The SPIRAL: Rudolf Steiner School, 2016 Edition

2016 ISSUE A PUBLICATION OF NEW YORK’S RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL

OUR MISSION The Rudolf Steiner School embraces Waldorf education, a pedagogy derived from the insights of Austrian-born scientist, philosopher, artist, and educator Rudolf Steiner. The program, from nursery through twelfth grade, addresses the physical, emotional, and intellectual capacities of the developing child through an age-appropriate curriculum that integrates the disciplines of movement, fine arts, and practical arts into the study of humanities, science, math, and technology.

Through the development of these capacities, we strive to educate the whole human being in a healthy and balanced manner.

The Rudolf Steiner School actively welcomes students, faculty, and staff of all ethnicities and gender preferences, and of all faiths and creeds. We respect and support individuals’ spiritual beliefs and practices.

We strive to develop the mind, body and spirit of the child, encouraging, in the process, the child’s spiritual freedom and growth. As in every Waldorf School, our teaching works toward this aim by drawing on the insights into human development pioneered by Rudolf Steiner.

The Waldorf curriculum is diverse in nature and rich in the teachings of many great religious traditions.

Students develop an understanding and respect for the various cultures of the world through their experience in the classroom and in the celebration of seasonal festivals of the year. Drawing on many traditions, we celebrate our common humanity, not our separateness in belief or practice.

CONTENTS

6

2....................Letter from the Administrative Director 3....................Letter from the College Speaker 4....................Letter from the Board Chair 6....................The Art of Mathematics

10

10..................The Melding of Art, Science and Math 18..................“Moving Up” by Aryanna Qusba 20.................Senior Class 24.................2016 Commencement Speaker Address 28.................Spring 2016 Rose Ceremony 30.................Casino Night at the 2016 Spring Gala 32.................Thinking About Lucy Schneider

20

35.................Goodbye Ms. Mantel 36.................In Memoriam 38.................Class Notes 40.................Letter from the Treasurer 41..................Budget Results

32

42.................Donors 49.................The Founders Circle 50.................Jerome L. Greene Foundation Grant 51..................2015-16 Community Calendar 52.................4 Ways You Can Give

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Julia Hays ’73 Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth Emily Boone DESIGN Eric Perry PHOTOGRAPHY Annabel Clark, Brian Kaplan PRINTING Libow Direct, Incorporated

Steiner.edu

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

1

Letter from the Administrative Director Dear Friends and Members of the Steiner Community,

E

ach year when the time comes to compose a letter to the extended school community, I find myself overwhelmed by all that is good and unique about our school and its students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff. Already in the second month of the school year, members of the community, from the youngest child to the most senior adult are engaged with one another on our continuing journey of discovery. It is wonderful to see so many students happily engaged in learning.

Summer seemed to slip past with incredible speed and here we are already watching the leaves change into their autumnal finery. The Opening Day Picnic, sponsored by the Community Diversity Alliance, offered us all a chance to celebrate the start of the new academic year; thanks to everyone who participated. We are a strong and diverse community, welcoming of all and seasoned by our differences. The Parent Council has sponsored Coffee on the Terrace as a welcome and introduction for our new parents. Throughout the year there are many opportunities to deepen your participation in the life of the school, and I invite you to be as engaged as possible.

While I’m inviting you to deepen your participation, allow me to say a word about volunteerism. There are numerous opportunities for you to become more involved in the life of the school, from the Fall Fair, Apple Picking and Pumpkin Sales, to Winter Square Dancing and the Spring Gala. These functions are always fun and successful, but they require volunteers who can generously assist the members of the Parent Council who take the lead in many, if not all, of these functions. In addition to the abovementioned items, there are often opportunities for you to volunteer in the classrooms.

Ask your teachers if there are ways you could assist them in their work. I invite you to attain new heights in volunteerism this coming year in support of our wonderful School.

In our roles as parents, teachers, mentors and role models there is much that we can do to support the growth of the entire school community. Share what is good about Waldorf education with your friends, work colleagues, and family members. Encourage them to attend our Open Houses, school plays and musical offerings, and Upper School

2

Main Lesson Visitations. When our Development Office announces fund raising opportunities, generously support their work whether it is with your time, talent or treasure.

From the Annual Fund Drive and Fall Fair to the Spring Gala, your generosity helps provide significant support for both curricular and extra-curricular programs. Please continue to spread the word about this unique and exciting school so that we may introduce others to its many gifts.

To our wide ranging community of parents, grandparents, friends and alumni, thank you for your continued interest in and support of the Rudolf Steiner School. I look forward to seeing you throughout the year at many events, from the first day of school to graduation.

Warm regards,

William D. Macatee, Ed.D. Administrative Director

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Letter from the College of Teachers Dear Members of the Rudolf Steiner School Community:

C

ourage is what it takes to stand up and speak.; Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” The above quote well summarizes the past year for me not only in my favorite role as class teacher for the Class of 2021, but also as in my role as Speaker for the College of Teachers. While the former role is one in which I feel comfortable, the latter was new for me. Despite its name, the position actually demands more listening than speaking.

From the first day of taking on this new role last summer, I found myself presented with numerous requisite tasks and meeting requests. At first these felt like a huge challenge, but by year’s end, it felt more like a unique opportunity. Let me elaborate a bit more on this for you.

To be a part of a Waldorf school is to take a step out of the mainstream and embrace a form of education that is dynamic and ever changing. While Rudolf Steiner gave the first teachers a curriculum that is developmentally appropriate, he was clear that each teacher who stood in front of a group of students would have to take the basis he provided and work with it artistically to address the needs of those

particular individuals being taught. In addition, he asks each of us teachers to continue to develop ourselves as human beings, finding new pathways of growth and renewal. As we strive to improve our teaching and transform our thinking, we can better understand and appreciate the strivings of others.

This desire to learn and to assist with the students’ striving allows the teacher to come to her work fresh each day.

In the same way that we work with the students in an atmosphere of freedom and creativity, we also work in the same way with our parent body and our community of colleagues. Our common purpose — to help children find their place in the world — is work that must be done together in unity and with intention.

The best way to do this is by meeting together. Although modern technology affords a certain amount of speed and convenience in getting information disbursed, there is nothing that can replace the communication and inspiration that comes from face-toface contact. Coming together around a particular question or concern gives us the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with one another.

The College of Teachers has spent a busy year meeting together and with the community. In our role

as holding the “big picture” view of the School, we have discussed many pedagogical topics and have made innovative program changes for the coming year. As you may have already noticed, student schedules have been altered to better optimize their learning experience and to share teaching faculty across areas. There is a new Faculty Development Committee to streamline support of our teachers, which includes both administration and faculty members. This group will oversee mentoring, evaluations, and professional development and will regularly report to the College with updates. The College also plans to meet more frequently with the Board of Trustees to further foster relationship with those volunteer leaders who oversee the School’s financial health.

Such striving is essential for our School’s development. For as each of us grows, so does our School.

It has been an honor and a delight to serve the School as College Speaker this year and I am looking forward to continuing this work into the 20162017 school year.

With warm wishes for a year of laughter and learning,

Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth, Ph.D. College Speaker, 2015-16

2016-2017 COLLEGE OF TEACHERS Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth, collece speaker Cybelle Afable John Anderson Carol Bärtges ’73 Brooke Brosenne

Steiner.edu

Denise Crane Renni Greenberg Rallou Hamshaw ’65 Julia Hays ’73

Timothy Hoffmann Wendy Kelly Leslie Li Mary Lynn Hetsko

William Macatee Dena Malon Marina McGrew Renate Poliakine ’60

Deb Renna Anke Scheinfeld Lucy Schneider Jeff Spade

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

3

Letter from the Board of Trustees

“T

2016-2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Stacey Kelly, chair Susanne Kastler-Knerr, vice chair Mitchel Friedman, treasurer Blanche Larke Christerson, secretary Walter Alexander Carol Ann Bärtges ’73 Alison Cariati ’83 Rallou Hamshaw ’65 John Heller Sarah Hetherington ’05 Claudia Mahler Marina McGrew Jean-Hugues Monier Joy Phelan-Pinto Robert Strent Sam Sutton

4

he need for imagination, a sense of truth and a feeling of responsibility — these are the three forces which are the very nerve of education.” Prescient words from Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf Education – and nearly a century later, they are a powerful reminder of the importance of our work. The work of the Rudolf Steiner School Board of Trustees is driven by these three forces – imagination, truth and responsibility.

have outline below along with progress made on each:

In September, I will begin my fifteenth year at the Rudolf Steiner School. My daughter will be a senior, graduating from the school she has called home since she was three years old. At Steiner, we call her a “lifer,” as she has spent her entire academic career here. As I look to her future and reminisce about the past, I am reminded that the Rudolf Steiner School has evolved and changed dramatically over the last 14 years, as has my daughter. And yet, the core values of our school and Waldorf Education have remained consistent and strong. As I look to the future (I still have 4th and 8th graders here), I am confident our school’s leadership will meet the challenges and take advantage of the many opportunities ahead of us.

INCREASE ENROLLMENT TO 335 FOR THE 2016-2017 SCHOOL YEAR • A task force was created during the Fall of 2015 to look at Middle and High School student retention. Out of this task force came a number of recommendations that were shared with the Board and College of Teachers for further review and implementation. Many thanks to the members of the task force for devoting time and energy to this project – Dan Marsch (HS Mathematics), Sam Margles (Admissions Director, Grades 5-12), Geri Perkal (College Guidance Director), Alexandra Spadea (Eurythmy, Grades 7-12) and Sarah Hetherington ’05 (Trustee).

• We appear to be on track to increase enrollment and should come close, if not achieve, our goal of 335 (an increase of 10 students) this fall.

We have a number of classes with waitlists and extend gratitude to our admissions directors for working hard to achieve this goal.

On October 5, 2015, the Board held its first meeting of the 2015-2016 school year. We welcomed our new trustees Claudia Mahler, Sarah Hetherington ’05, Robert Strent, and Sam Sutton.

We heard updates from members of the Administrative Council, including Finance, Development, Communications/Marketing, Admissions, the College and the Administrative Director. We also set goals for the Board for this year, which I

BUILD COLLEGIAL RELATIONS WITH THE COLLEGE OF TEACHERS • I am grateful to members of the College for attending our board meetings throughout the year and for joining our conversations.

• We also held a College/Board retreat this spring where the conversation was challenging and enlightening.

SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE IN FUNDRAISING • A number of trustees worked with the

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

The need for imagination, a sense of truth and a feeling of responsibility— these are the three forces which are the very nerve of education. —RUDOLF STEINER Development Office and committee chairs on a Steering Committee to support our school’s fundraising efforts. We held a number of donor luncheons and worked strategically to strengthen our donor base.

• In partnership with the Development Office and the College of Teachers, I met with the head of the Jerome L. Greene Foundation and their lawyer this winter to secure two full-ride high school scholarships for three years for new students from underserved communities. I am excited to report that these two new students will be starting at school this fall.

EVALUATE CURRENT COMMITTEES OF THE BOARD • A task force was formed to review our current committees and their structures. We plan to publish this information on the website this fall.

All members of our community are welcome to join committees. Speak to one of the committee chairs or the appropriate member of the Administrative Council for more information.

CREATE A STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS FOR USE IN 2016-2017 • We will review proposed plans this fall and expect to begin a strategic plan before the end of the 2016-17 school year.

As you can see, we have had a busy and productive year. Being a private school in Manhattan brings many challenges. The College and Board worked together to manage financial Steiner.edu

and governance issues this year. We are entering the new school year strong and ready to build on the work we’ve done.

We look forward to a bright future well equipped to meet the educational needs of children in a changing world. Much that has been written about education over the last few years points to Waldorf Education as the answer to our country’s educational problems.

We will continue to offer a first rate education in line with our Waldorf values as we have since 1928. We are well positioned to take advantage of mainstream education recognizing the importance of age appropriate technology, teaching of critical thinking, art as a connection to academic work and the development of the whole child. We have emphasized the importance of play since our humble beginnings and continue to make play a cornerstone in our Early Childhood and Elementary School.

With your support, we will continue to grow and expand our programs and our facilities. For example, we envision a future in which we can expand our Early Childhood program and have larger modern science and art classrooms in the High School.

We continue to explore real estate opportunities that would offer us a theater, a gym and other much needed facilities. Our biggest commitment, next to our students, is to our amazing faculty. We want to offer competitive compensation packages on par with,

if not better than, other private schools in Manhattan. To do this work, we need your help so please give generously to the Annual Fund. Every gift will enhance the education of our children. The more you give, the more we can make happen together.

Many thanks to our Trustees for bringing their time, expertise and passion to our meetings and to all of the committees on which they serve.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our departing trustees for their many years of service to our school – Susan Goodale, Deb Winer ’79 and Gail Cruise-Roberson. You will be missed. We welcomed Carol Ann Bärtges ’73 to the Board mid-year.

Carol teaches English in our High School. I look forward to working with a committed, experienced group of trustees next year.

I am honored to be serving as the Board Chair in a school that is unafraid to meet the future with incredibly dedicated faculty, administrators, parents, alumni and alumni parents. I believe this is why our students graduate with an ability to meet the future with courage, flexibility and confidence. I look forward to serving the Rudolf Steiner community again next year.

With warmest regards,

Stacey Kelly Board Chair, 2015-2016 THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

5

THE ART OF MATHEMATICS Student advisees ALEX RUBIN and ISAAC SCHEINFELD recount their experiences and contributions to the Steiner Math and Science departments.

6

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

TEACHER’S COMMENT

by Dan Marsch, Upper School Math Teacher

B

eginning in ninth grade, each student in our school is paired with an individual teacher as an advisor, and while the manner and contents of periodic meetings over the four years of high school can be quite varied, the thread of conversations is itself an educational form. A natural direction to these exchanges is to give context to classroom life, first in relation to the world of the Steiner School and increasingly to the encompassing educational project of self-development for the sake of the wider world, variously construed.

clockwise from top left: Students with Upper School Math and Science Teacher Marisha Plotnik; Alex Rubin; Upper School Math Teacher Dan Marsch; Isaac Scheinfeld with a classmate.

Alex Rubin and Isaac Scheinfeld were my advisees during their time at the 78th Street version of 15 East.

I can say with delight that their brief (and immediate!) distillations from student experience recollect very directly the qualities and contents of our sessions. In particular, their enthusiasm for mathematics incremented with their growing and impressive expertise, and each in his own way came to me with exactly the kind of request a teacher lives for: We love what we’re learning in math class, but it’s not enough, and we want to do more. Their essays detail some of what this “more” included, and it is worth emphasizing that my role was to suggest, caution, and encourage direction for

their initiatives rather than to implement a new program of supplements. Yes, these aspirants were instrumental in the science department’s development of new math courses and in our rearranging subject-area emphases, but each of them wanted to pursue his own interests in mathematics - in cooperation with Steiner coursework but not according to anyone’s predetermined syllabus. On one hand, they didn’t need me or the school to “enrich” their self-directed research, and on the other they were happily devoted to coursework that we took on in the mathematics classroom together. These hands were at work on a common enterprise. As an advisor and teacher, I could not ask for anything better.

As the essays imply, to deepen engagement or to fortify capacity is at the same time to practice choosing freely and to ramify a self, but a further implicit equivalence caught my attention as well—viz. between appreciation and reflection. To come to know something is less to acquire it as a possession than to consider it as a star in the firmament, and one interpretation of the old Socratic irony is that the former version of knowledge is of course a great joke—no one can be a knower who is acquisitive.

In the transition from ninthgrade Alex looking beyond the textbook to a twelfthgrade Isaac looking to the architecture of memory, they trace the development of a

free and responsible spirit of inquiry that commences in wonder and aspires toward intuition. They offer hypotheses of who they are becoming but not according to what is theirs.

It’s true but parochial to note that this development (= self-development) is a comprehensive expression of Waldorf education because it holds for all education that actually becomes deliberate rather than remaining accidental. It’s true but unfortunate to note that acquisitive thinkers who like their learning counted and accounted are unlikely to perceive the significance of the powers these new graduates are regarding and trying out. We are fortunate that Waldorf school communities are always practicing to reflectively appreciate not the capital gains on knowledge but what might be the meta for.

Coming back to my role as advisor, I did not often meet with Alex and Isaac together, but I frequently encountered them engaged in some common mathematical enterprise, particularly during the last two academic years when their interest in computer science took off. What I saw was a friendship, not based on affinity of likes and dislikes or background formation or “personality” but substantiated according to a shared devotion to mathematical truths and their interrelations (and the fun of the intellectual chase, to be sure—a likable “like”, after all).  Continued on next page >

Steiner.edu

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

7

THE ART OF MATHEMATICS

ISAAC SCHEINFELD

F

ew things fascinate me more than the vaguest reaches of my memory.

