Oct. 21—Kenmont Montessori School celebrated United Nations Day 2022 and its own 50th birthday on Thursday in a day of festivities to mark Dr. Maria Montessori’s belief in education as the key to world peace.
The festivities culminated with this year’s International Food Festival in the evening, where students and their families celebrated and served up the cuisine of 16 countries featured in this year’s celebration. Classrooms were decorated to represent each country.
The celebration, “50 years of Gratefulness,” began in the morning with the Parade of Nations, when Kenmont students dressed in the attire of 16 different countries paraded into the Kenmont gymnasium one country at a time to pay tribute in song and dance.
Kenmont’s curriculum is based on the teachings more than 100 years ago of Italian physician Dr. Maria Montessori, which is aimed at educating the whole child. The school serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
“Really, the main goal is that at the end they understand that we might be different in certain things, but in the end we’re all the same, so there’s no reason to fear other people, to fear people who are different from you, because in the essence of things we’re all very similar,” Kenmont Principal Julie Gonzalez said of the school’s approach.
The United Nations Day celebration and International Food Festival is a longtime tradition at Kenmont.
Gonzalez said students and teachers alike were giddy with anticipation after not being able to have the much-loved event for the past three years because of the pandemic.
“It’s my favorite event because there’s a lot of education going on. They’re learning a lot without even knowing it. They’re learning about other cultures, they’re tasting other foods. So the goal is that they will not be fearful of foreign countries,” she said.
“Most of our students spend 10 years with us, so in 10 years they’re able to study 10 different countries, 10 different cultures. So the goal is that they can become more respectful of other cultures, and so really the goal is that they can empathize with other cultures,” Gonzalez said.
“Maria Montessori believed that the best weapon for peace was education. As you’re more educated you will be less scared of others, you’re more tolerant, because I think in our society today we have very little tolerance, unfortunately, and education starts with the little ones. That’s the goal.”
The Parade of Nations started with Kenmont’s junior high students, wearing T-shirts they had designed saying, “Be the Good in the World.” They filed in after flags of the 16 nations had been posted at center rear on the gym floor.
Seventh- and eighth-graders will be delegates to this year’s Model United Nations Conference in New York in February. They read aloud the issues they will address. Kenmont will represent Bahrain, China and Thailand.
After that, each class entered chronologically, and performed a song and dance from the country represented.
Holland was followed by Mexico, with girls wearing blue flowered dresses and boys coveralls and blue-checked shirts.
England came next, with boys dressed as Buckingham Palace guards and girls in hats and dresses reminiscent of Queen Elizabeth at the beginning of her reign.
Next was Iceland, a culture that believes in elves, with elfin dancers twirling pastel-colored capes representing the Northern Lights.
Spain came next, followed by younger dancers from Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Brazil, and finally dual-language first- and second-grade students representing the United States.
The USA delegation reflected patriotic symbols, the Statue of Liberty, girls in red, white and blue-starred dresses, boys representing the military services, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and all dancing to the tune of “Proud to be an American.”
The students marched out of the gymnasium to be joined by their parents and go home to prepare food for the International Food Festival: fish & chips from the United Kingdom, a variety of tacos for Mexico, kebabs from Turkey, sushi from Japan, and brisket, mashed potatoes and gravy, hamburgers and hot dogs from the United States.
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