If you did not make it to the Media Theatre on the evening of December 17, please allow us to share a recap with you of a very special evening.  On this chilly Monday evening, Labanya Mookerjee and I headed to The Walden School‘s Holiday Sing-A-Long to hear the preschool, elementary, and middle school students perform some beautiful songs.  We thoroughly enjoyed hearing these children and seeing them perform songs such as Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney, Hanukkah Festival, and The Peace Song.

But looking down the front row of the theater, anyone in the Fair Trade community would have known that something else was going to happen this evening – something significant, something exciting!  Seated down the row were myself and Labanya of Penn State Brandywine, Elizabeth Killough of the Media Fair Trade Town Committee, Hal Taussig (Media’s Fair Trade pioneer), Mary Le Fever (Walden School’s founder), Monica Simpson of the Media Borough Council… and the list goes on!

The evening started with Walden’s Head of School, Mary McKeon (pictured above, left), and Assistant Head of School, Carly Tolson (pictured above, center), making an announcement that (drumroll, please….) The Walden School has been officially granted status as the nation’s first Fair Trade School for pre-K through 8th grade!  Monica Simpson came on to the stage to make the presentation of the official certificate from Fair Trade Universities (who oversees all school campaigns).

To view a video of the Fair Trade announcement, please click here.

Congratulations, The Walden School!  Penn State Brandywine looks forward to connecting and collaborating with you on future Fair Trade awareness, education, and advocacy events.

– Contributed by Dr. Laura Guertin