Virgin Islands Montessori School and Peter Gruber International Academy (VIMSIA) invited parents and community members to enjoy the Lower Elementary play "Martin Luther King, Jr.: Story of A Dream." Under the direction of Lower Elementary Teacher, Jess DiFrancesco, students not only studied the history and biography of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, but understood the significance of their actions and the ripple effect that it had throughout time.
DiFrancesco explained how challenging it was for her students to understand the concept of segregation "especially the idea of separating everyone by skin color" she said. "Everyone in our class looks different, and if you divide them up by different colors, it's very hard. It was difficult for them to understand how to divide them up because of all the different shades. They understood what happened was wrong, and couldn't understand why people were treated that way, when they see that they are all great friends in class." Arielle Shackell, a seven year old student who played Rosa Parks, mentioned it was "fun and cool and amazing being her because of how she stuck up for herself."
Over fifty guests were present one of them being Dee Wilson, grandparent. Wilson mentioned "you sense that the children understood the importance of what they were reenacting and definitely got the significance across." With the help of Peter Gruber International Academy senior students behind the scenes, the play went off without a hitch! Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his speech, Rosa Parks was removed from the bus and a powerful reenaction of the March on Washington took place with xylophone accompaniment to the popular song "We Shall Overcome."
