On September 16, an Innovation Team visited Hershey Montessori Huntsburg Farm Campus to take a tour and discuss options for partnership. This peaceful residential campus features a working farm, with gardens, beehives, eco-friendly classroom buildings, a sugar shack for making maple syrup in the spring, and even some newborn piglets! AFS and Hershey Montessori staff spent the time discussing potential areas for collaboration, including a possible domestic program offering. Northeast Ohio Area Team volunteer, Kate Witosky, is also a member of the Hershey Montessori Board. She immediately recalled her own experience as a host sister to an AFS domestic program student decades ago, and saw a promising connection between the missions and approach of both organizations as AFS works to cultivate domestic program once again: “At Hershey, students learn not only how to care for the land but how to care for one another. They practice collaboration, conflict resolution, and shared responsibility as they meet the needs of their community.”
Many thanks to Kate and and to the Hershey Montessori staff for the connection and for their hospitality!
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