CO M M U NIT Y MAGA ZINE
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ALUMNI MAGAZINE Volume 5, No. 1 - Winter 2021 Cynthia Shore Editor Janine Pearson Graphic Designer BOARD OF TRUSTEES Micky Leach, President Pam Colgate, Vice President Janine Pearson, Secretary Angie Rubottom, Treasurer Danelle Aragon Adam Clark Tom Kaczmarek Fletcher Lathrop Cita Riley Ex-officio Gerson Pérez, School Administrator Carole Cressman, Campus Manager Dalbir Sahdev, Business Manager Kate Pavuk, Admissions and Development Coordinator Andy Smith, Emeritus Trustee The Santa Fe Waldorf School is an independent, nonprofit organization with accreditation through the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) and the National Council for Private School Accreditation (NCPSA). Additionally, our school is a full member of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN) and the New Mexico Athletics Association (NMAA). We welcome and serve students from a variety of social, economic, ethnic, cultural, and international backgrounds.
Students planting a tree on campus to celebrate Earth Day.
A lot can be said about what Waldorf education is. In fact, so much can be said that it has never been an easy task for anyone related to the Waldorf world to create an elevator pitch that gathers in a nutshell the essence of what really is at its core. When someone who knows nothing about Waldorf asks me "How is it different from other educational approaches?” I usually respond, "Are you free for the next four hours?” because there doesn't seem to be a short answer to a question like that. But there is another way of getting a glimpse of what lies at the essence of this worldwide movement, and that is through getting to know how people experience being a part of a Waldorf community, either as a student, an alum, a teacher, a parent, a staff or board member, or as a volunteer. I’m delighted to introduce you to our Community Magazine Winter 2021 issue, after skipping Winter 2020 and Summer 2021 issues because of the pandemic. The magazine you are now reading is full of descriptions of how people have seen their lives positively transformed by the experience of belonging to the Santa Fe Waldorf School. From recently graduated students sharing how they are exploring different career paths, to teachers telling how they were attracted to the school and what keeps them showing up every day, to alums telling their stories about how they are actively transforming the world, bringing their ideals down to earth (literally, as you will read). The magazine also portrays the joy of being together, and the importance of in-person, real human interaction, not only to develop the capacities needed for social transformation, but also as a means for individual, inner growth. Our school is thriving, solidly coming back to a normal school life rhythm. Many challenges await us in the future, and we are happy to begin this return to normalcy with our self-study process in preparation for our seven-year cycle of re-accreditation to AWSNA (the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America), a process in which the whole school will immerse itself in a deep reflection on how our programs, policies, and practices embody our mission and shared values, and how to deploy the principles and values of Waldorf education. This whole-community exercise will inform our priorities and long term plans for the future, and will ensure our school continues to serve the Santa Fe community in the years to come. I hope reading through the pages of this magazine you get to feel the excitement we feel about what we do every day and inspires you to continue to be an active part of the Santa Fe Waldorf community. Blessings,
D
Gerson Pérez School Administrator
Photo by Dham Khalsa Photography
Dear Community,
SFWS TODAY: News Highlights Festivals Return to SFWS!
IN THIS ISSUE SFWS TODAY
News Highlights Class of 2020 Photo Gallery College Essay Alumni News
ALUM PROFILES Arizona Muse
Grade 10, 2005
Bevin McPartlon Grade 10, 2008
1 3 8 11 16 6 10
WALDORF CURRICULUM
International Study Program Wilderness Education Early Childhood
STAFF & FACULTY PROFILES Elliot Ryan
Chris Sciarretta
4 12 14 5 9
PARENT PERSPECTIVE
Julie Bennett
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To view a digital version of this magazine and past issues, please visit issuu.com/santafewaldorfschool.
Help our school thrive! Santa Fe Waldorf School needs YOUR support more than ever. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we know that many of our families are facing new financial realities. Additionally, we are working hard to regularly review our campus safety procedures to keep our students, staff, and community safe and healthy. We are committed to preserving the "head, heart, and hands" of the Waldorf curriculum for our students, no matter what form it takes! Help SFWS keep preparing the next generation’s leaders for a world that needs them!
Visit santafewaldorf.org/donate today.
After a long hiatus due to the pandemic, SFWS joyfully reintroduced in-person festivals this fall. The annual encounter between St. Michael and the dragon was closed to the public, but was streamed via Zoom for the larger SFWS community. And for the first time, High School students planned and staffed the All Hallow’s Eve walk, acting in the vignettes and serving up hot cider and popcorn. From the sale of homemade treats and the walk's $5 suggested donation, the students made $1800! They chose to donate half of the proceeds to the Food Depot and the other half went to the High School Student Council. On November 12, early childhood and grades one and two students and their families celebrated the Lantern Walk and the story of St. Martin, who shared his cloak with a poor man. Due to the pandemic, our beloved Holiday Faire and Shepard's Play was canceled for the second year in a row.
Athletics - Go Wolves! Cross Country The inaugural SFWS Cross Country season ended in great success, when junior Jace Gordon, sophomore Jaden Stroope, and freshman Ria Baker competed in the State meet. All athletes raced well in the five kilometer race and finished the season strong. Volleyball We are also thrilled to have had another successful volleyball season; here is Coach Jon Caley’s recap of the year: "The varsity volleyball team wrapped up their season with their best record in three seasons (14-6). They placed second in district 1A-7 and missed going to the state tournament by only a couple of criteria points. We are all looking forward to returning to the court next fall."
New Teachers and Staff
A wonderful new crew has joined the school in 2021, and we are glad to welcome them. They are: • Latifa Abdul-Haqq, Early Childhood Assistant • Michael Carrol, High School Math Teacher • Nancy Carson, Grade 1 Teacher • Karen Cormier, Aftercare Teacher • Susanna Green, Middle School & High School Office Coordinator • Jennifer Gutierrez, EC & Grades Office Coordinator/Administrative Assistant • Susie Perkins, Kindergarten Assistant • Tara Roth, High School Math & Science Teacher • Dalbir Sahdev, Business Manager • Lucy Westphal, Early Childhood Assistant 1
SFWS TODAY: News Highlights SFWS Teachers and Students Continue to Take Care of the Santa Fe River
Middle School students and teacher Kathleen Taylor were back cleaning up the river at the beginning of the school year. The group was thanked in a recent Santa Fe Watershed Association newsletter, noting "Santa Fe teachers continue to participate in early back-to-school river cleanups knowing the value of these outings. For what better way is there to strengthen connections between themselves and their students than the river?" SFWS is proud to be a partner with the Santa Fe Watershed Association for over 10 years now.
Development News
The school has held three successful fundraisers so far this school year. The first, Music del Sol, was a new event, a music-filled outdoor party to welcome families back to school on August 21. Gerardo’s Andale! Food Truck and Paleteria Oasis provided dinner and sweets, and three bands—all with ties to the SFWS community—performed flamenco jazz to funk to afro-infused marimba music. This event raised money to support our music program and our annual fund.
SFWS Ranked #1 Best Private K-12 Schools in New Mexico
Niche released their 2022 Best Schools in America rankings and Niche Grades and we’re happy to share that Santa Fe Waldorf School achieved the rank of #1 in Best Private K-12 Schools in New Mexico and received an A grade, as we did in 2018 and 2019. Write a review for Santa Fe Waldorf School for a chance to win $1,000 at Niche.com to help other parents make a more informed choice about which school is right for their family.
