Outreach - Cincinnati Waldorf School

The Cincinnati Waldorf School
Winter 2011
Outreach
Special Edition: Our Graduates
Welcome to this special edition of Outreach, featuring our Cincinnati Waldorf
School graduates. This spring, CWS will
graduate its sixth full 8th grade class! Equally exciting is that our first graduating class of
2006 has entered college; therefore it seemed
Class of 2006
the perfect opportunity to reflect upon their
experiences as Waldorf students and celebrate their accomplishments. We also spend
some time in this issue reflecting on the 8th
grade year at a Waldorf school, with the
intent of sharing with our readers the unique
opportunities our graduates experience in
their final year at CWS. While many in our
society think of the “middle school” years
as nothing more than academic preparation
for high school, Waldorf schools see these
years as incredible opportunities for intellectual, emotional and social growth, as well as
enhancing self-esteem through projects and
experiences designed to expand the adolescent mind – truly the best preparation for the
future!
Enjoy reading about our graduates and
their lives while learning more about how
the Waldorf curriculum touches our children,
their families and the world.
Class of 2011
Back Row: Jodi Harris, Bill Cordray, Kyle Arthur
Front Row: Jonathan Crable, Julian Jordan,
Murray Johnson, Erica Patterson, Janela Harris
Contents
Q&A with Erica Patterson
Q&A with Janela Harris
A Coming of Age Story
Where I am From
Our Class Trip to Maine
What it Means to be Blessed
with a Waldorf Education The 8th Grade Research
Project
2
3
4
4
5
5
6
The Honored 8th Grader 7
ANSNA Resources
8
Alumni Updates
2-8
Back Row: Mrs. Connie Davis, Eric Araujo. Oonagh Davis, Savannah Castellano,
Lina Macovel, Sierra Curley, Haley Wergers Front Row: Colin Fanselow, Janee Simmons, Zoe Barnhart, Simon Burkey, Caleb Leonard
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Jonathan Crable ’07 spent a year as an
AFS exchange student in northeast Germany.
His host father is the director of Mueritz Nationalpark and Jonathan lived in a wood and
solar heated 200 year old restored farmhouse.
He went to school all year there and even
now can still speak fluent German. He was
able to spend two weeks near Berlin with
another family and went skiing in the Czech
Republic. He canoed and tried to sail on the
lakes and ice skated for miles on the canals
in the winter. He and his brother, Matthew
’09, are both interested in other cultures; this
year they’re hosting a boy from Milan, Italy.
Their family feels that the Waldorf School
helped them to be interested in a wide variety
of subjects but not necessarily what the
typical American school system offers. The
significant interest that was sparked is music.
Jonathan is studying guitar and Matthew
plans to continue playing viola throughout
high school at Walnut Hills.
Nick Kammerer ’08 is a junior honor roll
student at Clark Montessori High School.
He plays varsity soccer, is a long distance
track runner and a Life Scout. He is currently
working on his Eagle project creating trail
markers with the Cincinnati Parks. He works
part-time at College Hill Coffee Company …
stop in and see him sometime!
Mary Kate Norton ’10 is a freshman at
Villa Madonna Academy in Villa Hills, Kentucky, where her first-semester grade point
average is a 3.8. She is involved in Music
Club, Christian Outreach and theater.
Katie Olson ’07 is a senior at Turpin
High School and has maintained a GPA of
3.78 over the course of her four years there!
She is a varsity swimmer and participates in
creative writing competitions. Katie is in the
midst of her college search and is planning to
pursue a double major in creative writing and
English education.
Grace Rupp ’10 is a freshman at Mason
High School and made the Dean’s List with
Highest Honors her very first trimester! She
is a member of Mason’s Una Vocce women’s
choir and plays cello in the Concert Orchestra.
Ed Atkinson ’10 is a freshman at Walnut
Hills High School, where he excels in history, Spanish, science and art. He sings in his
church choir and teaches Sunday School.
Hailey Olson ’09 is a sophomore at
Turpin High School and maintains a GPA of
3.85. She is a varsity swimmer.
Tatum Davis ’07 is a senior at Reading
Junior/Senior High School. Her fall quarter
2010 GPA was 4.1!!! She participates in
powder puff football, Community Service
Club and works at TJ Maxx after school.
She is looking forward to college next year
and pursuing her interests in photography,
architecture and engineering.
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Q&A with Erica Patterson
Class of 2006
Describe what first comes to mind when
you think back on your years at the Cincinnati Waldorf School (CWS).
Small classes. Strings, choir, handwork,
woodwork, eurythmy. The block system.
A wide variety of learning material. Dog
sledding.
How did CWS prepare you for high
school?
I was pretty well prepared for high
school, it was a little bit hard going from
such a small class (only 5 people) to such a
large one (200 people). CWS taught me the
value of learning for the sake of learning,
not just the grades.
