40th Celebration Dates:

Forty years of dedication, idealism, and work on behalf of children in a beautiful partnership – that certainly deserves a celebration, and a big one, too! In fact, we’re planning a year-long celebration of our 40th anniversary, and we invite you to join us at every possible opportunity. Here are some of the events we’re thinking about, with preliminary dates:

October 5 (6-8 p.m.):  The BGMS Board of Trustees invites you to BGMS History, an evening with Barbara.  An evening for the parents to come and listen to BGMS Founder, Barbara Gordon, tell the story of how BGMS came to be, from a one-room class in a church to the 11 building campus that it is today. This will also be an opportunity to meet and talk with BGMS Board of Trustee members.

October 18 (moved due to weather): Fall Birthday Celebration with our founder, Barbara Gordon. The children will gather on the green space to hear Barbara tell the story of how our school began and how it grew, and we’ll dig up the “time capsule” that was buried 15 years ago when the school celebrated its 25th anniversary.

December 20: Alumni Reunion and Panel Discussion. We’ll take advantage of the Winter Break, when college students are home for the holidays, to invite alumni to gather for a reception and panel discussion with current parents. Do you know some students who attended BGMS in the early days? If so, let us know who and where they are. We’d love to find some of the children from the very first class in 1971!

February 18: 40th Anniversary Tour of BGMS. The annual AMI Refresher Course will be held in Fort Worth in February 2012, and BGMS will be featured on the popular “tour of schools” that will take place on Saturday evening, February 18. We’ll host Montessori teachers and administrators from around the country and the world on a visit to our campus and a tour of our classrooms. Parent volunteers are needed to help with refreshments and welcome our guests!  

Date TBD: The children will gather again to plant a “40th Anniversary Tree,” like the one planted for the 25th Anniversary that now shades the Primary play yard. And we’ll bury a new “time capsule” – packed with notes, drawings, pictures, and messages for the BGMS children of the future.

March 5: Sponsored by the Montessori Institute of Texas (MIT), pediatric neuro-psychologist Dr. Steven J. Hughes will talk with Montessori parents, teachers, and administrators and the general public. Dr. Hughes is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, President of the American Board of Pediatric Neuropsychology, and Chair of AMI’s Global Research Committee. A Montessori parent himself, he says, “This educational approach makes so much sense from a cognitive developmental standpoint. . . . Montessori is the original brain-based method of learning.”

April 21: The Spring Soirée – Celebrating 40 Years of Nurturing the Human Potential! Celebrate BGMS with our Annual Spring Soirée at the Hurst Conference Center on Saturday, April 21st from 6:30-11:00 pm.  More details to come!