The earliest memories I can recall with some confidence of accuracy date back to the first and second grade.

They are all memories of wonder—at the four little gnomes representing the operations that my teacher imbued with life in vivid blackboard drawings, the constant supply of worms my friends and I brought from Central Park to inhabit our compost pile, or the cars and planes a friend and I would spend hours dreaming up and drawing on sheets of manila paper.

I cherish these memories not only for their sweetness, but for their uniqueness as the beginning of my notion of self. In this capacity, they speak to what over the last few years has become the foremost question in my mind: what is the relationship of the Self— the personal subject that experiences and questions— to Nature, the world we 8

observe and measure? Does one emerge from the other, possibly as a complex but necessary property? Can we as observers ever know ourselves? Or perhaps the self is all we can truly know?

As I search for answers to these questions and others—known, sensed, and as yet unimagined—such pilgrimage to the constant, private past, to the birth of my awareness, will remain precious and unique.

One early memory which I often revisit and that features prominently in how I recall the evolution of my own Self is that of knitting a scarf, a gnome, and a little sheep in first grade handwork class.

The previous summer, my mother had taught me to knit at home. She had done this with my handwork class in mind, as the teacher knit in the English style as opposed to the Continental style popular in Germany where my mother was raised.

The first grade knitting scene was cutthroat. Each day we compared row counts, with the fastest knitters vying for the crown. My mother's foresight had given me a distinct advantage, as the Continental style is more efficient. Simply holding the yarn in a different hand changed the process of knitting completely, and the fact that I could knit differently from my classmates made me aware,

as much as a first grader can be, that I could always try and find a better way to do something. This is how I remember falling in love with solving problems.

This love found its natural subject in mathematics.

From the second grade on, I recall always searching for better ways to solve problems. Standing in class every morning doing mental arithmetic, or later, solving division and square root problems on paper, I was always trying to find some structure in the problem at hand which would allow for a simpler and more elegant solution.

In middle school, my love for mathematics expanded to encompass physics and then progressively less fundamental scientific fields.

Everywhere I could find order, I found questions that captivated me. Naturally, I could not answer most of these questions as they arose (indeed, most are still beyond my reach), but they were raised again and again in the books I read, in the science main lessons that touched on numerous subjects every year and revisited them constantly, and increasingly in conversations with teachers.

Of all of these questions, those revolving around the relationship between the Self and Nature have singled themselves out in my mind.

Happily, I am not just now beginning to address them.

A lifetime seems tragically insufficient to find even incorrect answers, but luckily I have spent the last few years getting started.

Besides the fundamental nature of these questions, what attracts me to them is how every discipline seems to offer its own inroads to their solutions. What can one say of psychology if one fails to study biology and literature? What can one say of biology without physics, or literature without language? And what can one say of physics or language if one ignores philosophy, which in turn is cooked up by our psychologically described selves? Each of these subjects has occupied me in and out of school.

More importantly, they have done so as an education that is greater than the sum of its parts. All my teachers taught me more than their subjects as named. They taught me their subjects as part of this world.

Perhaps one day I was sitting in the Number Theory elective with a particularly hard problem at hand. Or the central motive of a character was escaping all of us sitting around the high school library table in Advanced Literature. Maybe I just couldn’t get the shading right in a watercolor. Each of these struggles were

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

“daß Kraft und Segen mir zum Lernen und zur Arbeit in meinem Innern wachse” — STEINER HIGH SCHOOL MORNING VERSE

not only for the class, for a grade. They were struggles to understand myself and the world, the Self and Nature. I was taught many lessons and learned many others during my years at 15 East by Central Park. But most importantly, I came to know the importance of everything learned, of attending to lessons and experiences for their necessary meaning even when such meaning escaped me.

With such meaning and my questions regarding Self and Nature in mind, I am heading out west to attend Stanford University in California. While I could say that I have taken wonderful electives in science, math, and literature, and plan on studying Symbolic Systems with a concentration in artificial intelligence, Cognitive Science, and Math, the paragraphs above give a far better picture not only of how I have learned so far, but of how I plan to approach my education in the future. I can only live what I learn and experience, so I am setting out to experience and learn with all my heart.  Steiner.edu

ALEX RUBIN

O

nce I enrolled in Steiner, I adopted a new vocabulary: what my original one had lacked most of all was the question “how?” Before Steiner, I never tried to understand how things, natural or artificial, acted as they did. I was oblivious to how the world worked. I did not try to understand the world around me; the world always seemed safer inside of a textbook, where the answers were true or false — not answers that I devised from my own thoughts. I believe that I did not know how to truly think. After my enrollment, I began to do two new things.

Firstly, I thought about how I fit in the world.

This encouraged me to try

to answer questions about consciousness and human behavior: questions that made me think about topics such as religion and science. I discovered computer science during my sophomore year, and I read about how it is possible to model human behavior via a computer and make tedious mathematical processes less time consuming. I invested a lot of my time trying to learn different computer languages. During our senior year, Isaac Scheinfeld — a classmate — and I convinced the math department to offer a new math course — one trimester of discrete math and two trimesters of numerical analysis — in which we studied machine learning topics, such as neural networks and supervised and unsupervised learning, numerical approximation, and encryption and decryption techniques.

Secondly, I made main lesson books, which allowed me to create something beautiful that was my own. I learned

that the beauty of the work was in the process as much as in the final result. I applied this mentality to all of my subjects, especially to math. During my junior year, I studied for the AP BC Calculus Exam with Isaac. Our school did not offer AP courses, so we needed to study for the exam ourselves, but with the assistance of faculty members.

I never expected that I would enjoy this process. However, I enjoyed learning about calculus so much that I wanted to learn more.

Consequently, I applied and enrolled in a summer session at Stanford University, where I studied probability theory and statistics with engineering applications and differential multivariable calculus and linear algebra.

Steiner gave me a love of learning, the ability to create art, and the question “how?” It has changed me as a student, an artist, and a human being. I am forever grateful to Steiner.  THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

9

4 3 2 1 HE ME T

I C S f o & T AR

6 5 4 G N I D EL

, E C N IE H T A M I SC U SS D I N M U L ST E I N E R A RT I E S E P O R P E U THE UNIQ ENCE I C S , H T A OF THE M E N TS M T R A P E D A N D A RT

>

MELDING SCIENCE ART & MATH

DR. DAVID SLOTWINER ’84 Cardiac Electrophysiology

S

ometime between Mrs. Keiper’s Kindergarten 1 and 2 classes back in 1972 I realized that I was determined to follow in my father’s footsteps to become a physician. My parents were disillusioned by the competitive, standardized test oriented approach of most New York City private schools. They identified with the Rudolf Steiner School’s recognition of the importance of a child’s imagination, emphasis on the individual child and the different paces at which they learn, as well as the Waldorf pedagogy that balanced art, music and literature with history and science.

Today, I am an academic physician and practice clinical cardiac electrophysiology – a specialty within the field of cardiology that diagnoses and treats heart

12

rhythm disorders. I divide my time between patient care, teaching medical trainees, and developing health policies that promote the safe use and meticulous monitoring of implantable cardiac devices. Working with regulatory agencies and academic medical centers, we gather data to ensure that implantable cardiac devices perform effectively and safely throughout their product life cycle, and that the benefits observed in the initial research trials which lead to their approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are also observed once the devices are used in a broad population.

A Waldorf education provided me with an unusually broad set of skills that has helped me to become a leader in my field.

Hand-eye coordination and the ability to abstractly imagine the structure of a patient’s heart and electrical activity are critical to the field of medicine which I practice. Our surgeries are performed inside the beating heart, from very small catheters that we insert into veins in the legs. By recording both the timing of electrical activity as well as the position of the catheter tip in 3-dimensional space at hundreds of points inside the heart, we create maps of the normal and abnormal electrical pathways in a patient’s heart (see below).

This makes it possible for us to identify abnormalities causing the abnormal heart rhythm which we may then cauterize or freeze, curing the patient’s abnormal heart rhythm. The connection between my Waldorf education and surgical hand-eye coordination

A 3-dimensional map of the normal and abnormal electrical pathways in a patient’s heart.

is direct. Learning woodworking, knitting, sewing, weaving and painting – from fumbling beginnings to the ability to create objects and art all played important roles in my development of the skills I now use daily.

When I reached the upper grades, I immediately gravitated toward math and science, with a particular love of geometry.

Geometric proofs were my first introduction to the beauty of mathematics, and I remember spending hours creating line drawings – one of which was selected for the cover of this magazine.

The Waldorf approach to geometry is directly applicable to the surgical procedures I perform daily in which I create 3-dimensional geometric maps of a patient’s heart and superimpose the electrical activation in order to identify and then treat the abnormality. The Waldorf approach to science and math education promoted out-of-the box thinking and encouraged the bridging of multiple disciplines to solve problems.

Waldorf education fosters student development in a broad range of human endeavors, from art, music and literature, to mathematics, physics, biology and beyond. This

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

has led me to be eager to learn new skills, and also to have an appreciation for these endeavors and to try to bridge these typically siloed areas of human accomplishment to solve challenges that we face in the field of health care today.

Two such examples include 1) the problem of sharing medical information from an individual patient with all the health care providers who may be involved in the care of a patient, and 2) the challenge of tracking the performance of pacemakers and defibrillators from the time of implant all the way through their life cycle until they are removed. The common thread that runs through these challenges is that they can only be solved by bring together groups of people who are usually siloed and work in isolation from each other: physicians, engineers, business individuals, academicians, regulatory agencies and health policy organizations.

The broad education and appreciation for the full spectrum of human endeavors emphasized in the Waldorf education has helped me develop Steiner.edu

the skills to be an academic leader and bring these groups together to work to solve these and problems facing health care today.

learn, I could not hear what my teachers were saying.

However, I could learn through doing, so making art, movement, and creating music helped me to focus.

Last but not least is empathy. A Waldorf education promotes the development of empathy and socially responsible and engaged students.

The small class sizes, with a dedicated class teacher from grade 1 through 8, creates an environment in which children feel safe to explore and try new ideas. Empathy, concern for our fellow man and an ability to listen and think creatively should be the ultimate compass for all health care providers.

Later, returning to the Rudolf Steiner School Upper School as a Science/ Math teacher became a career turning point for me to the idea of becoming an art psychotherapist.

I discovered the joy of working with young, very opinionated almost-adults bursting with energy, wanting to express and test out their ideas and ideals in the classroom.

It was through my high school students, I was able to see how the arts based curriculum made a positive and transformational impact on my life. I watched my class of teens face the challenges, joys and pains of growing up too quickly with their courage intact. I was able to see how the art in biology class affected my students who appeared more grounded, present, and centered than I expected for their age. They engaged immediately and deeply with the graphic material, such as with my drawing of a eukaryotic cell on the blackboard. The colorful hand-drawn image became a window into nature that was stronger than the flat text description. The students’ and teachers

Looking back now, at age 50, to my many years at 15 East 79th and 78th streets, it is easy to connect the dots of how my early education has shaped my present career. I am eternally grateful to the many dedicated Waldorf teachers for their commitment, sacrifice and love, and to my parents for choosing an unconventional school that shaped my career and my appreciation of the human experience. 

ALISON CUNNINGHAMGOLDBERG ’83 Senior Clinical Art Therapist

O

n my first day of Kindergarten at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City and five years old, I instantly fell in love with school. I looked forward to seeing my teachers each day. My classroom was home for me, painted in soft shades of rose, the room filled with life: artwork, plants, and a mineral garden. With help from our teachers my class explored the world from painting to baking, we sang, we danced and listened to stories igniting our creativity and imagination.

I felt safe and at home for the first time.

School and my teachers became my constant, secure environment. Learning in an art-based curriculum I later saw saved me. I was not a good student. I was a daydreamer I had difficulty concentrating. I could not pay attention long enough to

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

13

MELDING SCIENCE ART & MATH commented on its beauty to me. I was just replicating the many blackboard drawings from my elementary and high school days as a Steiner student to explain what I learned in post-baccalaureate science classes at Hunter College. As a teacher, I was suddenly able to see how being given the freedom of artistic expression was what made the school so special. I decided that I wanted to commit my life to helping others by bringing the healing power of art to the hard places, to people who needed it, including those who have had PTSD, or experienced trauma without relief.

students from the Pratt and NYU graduate schools for art therapy at BPC in addition to working with patients. After three years I was promoted to Senior Recreational Therapist. As a member of the hospital Trauma Committee, I worked with a multi-disciplinary group of staff focused on trauma-informed care. As I continued my education at the International Institute for Psychoanalytic

Six years ago, I graduated with honors from Pratt Institute Graduate School of Art & Design with a master’s degree in Art Therapy and Creative Development. After my second year as an intern at Bronx Psychiatric Center (BPC), I accepted a fulltime position at BPC as an art therapist to work with severely mentally ill men and women. I completed the requirements and obtained my license as an LCAT (New York State Licensed Creative Arts Therapist) and after taking the exam became a Board Certified, Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC). I began supervising graduate

Training and Research (IPTAR), while working at BPC, I gained training in child and adolescent psychotherapy and technique. My goal was to work with children and families because I learned that early psychotherapeutic interventions such as art therapy could make a lasting difference in the lives of those who have experienced complex trauma. Finally in May of 2016, after six years at BPC, I accepted a position as Case Planner-Art Therapist at the Good Shepherd Belmont Family Service Center (GSS-BFSC), Bronx, New York.

14

Working in general preventative services at GSS-BFSC I develop plans to meet the needs of children and families who are at risk of not being able to stay together and sometimes under threat of court order. I am a member of a large team of professionals. Art therapy is particularly effective in working with children, who do not yet have words for what they may be feeling or experiencing in daily

“I was able to see how the art in biology class affected my students who appeared more grounded, present, and centered than I expected for their age.” life. Working in color, using different types of art materials, fosters personal enjoyment, builds trust, releases tension, and allows the developing mind to find a sensitive means of expression. While the scientific theories behind art therapy can seem abstract, the activities are quite practical and easily understood. For example in the Kinetic Family Drawing (K-F-D) a child would be asked to “draw everyone in your family doing something including yourself, trying not to use cartoon or stick figures.”

The K-F-D is a projective, diagnostic and therapeutic tool to help the therapist

understand a child’s experience in their family life. The child’s thoughts and feelings, relationships and impressions of family dynamics are revealed in the drawing. Art therapy combined with gestalt and cognitive behavioral therapy, often illuminates emotional problems and conflicts, and supports a process of self-discovery, which can result in new perspectives towards daily concerns for the family as a whole. For children drawing is a natural way of communicating and sharing something about their personal and immediate experience with others, including school friends and parents as well as the art therapist. D.W. Winnicott in his book Therapeutic Consultations in Child Psychiatry describes the interactional squiggle game in which he used in first sessions with children. Through the squiggle game, Winnicott discovered that he was able to understand something about the child and moreover when these drawings were shown to parents, they were not only able to add details, and provide context, but also seemed to understand freshly what their child was conveying in a meaningful and open way.

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

At the Rudolf Steiner education itself is considered an art. Art, Movement and Music were taught as subjects, but also each subject was taught with many artistic elements in mind.

Watercolor in first grade made such an impression on me. The colors were so vivid against the white of the wet watercolor paper. For me gazing at the yellow and blue watercolor on the page was transporting, otherworldly. I know now that all my senses were engaged in my first grade painting class; I can still remember the swishing sounds of the paintbrush moving in the clear water as my first grade teacher was cleaning the brush in preparation for applying a new color. We were taught to observe the qualities of color, how to use the brush to create different effects, and to define a mood or feeling that a color might have evoked in us. So now as an art therapist, I recognize the value of art in centering the life of the child. I appreciate the opportunities given to me to expand my understanding and use this knowledge in new ways to discover things that I could not have imagined as a child.  Steiner.edu

ANDRE SOLURI ’83 Architect

A

rchitecture is a complex discipline – one that combines and balances creativity with science and the challenges of the real world.

I can’t tell you how many people of all ages have told me that they wanted to be an architect, but were told they had to be good at math or science, and so were discouraged from considering the profession. Fortunately, this perception is not quite right – an architect must learn to balance often conflicting forces by harnessing and focusing his or her creative playfulness, while mediating the “real world” through design, science, people and labour.

My interest in architecture probably originated with Legos, which I loved to play with as a kid.

