As part of the 3 year cycle of fundraising and community engagement, MSR would like to provide an opportunity for our school community and wider Raleigh community to engage in life-long learning together. For the 2012 year speaker series event MSR has chosen Dan Pink. Dan is a forward thinker and his ideas for what our children’s future will look like and how they will need to be able to think dove tail nicely with Montessori methodology and how MSR is preparing our students for their future.
WHY A THREE YEAR CYCLE FOR MSR SPRING EVENT?
At MSR, we see a real value in a 3-year cycle for learning. Children grow, stretch and develop along this 3-year plane, all the while having new and varied experiences in their learning. In much the same way, there is also high value in implementing a 3-year cycle for our Spring Event. It allows our community to experience variety in the events they attend to benefit our great school. Variety will naturally appeal to many more of our families and this, in turn, increases the total number of our families who attend and participate year after year. In addition, our school has dual goals to fundraise and to build community. While we must do both, in some years it is appropriate to emphasize one goal over the other. Blend these concepts together and our 3-year cycle for our Spring Event will look like this:
- Year 1: Gala
- Silent and Live Auction and Fund-a-Need with dinner and dancing;
- Year 2: MIX—MSR Idea Exchange
- MSR invites speakers to share their ideas at an event for both our school community and our wider Raleigh community, thus providing an opportunity for all of us to engage in life-long learning together. This event will be coupled with an online MSR fundraiser and will include a sit down dinner and dancing.
- Year 3: Community Sharing
- A school-wide festivity celebrating students, families, faculty and all those who help to make our school A Portrait of Success.
Why did we make this change? Because variety is the spice of life and we hope all of our MSR families are with us for many years. It is so much more satisfying to engage in a variety of different experiences in your school community, to be able to bring your unique gifts and talents to a particular event and to feel that everyone in the community has a chance to participate and to make a positive difference in the life of our great school.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE MSR FUNDRAISING EVENT?
In 1994-1995, a small group of incredibly hardworking parent volunteers organized the first ever MSR Gala event. This event was conceived as a way to bring the community together and to provide a venue for an all school gathering. In essence, a way for the community to celebrate together while raising funds for the school’s needs.
Over the years, the Gala has grown in both number of volunteers dedicated to the event and number of families and friends who attend. From 1995 to present, MSR families have attended everything from spring soirees to Caribbean and Mexican Fiestas, Casino Nights and engaged in March Madness.
