Ushering in the season of togetherness, connection and gratitude, Marymount held a special Grandparents’ & Special Friends’ Day on Friday. A school tradition dating back more than 40 years, the day encourages students to invite family and friends, who are often in town for the holiday, to visit their school and share in a morning of thankfulness, learning and celebration.
“Grandparents’ & Special Friends’ Day is a special opportunity for our students to build relationships with their family members or a special friend and showcase their learning at each grade level at Marymount,” said Andrea Torchin, associate head of school and Lower School division head.
Teachers created stations throughout campus where students and their guests shared in a learning experience. Attendees crafted poems, created motion detectors using the laser cutter in the state-of-the-art Center for Creative Design and Engineering, and put their heads together to solve Thanksgiving math problems.
The history department invited students to take part in NPR’s Great Thanksgiving Listen project in which they recorded interviews with their visitors. Fresh bouquets grown in their school garden were also available for purchase.
“Students are proud to share their work in the garden, art, Spanish class, and our Center for Creative Design and Engineering, or collaborate on a math problem, science investigation or literacy activity with their loved one. It is also a special day to celebrate all that we are grateful for,” Torchin said.
The community came together for an Interfaith Celebration in which Eric Capelle, director of youth programming at Congregation B’nai B’rith, Fanya Sandili Becks from the Vedanta Temple, and Alex Turicos, director of faith formation at St. Barbara Parish at the Old Mission Santa Barbara, shared words of thankfulness and hope.
Student speakers read messages from the Hebrew Scriptures, the Quran, and from Buddha’s teachings. Although they represented a diversity of faiths, all of the readings found a common denominator in embracing gratitude. The Marymount choir rounded out the assembly with festive songs from a variety of religious traditions.
The idea of appreciating differences in perspective starts at a young age at Marymount. In second and third grades, students learn about world religions through the school’s Kaleidoscope program.
In sixth grade they immerse themselves in community service projects, and in seventh-grade ethics class, students learn about what it means to be a person of morals. In eighth grade they have a comparative religions class, which guides students on their journey to defining their personal beliefs through the study of various cultures and faiths.
Marymount is an independent school for children from age 4 through grade 8 that places equal value on the intellectual, social-emotional, and ethical dimensions of learning to prepare bright, confident, and caring young people for the next adventures of their lives.
For more information or to attend Marymount’s All School Open House, 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, Jan. 11, email info@marymountsb.org or call 805-569-1811 ext. 131.
— Rebecca Horrigan for Marymount of Santa Barbara.