I was amazed by how one could create entire worlds with such simple pieces. Growing up, home was always a creative environment - my mother is an artist and my father is a photographer. But looking back, I can see this creative energy started to become more formally focused and developed while at Steiner with its emphasis on learning through playing and making. I particularly enjoyed the afternoon arts & crafts blocks, where in shop class we designed and built furniture, learned how to paint and draw, created ladles from raw copper sheets, wove string into cloth and even made clothes. Most importantly, these classes showed me how to harness my playful, creative energy to create useful (and sometimes) beautiful things from the most basic elements.

I believe these skills contributed enormously to my acceptance into the prestigious school of architecture at the Cooper Union, where their infamous entrance exam is a dozen questions with no answers. In that exam, the school is looking to see how applicants think through problems creatively and then create physical manifestations that express possible

solutions regardless of how polished or raw the presentation.

At Cooper I obtained a 5 year professionally accredited degree and then 5 years later completed graduate studies at Columbia. In a professionally accredited architecture programs we all have to take physics, calculus and structures… but the reality is that most of us struggled through these required classes.

I would assume this is because our interests were not in math itself, but rather in architecture or some other aspect of the field such as design, drawing, urban planning, history and even sociology.

Like my classmates, I found structures difficult but interesting – probably because it’s tied to physical things that we can see and feel, however calculus (a requirement in the 2nd year) was very abstract, and became one of the hardest academic things I’ve ever done with only a few brief moments when its potential for clarity and beauty became evident.

While Cooper Union is a prestigious school, its focus is on design and the academic/theoretical aspects of the profession.

Because architecture is a profession with a balance THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

15

MELDING SCIENCE ART & MATH of the creative and “real world,” I realized it was critical to gain professional experience at architectural firms. I did my first internship while a senior at Steiner, and then continued to work for that firm as an intern for the next few summers. This provided a good foundation and by the time I graduated from Cooper I had several job options available, deciding to work for my structural engineering professor, Ysrael Seinuk, a legend in the NYC construction world.

I spent the next 2 years “getting my hands dirty,” working as an onsite liaison for his engineering office, overseeing the installation and placement of concrete and steel in large building and high-rises in Times Square, Battery Park City, Harlem and midtown. This gave me understanding of how construction occurs, and the real-life application of the math, physics and structures that we studied in school and providing a counter-balance to the architect’s often narrow perspective of these processes.

After that “hands-on” experience I went back to working for more traditional architectural offices, spending the next 8 years gaining experience in a number of firms managing projects, creating 16

drawing sets, learning architectural detailing and managing contractors on construction sites.

These experiences taught me how the profession operated and also counted towards the requirements for architectural licensing, which then allowed me to sit for the difficult 9-part licencing exam. I completed the exam in 2004 and having met all of the requirements became licenced soon after.

During this period, I also started freelancing for various clients and designed my first few independent projects which ultimately became enough work to start a firm. My firm, Soluri Architecture is now 11 years old and happily, we’re even busier than I had ever hoped we would be. We have just broken ground on our first new building in NYC - a boutique condo building in Harlem, and currently have over a dozen active projects in New York, New Jersey, California, Washington State and London. Prior projects have included a 63,000 sq. ft. city hall near Seattle, retail centers, tech offices for innovative companies such as Birchbox and over 70 residential renovation projects, including many ultra-high-end apartments.

something that was fostered while at Steiner. I continue to use these foundational skills every day while designing projects around the world and I consider myself fortunate to be able to make a living by “playing” with very, very large building blocks. 

Civic building; Harlem Condo Buidling; and an interior view of a renovation.

from top:

In conclusion, I believe that my ability to focus creative energy while “playing” is

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

ELLA WALDERS ’03 Anti-Money Laundering/ Anti-Terrorist Financing

I

was born in Armenia and lived there until I was 11 years old.

In August of 1996, I emigrated to the United States where I began my life all over again; learning how to speak, read, write and adapt to a new culture in New York City. I started school in September at St. George Academy where I spent my first three years learning English and discovering my utter dislike for math. I always had a creative side that wanted to design, sketch, and paint. I grew up sewing clothes for Barbie’s and dolls and knew that one day I would be a successful clothing designer. My passion for the arts swayed my mother to send me to Rudolf Steiner High School in 1999. The four years spent at Steiner shaped me in ways that I never knew until recently.

Steiner.edu

I felt alive at Steiner, the small classrooms felt comfortable for an immigrant child who did not know or understand as much as a “Lifer” did.

Teachers paid attention to me and hired private tutors to make sure that I would catch up with my academics and my peers.

Some classes I excelled in, like the arts, while others were a total disaster, like math. I remember Ms. Plotnik turning red in the face until I would get the logic behind an equation, which would last about a minute. Math was not my favorite subject to say the least and little did I know that I would follow a career that is heavily dependent on math.

I have been a Senior Compliance Analyst specializing in antimoney laundering, counter-terrorist financing, anti-bribery and anti-corruption for the past 5 years. My main responsibility is to detect and prevent risk on a global enterprise-wide level for a major financial institution. My job is very interesting, sometimes very hectic, and at times stressful. As I write this mini blurb about what I do I have two monitors with four open Microsoft Excel documents; one with graphs, one with

formulas, and another with risk assessment charts. I am an Excel guru, the only one in my team that knows how to risk assess any possible risk and the probability of that risk. How did I get here is beyond me, but I know somehow Steiner had an influence, and the extra attention I received from my time at Steiner shaped the future I have now.

My office walls are covered in my paintings from Steiner, my grey mug with red “Rudolf Steiner School” letters sits on my desk, and though I do not have a Eurythmy rod in my office I feel like I have transformed my 150 square-foot office on the 18th floor of this mega corporation into the high school assembly room. Steiner education has taught me to be disciplined, creative, open minded, organized and strategic. Probability and analysis of risk is a daily routine which, if you knew me in high school, you would be laughing loudly. The ability to manage projects and stand out from my corporate peers is Steiner’s doing and I am proud to be part of that community and an alumna of one of the best schools in New York City.  THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

17

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

MOVING

UP

by ARYANNA QUSBA

L

ooking back on my lower school years, I can now appreciate how much I have been given by the faculty and by my teachers. Waldorf education goes much farther than what we learn in the classroom.

From a very young age, we were introduced to a variety of subjects from art, athletics, music and theatre, to English, math, science and languages. I was given the opportunity to find my interests and, as I grow, I can now pursue those passions.

My Waldorf childhood has been filled with many people, each with their own story. It has been filled with support and with opportunities. From this, I am now able to step back and see the larger picture. I can better understand different people with different ideas and different beliefs. And I can begin to appreciate all the effort that has been poured into my education.

The Rudolf Steiner School prepares students to interact with the world outside of our Waldorf community. The

18

very things that prepare us for the world are integrated right into the curriculum.

They can be discovered in what we are taught and sometimes are stumbled upon when just having conversations with our teachers.

The class plays that we do each year give us the confidence to be in front of an audience. Eurythmy teaches us to be aware of those around us and to be aware of ourselves. The many reports and presentations encourage us to be able to defend and explain our ideas. What has been most important in my growing up has been the confidence that I have received from being in front of an audience of parents or peers. To be able to step into a situation as a new person and be comfortable with myself and trust that I can be able to express myself and find common ground with others has been vital in my social life.

Waldorf education has a way of bringing in other subjects to further explain

and give context to the main lesson. For example, when studying the eye and ear in anatomy, we read the story of Helen Keller in English class. When we had a Roman History main lesson block in Sixth Grade, Ms. Poliakine helped us sculpt clay busts of Roman Emperors in art class. Throughout the years we sang hymns in music class while studying ancient cultures in history lessons. By being taught in this way, I have learned to take information from other subjects to answer the questions that I have. Instead of being singularly focused on the particular subject, I can draw from information that I have gained outside of the specific class to solve and explain an issue.

Waldorf education has given me the lens through which I view the world. I see everything as a form of art. I notice beauty where others may not. I listen to the music that surrounds us but that we rarely stop to hear. I recognize forms and patterns in the bustling city.

Steiner has not only taught

me to look out at the world, but to look into myself and be reflective. I appreciate a silent moment when I can reflect upon ideas or events to fully understand them.

I have learned to reflect on my lessons, then to reflect on the days, to reflect on each semester and now to reflect over these eight years.

I wish to thank the faculty, teachers, parents and my classmates for everything that they have done to help me grow up as a Waldorf student. Ms. Schneider, you have taught us almost every single day since Third Grade.

You have been patient and creative and have taught me almost everything I know from history, math and science to advice on life. Ms. Schneider, we wish you luck on your future endeavors and whatever else life offers you. Your last Eighth Grade class will always remember you as a kind, caring, and thoughtful teacher as well as a wise role model. I wish the best of luck to Ms. Schneider and my wonderful classmates in the journey that lies ahead. 

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Steiner.edu

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

19

THE SENIOR CLASS of 2016

22

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

THE SENIOR CLASS OF 2016 Jillian Countey Natasha Edelstein Remi Guelton Shelsey Jimenez Anna Miranda Lakota Lavagna Grimm Isabel Llosa Ava Lunder Indira Mohabeer Sasha Pinto Jiatai Qi Christina Rahim Bryan Rosendo Alexander Rubin Isaac Scheinfeld Celeste Singh Isabelle Teron CLASS OF 2016 COLLEGE MATRICULATION American University Brown University Duke University Fordham University Goucher College Kenyon College Lehman College of CUNY Miami University, Oxford Pace University Stanford University Swarthmore College Trinity College Westchester Community College

Steiner.edu

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

23

2016 Commencement Speaker Address

by MONIQUE MARSHALL ’86

T

hirty years ago I was sitting where you are sitting today... In a robe like one of yours, tassel hanging expectantly on the right of my graduation cap, with my beloved classmates, teachers and family all around me. I am a proud Steiner graduate of the class of 1986. I attended the Rudolf Steiner School from 4th grade until 12th and considered school my second home. My class teacher, (who actually was more like another parent of mine) reminds me even today as we reminisce, that our class was beloved in those years for our interconnectedness, our sweetness and our dedication to each other. We were a solid group.

We were cohesive, kind and fun to teach. I loved going to school and adored my teachers and friends. So many of these facts are true for you as well.

Your teachers adore you, and 24

you openly admire and respect them and each other deeply.

When I asked you recently, “What is your legacy?

What will this class of 2016 leave behind?” The answer came first as a single voice describing the heart of your special class… “We have changed well as a class as people have come and gone…

We turned over new leaves as our class changed over time.”

Then slowly, one voice turned to two, then to three…and as each of you spoke to me with pride about your classmates’, friends’ and your own accomplishments, I watched you as you sat together as a solid unit, some of you with arms slung over each others’ shoulders, heads turning, laughing as you recalled significant memories, easily making eye contact, nodding in agreement and

familiarity with each other.

After listening to so many of your individual perspectives of the impact your class has had on the school community, I found it challenging to contain my own excitement about the privilege of knowing you. This is what I heard you say about the magic of the class of 2016. It was more than I had imagined was possible: “Though there are only 5 of us left from the very beginning,” you told me, “we have stayed the same at the core.”

“We incorporate new people and change with them, as well as helping them fit into our class…. ” “This is our character that we have developed over time. We are a culturally diverse group.

We learn from each other. We get along with each other .”

“Of course we have our hurdles — when you spend so much time with the same group for years, you are bound to have difficult times, but we all deeply respect and care for each other.”

“We are a very individualistic class - we relate to and respect each other as individuals. We group together sometimes of course, but we are not afraid to be ourselves.”

One of you said, “I’ve learned things from hanging out with the people in my class that I could not have learned from a less diverse class.” And what a diverse class you are. You are diverse thinkers, you are diverse culturally, ethnically, racially, geographically…you come from diverse families with diverse values, and you embrace your differences!

You love differently and you

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

speak different languages, you dress differently and play in different ways, you are different shapes and sizes and you are differently talented…

You are diverse in your goals, hopes, fears and dreams. But here is where you are similar.

As you shared your wisdom about your group’s legacy with me, one thing became crystal clear.

Each of you already knows your assignment. Nobody needs to give it to you. And each of you has a different assignment. I will return to the idea of the assignment in my remarks later on, but for now, understand that this ability to know and act on your assignment as individuals and as a group is what holds you together as a unit - a tight knit, caring, loving, warm, brilliant group. You have lived less than 2 decades on the earth and have proven to all of us who know you that the most effective, inspiring leadership comes from the young people in our midst.

When you were 11th graders I had the opportunity to work with you. I invited you to explore diversity, identity and belonging. I asked you to lean into discomfort and investigate how your differences and similarities impacted you as learners and as citizens of the world. Of all of the groups of young people I have worked with, (and there have been many) yours is the one, (and I am Steiner.edu

not exaggerating here) that encouraged me to exhale.

Knowing you reminds me that I can breathe. We can all breathe more easily now that you are in the world.

When I worked with you as 11th graders, I deeply enjoyed the sessions we had together and in amazement I watched as you navigated complex concepts of identity with enthusiasm and energy, passion and commitment. I marveled then that you were willing to speak your minds, respectfully disagree with one another, ask questions rooted in authentic curiosity to better understand yourselves and your peers. was astounded that you wanted to dig into the challenge work of making the world a better place, starting right there in that moment, in your classroom and school community. Never have I met such a committed bunch of teenagers. Never have I been so inspired by a group of student leaders. Each of you wears leadership, less like a glittering crown and more like the golden nut, cupped humbly in the hand of a child who has just received it from St. Nick. (I had to throw a gnome, a fairy, a golden nut, or something Waldorfy into this speech, didn’t I?) The point I am trying to make is this: the leadership of the class of 2016 is not showy, it is not competitive, and it is also not leadership for the sake of leadership, or college applications, or because someone else gave you a

directive. Your leadership comes from the initiative and motivation that lives inside each of you. Oh the things you have done!

Y

ou are activists, artists, scientists and mathematicians, women’s rights advocates, zoologists and beekeepers.

You are social inclusion role models and social justice seekers. You are farmers and ecologists, inventors of recycling initiatives. You are middle-to-high school bridge builders, and hip, New York Eurythmists who inspire and validate the work of Spring Valley eurythmy students.

You are committed to current events. You are aware and active. You are many independent voices. You are one voice together.

If I were to write a resume for this group, there isn’t one employer that wouldn’t hands down hire this whole senior class, sight unseen.

The class of 2016 should be honored for their incredible accomplishments. This is their legacy: “Venus is a big deal,” one senior tells me. “It is like our child that we have developed.

It is noticed by other Waldorf schools. Venus is a safe space within the school where young women, and now many young men, can come to talk about world issues.”

The tortoise in the lab is there

because this senior class wanted to create opportunities for more hands on application of their learning. They didn’t stop there - they created the Zoology Club. These students help maintain aquariums with other animals, (fish, snails, aquatic plant life) for use in science class, to deepen learning and teach responsibility to younger students. There are two beehives on the roof, thanks to this senior class - honoring Rudolf Steiner’s prediction of the global bee crisis and carrying on his teachings of the importance of bees for human survival. These students harvest honey, and sell it at the fair. The Bee Club has formed and created a bond between younger and older high school students, with freshmen interest and support.

Students from this senior class spoke at the Lower School to help raise awareness about sustainability and ecology on Earth Day. Calculus was made an option last year in 11th grade for this math-minded group. The Green Club was begun by two of these senior class members.

The high school recycling initiative was established by the class of 2016. These students actually collected the recycling bins from around the school all year and worked with the city to found a recycling program at Steiner that has grown school-wide consciousness THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

25

about where their trash goes.

These students tend, plant and harvest the garden on the 5th floor terrace. There they have nurtured a hidden organic food oasis in the concrete of the city, growing kale, lettuce, radishes, carrots, peppers, carrots, and herbs. This class is a class of artists, creating projects for the Fall Fair and taking the oil painting elective.

One senior told me this, “As a whole we have always been praised for the way we work together - we strive to do the best we can. As a class we always support each other.

Even if some of us don’t feel like we can do it, we set the bar high for ourselves. We really do influence and inspire each other.” It is the best kind of peer pressure.

You get back what you give out. I think our work as humans can be boiled down to these questions, “What are you spreading in the world?

What is your assignment?”

You have given of yourselves over and over again in a variety of ways to impact the community for the better. You haven’t been merely practicing for what too many of us call “the real world,” you have spent every waking moment IN the world, making it a place where diverse groups of people can be valued, seen and heard, where the environment is cared for, respected and nurtured, and where the community is led internally by the community itself. You 26

have taught yourselves to become your best selves.

30 years ago my class, (the class of ’86) was perceived by the community as similarly united.

We were taught to see ourselves as a strong, solid, kind and close-knit unit. With our actions we proved we could be the role models and leaders we were held up in the community to be. My “Steiner Class of ‘86 identity”, gives me yet another reason to feel connected to you. However the actions you have taken over and over again as individuals and as a group, far surpass the achievements and individual actions of my incredible class of ‘86. I say this not with jealousy or regret, but with great exhilaration and contentment for the future.