Student Achievements
Eighth-grade cellists Alisa Goorley, Cora Ryan, and violist Ruby Stroope won places in October's annual North Central NM Music Educator's Honor Clinic Orchestra performance. The trio joined students from Mandela International Magnet School, Los Alamos Middle School, St. Michael's High School and Eldorado Community School. High School senior Julian Rhode has been named a Commended Student in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program as a recognition of exceptional academic promise. Rhode placed among the top 50,000 students who entered the 2022 competition by taking the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. High School senior, violinist Lily Clark, was accepted into the 2022 All-State Music Conference. She was awarded the concertmaster chair for her spectacular audition and has been selected every year since 2018, due to her hard work, commitment, and talent. The conference will be held in Albuquerque on January 8, 2022. Clark will join 200 other high school students selected throughout New Mexico. Seniors Julian Rhode, named Commended Student, and Lily Clark, awarded concertmaster chair at All-State Music Conference. 2
Toubab Mob, with Grammy Award-winning Chris Berry, performing at our first annual Music del Sol. The seventh annual Wolf Pack Trail Run, held on September 26, raised funds for the Sports Booster Club and the school's athletic programs. High school freshman Ria Baker won first place in the female 5K race, and our cross country coach, James Yarrow, took the men’s first place. Tenth-grader Jaden Stroope earned second place, and junior Jace Gordon took third place in the men’s race. The event also provided a 3K race and participants could either run or walk a loop through the Arroyo Hondo Open Space. Our third annual Online Holiday Auction, held from November 26 to December 6, has become one of our school’s foremost fundraising events of the year. Many thanks to our generous families, local businesses, and the extended community for helping make this year's auction a success—we surpassed our fundraising goal of $20,000 and forty percent of the items were from our very talented community of SFWS teachers, parents, grandparents, students and alums! Visit www. santafewaldorf.org/auction for the total amount raised and a list of auction item donors. The funds raised from the auction provide vital support to the annual operating budget, help us enhance and expand our programs, and ensure the long-term viability of the SFWS.
Class of 2021
SFWS SENIOR JOINS INAUGURAL INDIGENOUS YOUTH COUNCIL
Photo by DeAnn Payne
High School 12th grader Trinity Roybal was named this year to the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department’s (IAD) Indigenous Youth Council, a group formed to discuss issues ranging from improving access to higher education resources to behavioral and mental health needs for tribal communities.
Class of 2021: Olivia Wilson, Indie Russell, Will Smith, Holden Duncan (standing, center), Caroline Kyser, and Deedee Jansen.
PRESENTING THE CLASS OF 2021 Despite the difficult school year of 2020/2021, the SFWS High School seniors prevailed through tough times and were accepted to an impressive list of colleges and universities.
Class Valedictorian Indie Russell
College Choices
The Class of 2021 are attending the following colleges: Holden Duncan American University Deedee Jansen Austin College Caroline Kyser University of Denver Indie Russell Saint Andrews, Scotland Will Smith University of Redlands or University of New Mexico, after a gap year. Olivia Wilson Fort Lewis College
Additional acceptances include: Adams State Bates College Beloit College Colorado State University Eckerd College Evergreen College Furman University Kenyon College Lewis and Clark College Linfield University New Mexico State University New Mexico Tech Reed College Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Sewanee, the University of the South Steven Institute of Technology Trinity College, Dublin University of Massachusetts - Boston University of Oregon University of Puget Sound Warren Wilson College Willamette University Worchester Polytechnic Institute
Roybal, from P’osuwageh Owingeh (Pojoaque Pueblo/ Water Drinking Place Village), says "While on the Youth Council, I’m hoping to be able to give a voice to Indigenous youth who aren't able to have their voices be heard. Along with that, I also hope that we can improve the wellbeing of several pueblos and tribes around New Mexico."
"I’M HOPING TO BE ABLE TO GIVE A VOICE TO INDIGENOUS YOUTH WHO AREN'T ABLE TO HAVE THEIR VOICES BE HEARD." The newly created council is made up of members representing the state’s 23 nations, tribes, and pueblos. It meets monthly and a recent issue the group addressed was promoting resources for September’s Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in social media. Other issues Roybal specifically hopes to work on are missing and murdered Indigenous women, language revitalization, and promoting the growth of traditional foods. Over the summer, the council held a virtual Youth Summit Meeting for Native youth around the state. "We had to work together to make sure everything was set in motion for the meeting. Although getting ready for that was very tiring and time consuming, we were able to have a really good turn out on the zoom meeting, having about 50 members participating and also having Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham making a small guest appearance on the first day," Roybal says. The council then consolidated the feedback from the summit meeting into recommendations for state and tribal leaders concerning the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and cultural wellness of Indigenous youth. New Mexico Indian Affairs Cabinet Secretary Lynn Trujillo praised the work of Roybal and her fellow council members; "I am proud to see these leaders in action, addressing complex issues that our youth face to protect future generations." 3
CURRICULUM: International Study Program EXCHANGE STUDENT COMES TO LOVE BOTH WALDORF AND SANTA FE Despite all the lockdowns and travel restrictions of the last 18 months, German student Klara Höhn found a way to spend her 11th grade year abroad here at the Santa Fe Waldorf School. With international travel often prohibited and few US schools willing to host foreign students, Höhn says she was lucky that at the last minute, Germany opened student travel at the end of the summer of 2020 and a place at SFWS with the Rubottom family became available. Host mother and SFWS Board of Trustees Treasurer Angie Rubottom reports, "At first we were hesitant as we don't have a teenager at home who is also attending the school, but as it turned out, I don't think that took away from Klara's experience of her year in the US. The Waldorf students in her class included her in their social life, and we made sure that she and her pals at school could experience as much of New Mexico as was available at the time," she adds. Below are Klara's reflections on her time at SFWS.
Why did you decide to become an exchange student, and why did you choose Santa Fe? In 2018, I traveled to the US for the first time. Together with my dad, we visited family friends we had known for years in New Mexico, so that was the first time that I came to Santa Fe. We stayed for three weeks and as soon as we came back home, I started missing it a lot. I liked the way of living and wanted to experience it for a longer time. I've also always loved languages and really wanted to apply my English and also improve it. Also, I found Santa Fe to be an absolutely wonderful city. On the one hand, it has the "typical" flair of American cities that I had only known from movies, but on the other hand, it is very unique with its historic downtown and beautiful houses in adobe style!
What was it like to go to school here and how is it different from home?
I don't attend a Waldorf school in Germany but I went to a Montessori school for elementary school and therefore was familiar with alternative ways of teaching. I had also heard about Waldorf education but in the end, didn't really know anything beyond the common prejudice in Germany, that Waldorf students only "dance their names" (as an allusion to eurythmy, I believe) and don't learn anything besides that, which I found to be very much unjustified in the end. So coming here and being allowed to go to Waldorf was even more exciting for me. I liked it so much better than my school in Germany! I still know the morning verse by heart. I liked saying it at the beginning of each morning lesson very much. I also enjoyed having block classes that change every other month so you could really focus on the four subjects that were on the schedule at that time, although that made the last week of the block very stressful. Due to the small number of people in my class, there was a much more pleasant learning atmosphere than in my school where we have up to 28 students in certain classes. That also created a kind of "family" environment in the high school where everyone knows each other, and where students had a very close and personal but yet very respectful relationship to the teachers. The public school I attend in Germany is rather big (about 750 students) so knowing everyone is simply impossible. Klara with the Rubottom's dog Loki; A surprise 17th birthday party with host family and several classmates; Klara and her hosts Angie and John at White Sands National Park.
