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Hershey Upper School’s Environment-Friendly Passive House Design

Hershey Upper School’s Environment-Friendly Passive House Design

Dec 16, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

A little-known fact about Hershey Montessori’s Upper School is that its ninth through twelfth grade academic building was the first in the Midwest United States designed and constructed with Passive House Institute United States (PHIUS) criteria, making it both environmentally friendly and energy-saving through design technology.

What is Passive House?

Passive house design is a construction standard that uses architectural design to reduce energy consumption for heating, cooling, and lighting. The goal is to create comfortable, environmentally friendly buildings that require little to no energy input to control the indoor climate.

“Passive House” was established by the Passivhaus Institute in Darmstadt, Germany in 1996, and was one of the pioneering concepts for building low-energy houses and is today a leading building standard. The design is focused on making the best use of the “passive” influences in a building – like sunshine, shading, and ventilation instead of air conditioning and central heating. These “passive influences,” combined with high levels of insulation and airtightness, make it possible to use 90 percent less energy than a typical structure.

Passive House buildings provide better indoor comfort due to consistent temperatures and good air quality. They also reduce internal and external noise due to the high levels of insulation – a wonderful and greatly appreciated added benefit!

Why did we do it?

Hershey Montessori School is committed to the care of our environment and thus committed to implementing as environmentally friendly and sustainable construction principles as possible.

We are proud to be the first school in the Midwest to be designed with the cutting-edge standards of the Passive House Institute of the United States. PHIUS building criteria has created significant savings in operation costs and reduced energy consumption. Additionally, it has resulted in a beautiful, comfortable environment for students and staff and is an excellent model for other public buildings.

For more information on Passive House design, visit the Passive House Institute United States website.

Hershey Montessori School Receives $300k Dekko Foundation Award

Hershey Montessori School Receives $300k Dekko Foundation Award

Oct 17, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

For Immediate Release

October 16, 2024                                                                    

 

Contact: Yvonne Delgado-Thomas                                                                                                        

ythomas@hershey-montessori.org

440-357-0918 / 440-749-1124

 

Hershey Montessori School Receives $300k Dekko Foundation Award

 

Concord Township, OH, August 2024 — Hershey Montessori School is pleased to announce an award of $300,000 from The Dekko Foundation.  This generous grant will support Hershey’s strategic goals for “Rebuilding Capacity for Sustainability” over the next two years.

The Dekko Foundation’s mission is to foster children and young people’s knowledge, skills, and character, propelling them to self-sufficiency and economic freedom. The foundation is rooted in the belief that “Great things happen when adults step back to consider what young people need to grow and develop. Often, that deliberate act of reflection results in the most impactful outcomes.”

Dekko and Hershey align in this as is seen in Hershey’s Montessori approach to education. It is why, since its founding in 1978, Hershey Montessori School has been a sought-after school of choice for families in Northeast Ohio, and globally for adolescents since 2000.

Despite post-pandemic growth, bolstering enrollment and increasing retention will help meet the school’s long-term goals. Hershey accepts EdChoice Expansion Scholarships, offers financial aid options, OAIS scholarship tax credits, and more, making Hershey Montessori School more accessible to families from Ohio, across the U.S., and around the world.

Hershey Montessori School is grateful for the $300,000 Dekko Foundation award, and the continued generous support of The Hershey Foundation, the Hershey Family Foundation, and many individual donors. Every contribution, large or small, is invaluable. These gifts enable Hershey Montessori School to move toward economic sustainability while remaining focused on its vision: “Children and adolescents develop a strong sense of self, rooted in love for the environment and community, seamlessly transitioning from each stage of development through adulthood.”

 

About Hershey Montessori School

Grounded in the tradition of Dr. Maria Montessori for more than 45 years, Hershey Montessori provides beautiful Montessori environments where learning and work are integrated within a community experience, engaging intellectual, moral, and social development of children and adolescents from birth to eighteen years. Hershey Montessori School is comprised of two campuses in Northeast Ohio. The Concord Campus serves children from pre-k through sixth grade, and the Huntsburg Campus serves middle and upper school students. Hershey Montessori School added its Upper School program in 2015, making Hershey one of the first in the world to provide a full birth to 18-year curriculum with a boarding component and intentionally designed working farm. For more information, visit www.hershey-montessori.org.

 

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Middle School Boarding Reopens

Middle School Boarding Reopens

Mar 5, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

By Paula Leigh-Doyle, Hershey Montessori Head of School

We are excited to announce the reopening of our Middle School boarding program!

As many of you know, one of the unforeseen impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was the difficult decision to pause the program for the 2020 academic year and to reopen in an intentional way with older adolescents. However, the greatest impacts of the pandemic are hopefully now in our rearview mirror.

We are pleased to share that several new students are ready to join our Upper and Middle School residential community in the fall, and applicants range from Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Mexico, and other USA states. We greatly value the diversity of cultures our boarding program brings to our growing community.

We are confident in choosing the 2024-2025 school year to restore this invaluable component of our Adolescent Community on our beautiful Montessori farm school on the Huntsburg Campus.

This is truly a celebratory moment for us all and another example of our collective and demonstrated resiliency!

Note: Applications for enrollment are available on our website. More information can be found in our admissions tab.

Hershey Now Accepting EdChoice Expansion Scholarships

Hershey Now Accepting EdChoice Expansion Scholarships

Feb 5, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

Hershey Montessori School is pleased to announce its participation in Ohio’s EdChoice Expansion Scholarship Program.