How could CWS have better prepared
you for high school?
I think a little more focus on science would
have been helpful - learning the scientific
method, and how to draw up a lab report.
also knowing not only how to write an essay, but the different components of an essay; intro, thesis, body, conclusion. I knew
how to write an essay with all these aspects
but I did not know what they were called
which led to much confusion when I first
came across these terms freshman year.
What do you feel was unique about your
Waldorf education?
All the “special subjects” were unique, as
well as the block system. Not to mention the
incredible 8th grade class trip to boundary
waters Minnesota where I got to go on a
dog sledding expedition. Also my teachers
and friends were like my family at Waldorf
- everyone was on a first name basis.
How was your imagination and curiosity
affected by your time spent at CWS?
At CWS, I picked up the violin in 3rd grade
and I haven’t put it down since. Learning to
play an instrument, sing, knit, carve wood,
and dance enhanced my imagination and
curiosity. In high school, a simple presentation became a full blown art project, and
my ability to look at problems from many
different angles helped me to come up with
solutions and better understand the material being presented.
What have you gained from your Waldorf education (emotionally, intellectually, spiritually)?
I feel that I gained a well rounded education at CWS. All throughout high school I
maintained a very high GPA (over 4.0). I
believe that I did so well in school because
I was able to look at presented material in
more than just a strictly academic sense. I
did exceptionally well on all the AP classes
I took gaining a total of 35 college credits. This meant that I was able to enter my
freshman year in college with a sophomore
status. Emotionally, the skills I learned in
my special subject classes at CWS have
helped me ward off stress. All throughout
high school, I worked on an enormous
handwork project - a crocheted afghan.
Whenever I was feeling stressed or overwhelmed by the homework load I would
take a break, crochet a couple of rows, and
go back to work with my mind clear.
Have you maintained any important relationships made through CWS? Please
tell us about them.
When you are in a class with the same 20
or so people for multiple years, it is hard
not to form lasting relationships. I still
keep in touch with people from my original
first grade class, and Janela Harris (the
only other girl from my first grade class to
make it all the way to eighth grade) is one
of my very closest friends. Over the summer I traveled to Iceland and France with
Janela and her mom (Jodi Harris - also my
7th and 8th grade teacher). The trip was a
blast and something I will never forget. I do
not doubt that I will remain close friends
with Janela throughout my entire life.
Tell us what you’re doing now.
I am attending Colorado State University
in Ft. Collins, CO. I am double majoring in
Biology and Equine Science.
Q&A with Janela Harris
Class of 2006
Describe what first comes to mind when
you think back on your years at the Cincinnati Waldorf School (CWS).
close-knit community, and I definitely credit
Waldorf with that comfort and my awareness
of it.
The first thing I think of is the close sense
of community. I remember having the sense
that I knew everyone involved with CWS,
or if not “knew,” that I’d at least recognize
their faces or names. After that, I think of
our Main Lesson Books, and how involved I
was with my own learning.
Intellectually, I am very interested in
learning. I am also in love with the idea of
learning simply for the sake of learning.
The more I interact with people with different educational backgrounds than mine,
the more apparent it becomes that Waldorf
has instilled in me the idea that the point
of learning is to know more, as opposed to
the attitude that learning should be molded
around another goal, like passing a test or
getting a decent job. I’m very grateful for
the fact that CWS has instilled in me such a
value of knowledge.
How did CWS prepare you for high school?
CWS prepared me especially well for general class work. I was intimidated by the
magnitude of the change in the social setting
from Waldorf to Walnut Hills, but overall I
was very well prepared.
How could CWS have better prepared
you for high school?
After being at CWS, my biggest issue in high
school was lack of knowledge surrounding
tests. I didn’t know how to study very well,
and I had anxiety about actually taking
tests. I think part of this is probably just
my personality, but I do believe CWS could
have better taught me methods for studying
for tests, and a little more about test-taking
strategies.
What do you feel was unique about your
Waldorf education?
I think the structure of days at Waldorf was
very unique; the combination of block main
lesson periods, and shorter special subject
classes. Making main lesson books is something I’ve never heard of anyone else doing,
but which I thought was very useful. Simply… how integrated my ‘normal’ learning
was with creative and artistic expression.
How was your imagination and curiosity
affected by your time spent at CWS?
I have held on to my imagination and curiosity much longer, and value it much more,
because of being at CWS. I think that many
other styles of education don’t give students
a chance to explore their creativity as CWS
does. As a result, students mature, and
lose some of their imagination and curiosity without ever really appreciating it. At
Waldorf, I not only continued to exercise my
imagination and curiosity longer than most
children, but I also learned to appreciate
things which are sometimes seen as childish.