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How did the pandemic affect you as an exchange student?
The whole summer of 2020 I wasn't sure if I could even leave Germany at all. When the embassy in Berlin finally agreed to grant student visas in early August, everything went super fast, and from there on I had only three weeks to leave home. Although I was so grateful to have been able to come to the US at all, especially in the first six months, Covid-19 affected my year. It was hard making new contacts when we were only allowed
When we went back to in-person school in spring and I joined the track team, everything improved promptly. Never ever in my life had I wanted to go to school that badly! In the end of the year, I did have the feeling that there was time missing that I couldn't use properly at the beginning, especially for getting to know everyone.
What are some of your favorite memories of being here?
There are so many great memories that it's hard to choose just a few! Besides several trips me and my host parents took to Texas to visit family, one of my favorite trips was to White Sands National Park. Everything about that landscape was simply unbelievable and breathtaking! In general I love to look back to the time where I spent much time with my host parents just sitting by the fire in the living room playing cards or just talking about all sorts of things. Another great memory was the camping trip at the end of the school year where I got to see a whole different side of New Mexico's gorgeous landscape. I also enjoyed the entire last week of school where the whole high school spent a lot of time together and I got to experience some typical Waldorf events like the Rose Ceremony!
What are your plans for the future?
Here in Germany, I have to repeat 11th grade again as the year abroad doesn't get counted in my credits. That's not a big deal though since I don't really have a plan for what to do after school yet. Therefore I basically have one additional year to think about that. If possible, I would also like to take another gap year after graduation from high school preferably in the US again. Either way, I am going to come back to Santa Fe since I miss it a whole lot! Klara was in Santa Fe for 10 months, leaving in July, 2021 for her home in Königs Wusterhausen, south of Berlin. Contact Klara at klarahoehn04@gmail.com.
TEACHER PROFILE Elliot Ryan Humanities Teacher, High School Student Services, HS Coordinator, HS Class Sponsor, and HS Faculty Chair Elliot Ryan came to Santa Fe Waldorf looking for something different after 11 years of teaching in public schools. The work there had left him "emotionally and physically exhausted. The Waldorf job opened up just about that time, and seemed more sustainable than the level of intensity I was working under," he says.
Photo by Dham Khalsa Photography
to be in our groups in school, and when lots of people weren't allowed to meet outside of school. Going fully online in November didn't really enhance the situation. Besides attending an American high school, I was also particularly looking forward to cheering on our sports teams at games. Unfortunately, that never happened for me.
Ryan’s initial tour of the school confirmed that he had indeed found something new: "I thought I'd arrived in some heavenly afterlife for teachers," he notes. The son of a university professor, Ryan grew up in college towns in Oregon and Arizona. He started at the University of Arizona as an engineering student, but wound up with a degree in English literature, creative writing, and classics, planning a career in academia. But instead, Ryan decided to explore different occupations, meandering from house painting and a "rambunctious" amateur career as a skateboarder before settling on herbalism in the mid ‘90s. While in Arizona at the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine, Ryan met his wife, nurse, herbalist, and poet, Kyce Bello. Ryan had done an apprenticeship in Santa Fe for his herbalism degree, and here is where he and Bello returned once his degree was complete. At that point, he notes with humor, "After years of college and almost a decade in other studies and pursuits, I decided I was finally ready to go back to high school." Ryan started working in area public schools while getting his Master’s in Secondary Education in History and English from UNM. Besides his appreciation of the SFWS campus, Ryan found his attraction to Waldorf increasing as he looked for a school for his two daughters, Cora (Grade 8) and Maida (Grade 5). "My wife and I were searching for a way to see deeply into the experience of childhood we were witnessing, and to apply principles that were both time proven and outside of consumer and media culture," he says. It also didn’t hurt that he was willing to teach things the other teachers were less than excited about. He notes, "When I was hired, they asked if I could teach a course called Faust, which I assumed, correctly, was a course nobody else wanted to teach. Of course I would! I enjoy these challenges and the learning that accompanies them." A skier, biker, mechanical tinkerer, musician and lover of all things outdoors, Ryan, now in his 21st year of teaching and 11th year at SFWS, has also completed Waldorf administrative training through the Center for Anthroposophy. He is happy to be in Santa Fe. "I feel that the Southwest is really my home and I am very attached to the land here," he says. Ryan is also glad to be at SFWS and finds working with high school students important and meaningful. This is "why I have dedicated this part of my life to helping young people understand the world. In the process, I have achieved a glimmer of understanding along the way and many great connections," he says.
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ALUM PROFILE FROM HIGH FASHION MODEL TO SUSTAINABILITY ACTIVIST What was your experience both personally and academically after Waldorf?
I arrived in Santa Fe in 1998, when I was 10 years old. My family moved from Tucson and the Tucson Waldorf School to the Santa Fe Waldorf School where I started fourth grade. I left when I was 16 in Grade 10 and went to Santa Fe Prep for two years, graduating from there, which is a decision that I regret. I really wish that I had just finished up at Waldorf. Part of the reason that I left was that I made a silly decision, like young people make sometimes. I left Waldorf because there was no off-campus privilege for teenagers, and I was a teenager who really wanted an off-campus privilege at lunchtime. That meant so much to me that I changed schools.
Arizona (Zoe) Muse Grade 10, 2005
CURRENT WORK: Founder, DIRT Greenpeace’s Oceans Ambassador Aveda’s Global Advocate for Sustainability The Sustainable Angle’s Advisory Board Member Model
"I FEEL LIKE WALDORF PREPARED MY BRAIN TO ABSORB TOTALLY NEW CONCEPTS... I MAY HAVE FOUND IT MORE CHALLENGING TO UNDERSTAND IDEAS THAT ARE DIFFERENT THAN MINE HAD I NOT HAD THIS TYPE OF EDUCATION." 6
It was an adjustment, but I don't remember Prep being particularly difficult. I was behind in computer skills, but Prep also didn't really teach me those skills either. So as a 32-year-old activist, learning and developing computer skills has been a steep learning curve for me. I didn't go to university because I went straight into modeling. Many models find time for university, but I never went, which now I'm okay with. But for a while I really regretted missing the whole experience of dormitories, and being a young person with thousands of other young people in the same environment. It would have been so much fun.
How did you choose your previous and current occupations?
