I attended the Lake Forest High School Talent Show for the first time in February (2025). I’d been interested in it for years—watching talented young people with the courage to perform before a crowd is one of my favorite things to do. But it wasn’t until this year, when a friend with a child in the talent show actually procured tickets for me that I finally got around to going. The show runs three nights in a row, and we attended the second night. I brought my own ten-year-old daughter who has a special interest in singing and performing with me.

As we settled into our seats and watched the show begin to unfold, I was struck by three things, in quick succession. First was the positive, welcoming community that made up Lake Forest High School (LFHS). There were cheerful parents working the concession stand and selling raffle tickets. There were enthusiastic teenagers, gathering in groups and excitedly finding their seats.

Second was the immense array of talent already apparent just a few acts in—The MC’s who entertained the audience with skits and banter between performances, the pit band who played a variety of songs during downtime, the entertaining short videos that interspersed the live performances, and, of course, the extraordinary talent of the participants themselves. We saw various bands, a pianist (“And hockey player!”, more than one person pointed out to me) whose fingers flew over the keys, two girls who tap danced across the stage to Hamilton, a young woman who belted out an opera song that almost took the roof off the school, and many other incredible feats of talent and courage.

Third, and most personal for me, were the Montessori alumni I saw that night. They were scattered throughout the crowd, supporting their peers. I saw the dark french braid of a sophomore who I’d known in the Young Children’s Community at Forest Bluff School. I noticed the wide smile of one of the most cheerful Primary students I’d ever known, and I overheard the happy laughter of a confident sophomore who’d graduated from eighth grade and was now surrounded by new friends.

But the Montessori alumni who struck me the most that night were the Forest Bluff graduates I saw on the stage, participating in the talent show itself. There were three young women—a sophomore assisting with the live production, a junior who performed as a drummer in two acts and the pit band, and a senior who performed in several acts and served as the stage director for the entire production. These students are all markedly different in their temperaments and talents, and were supporting the show in vastly different ways, but they were all integral to the performance. They were all contributing to the experience for hundreds of students, parents, and community members, sharing their work ethic, skills, and inborn strengths.

Two questions began to form as I watched them work together to create this two and a half hour feat—How did Montessori play a part in what these students were able to do tonight? And—How was Montessori able to serve these different young women in ways that allowed them to find their roles in the same shared experience?

Fortunately for me (and for you!)I know all three girls personally. I reached out to them individually and asked them if (in exchange for a coffee or tea of their choice) they’d be willing to sit down with me to tell me more about what they did for the show, what the experience was like for them, and what role Montessori had played in preparing them for this work. They all responded quickly and cheerfully—happy to discuss their experiences with the LFHS talent show and their Montessori education.

The Sophomore: Supporting the Live Production Through the New Media Class

The sophomore and I sit down first at her house on a chilly, sunny day. I bring her a pink drink from Starbucks and we chat at her dining room table—her younger sister and dog meandering around us while her brother sits in the other room doing his homework. I start by asking her what exactly she did for the performance, as “live production” is something I only vaguely have a sense of.

“I’m in a class called New Media,” she tells me. “There’s an optional project to do the live production for the talent show. That means we provide the filming for the large screens that are on either side of the stage. I helped with a camera on the stage that was getting close ups. It makes the performance more interesting for the audience because they can see the faces of the performers up close. It shows the emotions of the people onstage.”

I immediately understand the benefit of adding this aspect to the talent show. My daughter and I had been beneficiaries of it—our eyes glancing between the performer on the stage and then to the screens on either side as we watched the hands of musicians, and saw the expressions on the performers faces.

This young woman took the New Media class last year, as a freshman, but she didn’t do the live production. This year she was excited to participate, and enjoyed helping with the camera.

“There were five cameras,” she says. “And two people on each camera. The more experienced student is in charge of the camera, and the less experienced one is the helper. Next year I’ll be in charge of the camera.”

I ask her about the work they did to prepare for the show.

She shares, “There was a week of prep. We ran through it a bunch of times. Our teacher sets it up to be mostly student run, because there are seniors who have been in the class for four years and have strong leadership. So I learned mostly from the older kids.” 

It impresses me to think that the students at LFHS were given so much responsibility for enhancing a live performance in this way. The school trusted the class, the teacher taught and then trusted the students. It is also impressive that the New Media students themselves had the confidence to do this work under pressure and in front of an audience. I ask the sophomore where she thinks she found the confidence, as a young 15-year-old, to move around on stage, interact with the performers, and be a part of producing a show for a full audience three nights in a row.