What have you gained from your Waldorf
education (emotionally, intellectually,
spiritually)?
Emotionally, I have gained a true appreciation of community. I am well aware of the
fact that I am most comfortable when I have
a sense of being included in a small and
but I do know that we always got along, and
even after our graduation from 8th grade,
we’ve remained close. Erica and I went to
France and Iceland this past summer, which
was my high school graduation gift, and
in addition to commenting on each other’s
Facebook pages, we have been sending each
other postcards since college started this
year. I think my relationship with Erica is
so close not only because our personalities
are compatible, but also because we went
through so much of the CWS experience together and that naturally creates a common
background.
Do you feel CWS cultivated a love of
learning? If so, how?
CWS gave me a great awareness of flexibility in spirituality. I am very open to and
aware of variations in spirituality between
different people, and I believe Waldorf
taught me about some less common or
mainstream ideas about spirituality (or, if
not an understanding of the ideas, at least
of the fact that they exist), where my peers
have basic understandings of major world
religions, but seem to be somewhat narrowminded about what counts as religious or
spiritual beliefs.
CWS has definitely cultivated a love of
learning, for me. It’s hard to say if this is a
personality trait I’d have without Waldorf,
but I definitely love all kinds of learning.
Throughout high school and my first semester of college, I’ve never disliked all aspects
of a class, and I think that as long as something is being taught, I’m pretty interested.
CWS contributed to this by allowing for so
much personal specificity in each class that
I’ve developed the idea that any given class
is what I make it.
Have you maintained any important relationships made through CWS? Please tell
us about them.
Tell us what you’re doing now.
I have maintained some relationships from
CWS, but most of my CWS relationships
have petered away as I’ve grown apart from
people who either left Waldorf before I did,
or remained a larger part of the community
longer than I did.
One of my favorite friendships, however,
is with Erica Patterson. We were both in
Miss Susan’s kindergarten class in 1996,
and according to Erica, we played kittens
together all the time. I don’t remember that,
I am attending Haverford College, a liberal
arts college of about 1200 students, located
about 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia.
I’m undecided on my major, but as of now I
am leaning toward majoring in psychology,
with a career as a clinical child psychologist, or anthropology. Here at Haverford, I
was selected as an outstanding member of
the class of 2014. I gave an interview, took
pictures, and there is now a profile of me on
the Haverford College web site on a page
designed to give prospective students an
idea of the Haverford student body. You can
view my profile at the following link: http://
www.haverford.edu/admission/profiles/
freshmen/harris.php
Teacher’s Response:
As our 8th grade classes grow larger and
the Cincinnati Waldorf School sends more
students off to high school each year, we
have refined our curriculum as necessary
to be certain our students are well prepared
for high school. Study skills and test-taking
strategies are now part of our Upper Grades
curriculum. CWS has incorporated an introduction to the scientific method, lab equipment and reports into its 8th grade science
blocks. The vocabulary of expository essays is also used much more frequently now.
~Jodi Harris, CWS Upper Grades Teacher
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9th grade English project by Ruthie Arthur ’10
A Coming of Age Story
told by Ms. Chris Sekely, CWS Kindergarten Teacher, at Graduation 2010
Once upon a time, a king and a queen
had many sons and daughters who wanted
to go out into the world to seek adventure.
All but the youngest is allowed to go. The
elder princes and princesses set out on their
journey and come upon three old women.
One woman is stuck in the rocks. One
woman is stuck in the water. The third is
being whisked off by the wind.
The elder princes and princesses pass by
all three women without aiding them and
end up in an enchanted castle where they all
fall into an enchanted sleep.
Now when the brothers and sisters do not
return home, the youngest prince begs to go
out and look for them. This prince is not so
self-consumed, so when he sees the three
old women, he stops and helps them out as
he makes his journey. Each woman thanks
the youngest prince and gives him a gift that
helps break the enchanted spell and frees
his siblings from their enchanted sleep.
As our Waldorf students leave our protective kingdom, I see them as the youngest
princes and princesses. I hope for them
not to fall into the enchanted sleep of “just
getting it done.” Let their hearts inspire how
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they do it!
Before our graduates leave the Cincinnati
Waldorf School, it is good to reflect upon
their own journeys and the gifts they’ve received along the way. A few gifts they may
remember from their early days are:
• Kindergarten bread with honey butter
• Stone soup
• Walking to Spring Grove
• Farm days at Ms. Leslie’s
• The rock and stick
collection they gathered along their
journeys
• Being allowed to play
in all kinds of weather
• Being allowed to
smell flowers, climb
trees, and fully appreciate the earth
I know these experiences have given our
graduates strength and
courage, as well as
making them unique in
a world that’s consumed
with taking care of
“me” first.
