THE GLOBE Small School, Big World
The Newsletter of the Great Barrington Waldorf High School Issue 1
Autumn 2012
Volume 10
Low Tide Waits for No One
Seniors make the annual pilgrimage to Hermit Island By Samuel O’Brient Class of 2013
We arrived at Hermit Island on Maine’s rocky coast late in the afternoon. For the seventh year, the GBWHS seniors joined the senior classes of eight other Waldorf schools, totaling more than 100 students, for the annual zoology seminar. We set up our tents as soon as we arrived and rushed off to explore and meet new friends. That evening, we all participated in a sing-along around a bonfire, taking time to observe Rosh Hashanah. Each morning we awoke before the sun and headed off to the tide pools. As Mr. Sagarin said, “Low tide waits for no one.” In addition to our zoology seminar, we attended workshops such as microscope lab, watercolor
painting, poetry, and beach & dune ecology. We were graced with clear skies until a powerful storm struck on Wednesday, when heavy rain and winds that reached 50 miles per hour swept through our campground. Tents were blown away and another school was forced to seek shelter in the beach kelp shed. The next day, instead of going to the tide pools, we duct-taped our shoes safely to our feet and headed across a salt marsh to a wide mud flat, seeking clams and worms in the thick, muddy ground. The mud was like quicksand, and several students lost a shoe (or two) in the expedition. Robin Graney got stuck in the ooze and had to be rescued. After our mission was accomplished, we headed to the beach, ripped off our shoes, and rushed into the ocean, amidst relieved cries of “To
Top Left: GBWHS Seniors on Hermit Island. Top Right: Senior Samuel O’Brient inspecting a starfish. Bottom Left: Starfish. Photos by Mr. Sagarin.
the sea!” Our evenings were great fun too. We enjoyed intense discussions, solo and group performances, a rousing contra dance. On one evening two local authors, Ellen Cooney, a fine novelist, and Wayne Beach, a spine-tingling screenwriter, came to share their writing experiences with us. Altogether, a great adventure!
Autumn 2012
An Infamous Showdown Mr. Sagarin vs. the Camp Hi-Rock Ropes Course
By Robin Graney Class of 2013
The morning air was crisp and yellow leaves fluttered in the warm September breeze. There was not a hint of any disaster in the serene blue sky. We ventured out of our cabins, trekked blithely up the rocky path to the dining hall at Camp Hi-Rock, gratefully sniffing the hearty fragrance of potatoes, eggs, and “cheese.” After breakfast, we began our final foray to the high ropes course. Once there, we “listened attentively” to the mandatory safety instructions before we harnessed ourselves and began the perilous ascent to the wires thir-
ty feet above. The rousing strains of British Invasion rock music cheered us on. One student at a time, we hauled ourselves up the shaking apparatus, urged on by shouts of encouragement from the others. Almost all the students had gone through the high ropes course, most without falling, when Mr. Sagarin confidently began clambering up the daunting apparatus. The hefty wooden rungs groaned with each step he took. The creaking grew more intense. Everyone began to look worried. Then a sharp crack rang through the campsite and we all gasped in dismay. The over-stressed wood of one of the
Top Left: Mr. Sagarin dangles dangerously from the ropes course as a faulty wooden rung falls to the ground. Top Right: Freshman Evan Seitz. Bottom Right: Sophomore Raphaela Seward-Mayer. Photos by Mr. Sagarin and Robin Graney.
rungs from the ladder splintered in two, leaving Mr. Sagarin clinging for dear life to the rung above him. After a moment of helplessly swinging in the air, he heroically pulled himself up past the gap to the next stage, with difficulty but surprising gracefulness, and then continued his climb. He made it all the way to the top platform, from where he launched into his classic superman pose and soared down the zip line.
Autumn 2012
Fresh Faces
The High School Welcomes Three New Teachers
Guy Nordoff Sculpture
Jill Fleming
Kathleen Sagarin
Physical Education Math and Science
By Evan Seitz Class of 2016
By Victor Feldman Class of 2016
By Victor Feldman Class of 2016
Throughout his artistic career, Guy Nordoff has practiced many forms and styles art. He has been trained by exceptional teachers, in countries from Switzerland to South Africa. He has studied art forms from therapeutic painting to advanced sculpture. He received his degree and teaching certification from the Goetheanum Free Academy for the Arts in Switzerland. His conviction in the intrinsic value of learning art is the driving force behind his teaching. In his own words, art “will broaden one’s horizons toward what is possible, even for the teacher who witnesses it.”
