Montessori schools host International Day of Peace processional & celebration on pier

On Monday, September 21, more than 200 students and their teachers from two Key West Montessori schools will march from their different United Street locations to the White Street pier in celebration of International Peace Day, a tradition that began in 2000 and has grown to include participation from the children’s parents and friends and also welcomes the community at large.

“The International Day of Peace is important to our school because we value and promote peace education,” says Key West Montessori Charter School Principal Lynn Barras.  “Montessori students learn conflict resolution skills even before they can read.”

The public kindergarten through grade 8 charter school cultivates peace through classroom community meetings with the open sharing of cares and concerns, reciting a campus-wide pledge to the earth every Friday and have adopted a school-wide program called C.A.R.E. (an acronym for awareness, responsibility, and enthusiasm) to serve as a foundation for encouraging positive behavior.

The private preschool through grade 3 Montessori Children’s School also uses peace as a model for educational programming, teaching respect, grace, courtesy, and peaceful resolution in the classroom.

 

“Through education and role modeling we instill in our children the beauty of a brighter and more peaceful future,” says Montesorri Children’s School Directress Amy O’Connor.

 

The hour-long procession and celebration begins at 9:00 am and joins the two schools on White Street with a police escort from the corner of White and United Street to the pier. The group settles on the compass rose at the end of the pier where they share intentions of peace, sing, recite poems, and hold handmade messages of peace. A release of white doves closes the ceremony and sets the children back to their prospective schools with a greater awareness of what it means to be a member of the Key West community and One Human Family.

“Marching to White Street Pier with other local students on this day affirms our commitment to be more peaceful citizens of the world and toward sharing our ideas of dignity, respect and peace for all across the world,” says O’Connor.

The International Day of Peace was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1981 and was first celebrated a year later. This year’s posted theme is ‘Partnerships for Peace- Dignity for All.’

For more information, contact Key West Montessori Charter School Lynn Barras, 305.293.1400, ext. 53430 or email [email protected].

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