During a special ribbon cutting ceremony, some of the most powerful speakers required the mic to be lowered to their height.
They were only in fifth grade, after all.
Thanks to monies from the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties and the Harman family, S.D. Spady Elementary School in Delray Beach recently celebrated the grand opening of its Betty Harman Warner MMUN Reading and Emerging Leaders Center, a room close to the entrance of the school that fosters learning.
Here, students have space to read and do research on their computers during class as well as during their MMUN (Montessori Model United Nations) club. Just before the ribbon cutting with oversized scissors, the school choir sang inspirational songs and four members of the MMUN program shared how the center and a recent trip to New York City has benefitted them.
“The MMUN program is more than just an after-school club. It’s a pathway for future leaders,” says Charles Diggle, a fifth grader who attended the MMUN conference. “It taught me not only how to speak, but also how to listen. To understand and to find common ground. This program has given me the skills and the confidence to advocate for what I believe in.”
Nodding along and smiling was Sesame Raphael, the school’s MMUN director and club advisor.
“As an educator, there’s such a feeling of joy, pride and awe working with this ambitious team of young students,” he said. “Any teacher who works with these young students is swept up by their drive to change things for the better, their passion to be heard and their courage to try.”
The center is named for Betty Harman Warner, who was a teacher for 60 years and brought a literacy program to Spady Elementary School in the 1960s. Her son, Will, and his wife, Cheryl, were present for the opening of the center. Will said his mother was passionate about family and education.
“Specifically, reading education and more specifically remedial reading,” he said. “She introduced this program in Brevard in the ‘60s and came down to Spady in the later ‘60s and instituted it … she felt so fulfilled and gratified that her program would help these kids.”