The EdChoice Expansion Scholarship Program provides Ohio students the opportunity to attend participating independent schools. The EdChoice Expansion Program is income-based. It provides scholarships to students in grades K–12 based on household income level. The scholarship amount can be up to $6165 for grades K–8 and $8407 for grades 9-12.

Scholarships for EdChoice Expansion are awarded based on the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of a family’s household. If a family’s household income is at or below 450 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, they will be awarded the maximum scholarship amount. If a family’s household income is at or above 451 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, the student’s scholarship award will be prorated based on the chart below.

Hershey’s participation in this program does not change our pedagogy or admissions process, but it will greatly assist in making Hershey affordable for Ohio families who wish to avail of the scholarship. Hershey’s financial aid will still be available to qualifying families who need additional support even after qualifying for Ohio’s EdChoice Expansion Scholarship.

Families outside of the state of Ohio are encouraged to apply for Hershey’s financial aid. Questions regarding EdChoice may be directed to Diana Le Sieur at dlesieur@hershey-montessori.org or by calling 440-357-0918.

More information can be found on our Scholarships page and on Ohio’s EdChoice website.

Beautification Projects Come to Life at Concord

Beautification Projects Come to Life at Concord

Jan 24, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

By Yvonne Delgado-Thomas, Hershey Montessori School Development Director

 

Sharing Heartfelt Appreciation for Our Generous Supporters

Hershey Montessori School is delighted with the wonderful transformations that have taken place at our Concord Campus through two significant beautification projects this school year. These improvements have been made possible by the generosity and support of individuals and organizations.

A special note of gratitude goes to The Hershey Foundation for their incredibly generous grant that has revitalized our Children’s House community. Thanks to this support, we have created a beautifully renovated prepared environment, aligned with Dr. Maria Montessori’s vision. This classroom now stands as a peaceful, happy space designed to cater to the developmental needs of the children. We extend our heartfelt appreciation to The Hershey Foundation for taking the first step in our ongoing campus renewal plan.

Secondly, but just as important, we would like to express our sincere thanks to K&D Management for their matching donation that inspired a wave of generosity at our Gala 2023: Shine. The collective effort of donors, prompted by K&D’s generosity, made it possible to realize the dream of a new gym floor and multi-use space. This versatile area is perfect for children to play, create, and explore, and for families to enjoy various events and activities. The K&D Management gift played a pivotal role in bringing this vision to life.

         

Our gratitude extends to all the individuals, families, businesses, and the entire Hershey Montessori Community for their unwavering support. Their contributions, be it in the form of time, talent, or donations, continue to play a crucial role in advancing our school’s mission. Together, we are creating a vibrant and nurturing educational environment for our students.

Swift Delivers, Memorable Adolescent Student Experience

Swift Delivers, Memorable Adolescent Student Experience

Jan 23, 2024 | Featured Posts, School News | 0 comments

By Joyce Cole, Hershey Montessori Farm Manager

Is she pregnant? This was the question that all of us in the community had been asking since we separated our Kunekune gilt, Swift, from our boar, Tui, back in November.

We couldn’t have timed our questioning and investigating more perfectly. We started just last week by attempting to use a human pregnancy test, with a seventh-year student managing to catch her urine! However, we then learned that pigs do not produce a hormone like the HCG hormone of a human woman, so we ordered the livestock urine pregnancy test that instead measured a hormone called estrone sulfate and asked the student to work his magic once again.

We were excited by the positive results, but then we found out that the test would only work between days 30 and 35, or days 85 – term. Pigs only carry for 115 days. That meant we had to be in late pregnancy and our preparation window was now a tight one.

By our calculations, and with 93% test accuracy, Swift would give birth in the next two weeks. Sure enough, we had just installed the Ring camera on the afternoon of Saturday, January 20th, when I noticed some increased swelling in her abdomen and teats. I went in again on Sunday morning and was able to express milk from her teats, so I rallied the student Pastured Pig team.

At 4:06 p.m. Sunday, January 21st, Hershey middle school guide Nicole arrived to relieve my watch. She found Swift with her head buried in straw and breathing very heavily. Nicole immediately called me back in due to Swift’s obvious signs of labor. She also alerted the whole Pastured Pig team.

By 6:30 p.m., nine healthy piglets were born! All members of the Pastured Pig team were able to be there for the birth. The team jumped right in and set up to help Nicole catch the babies, clean them off, and put them safely in their heated area while they waited for mama to finish.

 

Students help care for the piglets as Swift finishes her delivery.

Swift was exhausted, but she is very loving with her new litter, responding to them when they cry and turning her big ol’ pig belly out so that the babies can reach their milk. They were quickly able to latch on successfully and get a good dose of colostrum. Their warming area is outfitted with two heat lamps and a seedling heat mat. They flop onto the heat mat and fall asleep without worrying about pulling up the covers. Their little piglet bellies are full and round with their mama’s milk.

Congratulations, Swift, and congratulations to the team members who made it in for the birth. Those students include one ninth-year and two seventh-years. The team did a fabulous job assisting Mama Swift.

The team is now challenged with keeping the babies warm and fed and assisting Swift in the raising up of these sweet little piglets.

The newborn piglets are nourished by their mama.

Editor’s note: This was an experience most adolescents would never have the opportunity to witness or enjoy. For Hershey students, it is yet another unique, memorable moment to learn and grow from – a memory that will last a lifetime. Many things can be learned through books and classrooms, but learning is most impactful when experienced. This experiential learning is both the power and the beauty of authentic Montessori education.