An example of our cultural convergence occurred in 2005 with an actual royal visit, from the Nnabagereka or Queen of Buganda, an ancient kingdom in what is now Uganda. The Assistant Director’s father, who is an Ambassador to the King of Buganda, arranged the visit, which was attended by local diginitaries including the Mayor of Salem. In just weeks the children learned songs in Luganda, the Queen’s language, and a veritable army of 35 family volunteers spruced up the school’s ‘well-loved’ campus to make it “fit for a queen.” On the big day children, staff, parents and volunteers prepared a genuine Ugandan banquet, and the kids performed a singing, dancing and drumming show to a spellbound audience of Ugandans and the Queen’s entourage.
Children have also entered the International Children’s Art Exhibition, a juried competition and show drawing thousands of youth entries from over 100 countries. In 2006 a young Greenhouse School artist became the only Massachusetts entry to be included in the touring exhibit, which toured the state for the first time ever with a stop in Kingston, MA.