I got into modeling as most models do, just because I kind of fit the bill, I was a certain height and looked a certain way. My godmother was a model and she helped me start right after high school. We went to Los Angeles together and got started, which, to be honest, wasn't a great experience. Many models find that it's not. Young women and their parents need to know a much more transparent picture of what modeling might be for their daughters, and the fact that for most people, you never succeed. You end up feeling like you failed at something and you didn't even really know what it was. [Modeling] leaves most people in a very confusing place. And although for me, I succeeded and it supported me financially for a long time—even then, it's not like it's easy and fun and it doesn’t make you feel good. There's a common misconception that models feel amazing about themselves, because they look amazing all the time. That is not true. I think models probably have the lowest self esteem and the lowest body confidence of anyone, because the opposite happens. When you see loads of pictures of yourself, you actually find all the faults, and you don't see how pretty you look at all. You just think about what could be better and you compare yourself to everyone else. Later I moved to New York and got pregnant (with son Nikko, now 12). I went to stay with my mom (former SFWS Board Member Davina Muse, 2003-2009), and thought to myself, "I won't model anymore, I'll probably go live on a farm." At the time, I was in Massachusetts near upstate New York where there are amazing biodynamic farms. But I thought I should try modeling once more because if I hadn't tried again, I would have always wondered if it could have been a career. I had a very structured plan for six months and it did work. I'm still a model, but six years ago, in London, I started my journey into sustainability, sustainable fashion, and climate change. I am now a very happy climate activist.
How did you move into activism and sustainability?
I realized that although I was a model and selling clothes, I didn't know anything about the materials that they're made from. I didn't really know much about cotton, or where it came from, or who had sewed these clothes together. I went on this learning journey, which I call the sustainability journey, and anyone who's on it knows how fascinating it is because you learn so much about the world, about global trade, about different industries, about different ways of life. It's just a never ending source of inspiration and stimulation. I first started out really quietly, reading books, watching documentaries, and speaking to people in sustainable fashion, science, and climate change. Then I walked with [the climate activism organization] Extinction Rebellion. Until then, I'd not thought of myself as an activist at all. In fact, I was a very shy child and never thought that I could possibly ever be an activist. But with Extinction Rebellion, I felt so moved. It was just so beautiful to walk in a street with other people who I knew were walking there for the same reason as me, because we all cared about the earth, right? It was that simple. And after that moment, I was like, "Yeah, I'm an activist." I love being called an activist, I identify with that. Activism is just the most exciting form of living. Try it out, start small and just dip your toes into it, find something that means something to you. I started to advocate for organizations like the Sustainable Angle, Fashion Revolution, and Client Earth. In 2019, I was invited to speak at the Biodynamic Association’s annual conference, which was a real turning point for me. Now, [former BDA Executive Director] Thea Maria Carlson is one of my Dirt trustees and I really owe to her my deep awakening of how social issues are connected to environmental issues. We will never solve the climate crisis until we solve social crises as well. Now I'm making a charity to support farming. It was always there in me, but I didn't know what it was going to turn into. I started Dirt because I was asking myself, "What is the real solution to climate change?" There are so many out there, some of them contradicting each other, and who really knows what the right one
is, but I kept coming back to soil. Soil is so degraded right now, it should have trillions of microorganisms living in every teaspoon, trillions of bacteria, fungi, lots of earthworms, but it doesn’t. Right now, clay is essentially what all fields are made up of. This is from years of farming with heavy duty machinery and with herbicides sprayed multiple times a year on fields of genetically modified crops. It's convenient for farmers whose goal for a long time in the normal agricultural world has been to reduce labor. It's easier to spray [the herbicide] glyphosate on a field to kill all the weeds than it is to pay lots of people to come in and pull out the weeds. But those chemicals are washing off fields and entering all the water systems, which eventually end up in the seas and oceans. And this is one of the major reasons why life in the oceans is dying. It’s nuts that that is how we grow our food. Dirt is also placing a strong emphasis on things that are grown in farms that are not food, because all of our fashion, all of the wood for our furniture, all of the wool for our rugs, and our upholstery, are grown on farms with chemicals. We need to start really appreciating that every single thing we need in life that's not derived from the fossil fuel industry comes from farms.
How did Waldorf benefit your life?
My Waldorf education benefits my life immensely. I didn't always feel this way. When I was younger, I really had a rebellion against Waldorf. I was annoyed that I wasn't prepared in certain ways for the world. I think I was mostly annoyed that the environment of the Waldorf schools was very sheltered, so then I felt like the outer world was scary. Then I grew up, went into the normal world and was like, "Oh, this is really fun. Everyone's really nice. I don't get it. Why was I sheltered from this?" Now I've come full circle and am really grateful that I went to a Waldorf school. My environmental activism has brought me to read a lot about things like regenerative economics, social change, community organization, which are really, really intense continued on page 9
ARIZONA MUSE ON DIRT AND BIODYNAMICS Dirt is an international organization that sources projects from the biodynamic farming movement from anywhere in the world. We invite any farmers who are biodynamic farmers to submit projects to us. All we really need to know is what the project is, how much it is going to cost and how long it's going to take. The only criteria is that it's a biodynamic project. Then we will look for funding and support the project management. Funding for each project will come from one donor which will be a business because we want to connect businesses with soil reparations. Businesses have been profiting for such a long time off the degradation of soil, so it's really time to turn that around and pour corporate money into the reparation of soil and the regeneration of soil. I picked biodynamic farming for two reasons. One is simply that it has a certification that protects it called the International Demeter Biodynamic Standard. That’s important because of what happened with the word sustainable. The word sustainable no longer means anything; it's an unregulated word, and there's no certification for it, anyone can use it, and it's being greenwashed as a result. The other reason is that biodynamics uses lots of normal regenerative agricultural practices like crop rotation, for instance. It sees the plant as a physical body, but also sees there's something inside the plant that keeps it alive that is not physical. Biodynamic farming works on balancing all the non-physical elements of the farm: the plants, animals, people, and the earth as well. This is why it's so special and has such a grand potential in the face of climate change. Learn more at www.dirt.charity. 7
Festivals & Events
Lily Ceremony welcoming first graders
Michaelmas: taming the dragon
Michaelmas: second graders
High School Halloween costume contest
Michaelmas: third graders dancing
Michaelmas: games
High School students performing in vignettes at All Hallow's Eve
Early Childhood lantern making and Lantern Walk
Parent & Child classes: garland making
Eighth graders engaged in "mini-internships", working in various areas around the school
Athletics
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Varsity Girls Volleyball
Middle School Girls Volleyball
Wolf Pack Trail Run winners
Arizona Muse, continued from page 7
I've just moved to Ibiza to be closer to nature and to raise my kids in alternative schools but they're not going to Waldorf schools right now. I would have sent my son to a Waldorf school, but he's too old for the Waldorf school here. My husband is a Frenchman (osteopath Boniface Verney-Carron) and it's really important to us that our daughter Cy, who is two, has French in her life.
What do you do for fun?
I love my work so much. I am so stimulated by the work that I do and the things that I have learned. I launched this charity at the beginning of the summer and then moved to Ibiza. September was when things started moving along more swiftly. It’s amazing putting people in touch, watching people change as they learn about biodynamics and what an effect it would have on the world. This past summer, going on holiday was kind of hard because I felt I just wanted to be working, that I wasn’t quite ready for a holiday right then. It's an amazing blessing to feel like this because I’m aware that there are billions of people who don’t feel this way. Arizona, who was a panelist at the British Fashion Council’s GREAT Fashion for Climate Action at this fall’s UN Climate Conference, can be reached at www.arizonamuse.earth or www.dirt.charity.