“In the upper elementary at Forest Bluff [ages 9-12] they gave us a lot of opportunities. During Covid, the third years in the upper elementary wrote a whole play for all the students in the elementaries [about 60 students] to perform. We wrote the script, we wrote the songs, we performed in it, and we filmed it.”

I remember this accomplishment, as well—how incredible the performance was, and how good the filming actually was, even without considering the fact that much of the work was done by children. Even just four years later, she reflects on it and recognizes how unusual that experience was: “When I look back, I can’t believe how much we did when we were 11.”

This is a remarkable amount of responsibility for elementary students—a true testament to what children are capable of when they are prepared and supported properly. It also gives rise to incredible confidence when they are able to have a successful experience with this much responsibility.

I ask her what else she remembers from her Montessori days, and she recalls the plays her class put on in the Secondary Level—one each spring which they perform first for the elementary students in the afternoon, and then for all their parents, siblings, and other family members in the evening. 

“The Secondary Level plays were really big projects, and we had a lot of room to do whatever we wanted. We chose the play, we ran auditions, we did a lot of scheduling and logistics. Eighth graders are making most of the choices, and seventh graders are learning so they can execute when they are older.”

It is clear from both of her examples that the responsibility, freedom, and sense of ownership were all formative in her development as someone who was able to do what I saw her doing at the talent show in February. The freedom she had was not in name only—she and her peers had leeway to create shows and perform them for live audiences, experiencing feedback, consequences, and appreciation that they had earned through their own actions.

With a better understanding of how her Montessori experience supported her abilities to do the specific work of the talent show, I am now wondering how it supported her personally. I ask her what she thinks was unique to her education that allowed her to be confident and to take risks.

“I had a lot more confidence than a lot of people who were doing this for the first time. I believed in myself. I think this is because I learned how to fail in Montessori. I learned how to take it well and it didn’t scare me. People make mistakes all the time, but in Montessori, we had regular support from adults showing us how to recover from those mistakes,” she tells me.

I tell her I can see how this would have helped her feel more okay with taking a risk and trying something new. She agrees. Then I ask her how her Montessori education helped her to be a good team member—an essential element of putting on the talent show.

Her answer comes immediately: “I think I’m a good team member because I listen to other people. I try to collaborate rather than push my own ideas. I always want to combine perspectives. Forest Bluff helped because it was such a small school. You got to know the people, and no one had the same perspective. You learned that everyone had a different perspective, and no one thought the same, and that this was a good thing. At a larger school, you can just find people who have the same interests and opinions as you. When it’s smaller, you are forced to collaborate and then you get to learn more.”

This is a great deal of wisdom for a young woman just a year and a half out of middle school, and I am suitably impressed. I have known this sophomore since she was an infant. I have watched her grow from a quiet child into a self-assured 15-year-old with the poise to help run a live production for a large event, and I tell her how proud I am of what I was able to witness and what she accomplished. She gives me a smile and takes her pink drink, as I close up my computer and reflect on the lovely woman she is becoming.

The Junior: Drummer for The Pit Band and Her Own Band; Tech Crew

The junior and I meet at a busy coffee shop on a chilly, cloudy day. She arrives a few minutes early on her bike. She warms her hands around the chai latte I ordered her, and begins explaining what a “pit band” is to me—a term, I admit, I have never heard of before (I have a lot to learn about live productions, it seems).

“The pit band is made up mostly of people who are in the marching band. We play music to open the show and then between the acts,” she shares. “We practice a few times, and some people write original music for us to play and also transcribe songs for their instruments.”

She adds, “I was in the pit band last year, too. This year there were people from every grade which was awesome. It means that there will be leaders in the future as the freshman get older.”

What I had observed that night was this young woman and her bandmates working seamlessly on stage for the entire two and a half hour performance. They sat behind the acts on an elevated platform, and she played the drums skillfully and expressively for every single song. It seemed as though their job was to provide entertainment and music for all prolonged pauses, and I lost count of the number of songs they played throughout the night.

Her explanation is simple, and doesn’t call attention to the fact that this soft-spoken young woman sat in the very middle of the LFHS talent show every night for three nights. I have also known her since she was a baby, and I was, in a word, amazed by her confidence and competence in such a central position of the performance.

We also talk about her own band, which formed a year ago. They were the final act of the evening, and when I ask her what her favorite part of the event was, she shares this: “My favorite part was getting to close the performance. It was really special and I looked forward to it each day.” This band has performed in about four public venues before this one and she tells me that they practice about five times before each one. It is a serious endeavor for a high school student, and a responsibility that she manages with grace and joy.