This is how it is supposed to be.

Each new generation leaping beyond the expectations of their elders…each new generation confidently bringing gifts that those of us who came before may not even be able to imagine.

And so now what? You graduate. And when most of us were in your shoes we asked that same question, “So now what?” “What should I do now that I am in the real world?” Well I have news for you. You have been IN the real world from the beginning.

My 16-year-old daughter gets annoyed by people who say, “Just wait until you enter the real world. Then you’ll see what life really is all about.”

She and I have had many late

night discussions about this real world phenomenon. Your world, your sphere of influence, the people you touch, the thoughts you think and the actions you take no matter how tiny or how big - these are all pieces of the real world. I am sure you have heard from people who have decided that in order to be in the real world one must certainly be out of school, definitely far away from their sheltered experience in a private school. Unquestionably these same people know that your unconventional and somewhat eccentric Waldorf school couldn’t possibly prepare you for the harsh truths of the real world. This “wait until you get into the real world” philosophy prevents progress and paralyzes us from holding a mirror of high expectations to the world that each of us is part of. Deciding that the real world is hidden from us until we graduate and experience something harsh, unfriendly or negative, takes away our own personal power and keeps us from living fully in the moment. Separating ourselves from what we may perceive as the real world stops us from visualizing the power we have to transform the challenges in it. When we lose sight of ourselves as integral pieces of the real world, we miss moments to remake meanness into kindness, and mistakes into opportunities for learning. The real world is alive in each person in this room, no matter how young or old, privileged or targeted, hopeful

or depressed. Each of us, with the strengths and stretches we bring, makes the world the way we experience it.

Each of you, in the class of 2016, has learned the power of bringing your diverse perspectives and experiences to your community. You have learned the value of your voices and actions in the world. So, to the people who say with trepidation, anxiety, doubt, negativity, or lack of faith, “just wait until you enter the real world” I say, its time to shift that thinking. Let’s redesign the way we think about the real world. The real world has the class of 2016 living in it, and it will be as beautiful as we collectively choose to make it.

So let’s hold our mirror up to this brilliant group of young people. We know that YOU will reflect the love, respect and diversity that exists in the world, back to the world.Like a pebble dropped into still water, you will use your actions to create endless perfect, concentric circles around yourselves, setting ripples of justice in motion to help create a world we all want to live in.

The world is beautiful and troubled. Though sadly, trouble isn’t new in the world. Trouble, pain and injustice have existed certainly for as long as humans have existed. But so also have compassion, love and cooperation. And when we are moved by love and compassion

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

“Each of you, through following your passions, holding each other to high expectations, and acting with selfless commitment already knows your assignment.” for the fair treatment of and respect for our fellow humans, the animals and the planet, we have the power to make the world right.

I

n the 1960s, young Harry Belafonte used his public popularity to develop as a leader and activist during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It was young Harry who put his charismatic face on screen, linking arms with a white actress, pushing limits, breaking the boundaries of segregated society with confidence and conviction. It was Belafonte who inspired and helped to financially support the young Dr. King on the infamous march on Washington. Harry says his mission was clear from the time he was a small child.

When Harry looked around, he saw injustice. He also recognized his power as a performer to affect change in the world around him. He leapt at the opportunity he was given. He continues to work for social justice causes and push for systems change today, in 2016. He is tireless.

Harry Belafonte set the bar high not only for himself but for others.

The late Ruby Dee is said to have exclaimed after attending a civil rights event, “I am tired of coming to these events and leaving without an assignment! I need an Steiner.edu

assignment.” Ruby Dee wanted action and change.

Harry, currently 89 years old and not slowing down at all, agrees with her even in 2016.

In the 2011 documentary “Sing Your Song,” Ruby Dee recounts what Harry once said to her, “We all need an assignment. You need to find yourself an assignment. I’m not going to give you one.”

Harry Belafonte and those who work closely with him today, push us all toward independence to find our own assignment. We cannot wait for someone to tell us what to do. Each of us must have faith that we can decide what needs to be done in the world and develop our own leadership. “Freedom, by definition, is people realizing that they are their own leaders.” Diane Nash, American civil rights activist, leader and strategist of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement said this.

In 1961, 20 year old Diane was one of the most respected student leaders of the sit in movement in Nashville Tennessee. The involvement and leadership of young people in effecting change and interrupting unjust systems is as essential to our current struggles in society as it was in the early days of the civil rights movement.

But why talk about the Civil Rights movement of the ’60s as this class of 2016 graduates?

The Rudolf Steiner class of 2016 walks in a world that in many ways mirrors the need for systems change that existed approximately 30 years before any of these graduates were born. I was born at the end of the civil rights era. My very existence is living proof that people of all races and diverse identities can work together to bring about change that is rooted in valuing difference. I was born August 28, 1968. One year before I was born, June 12, 1967, the case of Loving vs.

Virginia was overturned by the Supreme Court, finally making mixed race marriage legal in the United States. If I had been born a year earlier, my African American father and my white, German mother would actually have had to break the law in order for me to be standing in front of you on this stage today. Think about how many people today are resisting and fighting against systems that try to tell us who and how to love, systems that are designed to target certain groups of people based on skin color, class, socio-economic status and gender identity. Many of you are the children of the children who were born out of civil unrest and called fiercely into action. And again today we see the powerful surge toward grassroots organization and youth-based

activism. And this time it is you who are the leaders.

Our elders Diane Nash and Harry Belafonte call each of us to become our own leaders and to find our own assignments.

Earlier I told you that along with your diverse identities as members of this class, comes a striking unifying quality of that was undeniable as you shared your legacy with me. Each of you, through following your passions, holding each other to high expectations, and acting with selfless commitment already knows your assignment. I heard this plainly in your verse-giving ceremony last night. Each of you is, without a doubt, walking into life with, (as Steiner’s verse states so perfectly) “What in the dearly loved home of your youth, was imprinted on your hearts as the seal of human truth.” Yes. Your assignments are visibly imprinted on your hearts.

I am honored to stand with young adults who are not waiting for tomorrow to begin their lives. I am standing in the presence of young people who already have begun to shape the world they live in. I am in awe of you. You have created your own assignments... and you have already leapt bravely into action.  THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

27

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Spring Rose Ceremony

O

28

ne of our most beloved traditions happens at the beginning and end of the year —The Rose Ceremony. As the first graders begin their Steiner journey through the grades, they are given a rose from a Senior. The first graders return this gift to the 12th graders as they prepare to set off into the wider world.

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Steiner.edu

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

29

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Casino Night at the 2016 Spring Gala

W

30

hat a night we had at this year’s Spring Gala! Parents, alumni, faculty and staff, and alumni parents joined us on Friday, May 13th, all in support of our beloved school. Thank you to the collective efforts of the Planning Committee, event sponsors, and attendees. We are so grateful for those who continue to give in a multitude of ways to provide a robust education for our students. 

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR 2016 SPRING GALA SPONSORS! maroon sponsor

Hal & Stacey Kelly Jean-Hugues and Veronique Monier

patron sponsor

Elizabeth de Cuevas Donald & Imelda McCain Marc Pilaro & Anita Bitton Dennis Pinto & Joy Phelan-Pinto Marc ’79 & Dawn Trachtenberg

corporate sponsors

Five Pillars Yoga Freddy Alva, Licensed Acupuncturist Bread Alone Bakery Fishkill Farms Krisp Events Micato Safaris Ottomanelli Butcher Shoppe Playing Mantis Staged Ryte donors, faculty sponsors

Terri Adler & Daniel Goldstein, Peter & Valeria Arnell, Juan & Monika Beltran, Steve Bicknese & Corinne Spingarn, Joe Bradley & Valentina Akerman, Elena Butkov, Jane & Debra Byrne, Blanche & James Christerson, Robert Drach & Terri Gumula, Alan Eskenazi & Stefanie Rinza, Mitchel Friedman, Evan Gsell & Jodi Peikoff, Philippe & Christine Guelton, Susan Goodale, Alexander P. Hartnett & Iggy Keuchenius, Dan & Jane Jones, Joanna Jordan, Alex Kadvan & Sarah Fanning, Richard Khawam & Angela Lester-Khawam, Seth & Julie Lieber, Rama & Sara Madhu, Daniel & Claudia Mahler, Michael & Dee Mainieri, Nicolas P. McGrane & Leah Modigliani, Eric & Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth, Mark Reed & Daria Ilunga, Sandeep Qusba & Dawn Rhodes, Jose & Edyta Santiago, Lucy Schneider, Steven & Shoshana Sebring, Sunil Singh & Parwaz Rehman, Brian Plane & LeeAnna Keith, Erminio Stefano & Luana Conte, Christopher Tsai & AndrĂŠ Stockamp, Willie Vigil & April Pereyra, Juan & Susann Villanueva, Masahiro & Suyapa Yaguchi, Steven Yung & Nicole Kassell-Yung

Steiner.edu

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

31

Thinking about Lucy Schneider

by CAROL ANN BÄRTGES, Dept. of English, College of Teachers, Board of Trustees

A

s we all know, Lucy Schneider, long-time teacher of students and adults, recently retired from the school - for the second time - this June. Having been coaxed out of retirement to take over a third grade in need of a teacher, she has spent the last six years dedicating herself to this energetic and accomplished group of students, who are now about to enter their first year of high school; their lovely, eighth grade moving up ceremony is still fresh in our memories.

As we return to school this September, I know we all half expect to see Lucy turning the corner, coffee in hand, ready to mount the six flights of stairs up to the top floor of the Rudolf Steiner Upper School Building where she’s been spending the last few years. Even after surgery last fall, Lucy has always been someone who “climbs the stairs.”

No doubt we will pull her back for all sorts of mentoring and consulting activities, but Lucy claims that she is really, truly, retiring this time, and the school will have to learn to exist without her keen intelligence, sharp wit, artistic sensibility, and her devoted teaching, all of which contribute to the reasons why Lucy’s leadership has been so effective these many years. She has played so many roles, accomplished so many things for the Rudolf Steiner School, for Waldorf education and for the Independent School movement in general that it would be impossible to recall or recount the things she has said and done without assembling the hundreds of people who span the roughly thirty-five years of her

32

tenure here. But as the recent 8th graders affirmed so eloquently last June, neither they nor the rest of the school community will forget what Lucy has brought to us as teacher, College member, Board Trustee, administrator and mentor. As Maya Angelou once said, People will forget what you said; people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Lucy first came to the Rudolf Steiner School as a parent of an eighth grader, David, and sixth grader, Susie, both of whom graduated from our high school.

I was a very young teacher at the time and recall so well a pair of bright, dark eyes, an untamable mop of dark, wavy hair, and a willowy frame that glided through the hallway in 1979. Lucy had moved with her children from the suburbs, and her sojourn represented

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

a moment in her life when she was deliberately searching for a different kind of destiny. Her husband, Paul Byers, a professor of Anthropology at Columbia Teachers College, was a partner in this quest, and how fortunate was the school that Lucy felt she had found a space in which she could “love the questions, themselves.” Perhaps her major in Philosophy at Vassar tells us something about her basic disposition, for Lucy, then, and now, represents the kind of courage that faces down uncertainties and embraces the journey of philosophical inquiry. Those of us who have served on the College, the Board and various school committees with her have always seen the same intelligent probing, the same willingness to take responsibility for a thought-through risk that we witnessed in 1979, in the days of her move to New York City, to the ungentrified downtown loft on East 18th Street and the “alternative” independent school on East 79th.

Very soon, Lucy was volunteering to go on trips to the Hawthorne Valley Farm and helping with school events; she began to assist the Lower School

around and took another class, the class of 2002. After that she was asked to pick up classes in the middle school years; she took my daughter’s class, the class of 2005, when they were in grades seven and eight, and then shepherded the class of 2007 in their seventh and eighth grade years as well.

Lucy’s gifts soon stretched beyond the classroom walls, and by 1990 she was the Chair of the College of Teachers, and a few years later, the Faculty Chair.

She assumed these positions during a critical period in the school’s biography; in the early 1990s, we encountered serious financial difficulties and Lucy, still also a full-time teacher, took up the many challenges of helping to strengthen the Board, revitalize the College of Teachers, and overhaul our administrative structures. She was part of a dedicated team of Board trustees, parents and colleagues who served on the “Steering Committee,” a group that formed to guide the school through its fiscal crisis and ensure stability for the future. Alumni parents such as Val Bertelsen, Erica and Jerry Trachtenberg, Robert Ganz, Robert Buxbaum and

“Love the questions themselves.”

—RAINER MARIA RILKE Handwork teacher and honed her talents in all manner of craft work. For a time, it looked like we might have lost her to the practical arts, so great was her love of handwork, especially weaving (Lucy had a loom in her loft for many years).

However, in 1983, the school convinced her to take a second grade class, the class of ’95, and the rest, as they say, is history. After bringing her first group through to eighth grade, Lucy turned Steiner.edu

many others served on this committee, bringing their expertise to the school on a weekly basis for close to two years until it was agreed that the group could afford to meet monthly, instead! The work of these individuals, along with the help of many others, ensured that the institution not only survived but thrived.

One of Lucy’s special gifts during this period was her ability to translate the mission of the Rudolf Steiner School into

understandable concepts that inspired parents, teachers and staff. Devoted to Waldorf education and anthroposophy, with the intellectual capabilities of grasping Steiner’s views, Lucy served as a vital interpreter of the school’s core values at a time when there was pressure to capitulate to more conventional ideas about financial priorities and administrative structures.

With the school stabilized, Lucy continued to serve as Faculty Chair on a tri-partite administrative team comprised of a School Administrator (Irene Mantel) and the College Chair (myself). Class teacher, Giannina Zlatar, once called us the “Thinking, Feeling and Willing” Committee – and you can well imagine that colleagues regarded Lucy as the “Head” of our group. She worked closely with the Development Office in planning for the 75th Anniversary of the school and in launching the school’s capital campaign. In addition, Lucy’s work in education increasingly began to include outreach and participation in education associations across the city and state of New York. She served as a Trustee of the Grace Church School, where she was Chair of their Education Committee, as a Trustee of the Guild of Independent Schools in NYC, a Trustee on the Board of NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools) where she was also Commissioner of Accreditation from 1996 to 2003. Until quite recently, Lucy served as a Trustee on the Board of The GO Project in NYC, whose mission is to “to ensure that all under-resourced families with children who are significantly struggling in New York City public schools have access to coordinated, comprehensive, and effective supplemental resources to ensure their child thrives in school and THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

33

in life." As a contributor to the revision of the NYSAIS Manual for Accreditation in 2007, Lucy was naturally asked to serve on a number of independent school accreditation visits; she brought back insights and new perspectives from her work that widened the scope of our own school’s institutional conversations.

Lucy has also given much to Association of Waldorf Schools (AWSNA), which has long benefitted from her experience and expertise. She has served on countless AWSNA and joint accreditation teams that have taken her to Waldorf Schools all over the continent, from Toronto to Honolulu. She has mentored numerous teachers, both in the New York area and as far away as Nashville, and continues to serve on Waldorf school mentoring and evaluation teams, most recently at the Brooklyn Waldorf School last spring. After her first retirement, she may have happily continued to serve the greater educational community in all the ways described above, but in 2010, we asked her to return to take on class teaching yet again. When one thinks of

Lucy in recent years, sitting at her desk, pouring over a pile of student work with her characteristic meticulousness, organizing a class trip or directing a class play with such persistent patience and skill, one might never imagine that so much of what she has achieved and developed lies outside the Rudolf Steiner classroom. Lucy’s work in education has stretched way beyond East 79th and 78th Streets, and we know she will continue to serve both Waldorf education and the wider world of the independent school movement in countless ways. Lucy’s “love of the questions themselves” will undoubtedly lead her to a variety of new enterprises in the years ahead.

When I recently spoke with Lucy to check the facts for this article, she later wrote that she felt she could not stress enough the “enormous gratitude I have to the school for allowing me and Susan and David to join the community and ultimately to dedicate my life's work to Waldorf education and anthroposophy.” Of course, the school would counter that we have received

the greater gift. I regard myself as one of the lucky individuals who consulted Lucy continually about all the things I wanted to learn when I unexpectedly jumped in to become a class teacher half way through my career. Her sense of Beauty, Goodness and Truth, which Rudolf Steiner speaks of as such important themes in the teaching of all age groups in the school, informed her work in every area, from the refined gestures of her watercolor painting to the artistry and rigor with which she crafted the children’s academic experience. Lucy’s teaching was a model to many in our journeys with Waldorf education, and she leaves behind a rich legacy in the hundreds of “students,” both young and old, whom she has inspired. In closing, perhaps a few lines from Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology, the collection of which formed the basis of the play the 8th grade presented, reflects how fortunate it is that destiny arranged a meeting between Lucy and the Rudolf Steiner School. In this poem, the character, Jonathan Swift Somers, remarks:

After you have enriched your soul To the highest point, With books, thought, suffering, the understanding of many personalities, The power to interpret glances, silences, The pauses in momentous transformations, The genius of divination and prophecy; So that you feel able at times to hold the world In the hollow of your hand; Then, if, by the crowding of so many powers Into the compass of your soul, Your soul takes fire… …Be thankful if in that hour of supreme vision Life does not fiddle.