TEACHER PROFILE Chris Sciarretta High School Science Teacher, Section Chair, School Registrar and Class Sponsor At home in nature, and a lover of the scientific quest for knowledge, Chris Sciarretta has brought his passions to the many aspects of his work at SFWS.
Photo by Dham Khalsa Photography
topics to learn about. I feel like my Waldorf education prepared my brain to absorb totally new concepts, and that, I'm really grateful for. It's really easy for me to get excited about something that is totally different than anything else I'd ever been taught before. And I see that for other people around me, it's not as easy. They're like, "Well, this is how you do this. This is how I was taught." I'm more, "Oh, so anything can be," which is an amazing way of looking at life. I'm really proud of that now. I am so interested and eager and humbled by the new education that I'm giving myself by reading about people who aren't like me. Waldorf really advanced me in this way. I may have found it more challenging to understand ideas that are different than mine had I not had this type of education.
He grew up in southern New York State, attending the Green Meadow Waldorf School from pre-K through twelfth grade. "I was fortunate enough to have the kind of upbringing that has become so rare today—the freedom to roam hundreds of wooded acres alone or with my friends, knowing that I was always safe and surrounded by people who knew me," he says Drawing on his fond memories of exploring the ponds and creeks near his childhood home, Sciarretta chose to major in biology while attending Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine. He expanded his college studies with a six-month journey through Central and South America, culminating with a semester studying ecology in Venezuela. Sciarretta then moved on to a varied career in education, teaching environmental education in Massachusetts and California, teaching English in Japan, and then getting a master’s degree from Antioch University, New England. When he and his wife, handwork teacher Danelle Aragon, first moved to Santa Fe in 2005, it was to specifically become part of the SFWS community. "We were looking for an established school in a smaller town, and were especially drawn to the beauty of the Southwest, and the traditional history of Santa Fe," he says. Sciarretta also wanted to work specifically with this curriculum. "As a Waldorf graduate, I am able to reflect upon the aspects of my own education that were most impactful in order to enrich my lessons today," he says. The Sciarretta family now includes two SFWS students, one in fifth grade and one in second grade and they grow as much of their food as possible in gardens and greenhouses. Sciarretta looks forward to melding these passions of natural food production and the outdoors with his work, noting, "I am excited to bring more of these interests to my students, as well as to work with my colleagues to strengthen the High School program into the future." He has worked as a kindergarten assistant and aftercare teacher, also teaching games, gardening, art, and cello, but it is in the High School that he feels he has found his place. "There is something about...the unencumbered idealism of the teenage years and the accelerated period of personal growth which High School students are navigating that makes teaching them so fulfilling," Sciarretta says. He feels the same about SFWS in general; "I have always felt fortunate to work in a place with such a strong sense of community, and one in which I get to see young people grow up and move out into the world in a graceful way." 9
ALUM PROFILE Bevin McPartlon
Grade 10, 2008
Desert Academy, 2010 BFA, Product Design Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, 2014 CURRENT WORK: Retail Buyer, Taos Ski Valley
TAKING A LOVE OF ART INTO THE MOUNTAINS How did you choose your profession?
I spent most of high school making art. I had a vision of becoming a successful artist and following in the footsteps of both my parents by going to an art college. However, after one year at the Maryland Institute College of Art, I found that the art world was a bit too conceptual for me. I wanted to have a creative career and saw more potential to do so in the design industry. My first year at Otis was very similar educationally to Waldorf. We learned how to work in a wood shop, weld, apply finishes, and explore multimedia. From there, I was fortunate enough to explore several product design jobs; from being a colorist for Patagonia to creating 3D CADs for jewelry designed by European influencers at Stilnest in Berlin. It wasn’t until I started working in a furniture store in Santa Fe that I realized having such a vast knowledge of products was highly applicable to many industries. Currently, I am a buyer for Taos Ski Valley and absolutely love it. We have three Taos Sports retail locations and one 'Artisan Goods' store we plan to open this season.
Looking back, how does your Waldorf education benefit your life today?
My Waldorf education, which I started in kindergarten, has immensely impacted the person I am today. It instilled basic understanding for human connections and needs. I attribute my empathy and confidence to the teachers and peers I was surrounded by every day. I was taught to be the best version of myself which allows me to see the best in others.
"[AT WALDORF] I WAS TAUGHT TO BE THE BEST VERSION OF MYSELF WHICH ALLOWS ME TO SEE THE BEST IN OTHERS." Top photo: Bevin at the top of Katchina peak after hiking there solo for the first time 2021.
Please describe your daily life.
Currently, I live in El Prado, NM. Typically, on any day I will always make time for an activity outside. I absolutely love skiing, hiking, and biking. My dog Ginger and I have been exploring Northern New Mexico for the past three years together.
What is the best part of what you do now?
Physically working in the mountains of the Taos Ski Valley is the best part of my current role. I find inspiration and peace in being surrounded by nature's immense power. Taos’ dedication to environmental awareness and appreciation of their employees makes it easy to have pride in my work.
What do you do for fun?
If I have skis on, I'm guaranteed to have a smile on my face and to be having fun! Contact Bevin at mcpartlonb@gmail.com
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SFWS TODAY: College Essay ACHIEVEMENT DESPITE THE CHALLENGES
by Caroline Kyser
Although it was late fall, the sweat poured down my back as I stood by my desk. All the hope and excitement of second grade had long since disappeared like the drab fade of the leaves each autumn. It was then, as I shuffled from foot to foot, eyes down, that I knew I was different. The numbers and patterns would not —and could not—stay in my head. Not reciting the correct sequence of numbers drew scorn from my teacher, and I sat down humiliated. Moreover, letters and words jumbled before me, creating an unreadable scramble that my classmates could read with ease. This troubled me, so I turned to picture books, where the images told me the story instead of the words: finally, the library became a place I'd no longer cower away from, but a place I could enjoy. This victory, however, was short-lived because my teacher caught onto my coping strategy and forbade me to read picture books. I cried and cried because no matter how long I looked at the black ink, it still just looked like tearsplotched paper. Growing up, education was an extremely frustrating experience for me. I eventually told my mother about my learning challenges, and she took me to see a learning specialist. Initially, this was a humiliating experience: I felt powerless because two adults knew about my issues, and I perceived myself as a failure.
Photo by DeAnn Payne
Over time, my mother and I discovered I have severe learning disabilities, dyslexia (difficulty interpreting words), dysgraphia (challenges with written expression), and dyscalculia (struggles with math calculations). These challenges profoundly impacted my academic performance, my self-image, and my lack of optimism about my future. After much turmoil, though, I have become an engaged learner and thinker through the support of my family, my inner resilience, and my resolve to succeed. Caroline graduated from SFWS in 2021 and is attending the University of Denver.
"I HAVE SUCH APPRECIATION FOR MY CLASSMATES AND TEACHERS AT WALDORF BECAUSE THEY UNCONDITIONALLY EMBODIED ACCEPTANCE AND FAITH ABOUT MY CAPABILITY."
