Kingsley Montessori Students Reflect on Boston Marathon Tragedy

Kingsley Montessori School announced last week that it would commemorate the Boston Marathon tragedy by sharing students’ essays written about bravery with the Greater Boston community.

“While this is a challenging time for many of our families who were directly impacted by this horrible event, we wanted Kingsley to be a part of the larger dialogue with our Boston community to remember the victims in a meaningful way,” said Head of School Renee Duchainey-Farkes. “The power and authenticity of our students’ voices, we hope, pay tribute to the resilience of this great community we live in and our courage to forge ahead as a stronger one towards a renewed future.”

A few months after the Boston Marathon tragedy, Upper Elementary students were asked to write a story about their thoughts on bravery. Sixth-graders Gordon Jacobs and Sam Batchelder wrote the following poignant stories that reflected on the Boston Marathon:

Boston Marathon

by Gordon Jacobs

“Being brave means a lot of things to me. The one that stands out the most is that being brave is showing courage. Having courage gives you the ability to do something that you wouldn’t want to do because of a fear. One time I remembered being brave was after the Boston Marathon Bombings. It was very scary after the Marathon Bombings because I live very close to the finish line. My sister and my mom were on Boylston Street. Kingsley Montessori, my school, was right in the middle of the two bombings.

“It required courage to go to school, but then the next day there was a ‘Shelter in Place’ order because the suspects were being chased so we couldn’t go back to school until the next week. When I look back at that event I feel sad, but I also feel proud of how everyone helped out each other and helped the people who were injured. My sister, her friends, and I made ‘Boston Strong’ T-shirts and sold them, then donated all of the money to the One Fund. The total money we made was around $5,000. After we donated the money we felt very proud of ourselves.

“In conclusion, it took a lot of bravery to face this horrible tragedy that really hurt our community.”

Boston Marathon

by Sam Batchelder

“Bravery is a very important characteristic in someone’s life. Everyone on the face of the earth has at least a little bit of bravery in them, whether or not they show it. Sometimes people forget the difference between bravery and courage. Bravery is the ability that allows you to do something that is frightening, and courage is the ability to know if something is frightening. Bravery is very common around the world, and can be expressed in many different ways.

“A time in my life that required bravery was the time I requested a moment of silence for the Boston Marathon victims at the United Nations to honor the victims who were affected by the tragic attack.

“After the moment of silence, I gave a speech to remember the families who were most affected, such as the family of Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu and Sean Collier. I was unprepared for the speech because I came up with the idea minutes before the conference started, so I had no notes to study. My speech was all coming from my heart. It was brave for me because I spoke in front of about 100 delegates from all over the world who I didn’t know. I was quite frightened, but that didn’t stop me from giving a speech I will never forget.

“When I look back on the day I gave that speech, it makes me feel so good. I know that if I didn’t give that speech, I would regret that choice for the rest of the year, because I couldn’t take that moment back. It felt so good after I finished, because all I could hear was a loud applause from the delegates. It really sounded like they appreciated my speech. I could tell that they appreciated the speech not just because of the applause, but also because of the multiple questions I was asked right before we split up for lunch. That moment was one of the greatest moments of my life, and it required a lot of bravery on my part.”

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