Beyond being a gym coach, Jill Fleming is a circus arts master. She runs a summer circus camp where students are given the opportunity to explore the exciting world of circus arts. Here, under her encouraging advice, the students build new skills, and accomplish feats they never believed they were capable of. Ms. Fleming teaches students how to land from flips, walk a tightrope; she has been known to conduct soccer games on stilts. When I was younger, she coached me from riding a unicycle, to cycling while juggling scarfs, so that by the time we actually performed I was an accomplished young acrobat.
Kathleen Sagarin, the youngest teacher at the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, began working after graduating from McGill University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Science. For her last two years in college she worked at a laboratory on what is known as the “chickensaurus project.” This is a project that seeks to unlock the secrets of dinosaur genetics in a chicken and Ms. Sagarin’s focus was on mapping the development of a dinosaur’s limbs. She gathered baseline data and continued to work there until her graduation. Ms. Sagarin’s bright new take on science and mathematics brings a lively spark to her classes.
Autumn 2012
Orange Socks
Soccer Team Enjoys a Record Breaking Season By Samuel O’Brient Class of 2013
We had a winning season: 7 wins – 2 ties – 3 losses! Halfway through the season, our team was doing well, under the skillful guidance of new coach Bart Elsbach, and our team got better with each game. Senior Samuel O’Brient agreed to join the team upon the urging of several teammates. His joining inspired freshman Sean Thrasher to jump on board, and after him came junior Mac Litishin and sophomore Raphaela Seward - Mayer. The team also featured homeschooled brothers Jordan and Jake Neves, and thanks to them, our squad acquired Casey Angelo, a varsity soccer star from Taconic Hills Regional High School. For our first game we drove to Williamstown, MA, to play Buxton School. Although we lost 5 goals to 2, it was a well-played opening game. Both our goals were scored by sophomore Kosta Koufis. Our second game was at home against White Oak School. We dominated from the start, scoring several goals in the first half.
Next we traveled across the border to New York to take on the Kildonan School. Kildonan was our most challenging opponent to date and although we lost the game 5 goals to 3, our team fought with everything it had. The following week, we faced off at home against the Woodhall School, dominating 6 goals to none. We also played at home against the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Academy. Throughout the season we played well, giving the games everything we had.
Top: Our winning co-ed soccer team. Above: Sophomore William Churchill throws the ball. Left: Sophomore Kosta Koufis keeps his eye on the ball. Photos by Ramona Bellamy.
Autumn 2012
Ghost Story Contest By Evan Seitz Class of 2016
Talons of rock scratch at the sky, drawing blood as the sun sets. The tortured screams of the wind tear through the twilight. In the east, flashes of lighting illuminate threatening storm clouds. The few twisted trees still clinging to this desolate peak writhe before the force of the gale. Shards of rock as sharp as scalpels cover the ground. Up ahead a block of stone rears from the land like an ancient altar dedicated to a cruel god.
The stench of burnt ozone and sulfur fills the air. Dismayed, I survey the peak. With night falling and the storm not far off, I have no choice but to make camp here. Hours of walking on this rocky trail have blistered my feet and worn me out. My head throbs with pain, and I feel a feverish. I should have been off this mountain an hour ago. I gaze around, looking for a sheltered place to pitch my tent. Camping on a mountain peak in a storm is dangerous, but more than that, this landscape seems to ema-
The Challenge Finish Evan’s story, including a thrilling title, and you could win a $25 gift certificate at the delightful Williams & Sons Country Store in Stockbridge. Here’s how it works: Complete the story in 1,000 words or less. Everyone
is invited to enter. All entries must be received by January 7, 2013. The winner’s entry will be published in the Globe. Please include contact information with your submissions.
GOOD LUCK!
nate malice and evil. As the sun sinks beneath the horizon, I scramble to set up camp. The wind tears at my tent, snapping the guylines. I snatch it back, but the poles are splintered and the rocks have torn the fabric. What can I do now? Between one of the tallest spires and the altar stone, I find a cleft just large enough to hold me. I wrap myself in my wool blanket and the rain fly from my tent. My sore muscles groan as I settle into my makeshift sleeping place.