Enrolling at the Santa Fe Waldorf School aided me in my success towards becoming a confident student. It welcomes and supports students who have learning disabilities. Homework wasn't deemed essential for students younger than fourth grade because the curriculum gravitated towards enhancing a child's spirituality and encouraging the development of the whole child. Fortuitously, Waldorf adapted to my learning strengths and aspirations as I received the support to become a proficient reader and confident math student. It was an odyssey, but Waldorf and its community never let me down. To this day, I have such appreciation for my classmates and teachers at Waldorf because they unconditionally embodied acceptance and faith about my capability. Through my struggles, I've gained the insight that if I worked tirelessly towards an objective. I'll attain my goal. I know this is true because I have lived it; I've achieved success despite my dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. My personal resilience, the support of a gifted occupational therapist, and the unwavering encouragement of my determined mother—each of these factors played an instrumental role in my stepping into the intelligent, capable, young woman I've become today. As a result of my experiences, I have developed a keen sense of compassion for students with learning disabilities, as well as curiosity about the genesis of their challenges. I am astounded that the mainstream education system fails to effectively teach 20% of its students. I frequently ponder, "What can be done to change the system?" I believe more research is needed to study the brains of children with learning disabilities to ascertain the organic differences. With this information, alternative teaching methods can be implemented into teaching pedagogy that will be more effective than the one-size-fits-most curriculum of today. Ultimately, I realize that without the early intervention I received, my future would likely have been limited. Most students aren't as lucky, and the loss of generations of creative and innovative thinkers is detrimental to society. I pray we decide that education is a fundamental human right, and we work towards providing equitable access to learning for all students. 11
CURRICULUM: Wilderness Education Program HELPING STUDENTS DEVELOP CONNECTIONS TO NATURE AND WITHIN THEMSELVES Since its founding the Santa Fe Waldorf School has emphasized outdoor education, teaching children to be adventurers and stewards of the land through distinctive wilderness experiences. Program Director Matthew Burritt says this part of our curriculum, "leads students into rich connections with the natural world to help foster connections between people, and most importantly, to oneself." Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, said that learning about oneself is easier "… in the quiet peacefulness, inner dignity, and charm of nature." With an abundance of wilderness areas within minutes of the campus, SFWS is ideally situated to incorporate the natural world into its curriculum. Class trips occur yearly up through the grades, so that by eighth grade, students may have camped in Chaco Canyon or Bandelier National Monument, climbed Wheeler Peak (the tallest mountain in New Mexico), and may have spent time rafting on a southwestern river among many other adventures, notes Burritt, who also teaches High School math and science and is the co-sponsor of the Class of 2025. In the High School, he says, students continue their wilderness education through experiences designed to help them develop from the outside inwards, through emphasizing community building and adventure challenges. The program started under the leadership of former SFWS teachers, Karl Johnson and Mary Freitas, in 2001. By 2004, the first senior class was out on solo with the changing aspen leaves and majestic ponderosa pines,
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The Grade 9 farm trip brings students closer to understanding the life of a farm and the realities of growing food.
says Burritt, and every senior class since has completed the wilderness solo with 2021 marking the seventeenth consecutive trip. In 2005, ninth and 12th graders started the school year with the tradition of traveling together to the Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center in the Carson National Forest. Then and now, the senior class welcomes the freshman students into the high school community. Says Burritt, this act of community-building becomes a "mirror" that the seniors use to consider themselves four short years ago, and compare themselves to how they are now. For the ninth graders, the wilderness retreat is an adventure filled with hiking, lessons about self-care, and how to sleep outside, all under the helpful guidance of the senior class with cozy casitas and a beautiful lodge to take the edge off, he adds. Later in the school year, the ninth-grade students go on a farm trip, which reminds them of their third-grade farm visit, and brings the students closer to understanding the life of a farm and the realities of growing food.
"STUDENTS FORM CONNECTIONS WITH THE NATURAL WORLD AROUND THEM, AND ONCE FORMED, THEN A PLACE CAN BE KNOWN, AND WHEN A PLACE IS KNOWN IT CAN BE LOVED, AND WHEN A PLACE IS LOVED...WE PROTECT THOSE PLACES WE LOVE."
Grade 10 students test their capabilities during a Chama River rafting trip full of fun and adventure.
The 10th and 11th graders also travel to Vallecitos in early fall, a tradition that started in 2017, but their focus is on coming-ofage issues and how to make educated choices on topics such as peer pressure, stress, internet/social media exposure, drugs, sexual health, expectations about roles, or body awareness/ shaming, says Burritt. These issues are discussed and chosen by the students and faculty class sponsors before the trip, and are explored through conversation, acting out in skits, and other creative activities. Some discussions are gender-specific with the 10th and 11th grade boys and girls working separately with their respective male and female guides. In the spring, the tenth grade takes a rafting trip, designed to be full of fun and adventure that allows adolescents to be themselves while testing their capabilities in appropriate challenges against the forces of nature rather than the adults in their lives! Students learn to tie useful knots and to sleep out under a tarp, to hike, and to develop more awareness around self-care, he adds. In 11th grade, the wilderness program, "asks more from students, and the dynamic shifts from vehicles and boats to carrying one’s provisions on one’s own back—from reliance to self-reliance, from dependence to independence through backpacking," says Burritt. Students and trip leaders head to the Canyonlands of Utah in the spring, and over the course of six days, learn lessons on self-reliance and grit. When they emerge, students are "fledgling" seniors, having gone through a mini-solo in the deep canyons. Students are also guided in leave-no-trace ethics, the importance of gratitude, the gift of listening, of singing together, and of building community. Seniors, after initiating the ninth graders into their new life in the High School, are consciously led through a threshold experience in which they are given questions to contemplate about their past, present and future, says Burritt. These questions and the 24-hour
Grade 11 students experience self-reliance and independence on their backpacking trip to Dark Canyon in Utah.
Grades 10 and 11 hiking during their Coming of Age retreat at the Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center. solo experience are the apogee of the wilderness program, he says, intended to help students foster connections with themselves and to nature as they start their journey as adults. A particular strength of the program, notes Burritt, rests on its team approach where one person runs the trips and class sponsors follow their classes through the sequence of yearly trips. This allows sponsors to focus on the social dynamics of the class while the details like trip planning, safety considerations, food logistics, gear, and such can be handled by the wilderness team members. Often, students write about their wilderness experiences in their college application essays, and several alums have returned to help guide trips, reports Burritt. But the most important aim of the program is the exposure of students to the rich complexities of the wilderness around us. "Students form connections with the natural world around them," he says, "and once formed, then a place can be known, and when a place is known it can be loved, and when a place is loved, the seeds are sown for powerful medicine because we protect those places we love."
Grade 12 hikes together before they embark on their senior solo where they reflect upon their lives and contemplate their futures.
