Hershey Montessori School invites the public to a grand opening celebration and open house for its new Upper School classroom building on Feb. 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. The highly energy-efficient building, located on the international boarding school’s 97-acre farm campus in Geauga County, will be the first school in the Midwest designed with Passive House Institute of the United States (PHIUS) criteria.

The addition of the upper school, which opened programming to students in grades 10-12 for the 2015-16 school year, makes Hershey Montessori School the first in the world to fully implement Dr. Maria Montessori’s vision for educating children from birth through 18 years, with an adolescent residential program on a working farm. The upper school will graduate its first class of seniors in June 2018.

Respect for nature and care for the environment are pillars of Hershey Montessori School’s core philosophy. The new upper school building reflects those values. It is the first school in the Midwest designed according to the sustainable building standard of the Passive House Institute of the United States (PHIUS), which was developed in Germany to cut buildings’ energy consumption by up to 90 percent and drastically reduce the production of greenhouse gases. 

The Huntsburg campus is already a stop on the annual Ohio Green Energy Tour sponsored by Green Energy Ohio. Heating and cooling for the classroom buildings and residential farmhouse is supplied by geothermal wells. Solar panels positioned on the school’s program barn often send energy back to the grid. The bioshelter greenhouse applies passive solar design and models biomass energy as well aquaponics growing systems.

Hershey Montessori School’s Huntsburg campus includes the upper school classroom building, a middle school classroom building and housing for boarding students. Like the middle school, the upper school will educate boarding students from all over the world and the United States as well as day students from throughout Northeast Ohio. Children from infancy through 6th grade are educated at the school’s Concord campus.

Hershey Montessori School provides a world-renowned education approach, which better prepares students for success as adults in a rapidly changing global environment. This successful education model offers holistic approach to the individual child’s personal and physiological development, promotion and mastery of the sciences, mathematics, humanities and creative expression. Students develop advanced “soft skills” to include creativity, interpersonal communication, collaboration and problem-solving skills.

Students learn through real-life projects and integrate academic studies through caring and concern for their communities as well as sustainability and care for the earth’s environment.  

All aspects of Hershey Montessori School’s cutting-edge programs are replicable and are eagerly sought after globally. The school continues its fifteen-year legacy of sharing valuable information and hosting intensive professional training programs. More than 200 professionals from all over the world have visited Hershey Montessori within the past two years. They represent countries such as Poland, China, Spain, Australia, and Mexico. More than 500 schools from all over the world have implemented the Hershey Montessori School model.

About Hershey Montessori School 

Grounded in the tradition of Dr. Maria Montessori, Hershey Montessori School provides carefully prepared learning environments for children from birth to 18 years. Our community fosters personal and academic growth, independence, confidence, responsibility and joyful, lifelong learning. HMS is a non-profit 501(c)(3) school with a governing board composed of parents, educators and community representatives. It has a letter of charter by the Ohio Department of Education as an independent private school serving students through 12th grade. HMS is a member of AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) and OAIS (Ohio Association of Independent Schools). For more information, visit http://www.hershey-montessori.org./