The 2019-20 school year is upon us, and the first quarter has already flown by! We’ve readied the classrooms, welcomed both returning and new students and staff, and spent our first term in many ways focused on an ongoing theme for the school -- protecting the incredible natural resources that surround us. Read on to hear about our Climate March that gained national attention, our garden project that taught lessons and provided food for those in need, and additions to our facility that reduce emissions and provide fertilizer. 

500 March To Address Climate Change

A march with 500 people may not seem like a lot, but when that’s 500 out of a local population of 6,000, that’s a big deal! And MFS had a major hand in responding locally to Greta Thunberg’s call for a People’s Climate March, along with other area schools. True to living in the rainforest, they marched through clouds! 

For MFS, the march culminated a week where lessons addressed aspects of the environment. Each day’s assembly addressed some climate change -- from outside speakers to a play developed by science classes to demonstrate how climate change happens. Class lessons addressed climate change from each specialty’s field -- e.g. students in language classes developed a variety of ways to communicate about climate change: podcasts, articles, letters and social media posts. By week's end, students had put together their posters to carry on the march.

Prior to the march, MFS students wrote a letter to the editor of the national newspaper on why they would march. Here’s a 1-minute video about the march, with student comments. And if you want some real fun, check out this great video of MFS students, on the school grounds, inviting Greta Thunberg to come to Monteverde. No word yet on whether she will stop by, but we continue to hope.

 Two Lessons in One

Thanks to an amazing donation from the Valle Escondido, MFS now has 2 mini-greenhouses made from recycled materials. The mini greenhouse protects plants, particularly during the rainy season, while encouraging growth. A rainwater catchment system provides an easy system for watering the plants.  

During our first quarter, students from the preschool and kindergarten worked with 9th and 10th graders to grow an array of greens -- lettuces, kale, cilantro, scallions and more. The experience was used as part of lessons on how food is cultivated using the sun, water and earth. When it was time to harvest the greens, the students learned another important lesson about generosity: from their harvest, they packed 25 bags of fresh vegetables that they took to the church in nearby Santa Elena to distribute to area families. 

MFS was given a wonderful gift, and that gift was used to give to others -- one of life’s best lessons!

Using Every Opportunity to Protect the Environment

Toilets and bike racks may not be the first things that come to mind for addressing climate change, but each has a role and MFS is taking steps to incorporate them into our facility. Did you know that flush toilets use 28% of Monteverde’s potable water and 4% of greenhouse gasses come from gas emissions from septic tanks? 

MFS has long employed all sorts of efforts to help the environment, from composting to recycling bins all around to minimal use of paper and so on. But further steps were taken this year with the installation of a dry-composting toilet and the addition of a bicycle rack that can hold 12 bikes. 

A composting toilet is not a latrine. Waste is caught in a barrel from which the urine is drained to a leach field and the solids are composted with sawdust.  A solar ventilator keeps the air fresh and a plastic bottle with sugar water traps flies on the barrel.

When the barrel is 3/4 full, it will be set aside for at least six months so the compost can mature.  After that time, it contains no harmful pathogens and will be used to fertilize trees, ornamental gardens and permaculture projects.  This also helps to reduce greenhouse gases as commercial nitrogen fertilizers are responsible for 4% of Monteverde's emissions and compost helps return carbon into soil.

We are grateful to MFS graduate Gabriela McAdam, Worcester Polytechnic Institute students, and Michelle Luu, a CIEE student from Haverford College who designed the system.  We are also grateful to Frank Joyce who donated most of the materials for this new restroom from his former office that needed to come down after two landslides made it unusable. The remaining costs were covered by donations made by the Monday afternoon yoga class held in the Friends meeting room. 

Stay tuned for our next newsletter where we hope to show you the bike rack that is also becoming an art project!

A Look Back And a Look Forward

Do you know the history of Quakers coming to Monteverde in 1951? Even if you do, it is a treat to hear it from those who first moved here. A new documentary under development, Sweet Home Monteverde (see a preview), provides that story. And now, students from MFS are being interviewed to be included in the documentary, demonstrating that Quakers settling here is not just a historical event -- it is an ongoing calling, being realized each day.

Here’s videographer Andrea Cass capturing the moment as Lucky Guindon, one of the original group of Quakers, and her daughter Elena chat with 4th grade student, Luna. And Mary Rockwell, another from the original group, joins Lucky and Luna in the second picture.