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CURRICULUM: Early Childhood THE VALUE OF PURPOSEFUL TASKS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
By Cynthia Shore
One of the unique aspects of the Waldorf early childhood curriculum is the concept of meaningful work. According to Jill McCormick, beloved kindergarten teacher who taught at SFWS for 24 years, the heart of this idea is to help children know where they are in the world. "One of the most important things in kindergarten is to learn that things have a place. Children are finding out, ‘Where do I belong? Where is my place?’ So they learn where to put their chair and to sit on their chair at a particular time," she says. The teacher’s role is to give verbal cues or sing songs when certain actions are needed, always standing in the same place in the classroom. As a result, "time and space come together to a certain point, which is really important as a beginning foundation for the academic grades later on," she says, adding that what early childhood instructors teach, "is not just one dimensional, that this goes here and this goes there, but that there's a time to do it, too." The sensory element of a task such as washing the dishes adds yet another dimension—feeling the water, suds and dishes—giving children "an all-around experience in their body of place, time and sense." Add to that the importance of adult role-modeling. "It is so important for a child to be able to learn from imitation. It is a gift when they can see adults working at something with their full attention, love, and purpose," McCormick adds.
plished something new," notes McCormick. "Other children can admire them; ‘Oh, golly, you're able to pick up the heaviest box of blocks,’ or who's the biggest or, ‘Oh, you really set the table so beautifully and make it look so nice for everyone,’" she adds. How does this differ from other forms of early childhood education? The Waldorf focus at this age does not yet center on academics. Young children are certainly able to learn facts and basic academic skills, but it is considered better for a child’s overall development to keep the focus on the physical, on play and simple tasks. "That's why it is said that in early childhood play is our work," McCormick says.
"BRINGING [CHILDREN] TO A POINT OF FOCUS WHERE THEY'RE DOING SOMETHING WITH THEIR HANDS AND THERE IS A PURPOSE IS VERY SATISFYING, AND THEY CAN LEARN A LOT FROM WHAT THEY'RE DOING." Sometimes the environment outside of school can promote a child to develop beyond their years. "Younger children do seem to learn [academic] things earlier because they learn things from siblings," McCormick notes. However, she adds, "it's really important for children to have opportunities to discover [their physical senses] on their own at the right time. So I see Waldorf kindergarten as a place for children to have chances to learn and discover on their own or as a group….There's a lot to be said even in just learning how to listen and how to breathe."
This may seem simple, but she notes that children in the early childhood years are still coming into their bodies, not yet fully aware of where they are in relation to objects around them or other people. "You have children who are the bumpers and crashers, and they're just a little unaware of what's happening around them. And so notoriously they'll bump into the child who's super sensitive and then you have a real dynamic!" she says. As children grow into their bodies, they develop a sense of "Hey, I can do this!" With that confidence comes self-esteem, a sense of belonging, and satisfaction in contributing to the well-being of the classroom. "They're proud of themselves when they've accom14
The core of this approach comes from Waldorf founder Rudolf Steiner’s view of the spiritual nature of human development in which we grow in seven-year cycles. "The first seven years is very much the time for the physical body to complete development," McCormick says. Between the ages of 7 to 14, children’s abilities in imagination and feeling grow, and from 14 to 21, their intellectual capacities increase. She adds, "Children are in kind of a dreamlike consciousness, and so bringing them to a point of focus where they're doing something with their hands and there is a purpose is very satisfying, and they can learn a lot from what they're doing. However, it isn't primarily academic. It's all hands on. It's sensory, it's
Parent Perspective movement, it's time and space. If you're washing the dishes, and you don't have any idea how far it is from your hand to the table, and you plunk down a dish and it cracks and breaks, well, that's a learning experience. And it might take some children more time than others to learn about that." Purposeful tasks include opportunities to use a hammer, sew with a real needle and thread, dig in the earth and plant real seeds, polish their shoes and tie shoelaces, make soup, and bake bread.
Kindergarten students helping rake mulch in their play area and sweeping the path to the kindergarten building. Opposite page: Washing their own dishes and helping to sand wooden tables. This concrete development sets a solid foundation for academic learning later on. "Any occupational therapist will tell you that organization starts in the body...knowing where we are in space in relation to other things" says McCormick. Once this ability is established, "if I raise my arm, I don't have to look but I know it's shoulder height," she says. "There's a system in our body that organizes us through movement...to know where we are in our own body before we have to even sit still in a chair. That's work for some children. Sitting still in a chair is not an easy thing. It's not just a given." All this sets up a child for grade-level learning, for example, working with pencil and a piece of paper. McCormick says, "There are edges on the paper. Well, if I don't know where my own edges are on my physical body it's going to be really hard for me to honor the borders and the abstraction of my body on a piece of paper. Children need to move through all planes of space before they're even able to copy off of the chalkboard and onto paper." The final gift of Waldorf early childhood education is flexibility. Other systems try to teach fixed ideas and have a child regurgitate it back. McCormick says she often bases the specifics of her teaching on in-the-moment interactions with a child. "Our education is very much what lives between [the teacher and students] and although there may be a story already prepared, or a festival or a season, we're also trying to find a way to bring the magic of childhood into every single thing and I think that's a gift to the children. That's what we bring to them. We reflect their magic back to them and that's a gift to us, too."
SANTA FE WALDORF REFLECTED OUR FAMILY’S VALUES By Julie Bennett
It was a homecoming of sorts for me when our son Max chose to attend the Santa Fe Waldorf School after visiting many private middle schools in Santa Fe. At an open house I attended years before, the evocative beauty of the main lesson books on display filled me with joy and longing for the education I wished I had had. The rich inner world portrayed in those hand drawn books represented a spiritual antidote to my "see Spot run…" education. Max’s clarity in choosing Waldorf for fifth grade represented a big commitment for our family: a forty-five minute commute and a financial challenge. But overwhelmingly it was a gift that continued for sixteen years and beyond, through Max’s acceptance into Colorado College and his life as an artist blacksmith, and Shaefer’s graduation as valedictorian in 2016 and his current attendance at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University. It was a gift of community and also of an education with intellectual and artistic depth imbued with a spiritual (not religious) awareness. The intimacy of teacher and student who stay together through the early grades allows a knowing and a rhythm that supports each child. The intimacy also exists among the students and parents who get to know each other through volunteer engagement in the life of the school. This intimacy persists into the High School through the Coming of Age program and the Vallecitos Wilderness retreats. Waldorf education is an enduring educational movement that is free of the fads we encountered in the public school realm. It recognizes the developmental stages of the child, and is anti-materialist. The wilderness program shines and the sports program models teamwork. Our family’s values were reflected in the school’s philosophy and enhanced through our time there. The academic rigors of the school afforded both of our sons’ acceptance and success in selective schools. Attendance at the Santa Fe Waldorf School allowed our children to become fully themselves. Julie Bennett is a designer and former Waldorf parent who lives in Espanola, NM. She and her husband Scott, a mechanic and land keeper, are parents to Max, SFWS HS Class of 2008, and Shaefer, HS Class of 2016. (See page 16 for updates on Max and Shaefer) Shaefer and Max at the SFWS Mayfaire 15
ALUM UPDATES Devin Kleiner, Grade 7, 1987,
writes, "With our kids visiting their grandparents, my wife Christa and I were able to sneak away this summer for our first weekend getaway since the pandemic started. Our goal was to spend as much time out in the Pacific Northwest nature as possible so we hiked Hurricane Ridge and the Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula where we first met 20 years ago. "The pandemic has been an eye-opening period for both personal and professional growth. Our architecture firm received a 2021 COTE® Top Ten Award for sustainable design excellence which lifted our hopes during these uncertain times for a resilient future balancing ecology with our built environment."
Maxwell Bennett, HS Class of 2008, profiled in the Winter, 2016, issue of the SFWS magazine, has been the resident blacksmith at Intracoastal Ironwork and Metalwork in Wilmington, NC, since February, 2021. His sculpture can be seen at the Ellsworth Gallery in Santa Fe and @maxwellbennettworks on Instagram.