It is at this point that I learn that she also was in the tech crew. I ask her what that involved. She tells me that this is the third year that she’s been in the tech crew, and then I ask what this year’s duties entailed. She says they build the stage and design the lights and sound for the show. Also: “I went to school every Saturday in the weeks leading up to the show from 10-5. Then we stay after school every day until 6pm.” My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline at this schedule, and I ask what she was doing for all that time, as I know she also is a diligent student. “We watch the rehearsals for the different acts and we give feedback. We give them ideas for how to elevate their stage presence, how to work together more as a band, what kind of lighting they might want.”

This kind of feedback would require a lot of skill and experience, as well as emotional intelligence. Now, I ask her how her Montessori experience served her, and she begins listing traits: “Montessori gave me flexibility. The drama performances taught me how to act backstage. The group work prepared me for doing your own part within a group.”

I pause to ask her to elaborate on flexibility. Why did it matter for her work on the talent show and how did Montessori help with her flexibility?

“You have to be flexible because the schedule changes a lot. We are coordinating a lot of different schedules to set up rehearsals. You also have to be flexible with other people’s ideas and be willing to revise how things were done in the past—rather than be set with how you originally thought it would work.”

In seeing the vast number of people who performed during the show and the countless others who contributed backstage and to the live production, I have somewhat of an understanding of how many different ideas the students were trying to work with.

She goes on: “Montessori helped with my flexibility because, throughout the day, you have to be flexible. You’ll be doing your own work, but you have to pause to have a lesson from the teacher. You also have to be flexible in your work with other people. If you’re making a chart [for a research project] with other people, you all have to agree on how to lay it out. You have to be flexible with other people’s ideas from a young age.”

Over the course of our conversation, she has mentioned several times that the show is student led, as well as the mixed ages of the participants. I ask her how Montessori affected her experience with both of these aspects of the event.

She reiterates: “The talent show is student led. We have to do a lot of planning ourselves. We write the music. We work in a group without instruction.” She goes on to connect this to what she remembers from Montessori: “It was a lot like the Secondary Level trips. There is some supervision, but the students are making all the decisions.”

At Forest Bluff School, the 7th and 8th graders go on three 8-14 day trips per academic year. The students are divided into committees—for example, gear, food, safety, and transportation. Within each of those committees, the students do research and prepare the class for the excursions while also holding each other accountable for finishing their jobs. As this young woman understood, the teachers supervise, but the students make most of the decisions.

Now, I ask her about the multi-age component of the event, and what it was like for her. “I care a lot about being welcoming to younger students. In Montessori, I remember that moving up a level was scary. But the older students were always very welcoming. It gave me a clear role model for how to be an older student. You learn how to work with different kids because you aren’t limited to your own grade.”

It is heartwarming to hear about how much she cares about this event and the people of different ages who come together to put it on. It is also inspiring to see her level of comfort with playing on stage for so many people. I take a moment to tell her how much I enjoyed it, and how much I loved watching her perform and seeing her Montessori peers participating too.

She smiles, “It’s so fun to work with other Montessori kids during the talent show. They know how to act around a stage. They know how to work in a group. I can always tell that they were Montessori students.”

Our conversation comes to an end, and we walk into the cold air. She is heading to badminton tryouts at school after we talk, and I can see the racket sticking out of the back of her bike. A young woman of many talents, indeed.

The Senior: Stage Director and Performer

The senior and I meet on a bright, warm day. We sit in the sun drenched corner of a coffee shop and enjoy our chai teas. She, too, arrived early, and is heading to an interview for a summer internship after our conversation. I begin our meeting by asking her to tell me more about her role as Stage Director. She and a peer welcomed the audience at the beginning of the show, and I spotted her several times throughout the evening in various acts, including a performance of “Closer to Fine,” but I did not know exactly what her duties entailed.

“I was the Stage Director. The teacher who is in charge of the event approached me and asked if I would be the director. I helped him figure out roles for different people—social media, graphic design, lighting, filming. My job was to oversee that each team was doing their job, and to be at each rehearsal and give feedback on costumes, lighting, and the acts themselves.”

I ask her how long she was involved in the event before taking such an enormous leadership responsibility.

She shares, “I’ve been involved all four years. My sister told me to get involved as a freshman, and I did tech crew and was a part of an acapella group that year. Then I was in a band for sophomore and junior year and was in a couple of acts each time.”

Even with those years of experience, this seems like a huge leap to make, and I ask her what prepared her to be responsible for a huge undertaking. She refers to the same experience as the junior that I spoke to: “We are given a blank slate with every talent show. We have to create something from start to finish. The committees in the Secondary Level helped me a lot with that—having something that you are responsible for. And not only are you responsible for carrying it out, but you are also responsible for deciding what you have to do—setting the steps that you have to take. That really prepared me for the responsibility of something high caliber being in your hands.”

