Meghan Kearns, a teacher from Milwaukee Montessori School, a day school serving children from 3-12 years old, shared her experience with the Game and attending the International Master Class:
I had the great honor of meeting John at a conference in 2012. After hearing his keynote speech, I was hooked! He spoke about growing up in his mother’s classroom, his travels through the East, and the creation of The World Peace Game. He brought the audience into his world and I wanted nothing more than to bring The Game to our students. We invited Mr. Hunter to Milwaukee Montessori School to share with us his secrets of bringing the problems of the world to students in a way, so complicated and intense but with so much meaning and achievement.
I recall sitting around a huge piece of paper with Mr. Hunter and several collegeagues as we tried to map out the intricacies of The Game and being completely amazed with not only the nuts and bolts of The Game but with the unlimited opportunities that it allows the players. After much hard work, we were able to integrate The World Peace Game into our economic geography curriculum as a culminating experience for our sixth-grade students.
Being invited to attend inaugural International Master Class was a tremendous gift and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. The idea of bringing so many passionate and dedicated educators together with the task of insuring that The World Peace Game continues to thrive was phenomenal. Not only for those of us who were there but to those students past, present and future who will be forever changed by the experiences presented through The World Peace Game.
Manuela Murariu travelled from Romania where she runs a language center. Manuela was first trained as a WPG facilitator in Emmersdorf, Austria as part of the Foundation’s collaboration with GlobArt. After translating the Game materials into Romanian, she taught the Game to a group of teens who became the first group in Romania to play the WPG:
Attending the International Masterclass in June meant beyond all connection and broader view. By the week’s end, I had the impression that I went around the world and played the WPG in so many other locations! I found a teacher that has set up her own school, another one that works with gifted children, another one that is passionate about homeschooling, another that has extended experience in training adults, another that has lived and taught in South Korea and with all the exchanges I had I just got richer.
As for the future, I find a lot of meaning in sharing the WPG and the entire philosophy and approach behind it with as many teachers as possible, since to me this is a primary tool to make the world of the future a more peaceful one. After my return from the International Masterclass in June 2015 the main headlines in Europe were about the Greek crisis, and I had the feeling that if the President of the World Bank and the Prime Minister of Greece had the opportunity to play the WPG in their school years, the process and the outcome of the managing the crisis would have looked different.
Robin Moyle
Sienna Wright
John N. Hunter Jr.
Jenny Knight
Madeline Hunter
Stephanie Gruner Buckley