Fall 2015
WWS MESSENGER
News and Views from the Washington Waldorf School
Capital Campaign Report Inside
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A Letter from the Faculty Chair, Jennifer Page
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s they entered our newly renovated building on the first day of school, the students’ excitement was palpable. Finally, they were seeing and experiencing what they had heard so much about. Even though many of us had seen the drawings on display all spring, we were unprepared for the breathtaking experience of our new space. After reflecting on what we have accomplished and what this means for our future, I am filled with gratitude for the generosity and hard work of our community in making the dream of a new space a reality.
As WWS enters its 47th year, I hope you will join me in savoring this moment in our journey. By working together, we have accomplished something wonderful. I hope you will join me in expressing gratitude for the ceaseless efforts of so many. Because of your efforts, we will face the future inspired, much stronger, and with a renewed sense of confidence in all we have created together.
Senior Play: Lend Me a Tenor
Last spring we achieved a particularly important milestone: a full 10-year accreditation by the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS), and a renewed accreditation by the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA). It is unusual for a school pursuing AIMS accreditation for the first time to receive a 10-year accreditation. This achievement reflects the accrediting bodies’ respect for our teachers, administration, and program. Commensurate with our new building, we have revised and improved our program and services. In the Children’s Garden, we launched our Waldorf in the In the Nursery Class Woods outdoor kindergarten, under the guidance of master teacher, Linc Kinnicutt, and his assistant Lynn Adelmann. In the Lower School, we Congratulations to the Graduating Class of 2015. increased the availability of therapeutic eurythmy, Members of the class are matriculating to the following colleges and universities: expanded our reading support program, and added a math enrichment teacher. On the administrative Courtney Athas – Frostburg University side, David Wu joined us as Operations Manager, Cameron Bechmann – Brandeis University bringing his business and accounting expertise Nina Cavalcanti – American Academy of Dramatic Arts to our organization. We also reorganized several Evangelina Hakes – University of Maryland – University Honors College administrative roles, upgraded various network Nicholas Huguet – University of Vermont systems, and considered new marketing and outreach approaches. Amidst all these efforts, we are Joseph Johnson – St. Mary’s College of Maryland (state honors college) delighted to be starting the 2015-16 school year Matt Oxley – College of Charleston with our highest enrollment in 8 years.
Noah Scher – Christopher Newport University – Honors Program
Front cover: Our New Entrance Canopy
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A Banner Year for Giving
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he WWS community was exceptionally generous this year, reflecting an extraordinary level of commitment to the school. Thank you!
The Build Our Vision capital campaign exceeded its goal of $4.4 million, with 311 gifts and pledges totaling $4,789,753. This allowed us to complete the renovation of our building over the summer, on time and within budget. (See the capital campaign newsletter insert for more about the campaign.) While the capital campaign was central to our fundraising work this last year, the Annual Fund remains the foundation of philanthropic support to the school. Last year the Annual Fund reached $203,466. Although this total was less than our goal, the number of donors increased (from 275 to 291) over the prior year, as did the number of first time donors. In addition, the level of participation was excellent, with 100% of Trustees, 94% of faculty, and 90% of current parents making an annual gift. As both enrollment and the level of participation by the various constituent groups in the community continue to increase, we are optimistic that the Annual Fund will also grow.
Five years ago, our Trustees Council began negotiating for a long-term lease that would Jennifer Page, Faculty Chair enable us to improve our building and give us a new home for the next 30 years. After 5 years of negotiating, planning, and fundraising, we met our goal. On September 14, our renovation was both substantially complete and under budget. On behalf of the faculty, I offer my deepest thanks. (Please see the special Capital Campaign insert for detailed information on who made the project possible.) Now that our renovation is complete, we can begin enjoying its benefits. Our state of the art HVAC system will bring us all-season comfort and save us hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent credits. In the place of our old boiler, we have a faculty lounge and two private tutoring spaces. We have added new office space, two new ADA accessible bathrooms, and a foyer that will be a center for community gatherings, concerts, and student art displays.
Fall 2015
Field Day
Our “Fields of Fancy” spring gala and auction at Calleva Farm was a notable success. Altogether the gala brought in just over $104,000, of which $26,500 was for financial aid, $32,700 for furnishings for our new entrance foyer, and the remainder supporting day-today operations. We introduced several new features to the gala, including popular “buy-in parties” and a successful push for business sponsorship. Attendance was also up compared to last year, with about a third of attendees being newcomers. Our last major fundraiser was the fall bazaar, which raised about $27,000, on par with prior years. The bazaar offered several new features, including an alumni shop and café and a first-ever vendor preview night. One of our most treasured traditions, the bazaar continues to be a wonderful gathering place for our entire community, as well as a great introduction to the school for prospective families.
First Graders and Senior Cameron Bechmann
More than any year in recent memory, the 2014-2015 school year showed how much parents, alumni, faculty, and friends care about WWS. We are deeply grateful for the level of support shown to the school, and we extend our deepest thanks to all who did so much to keep us strong financially and enlarge the range of possibilities for our students Senior Trip to Nova Scotia
Fields of Fancy Spring Gala Last May
Spring Gala guests: Leah Kedar, Debbie Spitulnik, Carol Petrash, Lynn Bufano, and Michele Coleman (with Mr. Spitulnik looking on)
Fields of Fancy, Faces in the Crowd
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Graduation Address by Dan Wacker May 30, 2015 Born and raised in Wisconsin, Dan Wacker is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy and Harvard Law School. He served as a Judge Advocate in the Air Force for 6 years, stationed in Korea, England, and Germany. He left active duty in 1980 but continued to serve in the Air Force Reserve, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After leaving active duty, Dan returned to Harvard Law School as a Visiting Fellow in East Asian Legal Studies. In 1981 Dan joined Mobil Oil Corporation, where he enjoyed a distinguished legal career, with postings in New York, Tokyo, and London. At the time of his retirement in 2000 he was responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of Mobil’s worldwide legal department. Since leaving Mobil, Dan has volunteered widely in the community. Dan served on the WWS Board of Trustees from 2001-2012, and was its chairman from 20052012. He served as co-chair of the Build Our Vision capital campaign and of the site committee that oversaw negotiations for a long-term lease and renovation of our building. He also volunteers in support of veterans, and at Shepherd’s Table in Silver Spring. Dan and his wife Yon have two daughters who both graduated from WWS.
