Maxwell International School’s emphasis on Baha’i principles of education and the transformative power of the arts have been a presence in Cowichan Valley for 20 years. With the school’s closing at the end of June, many in the Valley expressed praise for its long record of achievement and contribution to the area.
A local newspaper, the Cowichan Pictorial, wrote in a 29 June article, “Cowichan Valley as a whole, is really going to miss it.”
“An attitude of helping others, doing the right thing, community service, and treating the entire world as your neighbourhood permeated everything Maxwell students did…The school exposed our…community to people and ideas from around the world.”
According to a statement by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada, the owners of the school, “The extraordinary spirit that has prevailed at the school in spite of this year’s challenges has itself been a potent sign of Maxwell’s success.”
While mourning the closing of the school, staff and students nonetheless made the most of the final year. Grade 12 students made special efforts to embrace their fellow Grade 7-11 students, who would not graduate from Maxwell, and arranged a special “graduation” ceremony for them held during the last week of the school year.
The weekend of 27-29 June, when Maxwell held its last official Grade 12 graduation ceremony, one theme stood out – all who had attended Maxwell, or been touched by the school’s 20 year legacy, were grateful.
Eight of the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Canada attended the graduation ceremonies where the National Assembly’s Secretary spoke, encouraging this year’s graduates to “become ensigns of guidance”, “build capacity for insight and service”, and “contribute to the building of a new civilization.”
Maxwell graduation has always been a many day affair, a celebration which not only honors the graduates, but also friends, family, former staff, volunteers, and alumni. Maxwell’s last graduation weekend, 27-29 June, was all that and more, as 500 past staff and students showed up for the culminating alumni reunion events.
And when the final native-inspired transition circle ceremony was held, as is tradition, on Sunday afternoon, it was a transition, not just for the graduates, but a transition for the whole Maxwell family.
Maxwell International School will be sorely missed, but the relationships it has forged over two decades will not be forgotten.