AMS PEACE ACTIVITIES

2010

Thank you to Lesley Nan Haberman and The Family Schools (New York City, NY) for their abiding generosity in helping to fund this $2,200 grant.

Itala Zabala (Fundacíón SKAS–Despertar Centro Educativo, Tumbaco, Quito, Ecuador)
“A True Awakening”

Itala’s project involves working to develop small business opportunities (including the purchase of machinery and tools) for students of the Niños de la Tierra (Erdkinder) and Technical Workshop programs of SKAS-Despertar Centro Educativo, a Montessori school in Ecuador.

Currently, SKAS students are practicing skills in such areas as bread making, cooking, and carpentry. They are also growing vegetables in their own garden, raising farm animals, and producing homemade jams, teas, and other all-natural products. Plans are in progress to sell the items at a local mall. Money raised will help the programs to achieve the self-sufficiency and financial independence that will allow for continued success.

SKAS students (ages 2–15) are of extremely varied abilities and socioeconomic realities. Many have special needs. At SKAS, they are provided the opportunity to grow, develop, and progress at their own speed in a multicultural, multiage, multi-ability environment.

2009

Thank you to Lesley Nan Haberman and The Family Schools (New York City, NY) for their abiding generosity in providing the funding for two $1,100 grants (total funding, $2,200).

Alyson Peterson (founder, Montessori Island School, Livingston, MT)
“Peace Garden for Sustainable Agriculture”
Alyson will use the grant to help expand the Peace Garden at Montessori Island School, which is part of her initiative to create, with her students, sustainable, local agriculture. The Livingston, MT, community is recoiling from a serious economic downturn several decades ago, and Alyson is determined to work for change. The students will be working with a local farmer’s market to sell their crops and will be donating their proceeds to Heifer International to provide desperately impoverished people in other countries with sustainable animal husbandry opportunities.

Michele Melvin (founding directress of Montessori Habitat School in Champagne, IL)
“Spirit Stirring: Fostering Appreciation for Humanity and Exploration of Cosmological Role in Montessori Middle School Students”
Passionate about Montessori and spiritual development, Michele developed 16 experimental methods targeted at nurturing the spirits of adolescents, including their appreciation for humanity and understanding of their role in the universe, and has been measuring their efficacy in her own middle school classroom. With the winning grant funds, she will broaden her research to include several more middle schools across the nation in her research.

2008

AMS thanks Lesley Nan Haberman and The Family Schools (New York City, NY) for generously underwriting the funding for the grants. This year, Lesley Nan increased the funds available so that we could award a grant of $1,100 to each of two projects, one domestic and one international.

The 2008 International Peace Seed Grant went to two experienced Montessori teachers from Canada—Laure Kominar of Hillfield Strathallan College Montessori School in Hamilton and Janice Mayhew of Lakeview Montessori School in St. Clair Beach.
In collaboration with the Olive Branch for Children, they will provide three weeks of Montessori teacher education to 30 women in Tanzania, Africa, this summer. These 30 women will then work directly with children in their communities who have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS. The program will focus on developing the women’s ability to make their own classroom materials and to educate other teachers.

The 2008 Domestic Peace Seed Grant recipient is Claudia Mann, director at Chaffee County Montessori School in Salida, CO, for her Garden for Peace.
This multifaceted project will not only help children experience the interconnectedness of all living things but also reach out to the elderly in the Garden Club, involve children from other schools, provide herbs to local organic restaurants and vegetables to the Harvest Fair, and offer hands-on service to Colorado’s Guidestone Farms program.

2007

AMS thanks Lesley Nan Haberman and The Family Schools (New York City, NY) for generously underwriting the funding for two grant recipients in 2007:

First Place: Tracey Bernard
To train several dozen educators in Sri Lanka in peace education skills and activities. Included in the project is the development of a peace curriculum in English, Sinhala, and Tamil; and training in conservation agriculture.

For more information: tracy.bernard@comcast.net

Honorable Mention: Julie Ikenberry & Little Oaks Children’s House (Lyle, Washington)
To connect students in Little Oaks with students in one school in each of the human-inhabited continents, with the goal of creating a communal Peace Quilt for display in diverse communities. The year-long project will include acquiring handprints, photos, and statements about Grace and Courtesy or peace from all participating students; and the creation of a booklet about the project.

For more information: mjikenberry@gorge.net

2006

Victoria Montessori School, Uganda, Africa
To implement the Uganda Montessori Peace Education Initiative, which will bring peace education to six schools in war-torn northern Uganda, with the goal of helping students embrace peace and advocate for a culture of harmonious co-existence. For more information, contact Peace Education Initiative directors Lawino Christine Kijange & Olanya Joseph Okwonga.

2005

Catherine McTamaney
To complete and publish her book, The Tao of Montessori (available for purchase on the AMS website).

2004

Youth Visits the United Nations Project (First Annual)