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t is indeed a great honor to give the commencement address to you, the graduating Class of 2015, as you embark on the next, and possibly the most important, stage of your lives. Before accepting this honor, I thought a lot about what, if anything, I could say that might be meaningful to you, not only in this next stage of your life—whether it is college, travel, work experience, or something else—but also for the rest of your lives. Commencement speakers are often called upon to impart “wisdom” to their audience. However, I am not sure I am old enough to qualify as the giver of “wisdom.” So I decided to take the advice that often given to new novelists, which is: “write what you know.” So with that in mind I will speak to you about certain a formative experience that I had when I was your age, an experience that provided me a set of values that have served me well as guideposts over my lifetime. The formative experience that I am referring to is the period of 4 years that I spent after high school as a cadet at the United States Air Force Academy. The values I learned during that experience have guided me throughout my professional career, first as an Air Force officer and later as a lawyer in the world of international business. I realize that you may find this to be somewhat ironic—the prospect of a retired Air Force officer addressing a Waldorf class about values learned in the military—but please bear with me. In 1967 I graduated from high school, and two weeks later reported to the Academy in Colorado
for basic training—the start of a rigorous program that would last for 4 years. My classmates and I experienced all the stereotypical deprivations, indignities, and disciplinary demands of such training, which you all are probably familiar with from the movies. But it is not this aspect of my experience that I intend to dwell on. Rather, what I do want to talk about is the experience we had of learning to live up to a certain standard expressed in the academy’s motto, which is literally chiseled in stone at the entrance to the school. The motto expresses three values as follows: “Integrity first Service before self Excellence in all we do.” Now, before I explain these in more detail, let me say that we, like many young people, were rather cynical at first about what we thought sounded like a slogan imposed upon us by others. We certainly looked for and found examples of hypocrisy—that is, upperclassmen and others who, it seemed, had not lived up to these values. But as we endured those years as a class—living, studying, training, and working together—we began to appreciate and internalize the wisdom contained in that simple statement of values. So what do these words mean? Integrity first. There is a reason integrity must be put first. If you take nothing else away from my presentation, remember that your integrity is your most valuable asset. Nothing is more important in all your relationships for the rest
of your lives. Practice integrity; be known as a person of integrity; and you will earn the benefits of trust and confidence placed in you. So what is “integrity?” We can certainly define it in negative terms, as we all probably learned as children, as not lying, cheating, or stealing. Or we can define it in positive terms as being truthful and honest. But I came to realize over subsequent years that integrity means more than that. It means admitting when we are wrong, avoiding the taking of positions on issues that we cannot support with facts, and standing up for a person’s rights even when we dislike that person. When confronted with a person who holds views on an issue that differ from our own, integrity means engaging that person by disputing the merits of the issue, not by attacking the person himself. Unfortunately, we see examples of this form of personal attack every day in our civil society. Consider how often on Twitter or on television we witness someone disparaging the person rather than the idea. It’s all too easy, and more entertaining perhaps, to call someone a despicable name than it is to refute an argument with facts and logic. What about the second of the three values: what does “Service before self” really mean? At one level, we can define it by saying that it requires us to subordinate our personal interests to those of a larger group, be it family, team, class, work group, or in the context I learned it, a military unit. This is based on the sound concept that “we are all in this struggle together” and that in order to flourish or indeed survive, we must be able to count on others, and they have to be able to count on us. This version is certainly true, but it misses the larger meaning of the value: by dedicating ourselves to the needs of others, we experience a fulfillment of purpose that ultimately makes our lives worth living. Winston Churchill said it best: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Finally, the third value: “Excellence in all we do.” Perhaps this is the easiest to understand and the most difficult to carry out on an everyday basis. But it rests in the understanding that any task that is worth doing is worth doing well. On the
simple janitor at the Academy and his name was William Crawford, or Mr. Crawford as he was known to us. Mr. Crawford was a quiet, elderly man who walked slowly with a limp. In the frenzy of life in a military barracks, he went about his job cleaning up after us in the hallways and bathrooms almost invisibly. He worked longer hours than required and kept the facility in perfect condition. He was gentle and warmhearted—a comforting presence in our midst. Over time he became a friend to each of us, often giving a word of encouragement when we seemed to falter under the demands of cadet life. He was an honest man as well. There were no locks on our room doors and it goes without saying that nothing ever went missing. Dan Wacker one hand, pride in the accomplishment of a job well done is, in itself, a wonderful feeling that reinforces our own sense of self worth. On the other hand, disappointment at failure is an awful feeling when, deep down, we know that it was due to our own halfhearted commitment or lack of effort. Strive to do your best, and, even if you fail, you will, in the long run, feel at peace with yourself. Now, lest you think that I am preaching about ideals that are difficult if not impossible to achieve, let me be the first to admit that we are all human. We all have weaknesses, and we all fail from time to time. But the measure of a life well lived is not perfection, but whether we strive to do our best, to learn from our failures, and to address our weaknesses. In my personal and professional experience, I have come to realize the wisdom of these ideals, the value of striving to achieve them, and the learning that comes from failure. And I have also learned from the example of others. While I have known many people who exhibit these values in their lives, I would like to speak about one such person I came to know from my time at the Academy. That person was not a fellow classmate, nor was he a professor, senior officer or other important figure. He was a
Now, to be perfectly honest, I did not at that time fully appreciate Mr. Crawford nor did I see him at the time as a role model. Like most of my classmates, I was too busy with all the other demands on me and I simply took him for granted. So after 4 years at the academy, I graduated and moved on with my career. That was in 1971. Like the rest of my classmates, I suppose, I eventually forgot about Mr. Crawford. But he had one more lesson in store for all of us. Fast-forward almost 30 years to the spring of the year 2000 when I received my quarterly Academy alumni magazine in the mail. I noticed an article reporting on Mr. Crawford’s death due to illness at the age of 81. He had been retired from his job at the Academy for many years. The article referred to a lengthy obituary that had appeared in the Denver Post. Why, I wondered, had the Denver Post devoted so much space to the passing of this janitor? As I read the story, I was stunned by what I learned about our quiet, humble janitor who walked with a limp. It turns out that Mr. Crawford had grown up in a small town in Colorado before World War II. He had just graduated from high school when the United States entered the war in 1941; he was called up for service in the army. By 1943, he was a young private in a unit fighting in the rugged mountains of Italy. On September 13 of
that year, his platoon, including several wounded soldiers, was pinned down in a ravine by heavy fire. Although he faced almost certain death, Private Crawford volunteered to move out of the ravine to search for a possible route of escape. The rest, as they say, is history. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt awarded Private Crawford the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on that day in saving the lives of over 20 of his fellow soldiers. But Private Crawford was not at the White House to receive the medal—in fact, the medal was awarded posthumously and presented to his father. Because, after assisting his fellow soldiers to escape the ravine, he had turned back to search for the last missing and wounded comrade, but never returned. It was assumed he had been killed. In fact, he had been wounded and captured, but that wasn’t known until the end of the war when he was liberated from a POW camp in Germany. So that quiet and self-effacing janitor had, unbeknownst to all of us, given us all a profound example of “service before self.” Let us all hope and pray that we never find ourselves in any such situation that calls for such an ultimate kind of selfless service. But we all will have many opportunities in our own lives to make small contributions to the benefit of others in need. Answer such calls for help. Volunteer your time and your skills to work for the common good of all. In other words, place service before self. In so doing, you will enrich our own lives as much as those of whom you serve. I think mother Theresa of Calcutta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her service to the poor and homeless of India, said it best: “Not all of us can do great things, but all of us can do small things greatly.” So, in summary, I will leave you with these few words of advice: If you wish to have a life of meaning and fulfillment, place integrity first, put service before self, and strive for excellence in all you do. Thank you and congratulations.
