45 Year Reunion at Arthur Morgan School

   Over the July 4th weekend, more than 160 people gathered on the Arthur Morgan School campus in Celo to celebrate the 45 year anniversary of AMS. Attending were current staff, board members, and students; former staff, students, and board members; and spouses, children, and many friends of the school.  They came from all over the country, from California, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Florida, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and everywhere in between. The campus rang with the sounds of guitar and accordion, singing, laughter, shrieks of greetings as long time friends reunited, as well as the sounds of hammers, saws, drills, shovels, and other tools from the various work projects underway. And of course, during key moments of the day, for announcements or summoning folks to meals, the clangorous pealing of the old bell reverberated through the valley. 

    Attendees participated in various work projects, meal preparation and chores as well as socializing, and singing. The tradition of the school involves work projects, and attendees had a variety of projects from which to choose. Projects included painting the exterior of the shop and Hopkins buildings, trail maintenance, brush clearing around boarding houses and field edges, installing wood racks in the new wood shed, installing a birch panel wainscoting in the Meeting room, weeding and mulching the perennial gardens, building new lockers for the students, building large sturdy picnic tables, building the chicken condo on wheels, chopping fire wood, clearing old lumber from the Common building out from Moon barn, installing solar water heater panels on Falcon roof, and harvesting and drying garlic from the garden.

   By the end of the weekend the campus was glowing and the impact of the work projects can still be felt and seen today.  The projects that were not completed by the end of the weekend were continued by this year's students.  Many thanks go out to all who helped work, whether the projects were completed or just started. The school is looking better than it ever has thanks to your hard work.  After a day of hard work and fellowship attendees enjoyed an evening of entertainment included a bonfire at Silver Cove, a contra dance, a slide show and an open mike. 

   Many people also attended a presentation by board and staff, explaining strategic planning goals, including introduction of a “Green Initiative” to create an ecologically sustainable campus and lifestyle. And participants viewed the most recent draft of an AMS Documentary DVD by board member and former staff, Jeff Goodman. 

   Attendees at the reunion reflected that, though the campus may be changed, the core values of the school remain unaltered. Values of community, cooperation, working as a team, communication, closeness to and appreciation of nature, and learning by doing were some of the core values identified by attendees. Numerous alumni and former staff related that AMS represented a pivotal moment in their lives, having far-reaching impact on life choices and life styles. 

    And so, as goodbyes were said and folks prepared to leave for diverse homes and living situations, the AMS campus shone brightly in the Sunday morning sunshine, fresh with the new energy instilled from loving hands who traveled back across the years and miles to re-connect around that special something that is AMS.

By Susan Mason-Bouterse

Development Coordinator