|
Program
Overview | History
| Community
|
|
|
|
The work of The Life Experience School and The Peace Abbey has received increasing attention nationally and - more recently - internationally. Participants at the Abbey's award and peace ceremonies over the past few years include: Mother Teresa, His Holiness The XIV Dalai Lama, Dhyani Ywahoo, Thich Nhat Hanh, Richie Havens, Martin Luther King III, Paul Winter, Peter, Paul and Mary, Sissela Bok, Camelia Sadat, Fr. Daniel Berrigan, Raul Julia, Arun Gandhi, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Patch Adams, Lorri and Gene Bauston, Rosa Parks and many others. What has
attracted the attention of these and hundreds of others to the work
carried on at the school is the creation of an environment that
makes it possible for its students to transcend their apparent disabilities.
At the School, disabilities and difficulties in life are seen as
personalized growth opportunities which nurture inner development
and uniquely equip the student to contribute to works of peace,
social justice and the environment. The goal of the School and Abbey
is to affirm each student in their heritage and mission as contemporary
instruments of peace. Though nondenominational, the School aspires
to the principles in Friends (Quaker) Schools, seeking to cultivate
an awareness of each person's identity as a peacemaker, and of the
Peace Movement as a way of life. |
|
School as a Vehicle for Peace |
 The
spirit of commitment and concern which characterized the decade of
the sixties gave birth to The Life Experience School. Its creation
was an extension of the alternative service for its founder, who was
discharged from the military as a conscientious objector during the
Vietnam War in 1971. The school embodies the ideals and vision of
his graduate thesis at Goddard Graduate School for Social Change and
is dedicated to the memory of his mentors, Robert Francis Kennedy
and Martin Luther King, Jr. |
|
Student Body: Turning Difficulties into Opportunities |
|
|
|
The Peace Abbey at Strawberry Fields Two North Main Street, Sherborn, Massachusetts 01770 Phone : (508) 650-3659 Fax : (508) 655-5031 E-mail us! |
|
site design by luga communications © 2001 |
Strawberry
Fields in Sherborn and Millis, Massachusetts provide extraordinary
learning environments where special needs students gain a balanced
perspective on themselves and the world; where lessons of life are
learned and the skill of living acquired. Unique to the program
is its relationship with the peace movement and its focus on engaging
its students in specially designed projects to make the world a
better place for those in need.
Students
come to Strawberry Fields with "life challenges" that are the result
of, or complicated by, neurological impairments, epilepsy, developmental
disabilities, as well as secondary emotional difficulties. The school
is open to young people who could benefit from and contribute to
the extended-family learning process. Ages of the students, academic
levels and degree of disability cover a broad range which enables
each student to put his or her own life challenge in perspective,
and learn to develop the precious art of counting one's blessings.
Everyone at the school is helped to discover their particular talent,
with special encouragement given to peacemaking as a worthy and
honorable vocation in life.