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Class Notes Thank you to all alumni who shared their news for the class notes. Although WWS considers anyone who ever attend the School to be alumni, most of the individuals below graduated from the WWS high school. Some left after 8th grade, as indicated by the year “xxxx-8.” We invite all alumni to stay in touch with us. We’re proud of you and want to share your stories. Derek Parsons (1987) lives in Arlington where he teaches, ceramics, art, and computer graphics at Washington-Lee High School. He is also going into his 20th year as the men’s head rowing coach. Cari Sherlock (1991) and her family live in Austin, Texas, after moving from the Connecticut/New York area 8 years ago. Her two children, Sienna and Aidan, attend the Austin Waldorf School, where they are in the third and fifth grades respectively. She received her BS in social work from George Mason University.
Cari Sherlock with her husband and two children, Sienna and Aidan Joanna Harma (1995) is a consultant on international education, now based in Paris, where she is researching low-fee private school options for the poor in India, Mozambique, Zambia, and Kenya. She is a recognized authority on the subject and was recently quoted in an article in a special issue of the Economist, focusing on low-cost schooling in the developing world. This November she will be visiting Free School India, a school for girls she co-founded in Uttar Pradesh. Jennifer Spitulnik (1997) finished her PhD in May and is enjoying being called Dr. Spitulnik. Her book project is under offer with University Press of Mississippi as part of the Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World Series. Jennifer is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, and the Associate Editor for the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition and Center for eResearch at the University of Missouri. She lives in Columbia, Missouri, with her husband Josh and their daughter, Risa. Visit Debbie Spitulnik’s office if you’d like to hear all about Risa!
Glenda Goodman (1999) is an Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to her appointment at Penn she was a postdoctoral fellow in the history department at the University of Southern California. She received her PhD from Harvard in 2012, her masters degree from the Julliard School, and her bachelors degree from Oberlin College. Her research focuses on music in North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Yumi Kendall (1999) is continuing to enjoy her work as Assistant Principal Cello in the Philadelphia Orchestra, where she will be starting her twelfth season this fall. The Orchestra toured Europe in May, as well as making its regular appearances at Carnegie Hall and its home at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia throughout the season. In addition to chamber music, she gave a benefit recital for the Lyre Association of North America at Camphill-Kimberton, where she got to work with former WWS music teacher Sheila Johns for the first time in more than a decade. She continues to mentor at the Curtis Institute, teach privately, and perform chamber music whenever she can. Antonio (Tony) Williams (1998) was promoted from Director to Senior Director of Government and External Affairs for Comcast NBCUniversal. In this role he manages Comcast NBCU’s relationship with National Civil Rights organizations such as the National Urban League, Rainbow PUSH, and NAACP. Tony and his fiancée Erika are planning to get married next May in Chicago. They travelled to Paris and Amsterdam earlier this year. He has also relocated back to the DC area from New Jersey.
Caroline Wright (1999) is a pediatric anesthesiologist at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC. Sophie Toolanen (2000) married Vinson Milligan last June. Several WWS alumni attended the wedding, including Caitlyn Shelley, Noah Stevens, Narayana Campbell, Tony Williams, Chris Hopkins, Elizabeth Hopkins, Shenbaga Boucher (Hellmuth), and Elizabeth Gadbaw. Bryan Atkins (2001) and his wife had their first baby, a boy, named Caius William Atkins.
Iris Levin Iris Levin (2001) is in her second year as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She is using miniaturized proximity loggers to quantify social interactions in barn swallows. She is answering questions about what traits structure barn swallow social networks, how social feedback affects physiology (particularly stress physiology), and how the social network facilitates the transmission of gut microbes. Danielle Menditch (2002) lives in Denver, Colorado, where she enjoys hiking, camping, backpacking, and skiing in the mountains. She owns her own career consulting business, working with Millennials (ages 16-39) who are looking to find their career calling. She works with clients one-on-one and also teaches workshops at schools, nonprofits, and her local community college. Last spring she published an article about helping Millennials discover their life purpose in the magazine, Career Convergence. The article is available at http://goo.gl/fnO57d. Her website is www. careerpioneernetwork.com.
Sophie Toolanen, with WWS alumni and friends: Caitlyn Shelley, Noah Stevens, Narayana Campbell, Tony Williams, Chris Hopkins, Elizabeth Hopkins, Shenbaga Boucher (Hellmuth), and Elizabeth Gadbaw.
JD Dolan (2003) recently completed 8 years of service as an Army Officer, which included assignments leading Light Infantry and Special Operations units during four combat deployments – one to Iraq and three to Afghanistan. His final assignment was as an Assistant Professor of Military Science at St. John’s University in New York. While JD Dolan living in New York, he pursued his MBA at Columbia Business School from which he graduated in May. JD is now living in Casper, Wyoming, and working full time for LDR Investments LLP, a business consulting firm that he co-founded with two of his fellow infantry officers in 2011. He moved to Casper to better serve some of their clients in the energy sector and expand LDR’s base of consulting relationships.
Amy Wilkins (2002) left her work as a nurse in Medical Oncology at the Washington Hospital Center last April and moved over to the National Institutes of Health. In her spare time she enjoys yoga, running, and knitting.
Laura and Shane Macauley Laura Johnson Macauley (2003) married Shane Macaulay in June 2014 in Georgetown, and then moved to Shane’s hometown of Perth, West Australia, though they plan to return to the States at some point. A few Class of 2003 Waldorfians joined her in the celebration. Natasha Blank (2004) is based in Brooklyn with her new husband Sascha. Her work as a DJ and dance catalyst takes her to festivals and events around the US. She hosts an epic dance party in NYC called “The Get Down” and writes weekly articles about dance, music, and consciousness that are syndicated in several publications. She is extremely happy that following her dreams turned out to be a viable career path. Her website is http://www.tashablank.com/.
