Fort Smith Montessori school receives $10,000 challenge grant

The Montessori School of Fort Smith has received a $10,000 Challenge Grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation based in Siloam Springs, Ark.

“This generous challenge grant gives us the footing we need to establish a Scholarship Fund for our school,” said Jessica Hayes, Head of School. “The goal with this fund is to assist families, who believe in the power of a Montessori education, in sending their children to our school.”
 
On April 2, The Montessori School of Fort Smith is participating in Arkansas Gives, a one-day philanthropy event hosted by the Arkansas Community Foundation. Hayes said the event allows the school with an opportunity to not only raise matching funds for this challenge grant, but to receive bonus dollars from the Arkansas Community Foundation. All funds raised that day will go directly to the scholarship fund.
 
For more than 45 years, students in the Fort Smith region have received a non-traditional education through The Montessori School of Fort Smith, previously St. Scholastica Montessori School. Developed in the early 20th Century by Dr. Maria Montessori, the Montessori approach to education focuses on the child as an individual.