She makes an important distinction here that I take a moment to absorb. There is the responsibility of doing the work, and there is also the responsibility of deciding what work will need to be done in the first place. This sounds daunting. I ask her what it was like to be given that “blank slate.” What gave her the confidence—and motivation—to do the work necessary to put on the show?

She responds, “In general, Montessori gives kids a certain agency. Everyone feels very responsible for themselves and also responsible for the people around them. There are unlimited leadership opportunities in Upper Elementary and beyond. There are so many opportunities at such a young age for you to feel that you have power. It’s not fake power. You’re actually working towards something. You’re cleaning the classroom for yourself at the end of the day. The committees in Secondary Level—the students have certain jobs they’ve created for themselves. You’re more likely to meet goals that you’ve set for yourself or that your peers have set rather than teachers.”

I can attest in my experience with children that they are more interested and motivated to do work that they have decided needs to be done rather than accepting directives. She had a more complicated role than I initially understood when I saw her on the stage, and it is clear that she managed it beautifully. My next question asks her what about Montessori allowed her to be a good team member for the large group of students involved in the talent show while she also held all of this responsibility.

She tells me, “Secondary Level helped me to be a good team member, especially with the trips. If you’re going to the woods for two weeks to build an amphitheater or canoe 30 miles a day, you become a real team. You do so much planning and you do actual work on the committees. And then when you’re on the trip you fall into a new set of groups based on people’s strengths, so there is flexibility too. For example, the people who wake up early might start to get the food ready. This was like the talent show. We have the committees we set up in the beginning. But then we step into all sorts of roles, when we see what the needs are.”

Her reflection reveals a combination of vision and flexibility—both necessary features of a good team member and a good leader. It is difficult for adults to manage this balance, let alone teenagers!

During our conversation, she has made casual mentions of giving performers feedback or of asking volunteers to step into other roles. I pause to formulate my question. How is she able to guide and give feedback based on what she sees in a way that honors where they are but that leads them towards where they need to be?

I expect her to need to think about an answer, but she doesn’t hesitate: “I was an assistant in a Primary classroom at Forest Bluff last summer. So often, you see a child so close to the goal they want to meet. And it would be so easy to just go over there and say, ‘This is Equatorial Guinea and it goes right here [in the puzzle map].’ But, instead, you sit with them and let them trace around it [with their finger] until they can get to it themselves. You welcome the struggle. Montessori welcomes the struggle.”

She goes on, “You don’t learn from being told. [When I was in the classroom as an assistant teacher] I saw how effective it is to have a teaching conversation where you are both trying to figure out the answer together. One person having the answer and just giving it to the other person—that’s not learning. For the acts in the talent show, it’s more fun if we try to find something together. Obviously, you have to sacrifice some ideas that way. But collaboration is better.”

Her answer momentarily startles me with its perception and wisdom. I am taken aback by this young woman’s understanding of herself and her experience, and how it fits into the greater social world and the gifts she will bring to it—gifts she already is bringing to it.

We continue our discussion about her plans for next year and she walks me through the application process for a major in musical theater. It is complicated and rigorous enough that, I confess, I do not fully retain all the information. Suffice it to say, there is a lot of organization, time, energy, and willingness to be brave and vulnerable. She seems confident that something will work out, and after spending 45 minutes with this incredible young woman, I can safely say—I am too.

Final Thoughts

As I read over my interview notes, it strikes me that each young woman has shared many similar themes—their ability to work in a group, their ability to collaborate, their flexibility, their responsibility, their confidence. And I am impressed again, by the way that these common gifts served them for such different roles in the talent show. I am also struck by their common traits, even within their varying personalities—their confidence, their poise, their ability to reflect on their experiences, their kindness in giving me their precious time, and their conscientiousness in our meetings.

I was a Montessori student myself, and then a Montessori teacher, and now a Montessori parent (for almost 15 years!), so I have witnessed this unfolding for children for decades and seen the way that this kind of education allows each individual person to become the fullest version of who they are. It does not “make” children who present the same way or have the same specific skills. But it gives each child tools for making use of their talents and for pursuing their interests and passions in ways that are useful and fulfilling.

Even as none of this should surprise me on paper, I am still always taken aback when I see the promise of Montessori fulfilled in spectacular young graduates. And I am grateful, once again, for a place that provides children the opportunity to become comfortable with who they are, and confident in what they can do.