David Giusti (2004) is a farmer in Wheatland, Virginia. He offers a CSA that delivers high quality, sustainably produced vegetables throughout the DC area. His website is www. secondspringsca. com. Dave Giusti Laura Lawler (2004) is in her second year of graduate school pursuing a masters degree in geography at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her masters thesis focuses on livelihood decisions of refugee farmers and refugee farmer training programs in the United States. She is loving Madison and being back in academic life, but misses the Mojave Desert and San Diego where she lived since 2008. David Lassiter (2004) is exploring the world and is out of the country for the next several months. Otherwise he is a filmmaker based in Los Angeles, working with a group under the name of Bureau of Ships (www.bureauofships. com). Tom Mansour (2004) is a Lieutenant in the US Coast Guard. He currently serves as the Commanding Officer aboard Coast Guard Cutter MAUI, deployed to Manama, Bahrain. Prior to his deployment to Bahrain, he was on the Deputy Commandant for Operation’s Executive Support staff where he served as the Executive Assistant to Rear Admiral Atkins at Coast Guard Headquarters. He also served as the Deck Watch Officer on the USCGC STEADFAST, stationed out of Astoria, Oregon, and as the Executive Officer on USCGC KEY BISCAYNE, Lt. Tom Mansour an Island Class Patrol Boat based in Key West, Florida. His military decorations include the Coast Guard Commendation Medal, the Coast Guard Achievement Medal (two awards), Commandant’s Letter of Commendation, and various service and unit awards. Jordan Schware (2004) lives in Minneapolis where he is CEO of The Racery a high-end cycling store that caters to professional cyclists
and serious amateurs, which he started after moving from Boulder, Colorado, where he founded a similar business. His website is www. theracery.com. He became engaged to Smash Bremsky in September. Alden Towler (2004) is co-owner and chef at Win Win Coffee Bar (www.winwincoffeebar. com), Philadelphia’s first cooperatively owned and operated cafe, bar, and kitchen. Win Win opened in December 2014, and actively promotes locally and sustainably sourced offerings, alongside community-oriented event programming. This fall his experimental music project Tygerstrype is releasing their second full-length album entitled We Learn To Love Our Chains on vinyl record. Their music video for the single, Deepelder, is available at https:// goo.gl/Ly6xgS. Alden also teaches English as a Second Language (ESL), math, art, science, and music to refugee students from Bhutan, Burma, Eritrea, and The Democratic Republic of the Congo through Philadelphia’s Migrant Education Program. Ileana Anderson (2006) is the Assistant Director of Experiential Education at a private boarding school in Utah that works with at-risk children. She is also a professional mountain bike racer. She took second place at this year’s Enduro Cup Series, and was recently named as an Ambassador for Juliana Bikes. Ileana Anderson Eryn Lake (2006) and her husband Tyler are expecting their first child in December. Adam Mutschler (2006) graduated from Northwestern University last May with a degree in organization behavior, and has moved back to the DC area with his wife Erika. Abby Wacker (2006) is currently a second year master’s student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, where she is pursuing a degree in international educational development. As part of her program, she spent the summer in India interning with the Aga Khan Foundation. Abby worked for nearly 2 months in the Foundation’s New Delhi office, where she assisted with reports, project monitoring and evaluation, and other tasks. She also spent a month in Patna, Bihar, where she conducted research on school leadership. Abby plans to graduate in December 2015.
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Class Notes continued Rachel Chamberlin (2007) is pursuing her PhD in medical anthropology, with a joint masters in public health at the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently in Brazil for a year of doctoral dissertation field research on healthcare choice models, working with anthroposophic and conventional physicians and patients. In her free time, she gardens, sings in the neighborhood choir, attempts to learn samba, practices “renda do bilro” with the local lace makers, and even visits her boyfriend in Peru. She also attended a biennial Rachel Chamberlin anthroposophic medical conference in Juiz de Fora, Brazil, which had 500 attendees from across Latin America. Michael Kramer (2007) is a guitarist with the US Army Band and Army Blues, as well as a faculty member at the Shenandoah Conservatory and private teacher. Highlights of the year include a tour with the Airmen of Note, where he played with many guest artists, including Wycliff Gordon. This year he and his wife Glennys moved to Woodbridge, Virginia, with their two children, Maya and Akiva. His daughter Maya started in the WWS nursery this year.
eastern philosophy and the western empirical model and the joining of somatic and cognitive approaches to the human psyche. He is doing carpentry on weekends to support himself and loving the West Coast.
Hetta Towler (2007) finished a graduate program at the University of Colorado at Denver last spring, receiving her degree in educational psychology with a focus in literacy. This fall she started her second year at Friends’ School in Boulder, Colorado, as co-teacher in a preschool/ pre-k classroom. Other than school and work, she is enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery in Colorado. Rosa Trembour (2007, 8) graduated from the University of Colorado Law School last spring, then passed the Bar Exam in July. Prior to graduation Rosa served as a member of CU Law’s Environmental Law Review, and competed for the law school’s National Mock Trial Team. During law school Rosa interned at the Denver District Attorney’s Office, trying seven jury trials in the course of her internship. She just started a year-long clerkship with Judge Ann B. Frick in Denver District Court. When Rosa is not in the courtroom, she spends as much time as possible in the Rocky Mountains. Some recent favorite adventures include a backpacking trip with Naomi (WWS ‘08) and her dog Moose, summiting two of Colorado’s highest 14,000 ft. peaks, and hiking from Aspen to Crested Butte over West Maroon Pass.
Costa Dixon Joe Sandman (2008) received his JD, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School last May, where he was an executive editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. He is starting work at the law firm of Skadden Arps in DC this fall. Sandy Wacker (2008) is a communications associate at Reingold, a public relations and marketing firm in Alexandria. When not working on campaigns for the Library of Congress and the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Sandy spends her time running and traveling. She is looking forward to running the Marine Corps Marathon/ Philadelphia Half Marathon and visiting Budapest and Prague.
Patricia Sarcos Alvarez (2008) graduated last May from the University of Maryland with a BS in psychology. She has applied to dental school and is waiting to hear back. Daniela Rose Anderson (2008) is a second year medical student at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She is being published as the lead author for research conducted during an internship last summer. She has also written and illustrated a book for children, The Little Prince and the Sea, which will be published next year.
Ava Petrash (2007) has started a new job as an Academic Program Manager for Summit Public Schools, a charter school network in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this role, she is responsible for managing curriculum development for all schools in the organization, implementing academic projects, and coaching new teachers. Before taking the job with Summit Schools, Ava taught English for 3 years at a charter school in Redwood City, California.
Constantine Dixon (2008, 8) recently returned from 27 months in Zambia, where he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. He worked with rural subsistence farmers, collaborated with the local community to plant over 200 fruit trees, and learned the ways of life in a very rural Zambian village. While in Zambia, Constantine proposed to his now fiancé, Arianna Koudounas, who was visiting him last December. Constantine has now returned to DC and is seeking out his next professional opportunity.
Allie Miraglia (2009) lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she moved last June. She works as a Project Manager for a federal contractor, managing grants and contracts funded by the Cambia Health Foundation, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and the Utah Partnership for Value. Before moving to Utah, she lived in Bozeman, Montana, where she worked as a Clinical Microbiologist, then Associate Study Director at a product testing facility, running clinical trials of hospital grade soaps, surgical scrubs, and corticosteroids on human subjects. She worked with pharmaceutical clients from all over the world. She graduated from the Honors College at the University of Maryland with degrees in public health and French in 2013. Jan (Stoneman) She (2009, 9) is a musician and singer based in Berkeley, California. He recently released an album of mantrams (“spiritual formulas for transforming consciousness”), available at www.janshe.bandcamp.com/releases. He trained at the Julliard School in New York and San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Jamie Barkin (2008) is pursuing a masters degree in education at the University of Maryland, combined with a certification for the state in secondary English. She got married in May 2014. Michael Kramer with Secretary of State Kerry
Lincoln (Dylan) Lin (2009) is in his second year of a masters program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Nanjing, China. Over the summer he worked at the East-West Center in Washington, doing researching and writing short articles on various US-Asia related issues. His article on “Pigskin Diplomacy” is available at http://goo. gl/T3nBCY. This fall he will be working on his thesis, which focuses on cultural restoration and protection projects in Yunnan province.