Sarib Jot Kaur Khalsa, Grade 7, 2013, is currently on a gap year
after graduating from Miri Piri Academy in Amritsar, India in 2018 and getting her EMT license from Santa Fe Community College. She has worked as an EMT for Taos County and has been a member of the Ski Santa Fe ski patrol since she was 18. She plans to go to college next fall at the University of Montana. This winter, she says, "I want to enjoy Santa Fe and find a place with more snow!"
Kaela Childs, Grade 7, 2014, is finishing her final semester at
Santa Fe Community College and is planning on attending NMSU in the spring to major in fine arts and minor in psychology and or social work.
IN MEMORY Siri Atma Kaur Khalsa, Grade 6, 2015, died suddenly on May 12,
2021. Khalsa loved SFWS and kept in regular touch with her classmates over the years. She will be deeply missed. A tree was planted in her memory on November 23 outside of Hooper Hall, which is surrounded by a ring of painted rocks in her honor. Anyone is welcome to add a rock if they wish. 16
Alexandria Chastenet de Gery, HS Class of 2015, is living and
working in Brussels, Belgium. She received her MA in Global Peace, Security and Strategy from Vesalius University, Brussels, in January 2021, and is currently a Program Assistant at The German Marshall Fund of the United States in Strategic Convening, where she focuses on public diplomacy in the Transatlantic.
Sophia Gundrey, Grade 8, Class of 2015, finished a year and a
half at Barnard College in New York before deciding to take a gap year and work locally. "I’m just reevaluating where I want to go and what I want to be," she reports, adding that she is applying to universities in Scotland and Ireland, planning to major in religious studies with a possible focus on druids.
Gabrielle Chastenet de Gery, HS Class of 2016, is pursuing a
MA in Journalism, Media, and Globalization through the Erasmus Mundus Journalism consortium. She is currently at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, and will spend spring semester 2022 at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, in Santiago, focusing on investigative documentary and audio journalism. Chastenet de Gery will complete her degree with a focus on totalitarianism in transition at Charles University, in Prague, Czech Republic.
Shaefer Bennett, HS Class of 2016, graduated from UNM in
2020, and is now in his first year of veterinary school at Colorado State University.
Martine Perez, HS Class of 2018,
writes, "After graduating from SFWS in 2018, I started my college education at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. I am studying marketing in the Business School as well as minoring in psychology. I am currently taking a gap year from school and plan to return in the fall of 2022 to finish my final year at the U. "During this time off from school, I have started my own clothing company called BigSistr. The idea is that I find thrifted clothes and enhance them. I rework them to add embellishments using paint, sewing, or embroidery. It’s all sustainable, one-of-a-kind, upcycled clothes. Starting this business has been really amazing! I have applied what I learned from school and translated it to my business. "I have also called upon the creative Waldorf skills I learned, such as how to use a sewing machine, embroidering, and sketching design concepts. I am grateful for my creative arts background from Waldorf because it gave me such a helpful and relevant platform to start BigSistr. I am excited about the future and can’t wait to see what comes next! Please check out my Instagram account (@big. sistr) and my shops on Etsy (BigSistrShop) and Depop (@bigsistr)."
Chloe Casdagli, HS Class of 2019, is in her junior year at Oberlin
College studying studio art and creative writing. Her work has been published in several student magazines, and she is co-chair of the Creative Writing Club, works with student involvement, and is in a steel drum band. Casdagli is also part of the Oberlin printmaking collective and is illustrating a children’s book, while also selling art on the side.
Nicoya Dant, HS Class of 2020, is
living, learning, and working in Bellingham, Washington, where she attends Western Washington University. This fall, she was able to start in person classes, taking math, art, and graphic design and is considering sustainable business, graphic design, or industrial design for a major. She has been taking a range of art classes in college, and writes, "I feel that Waldorf put me on a great creative path with many diverse practices. Through these practices, I’ve broadened many aspects of my artistic self and been encouraged to pursue art. Some of the specific arts skills I have put a lot of effort into are ink drawing, charcoal and acrylic, all practiced with Mr. Otero in high school. The artwork shown here uses similar practices he taught us." Dant adds, "This summer I started working with a company called American Alpine Institute, a mountaineering school founded and run out of Bellingham. At the end of this summer I was offered a position in Alaska, as the lead coordination for the Denali summits! I will be heading up to Anchorage for five months in the spring of 2022. Similar to the early morning gear checks I helped Mr. Burritt with in the great room at the start of each Waldorf trip, I will be helping people embark on their Denali expedition! I’ll be in charge of all group, guide, and personal gear, all of the meals for the trips, arranging the bush plane drop offs, and anything else that falls into my lap! I’m excited to see where this academic year takes me along with building my resume in the outdoors!"
Koray Gates, HS Class of 2020, is currently a fresh-
man at Colorado College after taking a gap year in 2020. Gates, pictured (in blue) with college friends, reports that college "has been amazing so far, with engaging classes and fun experiences with new friends. Last month, my class spent three days on a small remote campus in the mountains where we studied the subject of Renaissance thinkers. It re-
minded me of the yearly trips to the Vallecitos Mountain Retreat in high school and the many other outdoor trips that I journeyed on with my class at Waldorf. Of the many memories I have of my years at SFWS, what stands out most in my mind are the many school-sponsored adventures with my class, such as rafting the Chama and backpacking at Dark Canyon in Utah."
Deedee Jansen, HS Class of 2021,
is in her first year at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. Pictured here with the school mascot, Jansen is majoring in engineering physics with a (possible) minor in math. She adds, "I was part of a theater production and am in the improv troupe. I also volunteer at the observatory."
Indie Russell, HS Class of 2021 writes
"I have kept very busy since graduation, exploring a variety of different places and having a variety of experiences. Immediately following graduation I traveled to New Hampshire where I worked as a camp counselor at the Waldorf-inspired sleep away camp Glenbrook. It was a wonderful experience and a great way to explore New England. I had the opportunity to work with children in a Waldorf inspired setting, imparting the values and ideas that have been so important in my upbringing to the next generation of young people from across the country. I enjoyed working alongside colleagues who are fellow Waldorf alums who each brought their similar but divergent Waldorf experiences to the Glenbrook community! "Now I am in Scotland studying medieval history and spanish at the University of Saint Andrews. This course of study was actually inspired by my multidisciplinary Waldorf education which has inspired me to pursue a variety of subjects and look for the connections in the ways different spheres of learning interweave with one another. My passion for these two particular subjects was nurtured by the incredible teachers at Waldorf who instilled in me a love for learning. I am so incredibly excited for the opportunities unfolding ahead of me and am oh so grateful to the Waldorf community who inspired me and set me on the path to exploring new experiences all across the world!"
We Want to Hear From Our Alums! Visit santafewaldorf.org/alumni and send us an update.
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Above: Ninth grade student's charcoal drawings of historical figures from their Modern History class. Cover illustration by junior Nina Otero. In the eleventh grade English class, each student was given a symbol prior to reading The Divine Comedy. They then researched the symbol and analyzed its function within the book and created artwork to accompany the analytic essay. Otero's symbol was plants and her ilustration depicts various characters and locations from the book.
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