Below are speeches given by two KMS alumni at the Fall 2009 Parent Ambassador Dinner, reflecting on their experience at KMS and what they learned from their Montessori education.

For more information on what our students do after they leave KMS, see Beyond KMS.

Kiyoko R.
(8th grade, Greenway Middle School)

The last speech I gave was at my fifth grade graduation, at the peak of my innocence before my quick descent into middle school decadence. I wanted to talk at the end of school program, and Ms. C said that if I could come up with a speech in time, I could read it. I never turn down an opportunity to write or to talk, so I started working on it immediately. It took me a couple hours to write, I wanted it to be the very best it could be. I spent another half hour typing it up on the computer, so that I could actually read it easily. I don’t know how many people heard me give the speech the next day at Graduation. Happily, I wasn’t too nervous; standing up and talking in front of people was something that KMS taught me to do. Writing reports then standing up to present them were something I’d been doing since first grade. So my little graduation speech was only another step. And in middle school when I was told to write an essay I did so without hesitation. I knew how to do that, to find key points that were to be the base of my report--how to build off of other people’s research and come to my own conclusions. How not only to complete a thought process, but to question it, to go beyond the facts to the how’s and why’s.

Though research and writing is my preference when it comes to academics, I also got my fair share of math and science. I can’t count how many "research of an animal" sheets I filled out, or how many times I did the lesson on the water cycle. Each simple research sheet made me want to learn more about a range of subjects, and increased the patience it took to study each topic. Of course, I did end up with some slightly superfluous information about things like Rock Fish and Chinchillas. Sometimes I feel as if I’m destined to become like my Dad. We’ll be sitting at dinner holding pleasant conversation when he’ll look up from his plate and blurt out, “Did you know copperheads give birth to live young? It’s quite unusual for a reptile, you know.”

In third grade I was given a tan booklet with ‘Geometry’ printed on the front. I did every problem. I put that book away at the end of the year thinking I might never revisit complementary and supplementary angles. But then I tested into geometry this year, a year or two ahead of schedule. Now all I have time to think about is angles and proofs. I have a 97 average, which I owe, along with so much else, to the KMS experience.

Any decent school can give you at least an adequate academic base, but KMS gave me a lot more. Because of the combined grade classrooms, I learned how to get help from my classmates when I didn’t understand something, and later learned to be an eager but patient teacher. The older kids always got a certain respect, but it was because they earned it. They were fair to the younger kids. I remember when I was in first grade, during recess we had the little-kids chase big-kids game, but on Fridays we always had big-kids chase little-kids day, just so that everyone would get a chance to be chased.

I don’t think a KMS kid is ever going to have trouble getting a job, because even if someone else is more qualified, employers also look for the ability to be kind and fair, to help another person but to also ask for help when needed, to stick with something until it’s completed, and to take charge of a situation while remaining a leader who listens as well as speaks.

KMS has also prepared me for out of school life. After several years of various martial arts, I started taking Judo, a martial art rather like wrestling, three years ago. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it when I first started, but after a few classes I was completely hooked. Basically, you can’t do Judo unless you have focus, determination, a willingness to work at something until it’s perfect, and just a bit of craziness in you.

Knoxville Montessori builds a child who is a leader, a friend, a teacher and a student, and who has a love of learning that can overcome any obstacle. Well, almost any obstacle. My desire to learn what it would be like to throw a party with my parents out remains unfulfilled. And somehow I don’t think even the best speech is going to move them on that one.

Mary B.
(11th grade, Bearden High School)

I spent 5 years at KMS, all of them in the elementary program---from 1st through 5th grade. I entered the school as a very shy little girl who could barely read and didn’t really know what was going on. Five years and numerous trips to the library later, I graduated, a rising middle-schooler, a lover of books, and beginning to find my place in the world.

My last day at KMS I stood with Ms. C at the end-of-school program, and she gave me a compass…so I would never lose my way, she said. I still have that compass today---my desk is now cluttered with papers and books from my high school classes, but the compass sits in a clear space, a reminder of my time and the lessons I learned at KMS, all of which still influence me so much today.

The many materials I got a chance to work with and learn about at KMS have had a lasting impact on me. Only last week, in my Honors Pre-Calculus class, I was having trouble with a complex fractions problem. Images of the red fraction circles came unbidden to my mind, and with this Montessori memory I got through the problem!

KMS was where I really learned to write - not just in cursive, but how to put my thoughts down on paper, a skill which has led to several essays that have won me recognition, including landing me places in the National History Day competitions I have participated in over the years. Since I started competing in middle school, I have gone to the national finals twice for essays that I have written.

KMS was also where I learned to tell time, play kickball, and feed a frog, all of which are very important skills to know! But I also learned how to pick up after myself and to listen with respect to another person speaking. My fifth grade year I got a chance to work with Ms. Ambrose in the Primary 1 classroom…this, along with the multi-age elementary classroom, taught me how to mentor and teach smaller children. I learned how to produce a play, how to write a newspaper article, and at one time I could name every single capital city on the American and African continents. Unfortunately, during middle school I fell out of practice, but I still remember the names of all the oceans, which I also learned at KMS!

Spanish lessons with Ms. Nuria gave me an invaluable start on learning a foreign language not many of my peers have. Ms. Georgi’s music lessons awakened my interest in both music and dance, which has led me to play several different instruments and to be a dancer and choreographer with Circle Modern Dance Company. Numerous research projects taught me how to use the resources I have to produce good results, and the independence of Montessori classrooms has made me a self-directed learner: a very good skill to have in large high school or college classes, where you can’t always get personal attention.

I guess the most important lesson I learned at KMS is how to think: how to figure things out for myself instead of simply memorizing and reciting. My time at KMS was wonderful, and completely crucial---without it, and without the many compasses I was given by Ms. C, Ms. Jennings, and so many others, I would not be on the path that I’m on today.