‘Tis the season for Silent Night and peace on earth, yet all too often ‘tis the season for busyness, overeating, stress and exhaustion. At MFS, we add to that our students’ increasing anticipation of the end of the semester, and their long holiday break.

Yet for all that, we’ve had a number of activities this month that have themes of peace and peacemaking. We’d like to share some of those: from end-of-semester celebrations growing out of a time for silence, to celebration of Costa Rica’s 71 years without a military, to our practice of assigning older students as mentors for younger students, and to a Christmas fair supporting local merchants. 

Silence and Celebrations As First Semester Ends

What are the odds that 120 students, K-12, could sit as a group, along with teachers and community members, for 50 minutes of silent reflection? Better yet, what if they could do that just hours before the start of a month’s vacation?

Believe it or not, that’s what we do every Wednesday, including December 18th, the end of first semester. Though only a minority of our students are Quaker, we meet in the Quaker form of Meeting for Worship – sitting in silent reflection, it can mean simply taking a break to find some calm in the midst of life or, in each person’s own spiritual form, an intentional, spiritual practice. Meeting as a group has an added power not often found in individual meditation. The hour may be entirely silent, or there may be one or two people who feel moved to stand and offer a brief message, to be received in silent reflection.

Our students are introduced to this practice in every grade, including kindergartners, though they start with just half of the session. Particularly with the little ones, if an individual gets too wiggly, a staff member or even an older student will gently join them, often with an arm around them, to help them settle into reflection. 

Even our teachers and staff were amazed at how well the students settled into reflection on the last day of the semester! Sue Gabrielson, Head of School rose to thank and compliment all present on how deep the silence had been.

But then, after a recess period to let loose all their pent-up energy, students performed for the student body as well as parents and family members. Each class put on a short performance, from the kindergarteners singing a song, to a class with a skit imitating cooking show contests, one that told a tale that alternated between “fortunately” and “unfortunately” segments (but ended happily!). Grade 9/10 sang “We Will Miss You When You Are Gone” for an international student who would be leaving, with cups and tapping for percussion. Grade 11/12 did a recap of dance crazes in the past decade (picture below on left). Even the teachers got in on the act with some wild dancing of their own (picture on right)!

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Approaches To Peacemaking To Mark Costa Rica’s 71 Years Without A Military

There are proposals afoot in Costa Rica for making December 1st a national holiday. Seventy-one years ago was the day that, while recovering from a bloody civil war, Jose Figueres Ferrer, leader of the provisional military government, abolished all of the country’s military. Instead, Costa Rica has invested in free education for all children, yielding a 97.8% literacy rate, along with cultural and environmental development.

The Monteverde Friends School celebrates the day with activities that emphasize peacemaking. This year, the first hour of the school day saw students meeting in age groups for a variety of activities around peace.

Students in grades 7-12 assembled for a workshop on conflict resolution led by Katy Van Dusen, longtime Quaker and local resident. Her presentation focused on the five key elements for settling a conflict – respect, an absence of blaming, listening without interruption, confidentiality, and commitment to finding a solution.

The best fun in the high school presentation was when Katy was interrupted by two other Quakers – Sara Dowell and Harriet Joslin – who were in the midst of a loud argument! Well, not a real argument it turned out, but a role play that played out with a conflict resolution mediated by Katy. Later, the students broke into small groups for conflict resolution exercises of their own.

Younger students engaged in their own activities. Students in grade 3/4 made beautiful posters in the shape of a dove with peace-related words and phrases. Very young students were asked to express what they felt when they were at peace in the form of art.

A class during the day with 16 students did an exercise highlighting how peacemaking involves both assertiveness and cooperation. For them, tape on the floor marked a very narrow passageway. A student was posted at each end, and their task was to get to the other end of the channel. Each student was to assert themselves to get past the other student, but to do so peacefully. They discovered that cooperation – holding onto each other as they passed – was key to achieving success for both.

A Holiday Event With Benefits for All

Peacemaking also takes the form or bringing together different segments of the local community with mutual benefits for each of the segments. An example of that approach is the annual Feria Navidena, or Christmas Fair.

The Fair is organized by parents of MFS students, selling table space to local merchants, and organizing and decorating the Friends Meeting Room as well as preparing all the food that is sold for the event. With the proceeds, the parents fund a special project each year for the school. One year it may be buying a much-needed replacement refrigerator while another year it could be providing funds for a special class trip.

 The merchants and artists get a major chance to market their goods to a large portion of the local community, typically with strong financial results. Most of the goods are made or grown locally with natural components. This year’s offerings varied from jams made by a nearby farm, to natural cosmetics, to a wide range of arts and crafts.

The general public gets a chance to do their holiday shopping at reasonable prices – a key factor where any major chain stores are a 3-hour or more car ride away.

Each of these benefits offers a certain peace of mind during busy holidays, whether it is shopping completed, or success at sales, or a special project for the school made possible.