Before the break, I received some wonderful news about Alexa, another of last year’s graduates. Alexa is fully ensconced in her new school where she has earned a place on the Head of School list recognizing her academic achievement and also played a significant supporting role in the All-School play, a part generally reserved for upperclassmen.

For her graduation speech last year, Alexa left us with some heartfelt words that give us a sense of how it FEELS to be part of Bridgeview Montessori school. ~ S. Lawson, Assistant Head of School

Wow. I did it. I went to Bridgeview Montessori for 8 years. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to have this school and everyone in it. Every person here has a connection that is like no other. We are a family. We love each other, and celebrate our differences and the things we have in common. Sometimes, like families, we do fight, but because of the things we learn here, we can solve the fight peacefully by listening to how the other person feels.

The walls of Bridgeview Montessori are like loving arms that embrace us always. I feel completely welcome from the beginning of the day when Jolie [our Elementary II teacher] opens my car door to say “good morning,” until the end of the day when my mom checks the green parent mailbox for fliers and permission slips.

I remember my first year here. I was in the Yellow Room [a Children’s House classroom]. I loved my teachers, and I made friends that I still see today. When I was in Children’s House, I looked up to the people in Elementary I. When I got to Elementary I, it felt amazing to be just like the First Years I looked up to the year before, and I then started looking up to Elementary II. When I got to Elementary II, I had made it! I was at the top.

In my last two years here, I was given things I never had had before: the chance to be a lead in the school play, the chance to have Studio Art with Sandy [our Head of School], and the chance to be a role model for Children’s House students just like me years before.

Bridgeview Montessori is my second home. I love everything about it. When I move on to a new school this fall and people ask me what school I had gone to before, I will be proud to say Bridgeview Montessori.

We love you, Alexa. Thank you!

(pictured above, Alexa as Edwina in Bridgeview Montessori’s production of Dear Edwina, Junior consoles a young friend played by Maggie.