Julien Hemmendinger (2009) is majoring in film studies at York University in Toronto. He is active in theater, and co-stared in Mad Life Imagined at the Toronto Fringe Festival last winter
Colin Taliaferro and Casey Kinard
recital at Maryland is available at http://youtu.be/iBPCNdiLiQc. Eliza Dezenhall (2010) graduated from McDaniel College in May. She is now working at the Baltimore Zoo as an animal attendant, working mainly with Arabian camels.
Melanie Dimitri Schutt (2009) graduated last May from the University of Maryland, with a BS in nursing. At Maryland, she was a member of the Sigma Theta Tau honor society, and was named a Clinical Scholar. She passed her NCLEX exam, and is now an RN in the State of Maryland. In July she began working in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She is interested in pursuing doctoral studies in nursing at some point in the future. Zachary Smith (2009) is a second year medical student at Albany Medical College in Albany, New York. Over the summer he participated in a research project on pulmonary critical care medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston. Prior to starting med school at Albany, Zachary earned his MS in physiology from Georgetown University. Bridget Wilkins (2009) is an analyst with Jones Lang LaSalle’s Strategic Consulting Practice, where she recently lead AstraZeneca’s change management program in North and South America. Lily Barnwell (2010) is in her last year at Towson State University where she is pursuing a masters degree in occupational therapy. Last spring she had two full-time occupational therapy internships, one at a state psychiatric hospital in northern Virginia and one at an assisted living facility in Ellicott City. Emily Hall (2010) is a first grade teacher at the Circle of Seasons public charter Waldorf school near Allentown, Pennsylvania. Last spring she completed a one-year Fulbright Scholarship, teaching English in rural Nepal.
Julien Hemmendinger in Mad Life Imagined
Alex Hill (2009) is beginning his second semester of graduate school at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he is pursuing a masters degree in integral counseling psychology, integral meaning the meeting of
Colin Taliaferro (2009) has settled into life in southwestern Missouri with his husband and business partner Casey Kinard. They were married in September, in Maryland and are slowly growing their trucking business, Iron T Transportation LLC. Through their trucking business, they have traveled all over the lower 48 states in the past year and love life on the road, even though they hope life will slow down after they get established and they can start a family at home.
Robert Coleman (2011) graduated from the University of Maryland last spring with a BA in music with a concentration in jazz guitar. He is currently teaching private guitar lessons and playing both rock and jazz gigs around the DC area. A sample of his playing from his senior
Eliza Dezenhall Zinta Rutins (2010) graduated from the College of the Atlantic in Maine, and is planning to relocate to Sydney, Australia. Last fall she attended the Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Parks in Sydney, where she was a co-presenter of Parks Across the Curriculum: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Protected Area Education. Theo Zika (2010) lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife. He has a bachelors degree in fine arts from the University of Michigan. He works as the head production craftsman in the Terrazzo division of Sensitile Systems, a manufacturer of high-end products for a wide range of architectural and design applications. Ben Bryla (2011) is a senior at Clemson University where is he pursuing a BS in bioengineering. While at Clemson he complete a year-long co-op work experience with Noramco, Inc., part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. Justine Epstein (2011, 8) graduated magna cum laude from Colorado College in May 2015, with a degree in philosophy. Since then she has been working closely with the School of Lost Borders (www.schooloflostborders.org) on reintroducing wilderness-based rites of passage and vision fasts into contemporary society. Her interest is in empowering youth through ceremony to imbue them with a sense of belonging to the natural world and to themselves. She has also
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Raquel Hakes (2011) is finishing her coursework for her BS in fire protection engineering at the University of Maryland. Last year she was one of two recipients of the Department of Fire Protection Engineering Chair’s Award, which is presented to the department students who made the most significant contribution during the year. Raquel has also been a teaching assistant for several classes, as well as a mentor to local minority high school students participating in an engineering design challenge. She will stay at Maryland for her masters degree in fire protection engineering, for which she is researching ignition properties of burning embers from wildfires, which are a main cause of home fires.
year the Spring Garden Waldorf School, which she attended from grades K-8, presented Aubrey with the “Waldorf Difference Award” for her work on environmental stewardship. She is now an AmeriCorps volunteer working with the US Fish and Wildlife on a mix of field biology and environmental education projects. Elizabeth Wells (2011) graduated last spring magna cum laude from the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is now living in New York City working as a user experience design intern at Stinkdigital, a digital production agency. Her clients have included Google, Twitter, Chevrolet, and Spotify. Paige Duncan (2012) is a senior at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she is majoring in interior design with a minor in historic preservation. Recent studio classes have included retail design, workspace/office design, and cruise ship design. She is staring to focus on her senior capstone project and is planning a post-graduation trip to Bali, Indonesia.
Ryan Kulesza (2011) graduated from Bowdoin College in May with a major in computer science and a minor in visual art. He is now working for the consulting firm Booz, Allen, Hamilton in McLean, Virginia. At Bowdoin, Ryan was on the swimming team, and in his spare time developed two businesses developing apps and selling reconditioned BMWs, while also painting. Julia Roche (2011) graduated last spring from Beloit College with a BA in health and society. She is now participating in the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, a year-long program focusing on community, sustainability, faith/spirituality, and social justice. She is living in a communal house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with six housemates who are also participating in the program. As part of the project she is working full-time at Sojourner Family Peace Center, a nonprofit domestic violence advocacy program, as an advocate in the Milwaukee County Restraining Order Clinic, providing support for victims of domestic violence. Aubrey Tingler (2011) graduated with honors last spring from Emory University where she majored in environmental science and minored in English. At Emory she worked for the MillerWard Alumni House as an event manager, interned with Emory’s Office of Sustainability Initiatives, served on the University Senate Committee on the Environment, and worked as editor-in-chief of Generation Response (an environmental and social justice magazine). Last
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Donors 2014-2015
Class Notes continued been practicing a facilitation method called “council,” which brings authentic listening and communication into classrooms, workplaces, families, and communities. She is primarily based in California.
Fall 2015
Ilyana Flefel (2012) is a junior at the University of New England, where she is majoring in marine science with a concentration in marine biology. She loves her major, and is looking forward to a career in marine conservation, or something similar. She plans to graduate in 2016 then seek a one-year internship somewhere exotic like Fiji, Australia, or the Galapagos. Ayella Maile-Moskowitz (2012) is a junior at the University of Maryland where she is pursuing a BS in environmental science and technology. Over the summer she worked with a Maryland professor on a project using anaerobic digesters to transform chicken waste into biogas, which can be used as an energy source, and an effluent that can be used as a fertilizer. It was a smelly but productive summer! Sam Girdzis (2012) is at senior at the College of William & Mary, double majoring in physics and math. This year he was awarded two physics-related scholarships: the E. Gary Clark Memorial Scholarship from the W&M Physics Department and an Undergraduate STEM Research Scholarship from the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. Over the summer he interned at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, researching nanotechnology for magnetic materials. Bao-Tich Nguyen (2012) has returned to George Mason University, after a varied summer spending time outdoors and exploring new music programs and composing/recording in his home studio. He is especially interested in exploring Eastern medicine, including herbal medicine, acupuncture, other alternative methods.