Lucy, we salute you! 34

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Goodbye Irene

of the deep and lasting impact an environment has on young children, she cherished our beautiful Lower School building and always encouraged everyone to take good care of it.

by TIMOTHY HOFFMANN

T

he seven year rhythm is one of the hallmarks of Waldorf pedagogy.

The 3-to-7 year periods­­­—infancy, childhood, and adolescence—prepare us for the autonomy of adulthood. By 21, we are “of age.” Or are we?

Biography, of course, does not stop at 21. It has just begun. And a new set of sevens is under way. According to Rudolf Steiner’s theory, they come to an end only at 63. And this is where we turn to Irene Mantel.

As this article goes to press, Irene will be celebrating her 63rd birthday. Her departure from school thus coincides with the end of a cycle. What lie ahead are almost infinite possibilities. Today, though, we will look back over her years and work at the Rudolf Steiner School.

In 1978, Irene quit law school and enrolled full-time in the teacher training at the Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA. At 26 she began her career at our school, first as a high school teacher of German and art history. That was September of 1979.

(Two years later I arrived on the scene.

We were married in April of 1984.)

Irene’s years of teaching came to an end after our first son, Ian Caspar was born.

Tristan James joined us three years later. While taking care of the boys, Irene served as director of the Rudolf Steiner Institute, a summer college devoted, as the reader can imagine, to furthering Steiner’s work. For most of the year this work could be done at home. Once both sons were enrolled Steiner.edu

at school, Irene rejoined our staff in 1994. In her second incarnation at RSS Irene served as School Administrator, and for the next seven years she helped to guide the institution back to sound financial health. As we entered the new millennium, though, Irene determined that the best place for her energy would be in admissions and outreach. It is in the role of Director of Admissions of the Lower School that most of the readers know her, and will probably remember her.

As her husband and close collaborator on many of her initiatives on behalf of the school, I would pay this tribute: On the one hand, Irene has the big picture in mind. She sees Waldorf education in the context of the modern world and is willing and able to place our principles squarely into the contemporary scene. Whether the forum was an art happening, or a post-presentation conversation at the New York Academy of Science, or a host of other cultural venues and fundraisers, Irene never grew tired of promoting the values of Steiner education.

On the other hand Irene is also a stickler for detail. Whether editing or proofreading or simply preparing the physical space for a public event --always be sure the coat hangers are facing the same way, she used to insist--Irene’s consciousness penetrated into the smallest corners. Fully aware

Between the big picture and the small, though, lies the interaction with colleagues and particularly with parents. As many a parent has commented, discussing education with Irene was far more than a routine admissions interview. Here lay the possibility to reexamine all kinds of assumptions about life and its meaning, the opportunity to revisit one’s own childhood, and of course the moment to envision what might be possible for one’s children. These were often the moments when parents got “on board.” Irene can listen with an open heart. Each time anew, she can articulate our philosophy in a way that her audience can hear. This applies to the most practical matters of raising children as it does to esoteric questions of spirituality and even karma. Any temptation to revert to cliche or dogma is avoided. What she brought to all her work was a living pedagogical practice.

She set a high standard.

And now? Those seven year cycles, described by Steiner as soul development (21 to 42) and spiritual development (42 to 63), are now complete. In the greater sense, it is the 63 year old who is of age. And completely free! That is Irene.

P.S. For the first time ever I will begin a school year this September as the only member of our family “on campus.” I’d like to think, though, that on a level more subtle than the merely physical, Irene is still there, supporting and advising us all in her inimitable way. THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

35

IN MEMORIAM If you would like to submit a remembrance for publication in The Spiral, contact Eileen Diskin, Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations, at ediskin@steiner.edu or by calling 212-535-2130 ext. 222.

MELISSA GEIGER, Former Grandparent

Lower School Chair, Jeff Spade shares, “Many of you may remember the years of service Melissa gave in the Music Department as an

accompanist for all of the choirs here at Steiner, from Junior Chorus to the many high school musicals and class recitals. Her humor and generous spirit will be greatly missed. Melissa retired from Steiner in 2002.” 

BOB ELLIOTT, Former Parent

Bob enjoyed a long career as a comedian, most notably as one half of the comedy duo Bob and Ray. He is survived by his five children: Chris Elliott, Shannon Elliott, Amy Elliott Anderson, Robert Elliott, and

HOWARD “SKIP” GEIGER III, Former Steiner Parent

Skip” Geiger was born in Hanover, NH, on February 25, 1959, while our father was a senior at Dartmouth. His legal name is Howard Wilton Geiger, III, but was nicknamed Skipperdee after the turtle in the family’s favorite book “Eloise”. He soon settled into the simpler Skip, followed by Skippy during his college years.

Skip is survived by his former wife, Lisa Gustin, and beloved daughter, Lillian - Steiner alumna, class of 2014. Since her birth, Lillian and Skip were inseparable, both as father and daughter, and as best friends.

Their close relationship was envied by many, particularly

Colony Elliott Santangelo, all of whom attended the Steiner School. Steiner was also home to three of Bob’s 11 grandchildren, Robert “Bobby” Bracket Elliott III, class of 2007, Emily Elliott Parkwell ’03, and Bronwen O’Keefe ’91, 

by Lillian’s friends during her teenage years.

He worshipped her and lived for her, using some form of her name or birthdate for every password he ever created.

Skip was a gentle soul, genuine, generous and loved by all. He was very good looking and popular, but always had a kind word for everyone. His amazing athleticism drew wide attention, first on the playground when the family lived in Munich, riding a two-wheeler as a two and one half year old or hanging upside down wherever he could. In school, he participated in many sports, but it was skiing that he loved. He started skiing at three years old, quickly becoming an expert skier, with little or no competition wherever he went. 

HANS BODENMANN, Former Steiner Parent

Hans U. Bodenmann of Basel, Switzerland passed away on January 29, 2016. He is survived by his partner, Maja Oeri and sons Emanuel - Steiner class of 2010 — and Melchior, Steiner class of 2013. 

36

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

GUDRUN HAHN, Former German Teacher and High School Chair

From 1984 until her retirement in 2011, Frau Hahn dedicated herself to the Steiner School as a beloved German teacher, a greatly admired and respected class advisor, and a

MARI LYONS, Former Steiner Parent

Mari crossed the threshold in April of this year. Mari and her husband Nick helped edit the Steiner Newsletter throughout the 1970s, and Nick Lyons, co-wrote the book Education as an

Art (about Steiner education).

Three of their children attended Steiner from K-12: Paul ‘76, Charlie ‘78, and Jennifer ‘79. Their brother, Tony, attended through 8th grade and graduated from Trinity.

KHADIJA OTERO-KABSY CLASS OF 2012

January 20, 1994 – August, 2, 2016 Described as “a radiant child, truthful, warm, and full of reverence” by former class teacher Gianninna Zlatar, Khadija was pursuing her dreams, working hard to complete her graphic design and illustration studies at Central Saint

Steiner.edu

member of the College of Teachers and Board of Trustees. She left an indelible impression on everyone who had the pleasure of learning from or working with her. She will be deeply missed.

She is survived by her husband Dieter, daughter Alexandra, and two grand-children, Nuli and Liam 

Mari’s son, Charlie, shares with us the following: “MARI LYONS, painter, died peacefully on April 3 from cancer. She was 80 years old.

Her passing is a profound loss to her beloved, devoted husband of 58 years, Nick, and their four children-Paul (and Monica Ghosh), Charles, Jennifer (Steve Brennan), and Tony (and Helena Hjalmarsson)--and their grandchildren, Lara, Finn, Lina, and Elsa. Mari attended the Anna Head School, Bard College, Yale Norfolk, the Grand Chaumiere, Atelier l7, and the Cranbrook Academy of Art (MFA)--she studied as well at Mills College with Fletcher Martin and Max Beckmann. She was a fiercely committed painter all of her life, who painted with sheer joy, in all genres, and loved the works of the great painters. Mari exhibited regularly with First Street Gallery in New York. More about her life and art is available at www.marilyonsstudio.com.” 

Martins in London while also finding success as a fashion model.

It is beyond comprehension that the life of such a beautiful young human being, so full of promise, would come to an end so soon. The entire Rudolf Steiner School community is holding the OteroKabsy family and classmates of Khadija and brother Lucas close to their hearts 

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

37

CLASS NOTES Submit your updates for the next issue of The Spiral to the deveopment office by contacting Eileen Diskin, Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations, at ediskin@steiner.edu or by calling 212-535-2130 ext. 222.

1950s Siegfried Finser ’59 My wife, Ruth Finser, whom many alumnae will remember, passed away February 7, 2016. My new book, Collision is now out and will shortly be available as an audiobook. The sequel is in the works.

See a trailer for Collision by visiting https://youtu.be/YDl5E9ong8E

Sean Stull ‘59

Sean Stull ’59 Sean has been working on two commissioned paintings recently. He writes: I am working on mountain and lake scenes in pastel and evolving into a deeper and more spiritual bond with nature every year. The White Mountains are a constantly shifting and changing world that one grows more and more in love with as time passes. With time I hope to become part of the mountains themselves.

1960s Bob Lilienthal ’61 We just got a new RV, and will report back on our trip.

38

Friederike Seligman ’63 Friederike writes: I will be attending a concert featuring Victoria Bond’s newest musical composition and on that weekend of June 24th-25th will also see classmate Karen Korsh Lee (the chef and caterer) in Amagansett, and Jill Isles Blanchard in Southampton, both of whom plan to attend the Choral Society of the Hamptons concert.

In May David Lippman came for lunch to St. Augustine, to Diana Wormann Smith’s home. The three of us had a pre-lunch video chat with Victoria Bond - you can see the pale outline of her face on the iPad. Hurrah for technology, which made this face to face reunion possible!

It feels deeply gratifying to stay so connected with the friends from our Steiner days. Diana continues to create brilliant miniature enamel paintings; David has gone back to work part-time as psychiatrist in Great Barrington; I am exploring technique and design in basket weaving.

Howard Klein and his wife Penny recently moved to St. Louis to live near their children and grand-children.

Jan Freundschuh ’64 We recently moved from Charlottesville, Virginia to the outskirts of Fayetteville,

David Lippman, Friederike Seligman, and Diana Wormann Smith

Arkansas where we are enjoying learning from our natural setting.

Janet Asten ’67 “I enjoyed attending the West Coast Reunion in April in Palos Verdes Estates in the Los Angeles area and meeting Eileen (and others) for the first time. An extra bonus was riding down from West L.A. with my high school classmate and BFF, Pam Young-Wolff. My oldest granddaughter Juliette recently graduated from high school and won a full four-year scholarship at UC Santa Barbara - I’m very happy for her!”

Michael ’68 and Lynn Nemser “We continue to enjoy retirement and just returned from South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. We were thrilled to see our daughter Stephanie Dreyer, Senior Brand Manager for Bayer running the Aleve business, honored as a Healthcare Businesswoman’s Association “Rising Star.” After an energetic visit with our two grandchildren, we have now migrated to our New Hampshire properties for the summer.”

Bob Lilienthal’s new RV THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

1970s Anthony ‘Tony’ Cookson ’71 I’m am currently writing and producing a new musical comedy called MUTT HOUSE that takes place in an animal shelter and which will have its World Premiere in Los Angeles in the Fall of 2017. I am also writing and producing a feature film called THE PACKAGE that will be shot in New Mexico in the Spring of 2017.

extended Anthroposophical medicine woven into Family Practice, occupational medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, at their clinic with therapists trained in Curative Eurythmy, Anthroposophical art & music therapies and Spacial Dynamics. They are involved in many aspects of the regional Waldorf schools and Anthroposophical communities as well as the national Physicians Association of Anthroposophical Medicine.

Kim Akeret Cookson ’71 Elena Shaaf-Brandes ’74 Kim has a doctorate in My exciting news: I am a psychology and a private Granny. Adorable Carlotta practice in Los Angeles. was born April 2nd. We are She just completed her all thrilled. fourth year as the Trauma and Resiliency Training Ana Vargas ’75 I moved and Services Program to Santiago about 6 months Director at the Southern ago. I was born in this California Counseling Elena Shaaf-Brandes country but never thought Center in Los Angeles.

‘74 and granddaughter Carlotta I would return to live here.

She has been traveling After my mother’s death all of the world teaching more than a year ago, I had no reason Trauma techniques in countries that to stay in New York. have been hit with natural disasters such as the typhoon in the Philippines Life here in Santiago is much slower and the earthquake in Nepal. She which can be frustrating at times, has been asked back to Nepal again but I am adjusting.Water is the main this summer and is traveling with the problem on a daily basis and getting Trauma Resource Institute to teach an official ID is still something that Nepalese teachers, principals, nurses I am working on. Dominicans have and community workers how to teach dual citizenship and I can get social resiliency skills to the people they security at 62 so I decided to start work with in their communities. living here while I can still adjust to a new environment.

John Takacs ’72 & Joan (Bashaw) Takacs ’73 John and Joan are pleased to Elizabeth Ginsburg ’76 I was promoted announce the high school graduation to Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology of their son John Paul Takacs from the and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Portland Waldorf School in Oregon, Medical School. I am still in the same which he attended from kindergarten clinical role as the Medical Director of through 12th grade. the In-Vitro Fertilization Program at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

Drs. John & Joan continue practicing Steiner.edu

1980s Clay Baker ’80 My firm CJW architecture was awarded architect of record for San Mateo County. My first project is a a homeless shelter, increasing beds from 72 to 210, designing medical facilities, food service, counseling rooms, pet kennels, computer center and more. I took a producer role in a comedy film called 5 Doctors (http://5doctorsfilm.com/). This New York based film was screened a few weeks ago at Hastings High and is seeking distribution. I finalized funding the Emerging Scholars Scholarship at Montana State University. The scholarship is for students that don’t meet any of the traditional metrics that are used for evaluating college applicants and find those who stand out in other ways. The scholarship provides tuition assistance and a professor mentor for four years. This is the first step towards the realization of an innovation campus at MSU.MAJ Marc Weingarten ’82 Marc’s book Thirsty: William Mulholland California Water and the Real Chinatown was published this past December, and his anthology Here She Comes Now will be out in paperback this spring!

2000s Grace Pinto ’00 After a wonderful two years practicing general pediatrics in Hawai’i, I am back in the “mainland” to pursue a child and adolescent fellowship at Case Western University Hospital. I am looking forward to graduating in June 2018.

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

39

Letter from the Treasurer Dear RSS Community,

M

y letter to you last year touched on the fact that we had just ended our second year in a row of planned deficits. I indicated we planned to discontinue running deficits in the year we just finished.

Unfortunately, our finances did not turn out as planned and we did in fact run a deficit this past year. While our expenses were in line with our budget, revenues were considerably lower than expected due to several factors: 1) our tuition revenues were down as a result of late changes in our enrollment picture; 2) annual giving was down due to loss of support from a key donor family (for personal reasons) and 3) large investment gains of the past did not continue due to market volatility (these were not part of our budget, but have helped to generate surpluses in past years).

As we embarked upon the budgeting process for the ’16-’17 school year, it became clear we would likely run another deficit unless changes were made. After much analysis and discussion, a collaborative effort was undertaken to make systemic changes to how we operate. The College of Teachers selected from a list of ideas generated by many different areas of our school. The Board of Trustees then approved the selections made by the College of Teachers. I am pleased to report we have identified ways to reduce our budget by close to 10%, or $1.1 million. Rest assured, these reductions will not have an impact on our educational programs. As a result of this work, we do not anticipate an operating deficit this year and in fact hope to have a surplus so we can begin to replenish the funds used by the deficits of the past three years.

Having said all of that, as I said in the past, the Rudolf Steiner School remains on solid financial ground. We still have significant cash reserves, no debt, and a large amount of unencumbered assets.

The key to our long-term fiscal stability remains reaching full enrollment. In order to achieve this, we not only need to attract new students, but we need to retain our existing students. Great strides have been made in both of these

40

areas as our level of attrition has declined and our 79th Street building is close to fully enrolled. Further, we have waiting lists for several of our classes.

