College Essay

I go to a different kind of school; it=s called Clark Montessori, where the hippies and ghetto divas can engage in conversation together whether it is about school or the party they both chilled at over the past weekend. There are no racial limitations or boundaries placed on acceptance here. Maria Montessori has shaped my life by enabling me to discover what diversity and community truly mean.

The way Clark establishes community is profoundly different from the way that other schools do. What schools do you know of where teachers are willing to take their students on a ten-day trip to the Bahamas snorkeling in some of the deepest, darkest, and most eery Ablue holes@ (deep blue bodies of water on islands containing fresh water) in an effort to develop togetherness? This trip by far is the most successful of all Montessori initiatives to build community. Imagine climbing a rickety wooden ladder leading to a 40-foot high platform and preparing yourself to swing from a Asecurely@ tied rope hanging from a tree, then landing deep into a blue hole filled with some of the coolest water imaginable. The fear in my heart could have served a third world country dinner for a year. I was at my wit=s end, ready to back down. While standing on this wobbly platform, half blown away by piercing brisk winds chilling my spine, I believed that my life was over as I knew it. But down below I heard the high-pitched voices of maturing young boys and the ACome on girl, if I can do it you can do it!@ chants from the fellow girlfriends I had become astoundingly great friends with. What astonished me was that the chants and cheers weren=t just coming from some of the most ghetto and loud black girls I=ve ever known in my life but they were also coming from some of my tamer caucasian buddies as well.

Montessori education has allowed me to recognize that a community of individuals is nothing without diversity and that diversity is nothing without community. Partners in crime are what I call em=! However, working on community initiatives such as traveling to Andros Island has enabled me to evolve into an individual who accepts all people no matter what their race or status, allowing me not to judge an individual based upon what they have and don=t have; I know now that=s just not being fair. Montessori=s belief in teaching respect for others in the name of achieving world peace has influenced me to make my own friendships diverse.

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