Julian Feeley with Chinese Host Dad Julian Feeley (2012) is a senior at Claremont McKenna College. In the summer of 2014, he interned at a social finance startup called Prodigy Finance in Cape Town, South Africa. He then spent the fall 2014 semester in Kunming, China. The program included a 3-week long learning trip to Thailand and Laos. He returned to Claremont for the spring 2015 semester. Last summer he worked in the Los Angeles area at a commercial real estate investment services firm called Matthews Retail Group.
Hannah Rose (2012) is a senior at Bennington College. Last winter she interned at Buzzco Associates, Inc., an animation studio in New York City. She also completed an animated trailer for a science fiction book she is writing. She adds that she is having a blast at Bennington, where she is famed as the girl who walks around at night dressed in black and spends 99% of the night lurking in the art building. Mei Mei Lin (2013) is a film major with a music minor on a pre-med track at Mount Holyoke College. She is also continuing her jazz studies at Amherst College. Next spring she will study abroad in Seville, Spain. After graduation she plans on attending nursing school.
The Washington Waldorf School is deeply grateful for all gifts from our extended community, and we are honored to recognize these gifts to the school. Tuition does not cover the full cost of a Waldorf education. Gifts to the Annual Fund make a vital contribution to closing the gap between revenues and expenses and keeping WWS financially healthy. In addition, donations to the school, especially through the spring gala and auctions, allow us to better serve our students and expand what is possible. This year also saw the conclusion of the Build Our Vision Capital Campaign. Gifts to this campaign are included in the campaign newsletter insert. We have checked all donor lists carefully and have made every effort to ensure that they are accurate. Please inform us of any errors or omissions by contacting Steve Smith, Director of Communications, at ssmith@washingtonwaldorf.org or at 301-229-6107 x123.
ANNUAL FUND
In calculating membership in giving circles, corporate matching gifts are credited to the individuals who made them possible.
Visionary Circle
$25,000 or more Lex and Chrissie Sant
Phoenix Circle
$10,000-$24,999 Brad Clark Roger and Vicki Sant Dan and Yon Wacker
Knights Circle
$5,000-$9,999 Clark Charitable Foundation Gurujeet Singh and Gurujeet Kaur Khalsa Jeff Naimon and Carla Wheeler Microsoft Giving Campaign Jennifer and Greg Page
Partners Circle
$2,500-$4,999 Anonymous Natalie and John Adams Jack Benson and Cecilia Berg-Benson Carlos and Ana Cavalcanti Combined Federal Campaign Ashley Flory Jon Jackson and Maria Monteverde-Jackson Michael and Carol Joseph Allison Fultz and Steve Langer Greg Mueller and Patty Deuster Carol Parsons Linda Caro Reinisch Neeran Saraf Stanford J. Reinisch & Carol Dechant Foundation
Alex and Anne Hawkinson Malvery and Murchison Henry Michael and Greta Horn Steven Horowitz Daniel Ballard Jamieson and Jennie Rabinowitz Caitlin MacKenzie and Noel Bicknell Mary Ann MacKenzie Scott and Suzanne Nash David Nebiker and Barbara Cuthill Dustin and Lanh Nguyen Bob Roche and Nancy Hirshbein Michael and Colette Silver Shawn Sun and Sherry Lu Charles and Georgina Train Timur Tunador and Christiana Jaeger Steve Wilkins and Peggy McManus
Friends Circle
$500-$999 Anonymous (2) Anthroposophical Society, Greater Washington Branch George and Christa Athas Aaron and Adrienne Bruner Barbara Buchman and John Verleun Kevin Conway and Shelli Avenevoli John Dammann Jimmy Daukas and Meg Royce Jason and Robyn Davis Richard Efron
2015 Athletic Awards: (L-R) Joe Coleman, Knight of the Year; Elise Hackman, Alanna Marie Lake Award; Sophia Bryla, Lady Knight of the Year Jim Epstein Exxon Mobil Educational Alliance Bill and Nancy Foster Joel and Susan Fuller Hiroko Fultz Laurence and Katalin Gingold Zachary and Jamesen Goodman IBM Matching Grants Program Bill Jackson Ballard and Diana Jamieson Isiah and Esther Johnson Stacey Kornegay Peter Kristensen and Sunny Kaplan Marcia and David Leonard Andrew Lipton and Elizabeth Franco Steve and Jenifer Luck Bill and Heidi Merkel Eron Picus and Sarah Heirman Adrienne Paiewonsky and Paul Girdzis Peter Sisler and Deniz Ergener
Leadership Circle
$1,000-$2,499 Hasan and Zeena Altalib Michael and Susan Barr Jack Cayouette and Laureen Gaston Dorine Colabella DiConti and Michael DiConti Michele and Fred Coleman Kevin and Maybelle Collier Nelson and Carolyn Crouch ExxonMobil Foundation Daniel and Adria Foster Roy Hakes and Debra Marshall
Mr. Petrash, Mrs. Coleman, and 8th Graders at Field Day in May
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Donors continued Norihiro and Mari Suzaki The Tiny Zukerberg Family Fund Craig van Schilfgaarde Bruce and Ginny Weber Elizabeth Welles Wells Fargo Foundation Educational Matching Gifts Program George and Kristina Wyatt
Community Circle
up to $499 Anonymous (12) Sven Abow Stephen and Lynn Adelmann Ahold Financial Services (Giant) David and Maianne Alsop Ali Alwahti and Marilyn Noguera Scott Anderson and Brigit Viksnins Laurent and Clare Andre Simon and Jane Babil Rich Ann Baetz Geoff and Carol Baker Barbara and John Bancroft Bank of America Charitable Trust Magali Barbaran Philip and Lisa Bechmann Alexander Belida and Patricia Reber Nevin Bender Karim and Aglaia Benni Tom Berry and Brigitte Moser Helmut and Heidi Billenstein Patricia Fortino Blond and David Blond Carol Boggs Marc and Lynn Bonitati David Boos and Rebecca Burgess Major and Danielle Bowen John and Mary Brauer Philipp and Doerthe Braun Cully and Sara Brownsen Stanley and Dolores Bryla Jim and Chrissy Bryla Edward Buckley and Margaret Gennaro Donald and Lynn Bufano Jack Burbridge and Nancy Raymond Wendy Cardany
