2019-20 Wilmington Montessori School Annual Report

DEMETRIA RUHL (WMS ’10)
Graduation Speaker Shares Passion for Learning and Life
From the WMS 2010 Memory Book
Over a decade after graduating from Wilmington Montessori School, Demetria Ruhl (class of 2010) still looks forward to catching up with
the friends she met more than 15 years ago through her WMS Girl Scout troop. Every year around the holidays, former members of the
troop — started by WMS alumni parent Becca Gulino — would gather for dinner at the Melting Pot in Wilmington’s Independence Mall
shopping center. During the past year, the gatherings moved to Zoom due to the pandemic, but these young women still continue to come
together to celebrate each other’s birthdays and other occasions virtually.
“There is still a dynamic that I have with my Wilmington Montessori friends that I don’t have with anyone else,” she said. “I am very excited
to continue the Melting Pot tradition after the pandemic.”
With all Demetria was juggling last spring as a senior at Dickinson College, she still welcomed the chance to reconnect with her WMS
family when Head of School Lisa Lalama invited her to serve as alumni speaker at WMS’s virtual class of 2020 graduation ceremony.
“Being chosen as the 2020 graduation speaker was such an honor,” Demetria said. “I still remember how excited I was when I got Lisa’s
email! Writing my speech was a great way to reflect on my experience at WMS and how it has continued to positively shape my life in high
school, college and now in medical school.”
Like so many students around the world, Demetria’s college life came to an anti-climactic conclusion as she completed her studies of
French and chemistry and celebrated her own graduation from Dickinson College virtually last spring. Because of this, she felt a special
connection with the WMS class of 2020 when she spoke to them last June.
“I know from experience that this is not how you had hoped your time at [Wilmington] Montessori would end,” Demetria said to the class.
“Just two weeks ago, my own college graduation was virtual, and I understand how difficult it is to not be able to celebrate this special moannual
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