April 21sth, 2012
Hi Ann Marie (Robustelli),
Sundance Montessori School has finally joined the Peace Pole Project. Since 2007 we have been trying to get a Peace Pole on our campus, with various teachers and faculty involved. But something always got in the way of us ever actually completing the project–until April 21, 2012.
During our Annual Ice Cream Social, we set aside time for our Peace Pole dedication Ceremony. The event brought together current students, as well as alumni students, and drew in a crowd of about 100 people! We chose languages specific to our community: Arabic, Chinese, English, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, and a special message for our families: May Peace be in our Homes. (Italian was actually chosen to honor Maria Montessori, the Italian physician who pioneered the Montessori method of education).
During the ceremony I spoke about the significance of the Peace Pole honoring the work of Masahisa Goi to spread the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth.” I also spoke of the founder of our school’s pedagogy, Maria Montessori, and her work to transform society by changing education as a means for peace. For her work in education she was nominated for the nobel peace prize three times (1949-1951).
After the ribbon was cut, one of our teachers led the children to sing “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,” after which, the children passed out ribbons with the message “May Peace Prevail on Earth” that the children had handwritten.
It was a lovely project to take part in because it brought our community together in many ways: parents donated money towards the purchase of the Peace Pole, on a special garden day, three of the fathers of the school dug the hole, poured the cement and leveled the Peace Pole, several businesses in the area donated flowers and other supplies for the dedication ceremony, the children helped write out the messages on the ribbons and they planted all the flowers around the Peace Pole.
We were fortunate to have local community newspaper, ZOOM, cover our event and do a write up in their publication. We also posted the event on our Facebook page.
Our Peace Pole now stands at the very front entrance of our campus, for all passerbys to see. It also greets everyone who comes onto our campus each day. We think it has really transformed our campus, and added an extra touch of tranquility to our school.
We are very honored to be a part of The World Peace Prayer Society and the Peace Pole Project.
Thank you,
Brenda Rios, Director of Admissions
Sundance Montessori School, Inc.
216 Natoma Street Folsom, CA 9563