Helen Caro Jeff Caudill and Judith Graff Joe Chambers and Judith Wides Vanessa Chang Ivan and Kathy Charner David Clissold David Conrad and Paula Dinerstein Roman Cuena Kevin and Andrea Daney Alan Demmerle and Joy Belluzzi Randy Dentel and Tina Daub Dentel Christos and Joanne DeVaris Jennifer Dumas Lur Egan Basil and Mona Eldadah Siham Eldadah Tove and Susan Elfstrom Jay Endelman and Kathy Simonetti Lionel and Elizabeth Epstein Jonathan Epstein and Rachel Hersh David Epstein Anne Fleishman Nate Forrester Eric and Amy Forseter Christian and Kari Gardiner Xavier Gibert-Serra Corinna Gittel Gramp Foundation Greg and Phyllis Greer Mark Greiner and Kolya Braun-Greiner Jody and Carlo Grossman Jonathan Habermann and Jung Pak Andre and Shelly Hackman Liz Hagerman and Edwin Welles Frank and Anna Hall David and Stephanie Hanson Elliot and Christina Harris Harris Teeter Chris and Vivian Hartenau Raymond and Debra Hearn Karyl Henry Michael and Phyllis Herman Lani and Alan Hill David Hills and Kristen Henley-Hills Patrick Hogan Eric and Susan Holdsworth David Hollweger
Evangelina Hakes, Senior Project on Learning American Sign Language Thomas Holmberg and Alison Southall Larry and Barbara Hoover Mark and Marie-Christine Hoover Patricia King Jackson Joseluis and Sigrid Jimenez Andrew Joseph and Gabriele Schilz Peter and Cecelia Karpoff Lincoln and Gopi Kinnicutt David Kirby and Sarah Vakkur Phyllis Kornegay Ulrike Kozak Wally and Mechelle Kulesza Brian Lake and Ksenia Kwame Lawson and Aimee Lykins-Lawson Lezlie Lawson and Rob Barnwell Valerie LeBlanc Marcus and Isabelle Ledbetter Andy and Julie Lees Annette and Jonathan Leland Gloria Leon William Leung Bruce Libonn Robert Lindsay and Brooke Burchell Matt Logan Meghan and Craig Ludtke Reza Mahbod and Bridget Maybud Ted and Noreen Major Victoria Mansuri Cindy and Alan Martin Marie and Steve Maurer Bonnie McClelland Cynthia McClelland Michael and Lorenne McCormick Susanne McLean Marya McQuirter Alden and Connie Meyer Mark and April Meyerson Craig Middlebrook and Amy Northcutt Aimen Mir and Ayesha Kazmi Andy Mollard and Christina Hsieh Christopher Moses Ken and Pat Moss Renate Mueller Ameha Mulat and Fozia Joshua Adam Mutschler and Erica Goldfine Dileep and Natasha Nair
7th Grade Play, Music of the Spheres
Fall 2015 Tom Nastick and Jane Christenson Jean-Marc Natal and Valerie Lucchesi Natal Irene Nebiker Wendy Newell and Troy Windham Romano Ninassi Timothy O’Connor and Iryna Polykova One Cause Mark and Julie Oxley Jon Padgham and Bonnie Auslander Jung Pak Jane Panagis Trina Parker Juan Carlos Parra-Osorio and Adriana Gomez-Ochoa Jack and Carol Petrash Venil Ramiah Ajay and Lakshmi Ravulapalli Eliza Reed Nat Reid and Rachel Rudy Maurice and Pat Robinson
13 Colleen and Scott Taliaferro Dawn Tanner and Emily Siegel Suzanne and Carlos Tapia TARGET David and Pavla Teie Troy and Paula Thomas Corey and Kenann Thompson Ulrike and Rodney Thorn Paul and Erica Tingler Max Urmey Barbara Vellmerk Halpern Susan Walsh Kent Waymire and Gretchen Maxwell Daniel and Julie Wendt Kristian Whipple Damian and Lydia Whitham Sandy Wiggins and Tracey Bowen Michael Wolf and Betty-Ellen Shave Yolanda Zamora Calvin Zon and Laurel Blaydes
6th Grade Medieval Games Jennifer Robinson and Eben Kaplan Robin Rose and Judy Penski Inta Rutins Taisto and Abby Saloma Jennifer Saloma Phil and Fran Sanderson Marta Schley and Paul Squire Rob Schware and Alice Trembour Jurgen Seidel and Aleen Rothschild-Seidel Bill and Anna Sigler Reid Simon Linda Simons Sumeet and Jennifer Singh Jeremy Small Torris Smith and Nancy Mautone-Smith Steve Smith and JLee Newell Jonathan and Betsy Smith A. Elizabeth Sommerfelt Ydrissa and Christine Sow Debbie and Chuck Spitulnik Felice Stadler Katea Stitt John and Kathie Stone Sumner Square Condominium Juliette Tahar
OTHER GIFTS 2015 Spring Gala and Auction
Sponsors who made gifts to help underwrite the cost of the gala Beasley Real Estate Dr. and Mrs. David Rabinowitz Foxhall Catering International School of Music JFW, Inc. Lynn Tucker, Washington Fine Properties Martha Vance Cello Mobile Posse Simon Says Yoga Washington Walks Gifts through gala special appeal in support of financial aid Natalie and John Adams Michael and Susan Barr Jack Benson and Cecilia Berg-Benson Janet Cornelius John and Laura Cox Nelson and Carolyn Crouch
Allison Fultz and Steve Langer Laurence and Katalin Gingold Jody Grossman Katherine and Al Herrera Lani Hill Eric and Susan Holdsworth Daniel Jamieson and Jennie Rabinowitz Debra and Jeff Kolender Lezlie Lawson and Rob Barnwell Annette and Jonathan Leland Jenifer and Steve Luck Caitlin MacKenzie and Noel Bicknell Miguel and Susan Monteverde Maria Monteverde-Jackson and Jon Jackson Ken and Pat Moss Kevin Mutschler and Leah Kedar Jeff Naimon and Carla Wheeler Scott and Suzanne Nash Jennifer and Greg Page Adrienne Paiewonsky and Paul Girdzis Linda Caro Reinisch Taisto and Abby Saloma Lex and Chrissie Sant Marta Schley and Paul Squire Peter Sisler and Deniz Ergener Steve Smith and JLee Newell Debbie and Chuck Spitulnik Ian Stirgwolt Jennifer Stirgwolt and John Tourek Dawn Tanner and Emily Siegel Dan and Julie Wendt George and Kristina Wyatt Gifts through the gala special appeal in support of new furniture in our renovated entrance hall Natalie and John Adams Jack Benson and Cecilia Berg-Benson Deryck and Bronwen Brown Cully and Sara Brownson Robert Burchell and Brooke Lindsay Fred and Michele Coleman Janet Cornelius John and Laura Cox Nelson and Carolyn Crouch Allison Fultz and Steve Langer Laurence and Katalin Gingold Judith Graff and Jeff Caudill Katherine and Al Herrera Lani Hill Eric and Susan Holdsworth Daniel Jamieson and Jennie Rabinowitz David Kirby and Sarah Vakkur Debra and Jeff Kolender Lezlie Lawson and Rob Barnwell Caitlin MacKenzie and Noel Bicknell Bill and Heidi Merkel Maria Monteverde-Jackson and Jon Jackson Jeff Naimon and Carla Wheeler Scott and Suzanne Nash Jennifer and Greg Page Eron Picus and Sarah Heirman Taisto and Abby Saloma Lex and Chrissie Sant Marta Schley and Paul Squire Peter Sisler and Deniz Ergener Steve Smith and JLee Newell Ian Stirgwolt Jennifer Stirgwolt and John Tourek Suzanne and Carlos Tapia Sverrir and Christine Tomasson
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Donors continued Dan and Julie Wendt Lydia Whitham Sandy Wiggins and Tracy Bowen George and Kristina Wyatt Other gifts through live and online auction purchases that support the operating budget Natalie Adams Kelly Arwari Janet Asancheyev Francesca Avelleyra Michael and Susan Barr Anna Belaschenko Jack Benson and Cecilia Berg-Benson Lark Bergwin-Anderson Nancye Bonomo Rebecca Burgess Nancy Burke Anne Champlin Vanessa Chang
