The first Montessori Ecological School in Puerto Rico
Last Thursday, September 23, a "symbolic move" was held in Ciales, which was attended by residents of the Jaguas community, families, guides, assistants, members of Para la Naturaleza (PLN), and our great friend, Hermes Croato.
‘’Today was a day of victory. Today has been a great day. Our community has achieved what many said could not be,'' said María Otero, a Social Worker and mother in the school during the activity.
In 2018 the school was closed after Hurricane María. The school was not damaged in either the hurricane or the earthquakes. Since then the community has cared for and maintained it. The residents of Jaguas, together with Montessori guides and parents of children from the Montessori program, shaped the dream of their school and took advantage of the times of pandemic to inhabit it. In early 2021 they decided to reopen it. Today the school has a new color, a new air, a new joy. From the effort of all these hands, the first Montessori ecological school on the island was born in Ciales.
For many members of the community, bringing agriculture back to their school as a discipline and lifestyle is to remember their days of youth and study when they planted coffee and pigeon peas and fed on these fresh products in the dining room.
During the symbolic move, the Para la Naturaleza organization took a tour with the guides and assistants, who were imagining spaces and projects, sharing with PLN issues that the school needs to be sustainable and attractive and projects that they would like to integrate into the curriculum such as the gardening, orchards, nurseries and butterfly gardens.
A moment when the dream comes true.
The dream of the ecological school
The new Concepción Pérez Hernández school will have planting areas, spaces for students to appreciate the nature and beauty of their town, a butterfly farm, and a nursery that will lead to a small market for local fruits designed and managed by students. It will work on solar energy and with open doors for the community.
On September 22, with this in mind, the guides and assistants took their first Ecological School workshop with PLN. The organization will accompany the community in its transformation to an ecological and sustainable school.
In their first educational experience, the group learned to identify the land, to prepare it from scratch with different instruments, and about the different plants that they could plant, both fruit and medicinal. While, together with the Ivonne M. Reverón from Finca Martinete, they learned about the benefit of these orchards for the children, for themselves, and the community of Jaguas.
Ecology is the science that studies the relationships of living beings with each other and with the environment in which they live. Ecological schools are characterized by:
Have lower energy consumption
Less waste or garbage
Saving water
Caring for the environment as part of its culture and curriculum of Recycling
Planting and consuming yard products
In Puerto Rico there are other public ecological schools, such as the Escuela Ecológica de Culebra; but the Concepcion Perez school will be the first Montessori and ecological school, in the mountains.