Despite the loss of support mentioned above, we had a successful year of fund raising. Our two largest fundraising events (Fall Fair and Spring Gala) not only met their budgets, but were great sources of joy for our community.

Our annual fund enjoyed a higher level of participation overall. I would like to thank all you for supporting our school. I hope everyone continues their support and that you make the Rudolf Steiner School one of your top philanthropic causes.

Our finances of late are tighter than we would like them to be. However, we remain in good stead and well positioned for the future. As the parent of a student that started in the Back Nursery and is now in the High School, I am amazed at the education we provide our children. I am awed by the young people they become under the care and guidance of our capable faculty. I often marvel at what an amazingly special place we have created in the heart of New York City, and I remain excited about our future. It is bright and I look forward to working with all of you to manifest our dreams.

Respectfully,

Mitchel Friedman, P ’19 Treasurer

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

BUDGET RESULTS 2015-2016 (Unaudited)

INCOME (see chart at right) Gross Tuition & Fees Tuition Assistance Net Tuition & Fees Addl. Program & Misc. Income Net Fundraising TOTAL INCOME

EXPENDITURES (see chart at right) Faculty Salaries Administrative Salaries Faculty & Staff Benefits Program Expense Facility Expense Administrative Expense TOTAL EXPENDITURES

AMOUNT

% OF TOTAL

INCOME

$12,767,200 ($4,204,405) $8,562,795 $681,756 $609,415

86.9%  6.9%  6.2% 

$9,853,966

100%

$4,210,689 $2,277,434 $1,846,248 $1,023,9 13 $347,176 $584,303

40.9%  22.1%  17.9%  10.0%  3.4%  5.7% 

$10,289,763

100%

Net Operating Excess (Deficit) ($457,299) Capital Expenses $298,208 Reserve $0 NET CASH

EXPENDITURES

($755,507)

SUMMARY OF FUNDRAISING* ANNUAL GIVING UNRESTRICTED Annual Appeal Unrestricted Fall Fair Unrestricted Spring Benefit

$387,770 $104,439 $117,206

ANNUAL GIVING RESTRICTED Laura Nadel Art and Music Fund $3,544 Capital $95,395 Other $41,969

*Reflects funds received and booked July 1, 2015- June 30, 2016.

TOTAL UNRESTRICTED GIVING TO CURRENT OPERATIONS

Steiner.edu

$609,415

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

41

Donors

Every donor to our school is important, and every gift is significant. Donors listed in the following categories made unrestricted and/or restricted gifts to the school during the 2015-2016 school year in direct cash and securities support, special events, sponsorship and underwriting. We extend our warmest gratitude to everyone who participated. * Indicates giving for five or more consecutive years ** Indicates giving for ten or more consecutive years

ANNUAL GIVING RESTRICTED AND UNRESTRICTED 1928 Circle ($25,000+) Anonymous (2) Andrew and Barbara Gundlach

Leaders Circle ($10,000 - $24,999) Gerda S. Carmichael ’43 **** João Castro Neves and Cristine Thomé Esra Cevik Gianpaolo De Felice and Gabrielle Karan ** Jean-Hugues and Veronique Monier * Mark Reed and Daria Ilunga ** Renate Soybel**** Evan and Ku-Ling Yurman

Partners Circle ($5,000 - $9,999) Anonymous (1) Elena Aleksandrova and David Florentin Mr. and Mrs. Peter Arnell Brillo-Sonnino Family Foundation Ms. Jane Byrne Susan Goodale **** Drs. Eric and Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth ** Dennis Pinto and Joy Phelan-Pinto ** David Sepiachvili and Natalia Martin Mr. and Ms. Mitchell Silverman Marc ’79 and Dawn Trachtenberg ***

Friends Circle ($2,500 - $4,999) Stephen Armstrong Joe Bradley and Valentina Akerman Pierre and Connie Crosby** Alfredo de Palchi and Rita Di Pace * Arthur and Kathryn Garfunkel Daniel Goldstein and Terri Adler * Evan Gsell and Jodi Peikoff David R. Hillcoat and Ellen Jacobson * Servane Hottinger and Jose Martos Joshua Kaiser and Molly Bloom Richard Khawam and Angela Lester-Khawam Anthony Knerr and Susanne Kastler-Knerr ** Shirley L. Latessa **** James and Katy Lindsay Robert and Carla Lunder Rama and Sara Madhu * Nicholas McGrane and Leah Modigliani Marc Pilaro and Anita Bitton Sandeep Qusba and Dawn Rhodes ** Goran Sare and Claudia Stone Gideon Schwartz and Alissa Manocherian Schwartz

42

*** Indicates giving for fifteen or more consecutive years **** Indicates giving for twenty or more consecutive years

Friederike Felber Seligman ’63 Marco Spinar and Claire Brown Dr. Daniel Szekely ’68 Rani Vaz ’83 ** Stacey Gillis Weber and Jeffrey ’83 A. Weber Fund ****

Waldorf Circle ($1,000 - $2,499) Anonymous (1) Belinda Agar * Ceki and Seniha Aluf Medina * Mr. and Mrs. Sharone Ben-Harosh Lloyd Bieber Memorial Fund Peter Bing ’72 ** Deborah Carmichael ’79 * Blanche Christerson and James B. Christerson * Anthony Cookson ’71 and Kim Akeret ’71 Luiz De Salvo* and Patricia Schwartz Beth Rudin DeWoody Sam Sutton and Danielle Do* Dr. Richard Dyer ‘80 Mitchel Friedman and Meggan Friedman ** Mohammed and Betty Grimeh Doreen Lilienfeld and Tommy Friedner ’85 ** Olena Horban Galanti * Mr. and Mrs. Philippe Guelton Vyacheslav and Olga Kaushan Jennifer and Frederick ‘76 Leichter Fund Seth Lieber and Julie Stimell Lieber Dr. William D. Macatee and Mr. Mark A. Macatee Daniel and Claudia Mahler D. Edward and Julie Martin Christopher Ngai and Lixiao Wang Peter ’76 and Lisa Nitze Tari ’63 and Harry Perlstadt Lucy Schneider**** Tushar and Anjali Shah Jeffrey Spade Allison Stabile ’74 Robert and Jennifer Strent * Nancy A. Thomson ‘80 and Dan Farber Christopher Tsai and André Stockamp Vadym and Kateryna Ustymenko Dominic Vaz and Marilyn Wright Vaz Araks Yeramyan

Community Circle (Up to $999) Anonymous (12) Justin Aaronson ’02 Mark Abel and Kathleen Williams Brian Ackley and Lisa Farjam Joseph Adago ’90 Cybelle Afable and Jorge Martinez

Jacqueline Ahrens Dr. and Mrs. Oguz Akin Mr. and Mrs. Walter Alexander Ms. Iris Alfonso Marta Almirall ** Rudy and Vivian Almonte John and Kirsten Anderson Roland Antonides and Karen Imhof Ms. Shera M. Aranoff Ares Operations, LLC James Archey * Lena Armel ** Rachele Armstrong Dr. and Mrs. Richard Ascher * Janet ’67 and Peter Asten ** Joseph Atanga and Vida Anaba Mary Aumell * Luisa Baez William and Susan Baldwin **** Xi Bao and Kathy Qian Neil Baptista and Simone Leonhardt Carol Bärtges ’73 Paula Bass Esther Bauer Lawrence Bauer ’73 * Brooke and Carl Bedrick * John and Gaily Beinecke **** William B. Beinecke ’07 Dana Benjamin ’60 Dale A. Bennett Svein and Olga Berg * Dr. Revaz Beridze and Dr. Zoya Zak Max Bermann ’55 Enrique Bernales Uzategui and Nathalia Jabur Nathanael and Valerie Bienvenu Ross Bingham and Eleonore Kopera Marlu Bishop-Jordan Admiral Kevin and Eugenia Bone * Emily Boone and Jeffrey Easter Eric L. Bowman ’00 Karen Braga * Sara Briggs Brooke Brosenne * Elena Brower Travis E. Brown and Anandah J. Carter Margaret and Edward Brown, Sr. Meredith Buckles Bardon ‘80 Ms. Catherine Burns ’79 Richard Camacho Kevin and Elena Cannon * Feng Cao and Lynn Chen Dr. Hu Cao and Ms. Shanshan Zhou

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Elisa M. Caraballo Alison Cariati ’83 * Nadja Carneol and Damian Busch Andrew Casarsa ’04 Stefanie Casillas ’03 Julio Catano Victor Catano * Joanna Charnas ’78 Patricia Coates ’74 * Calen Cole ’08 Renee Cossutta ’73 Denise Crane * German and Maria Creamer ** Gail Cruise-Roberson Mr. and Mrs. Ilhan Cubukcuoglu Brian and Melinda Cullman Diane Daniels Raym De Ris ’59 Diana Delgado-Andrade Sanja and Vidhu Dhar Eileen Diskin Mr. and Mrs. Fred Dixon Djordje and Sarah Djordjevic * Katherine Dolezal Antoine Douaihy * Robert Drach and Terri Gumula Christopher Duggan and Nel Shelby Linette Lalita Dunbar Sky Dylan-Robbins ’07 Rose Edinger ’64 Deighn and Ying Eliason Kurt and Jennifer Elling Richard Emery and Melania Levitsky Alan B. Eskenazi and Stefanie Rinza Tamar Feeser Laurie Feit ’80 Jorge and Gisela Ferradas Jose Ferreira and Suzette Soltero Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi Joe and Deane Fitzgerald Virginia Flynn ’59 * Charles Foster and Joylynn Holder Jan Freundschuh ’64 Arkady and Maria Fridman * Bruce Frishkoff Adam Fuss* Ruy Garcia and Gala Narezo Andrew Gibbons and Manveet Saluja Alexandra Gifford ’68 and Stephen Hansen Mr. and Mrs. Steven Gil Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg ’76 ** Dr. Iona Ginsburg Carol Gleklen ’57 Glocer Family Charitable Fund ** Irene E. Goodale **** Phyllis Gottesman Bill and Adele Grant Katharine Grant ’83* Kevin R. Grant ’04 Renni Greenberg* John Greene * Mathieu Gregoire ’71 Suzanne C. Gregoire ’74 * Steiner.edu

Samuel and Isabel Gross **** Kirsten Grünberg ’79 Chris and Sarah Gunderson Lisa Gustin Patricia Haft ’70 ** Herbert Hagens ’41 Stefan and Ayse Nazlim Hagmann Jenny Hall ’72 Yael Hameiri Rallou Hamshaw ’65 ** Chris J. Hancock * Renata ’70 and John Harbison * Joshua Haron and Leah Azoulay * Heather Harrigan * Kristin Hawkins Julia Hays ’73 * John and Silvia Heller * Martin and Margaret Heller * Frances Hershkowitz ’60 * Jon Hess ’74 Rosemarie Hester Carl and Elsa Hetherington Sarah Hetherington ’05 Mary Lynn Hetsko * Abigail Hill Randall and Elizabeth Hixenbaugh Lester and Dorothy Hoffman * Ian Hoffmann ’03 Timothy Hoffmann and Irene Mantel *** Abraham Hsuan and Melinda Hung ** Andrew Hubner and Sarah Hayes Nakia Humphrey Syl and Linda Hutchinson Mara Igartua Gina Iovino * Celina Irby Elanor James Ximena Jimenez Brian Jones and Miriam Biolek-Jones Helge Jordheim and Anne K. Lie Stephanie Elizabeth Junger-Moat ’99 Alexander Kadvan ’90 and Sarah Fanning Patricia Kadvan Suzanne Kammin Baron Brian Kaplan and Lambeth Hochwald Wendy and Scot Kelly * Katrina Keptner Harpreet and Rapti Khurana Robert Koszta and Ildiko Koszta-Kope Allen Kraus and Lynn Parkerson Annie Kravet Alan A. and Gulhan Kulatti Pieter Kuypers ’72 and Gail Ritscher ’72 * Hannah Labovitch Christiane Landowne ’63 Linda E. Larson Chung-Yu Lee and Yuen Wa Chow * David and Miyoung Lee Adam LeGrant ’78 *** Jennie and Caleb Leung * Myron Levitsky Leslie and Ching Li * Robert Lilienthal ’61

Luis Fernando Llosa and Mary Llosa ** Jairo Loaiza Patricia LoParrino Erika Ludwig ’86 Antonio Luis and Teresa Benedict* Diana Mahiques * Michael T. Mainieri and Dee Carstensen Mainieri * Elie Mala ’10 George and Elaine Malin Joshua Malin Dena Malon * Hannelore and Fred Mani Tristan Mantel-Hoffmann ’06 Brennon Marcano and Isabelle Delalex * Samantha and John-Paul Margles * Ana S. Marin ’99 Diana E. Marin ’00 and Alex Neuhoff Jason Martin ’06 Walter Martinelli and Valerie Striar Carmen Martinez Kristin Mathis Andrew McCarthy and Dolores Rice * Marina McGrew * Joe McInerny and Susy Korb Stephen McKenzie ’75 Wayne and Lisa McKenzie Mac and Ellen Mead Saket and Simrat Mehta Robert and Pamela Melet Luigi Mercone and Claire Szeto Fabio Mercurio and Sabrina Dvorski Mercurio Lorenzo Mitchell ’78** Joyce Monges **** Deborah Morris Gregory Muenzen and Leslie Dock Gary Mui * Ella Muradyan ’03 David ’87 and Nicole Nadel **** Dr. & Mrs. Warren Nadel**** Mr. and Mrs. Constantine Nalpantidis Mr. and Mrs. Cristian Naselli Michael and Lynn Nemser Michael New Marc ’90 and Ann Nioche Jeannie O’Conor Jessica Ocasio Sarah ’05 and Gil Ohana Gabrielle L. Ortiz ’83 and Antonio Oritz Marin * Lucia Oswald * Greg and Ginger Pardlo * Ron Passaro ’95 Genia Patestides ’88 Raphael Peacock and Christina Glover-Peacock Paola Pedrignani Michael Pepper ’65 Willie and April (Pereyra) Vigil ** Rafael Perez-Ramos Geri Perkal Christian and Stephanie Perry * Maj. Willard Peschier ’60 Mark Peters and Georgina Peters Geoffrey and Ahna Petersen Cristian Piazza and Gabriela Cordo THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

43

Helene ’65 and Carl Pinsky **** Grace J. Pinto ’00 Michael Pisacane Brian and LeeAnna Plane * Nicholas Platt and Robyn Watts * Niomi Plotkin Renate ’60 and Boris Poliakine ** Jane Porter ’72 Rande Price Mark A. Primrose Roger Questel and Ellen Salvadori * Whitney and Tamar Quillen ** Ihor Radysh ’71 and Marisha Plotnik Syed A. Rahim and Syedha D. Nazneen Chris and Lydie Raschka ** Wilken Ratz and Alexa Meyer * Mark Recht and Myra Friedman * John Reed and Yeardley Leonard Deborah Renna Johannes Richter ’76 Dr. Russell D. Robbins ’80 * Baron Roberts ’78 Kristie Roberts ’99 Susan Robinson ’69 Kevin S. Rodriguez and Sumei Situ Diana ’60 and John Ronell * Nir Ronen and Natalie Lo * Katharina Roos * Christina Root ’75 and Donald Jamison John and Mary Elizabeth Rosa Morgan Ross ’09 James Roth ’83 Ami Rothschild * David and Carolyn Rothschild * Stephen and Elizabeth Rubin Marilyn Ruppart * James Salser and Lisa K. Greissinger ** Andres David and Ayarilis Sanchez * Colony Santangelo ’65 * Angel Santiago and Nancy Acosta Lucia Santiago Thomas Schaefer Mary Ellen Schaeffer Oliver Schaper and Lily Zand Andrew and Anke Scheinfeld ** Marion Schlapfer **** Edward Schlieben ’71 *** Todd Schlieben ’70 David Schneider ’84 Herbert and Debbie Schneider Mr. and Mrs. Campbell Scott Steven and Shoshana Sebring Julia and Alexander Sergeyeva-Benenson * Scott Shepard and Phyllis Gottesman Hisatoshi and Tsuya Shiraishi * Shirin Shokouhi Deborah Shriver ’67 Anne Sidamon-Eristoff ’49 **** Merle Louise Simon * Amba Singh Sunil Singh and Parwaz Rehman Dr. and Mrs. Evan Sloan Charles Smith and Sono Kuwayama

44

Diana ’63 and Robert Smith * Ki Smith ’09 Dr. Samuel Smith ’54 **** Robert Snider and Francesca Marc-Antonio ** Rose Snider Alexandra Spadea Albert and Alice Spekman **** Courtney L. Spiller ’07 Corinne Spingarn ’64 *** Erminio Stefano and Luana Conte Jim Steiner * Michael and Camila Steiner ** Alice B. Stock ’79 Richard Strassberg and Michele Melland-Strassberg Howard Straus ’60 Scott Sturniolo and Stefanie Soichet ’74 ** Mark Sullivan and Marguerite Krull Michael Sutton ** Mads Svendsen and Rebecca Dahele William Tandler ’58 Trivikraman Thampy and Meredith Burns Martin Toub and Mary Jo Pagano Benjamin Trachtenberg ’12 Matthew Trachtenberg ’15 Noel Trachtenberg ’60 Matthew J. Troy ’04 Fana Tuku ’80 Richard Turner Ingrid Vega Jeffrey and Clio Venho **** Mr. and Ms. Matthew G. Verdery * Jose and Christina Vicente * Suzanne Furth Victor ’73 ** Juan and Susann Villanueva ** Lukardis von Studnitz ’85 Peter and Patricia Wan Lindsay Wasserman ’77 Anne Waxman ’74 Lawrence and Judith Weber Stuart and Tanja Wechsler Kenneth Weinrib ’76 Ryan and Hope Welker Grant Werner ’75 ** Thomas Wetzl ’50 *** David W. White * Joan Williams * Shannon and Robert Williams ** Deborah Winer ’79 * Jessica D. Winer ’80 Dr. Steven Wolf ’73 * Dian Woodner ’64 Mr. and Mrs. Jason Woods Waltraude S. Woods ’48 ** Mr. Greg Worley and Dr. Irene Guiter Mazer Mr. and Mrs. Masahiro Yaguchi Alexander Yagupsky and Claudia Knafo * Mr. and Mrs. Euiseoup Yoon Michael and Kenya Young Steve Yung and Nicole Kassell * Dr. Peter Yurchenco and Ingrid Yurchenco Jean Zay Robin Zeamer ’65 *

PARENT DONORS BY CLASS

The faculty, staff and Board of Trustees of the Rudolf Steiner School are in grateful receipt of direct cash and securities contributions from the following Steiner families.