Pumpimg water in the Children’s Garden Michele Coleman John and Laura Cox Nelson and Carolyn Crouch Kristina Day Lur Egan Mona Eldadah Walter Ferrer Ashley Flory Allison Fultz Adrienne Gallo Laureen Gaston Laurence and Katalin Gingold Judith Graff Sonya Laurence Green Roy Hakes and Debra Marshall Stephanie Hanson Katherine Herrera Eric and Susan Holdsworth Virginia Ibarra Daniel Jamieson and Jennie Rabinowitz Sunny Kaplan Ken Kido and Alison Whitmire Lezlie Lawson and Rob Barnwell
Brooke Lindsay Caitlin MacKenzie and Noel Bicknell Noreen Major Heather Marrie Christine Mason Marie Maurer Lorenne and Michael McCormick Bill and Heidi Merkel Miguel and Susan Monteverde Maria Monteverde-Jackson and Jon Jackson Ameha Mulat Natasha Nair Scott and Suzanne Nash Lanh Nguyen Marilyn Noguera Jennifer Novak Jennifer and Greg Page Eron Picus and Sarah Heirman Christine Puffer Eliza Reed Linda Caro Reinisch Carmen Romero Meg Royce and Jimmy Daukas Rachel Rudy Lex and Chrissie Sant Julie Sedor Peter Sisler and Deniz Ergener Steve Smith and JLee Newell Robin Sorkin Ali Southall Sharie Spry Jennifer Stirgwolt and John Tourek Kenann Thompson Christine Tomasson Sarah Vakkur and David Kirby Julie Wendt Carla Wheeler and Jeff Naimon Lydia Whitham Sandy Wiggins and Tracy Bowen George and Kristina Wyatt Donations by individuals of goods or services to live or online auctions Carl Acosta Laurent Andre Bonnie Auslander Alison Babil Wendy Wales Cardany Michelle Rabinowitz Carney Ana Cavalcanti Barbara Cuthill Lur Egan Mona Eldadah Cornelia Florescu Judith Graff Katherine Herrera Marie-Christine Hoover Fozia Joshua John Kaboff Bhagwan Khalsa Debbi Kolender Russell Kramer Isabelle Ledbetter Judy Ludtke Cindy Martin Lorenne McCormick Susan and Miguel Monteverde Maria Monteverde-Jackson Suzanne Nash
JLee Newall Jennifer Page Jennie Rabinowitz Ajay Ravapulli Margo Reid and Greg Simon Linda Caro Reinisch Andris Rutins Christine Sow Debbie and Chuck Spitulnik Colleen Taliaferro David Teie Judith Wides WWS class donations to online auction Children’s Garden 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade 8th Grade 10th Grade Donations by companies or other organizations to live or online auctions Arena Stage Balticsmith Beltway Transportation Service Blank Ankle Winery Camp Glen Brook Career Pioneer Networks Circle Yoga Finkid Foxhall Catering Hotel Monaco, Kimpton Hotels International School of Music Kennedy Center Opera Kramerbooks and Afterwards Bookstore and Café Kurtz & Atkins Magic Planet Silk Art MaMa Organic Herbs Maryland Lyric Opera McDougall Associates, LLC MOM’s Organic Market Monunmental Sports National Archives Foundation Naturepedic NoPa Kitchen PACT Apparel Palette and Muse Phillips Pitango Gelato Red Velvet Cupcakes Road 31 Shakespeare Theatre Company South Mountain Creamery Studio Theatre Teaism The Washington Revels The Sharper Cut, Inc. Theatre J Think Food Group Unity Woods Yoga Center Weleda Woolly Mammoth Theater
Fall 2015
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Faculty Member Milestones WWS is fortunate to have an extraordinarily dedicated and capable faculty. Many have served the school for decades, not only as teachers, but also as member of the College of the Teachers, Trustees Council, and countless other capacities. We are pleased to recognize and thank several of our most experienced teachers who reached 20 or more years at the school over the last year.
Susan Elfstrom, High School Life Sciences and Chemistry, 20 years
Brian Lake, Class Teacher, Middle School English, 25 years
Tove Elfstrom, Class Teacher, Woodwork, Metal Work, Blacksmith, 30 years
Nevin Bender, Music Director, 27 years
Frank Hall, High School Humanities, 31 years
Valerie LeBlanc, Middle School and High School Humanities, 20 years
Barbara Buchman, Handwork, 28 years
Jack Petrash, Class Teacher, now retired after completing four 8-year class cycles, 36 years
Mary Brauer, Education Support teacher, retired last year after 23 years
Jennifer Saloma, Children’s Garden Teacher, 28 years
John Brauer, Class Teacher, Athletic Director and Coach, 40 years
In Memoriam Carl Hoffman, WWS’s first class teacher, died last April at his home in New Zealand, where he had lived for many years. Jack Petrash shared this recollection on Mr. Hoffman: Carl was our founding teacher and took the first, first grade of 11 children in 1969 and built that into a class of 25 by the time I came to the school 4 years later. After taking the class from grade one to eight, Carl taught German and continued his work as the Faculty Chair. Carl was a wonderful storyteller and teacher, dedicated to the imponderable and surprising effects of Waldorf education on children. Each morning he would stand at the top of the stairs at Hearst Hall and greet the children as they arrived. His white hair, his gentle smile, and his kind words greeted so Carl Hoffman, WWS’s First Class many students at the Teacher start of the day. He was at our school for the first 14 years before he moved to New Zealand to head up the Taruna Teacher Training Program. He continued to hold our school close to his heart.
Terry Dammann, Librarian
We also remember Terry Dammann, our long-time librarian who passed away last fall. She built up our library substantially while at WWS, and she and her husband John remained close to the school over the years. Her son Frank graduated from WWS in 1994.
The WWS Messenger is produced by the WWS Development Office. We welcome your updates, comments, corrections, and suggestions. Please stay in touch. Director Communications: Steve Smith ssmith@washingtonwaldorf.org Director of Development: Caitlin MacKenzie cmackenzie@washingtonwaldorf.org Director of Events and Community Relations: Maria Monteverde-Jackson mmonteverdejackson@washingtonwaldorf.org
Design and Production: Mike Zang, Camera Ready Graphics Phone: 301-229-6107 Web: www.washingtonwaldorf.org Facebook: Washington Waldorf School—WWS Twitter: @DCWaldorf
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Washington Waldorf School | Logo PMS 200, PMS 158 | 09.08.08 C A T A L O N E D E S I G N C O . L L C , Š 2008
Class of 2015
Back row, L-R: Nina Cavalcanti, Noah Scher, Evangelina Hakes, Matt Oxley. Front row, L-R: Nick Huguet, Joe Johnson, Courtney Athas, Cameron Bechmann
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