Submit your entries by mail to: ATT: The Globe Fiction Writing Contest PO Box 905 Great Barrington, MA 01230 By e-mail to: winslow@winsloweliot.com Or hand it to any high school student for safe delivery to the Globe advisory board. Decision of the judges is final.
What Do You Believe?
Tenth Grade Students Learn About Belief Systems in World Religions Class By Takoda Nordoff Class of 2015
The only thing that is on my mind these days is world religions. From Hinduism to Christianity to Islam, from inner peace to outer salvation, I now feel as though I have a full spectrum of religion under my belt. I also have mixed emotions about the truth. I am stirred up inside, hearing about the apparent “reality” in different faiths. Which one should I believe? During Ms. Eliot’s World Religions class, I examined the list of ideas that were offered for our independent re-
search projects, and considered the wise philosophies of Buddhism, Confucianism, and even Jainism, which I did not know much about. After much thinking, I volunteered to do my independent project on secular humanism. This belief denies the existence of the supernatural. The reason I was intrigued by humanism was that the Humanists explore what it means to be a human being, rather than looking to the spiritual for salvation. Humanists believe that the human being is capable of creating a code of ethics and of developing a sense of meaning through cause and effect.
They believe in the discoveries of science, yet they value the arts no less. Humanists appreciate other religions and diversity. Humanism is concerned with the betterment of our species, and our planet that we need to care for and protect for future generations to come. For part of my project, I interviewed a Humanist and old friend of the family in front of the class. I asked him personal questions which he related to politics and the individual. His responses were fascinating, and I think everyone in the class felt enlightened, not just me.
Autumn 2012
“To imagination, to truth, and to responsibility...”
Ten Years of Waldorf Education in the Berkshires
By Steve Sagarin Faculty Chair
If you’re ten years old, ten years probably feels very old—a whole lifetime. The older you get, the smaller a part of your life ten years becomes. It’s easy for me to remember the tumultuous summer of the birth of the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, then simply the 9th grade year of the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School. We had a new carpet, cabinets, and a blackboard in the Music Room, and we sealed a pledge to our school behind the blackboard with a 2002 penny. The pledge reads, “We dedicate the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School’s Ninth Grade to imagination, to truth, and to responsibility, in learning and in teaching. May our
Globe Staff Editor: Evan Seitz Editorial Board: Victor Feldman Robin Graney Takoda Nordoff Samuel O’Brient Adviser: Ms. Eliot Layout & Design: Emma Franco-Toner
efforts today flower tomorrow as our paths have now joined in the growth of our beloved school. September 4, 2002.” It was signed by our first 13 9th graders and a few teachers. Ten years later, we marked September 4, 2012 with a faculty meeting just before the opening of our 11th year. We are now the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, incorporated separately from GBRSS in 2004, and in our own building—rented from the First Church of Christ, Scientist—on Main Street since then. We have graduated 35 students. Most are still in college, but a few are in or have even completed graduate school in aeronautics, nutrition science, history, acupuncture, and medicine. Nearly all of our students have traveled to Germany or to South America, and many have returned for semester-long exchanges. We travel regularly to New York, Boston, and Montreal, turning our small school out into the big world. We use the chemistry lab and athletic center at Simon’s Rock College of Bard; the auditorium of Berkshire South Regional Community
Center; and the studios of local artists like potter Dan Bellow and blacksmith John Graney. Our rented building is our “home base,” and our school is integrated into our community. Our school was founded to prepare students for the best colleges and to assist adolescents in finding meaning and purpose in life, ideals intact as they step into adulthood. We believe the principles of Waldorf education support great education in academics, the arts, and service to the world. To these ends, our school community has articulated these five “core values:” seeking truth, developing imagination, fostering responsibility, nurturing freedom, and supporting growth. At a 10th anniversary Alumni Dinner last spring, one of our graduates, now in medical school, said, “Everything I do comes back to my Waldorf education… My college teachers asked me how I learned to write so well, and I told them about my high school teachers… As important, I learned to follow my passion. I am thrilled to have been part of this great school.”
The Great Barrington Waldorf High School provides an education for adolescents that seeks truth, develops imagination, nurtures growth, fosters responsibility, and honors inner freedom in an atmosphere of academic excellence, artistic fulfillment, openness, and mutual respect This work stems from the pedagogical philosophy of Rudolf Steiner and seeks to meet the educational, artistic, and social needs of students, that they may engage in life with intelligence, wisdom and moral commitment.