women and men, children and adults (and dogs), brown and black and white, gay and straight… marching together, friends and equals, sharing the belief that human rights are for all.

The spirit of the day was positive.  There were no police present.  Nobody was angry.  There were no anti-anything signs.  Just affirmation of equality, strength and hope.

My own boy initially did not want to participate.  He didn’t see the point.  So in our First-Day School (teen program during Quaker Meeting on Sunday), we invited some adult Quakers in to join a discussion about the rally, women’s rights, and protests in general.  By the end of the 45 minutes, every teen in the room was excited about coming, and deeply felt that their participation would make a difference.

The turning point for those teens was seeing the interactive map, showing the over 100 marches with almost 5 million people worldwide.  They were excited to part of a worldwide statement of belief.

Thank you to Katy Van Dusen and everyone who quickly got Monteverde onto this map.  As we try to support our students to find their values and their voice, I was proud to see so many of our students and families involved in this positive, Peace-full community event.

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Want to make an already-hectic last week of school even more crazy? Have a school-wide science fair!

Like much of what we do at MFS, the fair was a community builder in many ways:

• Students worked together in small groups, drawing on each others’ strengths
• All the primary school classes visited every single display, with rapt attention (see photos below)
• The entire school watched and cheered during the grand finale egg drop (every egg survived, every participant celebrated) then the catapult competition

Every group’s egg-drop contraption was a different, original design. Same with the catapults, which they had to aim into hoola-hoops. Of course, in true Quaker fashion, the activity was described as lobbing food aid into a refugee camp.

In a crazy week of room changes, final projects and assembly, the science fair was a recklessly wonderful way to keep us all focussed on learning, sharing, and being together. Thank you to science teacher Evan and many others for going the extra mile to give us this Christmas gift.

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In a small, tight community like Monteverde, we make our own fun – just take this Sunday for example:

• 10:00 – Friends come early for half an hour of singing
• 10:30 – Meeting for worship, with two children’s groups splitting off.  The teen group will be finishing watching and discussing the movie “My Name is Khan“
• 11:30 – Since there’s no potluck (first Sunday) or meeting for business with lunch catered by the school classes (second Sunday), some of us will enjoy brunch at the Belmar Hotel – a weekly fundraiser for our scholarship fund
• 3:00 – Community Choir practice
• 5:00 – Bob Dylan tribute concert at the school, featuring Robert Dean, Kory & Lori, Melodie, Rachel and other local talent, raising funds for the Monteverde Conservation League

Hopefully Monteverde FM will once again record and podcast the Dylan concert.  Here’s the link to the May concert at the school, “An Old Song Among Friends,” featuring our dear friends Frank and Sharon Klassen-Wright.

Interviewing Hazel Guindon was never meant to be a normal experience – especially when she’s 10 feet up a ladder. While completing a wall-to-wall nature mural for a local non-profit (CIEE), Hazel chats non-stop (her only speed!) about how her education at Monteverde Friends School has shaped her life.

“Enrolling me at the Friends School was one of the best things my parents have ever done for me,” Hazel enthuses, then lists four main reasons:

1. Philosophy: “The school makes the best effort to teach conflict resolution, Peace, and how to be in Peace with nature.  You create a person who is going to be a Conservationist by teaching critical thinking more than by planting trees.”
2. Teachers are friends: “The teachers saved my life.  It’s amazing what they can do without knowing it.  I hated math before Dennis taught it to me. Jonathan was an incredible teacher, inspiring.”
3. Size: “The size of the school is ideal – you get individual attention.”
4. Mix of ages: “Kids of all ages learn how to share.  Older kids learn to teach younger kids, and vice versa.”

Did Financial Assistance make a difference?

Hazel and her two brothers all received financial assistance to attend MFS.  Reflecting on the sacrifices her family made to pay their share of tuition, Hazel says, “My dad was very conscious about what he could provide me as an inheritance.  He felt that education was more important than land or money.  I am very thankful for that.”

On being a recipient of financial aid, largely provided by foreign donors, Hazel reflects,

“You learn how to value life and education.  You have to make the best of that opportunity – my success was in my hands.  I wanted the donors to know I am thankful for what they’re doing, and that I’m doing the best I can.”

Has the school changed?

As a member of the school committee at the time of this interview, Hazel shares her perspective on the school 10 years after her graduation.  “Even though many teachers and directors have changed, the system is constant; the essence is still there.  Being connected to the Quaker Meeting gives consistency; therefore the philosophy hasn’t changed much.”

Hazel mentions the new Kindergarten and Meeting House as indicators of positive growth, and says there’s room for even more growth, even if not physical: “MFS should become a prototype; we should teach other schools how we do it.”

Giving Back

After graduating in 2007, Hazel continued studying Education and received her diploma, then pursued an undergraduate degree in Art, because “If you want to be a good teacher and adapt your material, in Costa Rica you need to adapt them yourself. I chose to study art to be able to make a bigger difference as an educator.”

With this art-education combo, Hazel has:

• designed fun educational signage at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (see the photo of our school kids enjoying them),
• developed a guide book with illustrations for the reserve
• designed environmental education materials that are now in use in all the public schools in the area
• coordinated groups to study sustainability and the environment through CIEE
• used old satellite disks to create signs for a hotel’s permaculture project
• collaborated with Roberto Wesson on a beautiful “dancing girls” mural on the side of a Santa Elena building
• inspired two of our teachers to visit the Montessori school she did her practicum at, resulting in a wonderful Montessori influence in our kinder-prepa program

Hazel has just moved to Canada for six months of art exploration and dedicated time to complete other environmental projects, and promises,

“Wherever I am in the world, I owe this school my support.  Monteverde is my point of stability, it’s my home, and I will always contribute to this place.  I’ll be living elsewhere but always thinking of how to help the Friends School.  I wish to become a donor later on.”

Hazel also agreed to support the school by being featured in our annual appeal letter – you can learn more about her and the school by downloading the appeal letter here.