2019-20 Wilmington Montessori School Annual Report

ment in person with your friends and teachers at WMS who, alongside
with your families, have helped you get to where you are today.”
Demetria’s days of taking virtual classes from home were a stark
contrast to the rest of her college career, during which she kept busy
with her double major in chemistry and French, volunteered in the
admissions office, served as a teaching and research assistant in the
college’s chemistry department, conducted leukemia research as a
summer intern at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for
Children, and led the Dickinson swim team as senior captain.
As a senior in the International Baccalaureate program at Wilmington
Friends School — the school she attended for middle and high
school — Demetria knew she preferred the smaller-school
environment she had enjoyed at WMS and actively sought a close-knit
college community that could offer her strong academic support.
“Ever since WMS, I knew it was important to forge strong relationships
with teachers,” she said. “I knew I could do that at a smaller school.”
Watch our entire virtual graduation video, including Demetria’s
speech at www.wmsde.org/2020grad.
“One thing that I can tell you
with confidence is that the
relationships and the
memories you have made
here at Montessori are strong,
and they have been built to
withstand the test of time.
”
– Demetria Ruhl, during her 2020 graduation speech
4 • wmsde.org
Demetria also knew she wanted to pursue a pre-med program, study
chemistry and French, travel abroad, and continue to competitively
swim. Dickinson checked all the boxes.
“Dickinson was one of the places that gave me a sense I could do it all
when I visited,” she said.
Demetria began college as a chemistry major and added French as a
second major. During the fall of her junior year, she studied abroad in
Toulouse, France, an experience that was more challenging than she
expected.
“Little did I know at the time that college in France is very different
from anything I had ever experienced in the U.S.,” she said. “It is only
looking back on my experience now that I can see that learning to
adapt to the French education system was one of the most valuable
parts of my entire study abroad experience. It pushed me out of my
comfort zone and gave me a new and valuable perspective.”
After completing several internships in the medical field, Demetria
enrolled in medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic
Medicine this fall, once again attending classes virtually from her
apartment. She credits her WMS foundation for her success during
her first year of medical school.