Back Nursery — 100% Parent Participation Brian Ackley and Lisa Farjam Roland Antonides and Karen Imhof Peter Arnell and Valeria Capponi Arnell João Castro-Neves and Cristine Thomé Deighn and Ying Eliason Pradip Ghosh and Guinevere Mathews Andrew and Barbara Gundlach Steven Yung and Nicole Kassell Vyacheslav and Olga Kaushan Luigi Perin and Christine Mitsch-Perin Campbell and Kathleen Scott Tushar and Anjali Shah

Middle Nursery – 83% Parent Participation Sharone and Irit Ben-Harosh Markus and Paula Homor Joshua Kaiser and Molly Bloom Mark and Georgina Peters Evan Sloan and Cindy Chavez

Downstairs Kindergarten – 85% Parent Participation Mark Abel and Kathleen Williams Ross Bingham and Eleonore Kopera Travis Brown and Anandah Carter Damian Busch and Nadja Carneol Hu Cao and Shanshan Zhou Feng Cao and Lynn Chen Brian Jones and Miriam Biolek-Jones Alexander Kadvan and Sarah Fanning Richard Khawam and Angela Lester-Khawam Fabio and Sabrina Mecurio Harpreet and Rapti Khurana Gregory Muenzen and Leslie Dock Marc Pilaro and Anita Bitton Sunil Singh and Parwaz Rehman Erminio Stefano and Luana Conte Mark Sullivan and Marguerite Krull Peter Wan and Patricia Marques Ilya Zeldin and Yevgeniya Rozenblit

Upstairs Kindergarten –100% Parent Participation Brian Ackley and Lisa Farjam Roland Antonides and Karen Imhof Revaz Beridze and Zoya Zak Nathanael and Valerie Bienveu Joe Bradley and Valentina Akerman Esra Cevik Wilken Ratz and Alexa Meyer Luigi Perin and Christine Mitsch-Perin Gideon and Alissa Schwartz Tushar and Anjali Shah André Stockamp and Christopher Tsai Robert and Jennifer Strent Sam Sutton and Danielle Do Mads Svendsen and Rebecca Dahele Trivikraman Thampy and Meredith Burns

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Larry and Abbey Warsh Stuart and Tanja Wechsler Christopher Ngai and Lixiao Wang Evan and Ku-Ling Yurman

1st Grade – 92% Parent Participation Seth Andrews Leon Baptista and Simone Leonhardt Enrique Bernales Uzategui and Natalia Jabur Sanjay and Vidhu Dhar Djordje Djordjevic and Sarah Poole Christopher Duggan and Nel Shelby Deighn and Ying Eliason Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi Charles Foster and Joylynn Holder Mohammed and Betty Grimeh Saket and Simrat Mehta Paola Pedrignani Christian Piazza and Gabriela Cordo Brian and LeeAnna Plane Nir Ronen and Natalie Lo Gideon and Alissa Schwartz Steven and Shoshana Sebring Sherry Shokouhi Mark Sullivan and Marguerite Krull James Wolberg Jason and Jessica Woods Masahiro and Suyapa Yaguchi Araks Yeramyan Evan and Ku-Ling Yurman

2nd Grade – 96% Parent Participation Oguz and Ruby Akin Ceki Aluf-Medina and Seniha Inan Seth Andrews Roland Antonides and Karen Imhof Nathanael and Valerie Bienvenu Feng Cao and Lynn Chen Luiz De Salvo and Patricia Schwarz Alan Eskenazi and Stefanie Rinza Jose Ferreira Jr. and Suzette Soltero Arkady and Maria Fridman Daniel Goldstein and Terri Adler Mohammed and Betty Grimeh Chris and Sarah Gunderson Markus and Paula Homor Andrew Hubner and Sarah Hayes Gina Iovino Luigi Mercone and Claire Szeto Greg and Ginger Pardlo Wilken Ratz and Alexa Meyer Michael and Camila Steiner Richard Strassberg and Michèle Meland-Strassberg Robert and Jennifer Strent Sam Sutton and Danielle Do Trivikraman Thampy and Meredith Burns Vadym and Kateryna Ustmenko Araks Yeramyan

3rd Grade – 96% Parent Participation Semone Bailey Wallace Bao and Kathy Qian Juan and Monika Beltran Steiner.edu

Revaz Beridze and Zoya Zak Elena Brower Kevin and Elena Cannon Djordje Djordjevic and Sarah Poole Ruy Garcia and Gala Narezo Andrew Gibbons and Manveet Saluja Steven and Adwina Gil Daniel Goldstein and Terri Adler Dr. Harold and Stacey Kelly Robert and Ildiko Koszta Chung-Yu Lee and Yuen Wa Chow Anthony Lyon Andrew McCarthy and Dolores Rice Jean-Hugues and Veronique Monier John Reed and Yeardley Leonard Nir Ronen and Natalie Lo Mitchell Silverman and Stefani Greenfield Amba Singh Marco Spinar and Claire Brown Mads Svendsen and Rebecca Dahele Rani Vaz ‘83 Jason and Jessica Woods

4th Grade – 100% Parent Participation Rudy Almonte and Vivian Contreras Juan and Monika Beltran Svein and Olga Berg Gianpaolo De Felice and Gabrielle Karan Kurt and Jennifer Elling Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi Arthur and Kathryn Garfunkel Evan Gsell & Jodi Peikoff John and Silvia Heller David Hillcoat and Ellen Jacobson Andrew Hubner and Sarah Hayes Anthony Knerr and Susanne Kastler-Knerr Alan and Gulhan Kulatti Antonio Luis and Teresa Benedict Kristin Mathis Raphael and Christina Peacock Nicholas Platt and Robyn Watts Richard Strassberg and Michèle Meland-Stassberg Larry and Abbey Warsh Ryan and Hope Welker

5th Grade – 88% Parent Participation James Archey Joseph Bradley and Valentina Akerman Elisa Caraballo Luiz De Salvo and Patricia Schwartz Antoine Douaihy Ben Ellcome Jose Ferreira and Suzette Soltero Joshua Haron and Leah Azoulay Heather Harrigan Abigail Hill Steve Yung and Nicole Kassell Luis and Mary Llosa Diane Mahiques Brennon Marcano and Isabelle Delalex Antonio Marin and Gabrielle Ortiz ‘83 Greg and Ginger Pardlo

Sandeep Qusba and Dawn Rhodes John Reed and Yeardley Leonard Mark Reed and Daria Ilunga Michael Ricciardi John and Mary Rosa Ami Rothschild James Salser and Lisa Greissinger Marco Spinar and Claire Brown Jose and Christina Vicente Juan and Susann Villanueva

6th Grade – 88% Parent Participation Elena Aleksandrova Svein and Olga Berg Philip and Jamie Carter Richard Emery and Melania Levitsky Esther Faingold Adam Fuss Andrew Gibbons and Manveet Saluja John and Silvia Heller Ricardo Jacob Chung-Yu Lee and Yuen Wa Chow Rama and Sara Madhu Daniel and Claudia Mahler Andres Sanchez and Ayarilis Pena Richard Strassberg and Michèle Meland-Strassberg Larry and Abbey Warsh Greg and Irene Worley

7th Grade – 74% Parent Participation Jane Byrne Debra Byrne Gianpaolo De Felice and Gabrielle Karan Robert Drach and Terri Gumula Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi Benim Foster and Rachel Jones Randall and Elizabeth Hixenbaugh Dr. Harold and Stacey Kelly S. Kristin Kim Robert and Pamela Melet Michael New Cristian and Luz Naselli Whitney and Tamar Quillen Kevin Rodriguez and Sumei Situ Michael and Camila Steiner Juan and Susann Villanueva

8th Grade – 57% Parent Participation Rudy Almonte and Vivian Contreras Jason and Kristy Glass Helge Jordheim and Anne Lie Luis Fernando and Mary Llosa Andrew McCarthy and Dolores Rice Nicholas Platt and Robyn Watts Rande Price Sandeep Qusba and Dawn Rhodes Shafiq Taher and Zeina Kinj

9th Grade – 61% Parent Participation Luis Evangelista Mitchel and Meggan Friedman Servane Hottinger Anthony Knerr and Susanne Kastler-Knerr THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

45

Luis Fernando and Mary Llosa Michael and Dee Mainieri Walter Martinelli and Valerie Striar Nicholas McGrane and Leah Modigliani Martin Toub and Mary Jo Pagano Hisatoshi and Tsuya Shiraishi Ingrid Vega Matthew Verdery and Rocio Rodriguez

10th Grade – 100% Parent Participation Iris Alfonso Grant Aumell Luisa Baez Paula Bass Ilhan and Kyra Cubukcuoglu Linette Dunbar Suzanne Gregoire Stefan and Ayse Hagmann Ximena Jimenez Dan and Jane Jones Patricia LoParrino Robert and Carla Lunder Konstantine and Carmen Nalpantidis Jeannie O’Conor Jessica Ocasio Niomi Plotkin Whitney and Tamar Quillen Mark Recht and Myra Friendman David and Lena Rosenblum Andres David Sanchez and Ayarlis Pena Drs. Andrew and Anke Scheinfeld Scott Shepard and Phyllis Gottesman Euiseoup and Sunwoo Yoon Kenya and Michael Young

11th Grade – 72% Parent Participation Joseph and Vida Atanga Brian and Melinda Cullman Dr. Harold and Stacey Kelly Hannah Labovitch Lena Armel Wayne and Lisa McKenzie Eric and Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth Geoffrey and Ahna Peterson John Rosa and Mary Rosa Angel Santiago and Nancy Acosta Oliver Schaper and Lily Zand Scott Shepard and Phyllis Gottesman Chuck Smith and Sono Kuwayama Robert Snider and Francesca Marc-Antonio Michael Sutton Elfy Urena

12th Grade – 63% Parent Participation Christopher and Lori Countey Tamar Grimm-Feeser Philippe and Christine Guelton Luis Fernando Llosa and Mary Llosa Robert and Carla Lunder Alex Neuhoff & Diana Marin ‘00 Dennis Pinto and Joy Phelan-Pinto Syed Rahim and Syedha Nazneed Stephen and Elizabeth Rubin Drs. Andrew and Anke Scheinfeld

46

ALUMNI DONORS

BY DECADE A. Herbert Hagens ’41 Gerda S. Carmichael ’43 Waltraude S. Woods ’48 Anne Sidamon-Eristoff ’49 Thomas G. Wetzl ’50 Dr. Samuel Smith ’54 Max Bermann ’55 Carol Gleklen ’57 William Tandler ’58 Raym De Ris ’59 Virginia Flynn ’59 Dana Benjamin ’60 Frances Hershkowitz ’60 Maj. Willard Peschier ’60 Renate Poliakine ’60 Diana Ronell ’60 Howard Straus ’60 Noel Trachtenberg ’60 Robert Lilienthal ’61 Christiane Landowne ‘63 Tari Perlstadt ’63 Friederike Felber Seligman ’63 Diana Smith ’63 Rose Edinger ’64 Jan Freundschuh ’64 Corinne Spingarn ’64 Dian Woodner ’64 Rallou Hamshaw ’65 Deborah Morris ’65 Michael Pepper ’65 Helene Pinsky ’65 Colony Elliott Santangelo ’65 Robin Zeamer ‘65 Dr. Peter Yurchenco ’66 Janet Asten ’67 Deborah Shriver ’67 Alexandra Gifford ’68 Michael Nemser ’68 Dr. Daniel Szekely ’68 Susan Robinson ’69 Beth Rudin DeWoody ’70 Patricia Haft ’70 Renata Harbison ’70 Todd Schlieben ’70 Kim Akeret ’71 Anthony Cookson ’71 Mathieu Gregoire ’71 Ihor Radysh ’71 Edward Schlieben ’71 Peter Bing ’72 Jenny Hall ’72 Pieter Kuypers ’72 Jane Porter ’72 Gail Ritscher ’72 Carol Bärtges ’73 Lawrence Bauer ’73 Renee Cossutta ’73 Julia Hays ’73 Suzanne Furth Victor ’73 Dr. Steven Wolf ’73

Patricia Coates ’74 Suzanne C. Gregoire ’74 Jon Hess ’74 Stefanie Soichet ’74 Allison Stabile ’74 Anne Waxman ’74 Stephen McKenzie ’75 Christina Root ’75 Grant Werner ’75 Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg ’76 Frederick Leichter ’76 Peter Nitze ’76 Johannes Richter ’76 Kenneth Weinrib ’76 Thomas Glocer ’77 Claudia Stone ’77 Lindsay Wasserman ’77 Joanna Charnas ’78 Adam LeGrant ’78 Lorenzo Mitchell ’78 Baron Roberts ’78 Dr. Hallie Robbins ‘78 Mark Sonnino ’78 Catherine Burns ’79 Deborah Carmichael ’79 Kirsten Grünberg ’79 Lucia Santiago ’79 Alice B. Stock ’79 Marc Trachtenberg ’79 Deborah Grace Winer ’79 Brooke Bedrick ’80 Dr. Richard Dyer ’80 Laurie Feit ’80 Dr. Russell D. Robbins ’80 Nancy A. Thomson ’80 Fana Tuku ’80 Jessica D. Winer ’80 Alison Cariati ’83 Katharine Grant ’83 Suzanne Kammin Baron ’83 Gabrielle L. Ortiz ’83 James Roth ’83 Rani Z. Vaz ’83 Jeffrey Weber ’83 David Schneider ’84 Tommy Friedner ’85 Lukardis von Studnitz ’85 Erika Ludwig ’86 David Nadel ’87 Genia Patestides ’88 Joseph Adago ’90 Alexander Kadvan ’90 Marc Nioche ’90 Ron Passaro ’95 Stephanie Elizabeth Junger-Moat ’99 Ana S. Marin ’99 Kristie Roberts ’99 Eric L. Bowman ’00 Diana E. Marin ’00 Grace J. Pinto ’00 Justin Aaronson ’02 Stefanie Casillas ’03 Ian Hoffmann ’03

Ella Muradyan ’03 Andrew Casarsa ’04 Kevin R. Grant ’04 Matthew J. Troy ’04 Sarah Hetherington ’05 Sarah Ohana ’05 Tristan Mantel-Hoffmann ’06 Jason Martin ’06 William B. Beinecke ’07 Sky Dylan-Robbins ’07 Courtney L. Spiller ’07 Calen Cole ’08 Morgan Ross ’09 Ki Smith ’09 Elie Mala ’10 Benjamin Trachtenberg ’12 Calen Cole ‘13 Matthew Trachtenberg ’15

ALUMNI PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS & FRIENDS Anonymous (1) Belinda Agar Jacqueline Ahrens Shera M. Aranoff Rachele Armstrong Stephen Armstrong Dr. and Mrs. Richard Ascher Mary Aumell William and Susan Baldwin Carol Bärtges Esther Bauer John and Gaily Beinecke Marlu Bishop-Jordan Admiral Kevin and Eugenia Bone Karen Braga Sara Briggs Margaret and Edward Brown, Sr. Elisa M. Caraballo Blanche L. Christerson Christopher and Lori Countey Pierre and Connie Crosby Gail Cruise-Roberson Diane Daniels Diana Delgado-Andrade Mr. and Mrs. Fred Dixon Jorge and Gisela Ferradas Bruce Frishkoff Dr. Iona Ginsburg Irene E. Goodale Susan Goodale John Greene Samuel and Isabel Gross Lisa Gustin Martin and Margaret Heller Carl and Elsa Hetherington Lester and Dorothy Hoffman Nakia Humphrey Syl and Linda Hutchinson Mara Igartua Celina Irby Patricia Kadvan Allen Kraus and Lynn Parkerson

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Shirley L. Latessa Myron Levitsky George and Elaine Malin Joshua Malin D. Edward and Julie Martin Joe McInerny and Susy Korb Mac and Ellen Mead Joyce Monges Dr. Leonard Nadel and Mrs. Rhoda Nadel Dr. & Mrs. Warren Nadel Marc and Ann Nioche Michael Pisacane Rosemary Plane Mark A. Primrose Roger Questel and Ellen Salvadori Chris and Lydie Raschka David and Carolyn Rothschild Mary Ellen Schaeffer Marion Schlapfer Edward Schlieben ’71 Herbert and Debbie Schneider Lucy Schneider David Sepiachvili and Natalia Martin Merle Louise Simon Rose Snider Scott Sturniolo and Stefanie Soichet ‘74 Albert and Alice Spekman Jim Steiner Goran Sare and Claudia Stone ‘77 Marc ’79 and Dawn Trachtenberg Dominic Vaz and Marilyn Wright Vaz Jeffrey and Clio Venho Lawrence and Judith Weber David W. White Joan Williams Shannon and Robert Williams

Eileen Diskin Tamar Feeser Jose Ferreira Joe Fitzgerald Myra Friedman Olena Horban Galanti Renni Greenberg Yael Hameiri Rallou Hamshaw ’65 Chris J. Hancock Kristin Hawkins Julia Hays ’73 Rosemarie Hester Mary Lynn Hetsko Abigail Hill Timothy Hoffmann Elanor James Brian Kaplan Wendy Kelly Katrina Keptner Annie Kravet Linda E. Larson Jennie Leung Leslie Li Jairo Loaiza Patricia LoParrino Dr. William D. Macatee Dena Malon Irene Mantel Samantha Margles Jorge Martinez Kristin Matthis Marina McGrew Gary Mui Dr. Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth Sarah Ohana ’05 Lucia Oswald April Pereyra Vigil CURRENT AND FORMER Rafael Perez-Ramos FACULTY & STAFF In addition to furthering the School’s mission in Geri Perkal all that they do, a great many current and former Christian Perry Brian Plane members of the faculty and staff of Rudolf Steiner School stepped forward to support the Marisha Plotnik Annual Fund. We appreciate greatly all they do Renate Poliakine ’60 Ihor Radysh ’71 for our School and community.

Deborah Renna Anonymous (1) Katharina Roos Cybelle Afable Marilyn Ruppart Walter Alexander Andres David Cruz Sanchez Marta Almirall Thomas Schaefer Rudy Almonte Anke Scheinfeld John Anderson Edward Schlieben ’71 Kirsten S. Anderson Lucy Schneider Semone Bailey Julia Sergeyeva-Benenson Carol Bärtges ’73 Amba Singh Dale A. Bennett Renate Soybel Emily Boone Jeffrey Spade Brooke Brosenne Alexandra Spadea Richard Camacho Richard Turner Nadja Carneol Clio Venho Stefanie Casillas ’03 Jeffrey Venho Julio Catano Shannon Williams Victor Catano Alexander Yagupsky Denise Crane Jean Zay Maria Creamer Steiner.edu

FOUNDATIONS, CORPORATIONS AND MATCHING GIFT COMPANIES

annual AWSNA Conference, seek enrichment at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, and take courses at the Sunbridge Institute. Experiences like these rejuvenate and inspire our Adobe Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation teachers while providing opportunities to connect with the wider Waldorf Ares Operations, LLC community.

Brillo-Sonnino Family Foundation Deutsche Bank Jerome L. Greene Foundation JP Morgan Chase and Company, Inc. Kanter Kallman Foundation Prospect Hill Foundation Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Schwab Charitable Fund SMBC Global Foundation, Inc. Sonia Raiziss Giop Charitable Foundation The DARMA Fund The Stollman Foundation Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

2016 RESTRICTED GIFTS Briston Irby-Reynolds Music Scholarship Fund Shera M. Aranoff Stephen Armstrong Nakia Humphrey Mara Igartua Celina Irby Mark A. Primrose

E.E. Ford High School Faculty Development Fund Established in May of 2000 by a matching grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, this fund supports High School faculty professional development Endowment Fund for Faculty Compensation –75th Anniversary Established through the Capital & Endowment Gifts Initiative, this fund is restricted to faculty compensation to ensure the quality and caliber of Rudolf Steiner School faculty.

Dr. Richard Dyer ’80 Mr. and Mrs. João Castro Neves

Estate of Gertrude Johanna Peter In accordance with Mrs. Peter’s last wishes, this fund was established to support scholarships for students who demonstrate both financial need and strong scholastic aptitude.

Anonymous(1) Rudy Almonte and Vivian Contreras Svein and Olga Berg Enrique Bernales and Nathalia Jabur Joe Bradley and Valentina Ackerman Meredith Buckles ’80 Katherine Dolezal João Castro Neves and Cristine Thomé Luiz De Salvo and Patricia Schwarz Kurt and Jennifer Elling Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi Daniel Goldstein and Terri Adler Mohammed and Betty Grimeh Chris and Sarah Gunderson Elanor James and Sagi Erez Joshua Kaiser and Molly Bloom Seth and Julie Lieber Daniel and Claudia Mahler Eric and Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth Lucy Schneider Steven and Shoshanna Sebring Jeffrey Spade Marco Spinar and Claire Brown Mark Sullivan and Marguerite Krull Martin Toub and Mary Jo Pagano Masahiro and Suyapa Yaguchi Steven Yung and Nicole Kassell Yung Evan and Ku-Ling Yurman

Kacey Cisyk Rakowicz Fund Named in memory of parent Kacey Cisyk Rakowicz, mother of Eddie Rakowicz ’09 and an outstanding vocalist who cared deeply about music education, this fund is dedicated toward the enrichment of the music program.

Olena Horban Galanti

Laura Nadel Art and Music Fund The Laura Nadel Art & Music Fund was established in memory of Laura Nadel, class of 1983, and is designed to meet the most pressing priorities within the music and arts program, and to foster the unique approach to arts education for which the Rudolf Steiner School is known.

Margaret and Edward Brown, Sr. Katharine Grant ’83 Adam LeGrant ’78 Faculty Professional Development Fund Stefan and Ayse Nazlim Hagmann The Faculty Development Fund Chris J. Hancock provides financial support for the Fred and Hannelore Mani enrichment of our educators. Teachers David ’87 and Nicole Nadel frequently attend seminars like the Dr. Leonard Nadel and Mrs. Rhoda Nadel THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

47

Dr. and Mrs. Warren Nadel James Roth ’83 Jeffrey ’83 and Stacey Weber Lawrence and Judith Weber Euiseoup and Sunwoo Yoon

May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation Fund Since the 1980s, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation has been a generous supporter of the Rudolf Steiner School tuition assistance program.

New York Rotary Foundation Fund for Tuition Assistance This fund was established in 1998 by a gift from the New York Rotary Foundation to fund scholarships for deserving students with financial need.

Justin Aaronson ’02 Joseph Adago ’90 Janet and Peter Asten ’67 William and Susan Baldwin Suzanne Kammin Baron ’83 Marlu Bishop-Jordan Eric L. Bowman ’00 Catherine Burns ’79 Andrew Casarsa ’04 Calen Cole ’08 Mr. and Mrs. Fred Dixon Joe and Deane Fitzgerald Charles Foster and Joylynn Holder Olena Horban Galanti Kevin R. Grant ’04 John Greene Kirsten Grünberg ’79 Julia Hays ’73 Sarah Hetherington ’05 Lester and Dorothy Hoffman Alexander Kadvan ’90 and Sarah Fanning Robert and Carla Lunder Elie Mala ’10 Ana S. Marin ’99 Diana E. Marin ’00 and Alex Neuhoff Luigi Mercone and Claire Szeto Ella Muradyan ’03 Marc ’90 and Ann Nioche Ron Passaro ’95 Michael Pepper ’65 Marc Pilaro and Anita Bitton Grace J. Pinto ’00 Dennis Pinto and Joy Phelan-Pinto Stephen and Elizabeth Rubin Dr. and Mrs. Evan Sloan Alice B. Stock ’79 Shafiq and Zeina Kinj Taher Noel Trachtenberg ’60 Matthew J. Troy ’04 Fana Tuku ’80 Rani Z. Vaz ’83 Lindsay Wasserman ’77 Deborah Winer ’79 Jessica D. Winer ’80 lya Zeldin and Yevgeniya Rozenblit

48

Science Lab Established by the class of 2015 for the purpose of overhauling and renovating lab space in the Upper School. This fund is still active and accepting donations until it reaches the project’s targeted amount.

Robert and Carla Lunder

Soybel Family Fund in Honor of Trude Haake This permanently endowed fund supports aspects of the Rudolf Steiner School Language Program, including, but not limited to, class trips, classroom supplies, and scholarships to study abroad.

Olena Horban Galanti Renate Soybel

COMMEMORATIVE GIFTS TO THE ANNUAL FUND

In Memory of Arthur Soybel who created the foreign language fund in memory of my mother, Trude Haake, after her death.

Renate Soybel In Memory of Clara Thomson ‘71 Nancy A. Thomson ‘80 and Dan Farber In Memory of Chrystyna Francesca Rymarenko Olena Horban Galanti In Memory of Luciano Galanti Olena Horban Galanti In Memory of Thomas Soybel ‘75 Patricia Coates ‘74 Olena Horban Galanti In Memory of Mrs. Barnes Patricia Haft In Memory of Rudolf Copple Susan Robinson

In Honor of Ms. Afable Belinda Agar

In Memory of Frank U. and Ruth L. Furth Suzanne Furth Victor ‘73

In Honor of Evangelina Sloan Leiva Dr. and Mrs. Evan Sloan

In Memory of William and Dorothy Harrer David White

In Honor of Renate Soybel Emily Boone

•••

In Honor of Lucy Schneider George and Elaine Malin Joshua Malin In Honor of Lucy Schneider’s 75th Birthday Herbert and Debbie Schneider

We have made every effort to be as accurate as possible in compiling our lists of donors. If your name has been listed incorrectly or was omitted, please call the Development Office at 212-535-2130 ext.206 and accept our most sincere apologies.

In Honor of Daron Frank Marlu Bishop-Jordan In Honor of Saundra Dixon Mr. and Mrs. Fred Dixon In Honor of Leila and Victor Rubash Gregory Muenzen and Leslie Dock In Honor of diversity at the school Waltraude S. Woods ‘48 In Honor of Mariann Nowack John Greene In Honor of Oliver Snider Rose Snider

IN MEMORIAM GIFTS TO THE ANNUAL FUND In Memory of Ned O’Gorman Brennon Marcano and Isabelle Delalex In Memory of Briston Irby-Reynolds Celina Irby In Memory of Teddy Wilson Jr. and Colin Easton Corinne Spingarn In Memory of Betty Szold Krainis Deborah Morris In Memory of former teacher Joan Flynn Dyer Dr. Richard Dyer In Memory of Joan Flynn whose love of RSS and passion to help others knows no bounds Kipany Productions, LTD In Memory of Joan Flynn Dyer Syl and Linda Hutchinson In Memory of Peter Bethke Stacey Gillis Weber and Jeffrey A. Weber Fund In Memory of Zachary Milliken Jeffrey and Clio Venho In Memory of Rebecca Sloan, Stephanie Papoulis, Jeffrey Friedman, and Christina Angelides Lisa Gustin

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

The Founders Circle Honoring The Past, Building A Future

Named in honor of the intrepid individuals who established the first Waldorf School in North America. The Founders Circle welcomes all those who wish to follow in the footsteps of these great visionaries by making a legacy gift to the school.

Sir John Baring Dale Bennett Gerda Schmid Carmichael ’43 Robert Dandrew Daniel and Ruth Franks Ruth Geiger* Frances Hershkowitz ’60 Adam LeGrant ’78 Joyce Monges Gertrude Johanna Peter* David Nadel ’87 Michael Pisacane Raymond Schlieben* Lucy Schneider Irene Stein ’61 Elizabeth Kovacs Washburn ’54 David* and Gretchen Weir Joseph and Gaile Zolot* *Deceased If you have already named the Rudolf Steiner School in your estate planning and your name does not appear above, or if you wish to learn more about leaving a legacy gift, please contact the Development Office at 347-289-7234.

Steiner.edu

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

49

Jerome L. Greene Foundation Grant Rudolf Steiner School is the proud recipient of Jerome L. Greene Foundation Grant

T

he Rudolf Steiner School is delighted to have been selected by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation for a generous grant of $240,000 to fund scholarships in our high school. The Greene Foundation invests in organizations that have transformative impact in New York City and around the nation.

The grant will provide full scholarships for three years for two academically gifted high school students from underserved New York communities allowing us to invite exceptional new students into the RSS high school community.

We are especially proud that the Rudolf Steiner School is the first Nursery-12 school to receive a grant from the foundation. Established in 1978 by real estate attorney, philanthropist and consummate New Yorker, Jerry Greene, the Jerome L. Greene Foundation has invested over $400 million in organizations and projects focusing on arts, education, health and social justice with gifts to educational institutions such as Columbia University, Juilliard, Yale School of Drama and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

We are deeply honored to join such a distinguished list of educational recipients, and extend our profound gratitude to the Jerome L. Greene Foundation. 

50

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Community Education Calendar Dates and times are subject to change. Please check our calendar for up-to-date information at steiner.edu.

OCTOBER 2016 Thursday, October 13, 7:00pm Teaching of Reading with Cybelle Afable Monday, October 17, 7:00pm Internet Safety with Liz Repking (w/ Media Committee)

JANUARY 2017 Thursday, January 19, 7:00pm Second Annual Steiner School Poetry Café

FEBRUARY 2017 Lunar New Year Celebration (TBA) Thursday, February 16 Alumni Career Networking Panel for Current Students

MARCH 2017 Tuesday, March 7, 8:20am Humanities Curriculum Presentation with John Anderson

APRIL 2017 Wednesday, April 20 7:00pm Math/Science Curriculum Presentation with Dan Marsh and Marisha Plotnik

Steiner.edu

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE

51

4 WAYS TO GIVE Annual Giving is the yearly appeal made by all independent schools to their constituencies to bridge the gap between tuition income and the cost of running the school. These gifts are tax deductible. Your contribution is important to the Rudolf Steiner School.

1

2

3

4

GIFTS OF CASH: Checks are the most popular way to make a gift. Checks should be made payable to the Rudolf Steiner School.

GIFTS OF SECURITIES: The school maintains a brokerage account to accept gifts of stock. If your broker or bank holds your stock, it can be transferred directly to the Rudolf Steiner School. Instructions for transferring stocks to the School may be obtained from the Development or Business Office.

MATCHING GIFTS: Many companies match the philanthropic contributions of their employees. Donors should obtain Matching Gift Request forms from their company’s Human Resource Department. If you are unsure if your company participates, ask your Human Resource Department or the Rudolf Steiner School Development Office.

BEQUESTS: Naming the School as a beneficiary in your will is a generous way to remember the Rudolf Steiner School while reducing your estate tax. Donors can choose to leave a percentage of their estate or a fixed amount.

CONTACT DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS Eileen Diskin, Director of Annual Giving and Alumni Relations, 212-535-2130 ext. 222

52

THE SPIRAL THE 2016 ISSUE Steiner.edu

Lower School 15 East 79th Street New York, NY 10075 212.535.2130 Upper School 15 East 78th Street New York, NY 10075 212.879.1101 Steiner.edu

ON THE COVER Line drawing by alumnus David Slotwiner ’84.

Read his story on page 12.

ON THIS PAGE Class of 2016 college matriculation tree