I’d like to close by sharing a verse we say
in our Faculty meetings here at CWS which
encompasses my wish for our graduates:
“Imbue thyself with the power
of imagination.
Have courage for the truth.
Sharpen thy feeling for responsibility
of soul.”
I wish all our graduates well and that they
may live happily ever after!
Our Class Trip to Maine
by Grace Rupp ‘10, written for 9th grade English Class
After three years of raising money by selling coffee and baked goods, our Cincinnati
Waldorf School Class of 2010 had enough
money at the perfect time for our 8th grade
class trip to Maine. We were all looking forward to purchasing and organizing our gear,
then arriving in Maine to learn how to kayak
on the ocean and camp in the wilderness of
the beautiful islands.
As we bolted out of the airport bus, the
pungent smell of oysters and seaweed welcomed us to Maine! We were on the coast
near Bangor and our first night was spent in
a rustic cabin on the rocky beach. The next
morning we awoke surrounded by our expedition guides who were playing flutes and
singing. They told us about what we would
be doing for the next week. We went through
the basic drills and then we were off!
After the first few days, we all got used to
living off the land and we settled in. Then
one night, out of nowhere, a huge rainstorm
rolled in!!! Our tarps were flying everywhere, all of our water was knocked over and
we had to struggle to keep everything dry
and warm - including our own bodies! We
tied the tarps to trees in order to shelter our
food and gear. We lit a fire under the tarps
to prevent shivering and to get somewhat
dry, although it was an uncomfortable night.
The next morning, we used nature’s clothes
dryer: the sun!
Working together as a team and helping
each other out was a great experience for all
of us. We came to the realization that if we
did not have each other, we wouldn’t have
been able to face the difficulties of an expedition in the middle of nowhere. In many
ways, I believe that storm made us stronger
and helped us to fully realize how easy we
have it back at home.
The weather was nice from then on and we
learned many great survival skills, including how to build a fire, swim in a 30 degree
ocean, entice seals to follow our kayaks, and
how to work together during a scavenger
hunt for the reward of a bucket of chocolate
pretzels! We even learned how to carve our
own spoons from chunks of wood.
I’m sure that nobody in our class will ever
forget that trip because it made us appreciate
the earth we live upon and how to work with
one another in order to accomplish our goals.
We had an amazing time that I will
never forget!
What it Means to be Blessed
with a Waldorf Education
Adapted from a graduation speech presented by
Dick Norton, CWS Parent
Dear Students,
It has been your privilege to have had such
a wonderful Waldorf Education with your
many excellent teachers. As parents, it has
been our privilege to watch you all grow and
thrive. This education is truly unique.
Where else would you have been able to…
• dig a giant mud pit in 2nd grade, and get
completely covered in mud at the Medieval
Games in 6th grade?
• build a working bread oven in 3rd grade?
• go rock climbing and camping in 7th and
8th grades?
• perform such marvelous plays every year,
including even Shakespeare?
• freely do such diverse and interesting (and
in some cases death-defying) projects in
8th grade?
• spend a week ocean kayaking and wilderness camping off the coast of Maine with
your classmates?
At the Waldorf School, you had all this
and more, in addition to learning the usual
reading, writing and arithmetic and learning them with beauty, spirit and grace. You
truly have done some pretty amazing and
difficult things!
But now you’re moving on to different
schools, with perhaps some different ideas
about education, and frankly there are some
things you need to know about your future
classmates out there…
• You need to know that some of them may
not be able to tell the difference between a
knitting needle and a crochet hook.
• You may meet people who can’t put their
colors in rainbow order, or who think you
play indoors on a rainy day, or who think a
Gnome is a town in Alaska.
• You may come across folks who think needle felting is some form medieval torture,
ORFF is an embarrassing bodily function,
or that eurythmy is a medical condition.
• You’re certain to encounter people who
think that a letter grade is more important
than the knowledge it’s supposed
to represent.
Have patience with these people! Work
with them. Do your best. Listen with an open
mind and an open heart. And just remember, not everyone is blessed with a Waldorf
Education!
Jackson Savage ’10 is an honor roll freshman at Walnut Hills High School. He plays
bass in the Senior String Orchestra. He is also
involved in Clifton recreational soccer, Boy
Scouts and My Nose Turns Red Youth Circus.
Ellie Paulsen ’09 is a sophomore at Walnut Hills High School, where she plays violin
in the orchestra. They are going to be playing
at Carnegie Hall in New York City this year!
Eric Risk ’08 moved to Moscow with his
family soon after graduating from CWS. He
is now a junior at the Anglo-American International School of Moscow, where he is involved in theatre and soccer. Eric still keeps
in touch with many of his CWS friends, in
spite of the distance!
Max Gust ‘09 is a sophomore at Turpin
High School and an honor roll student. He
plays football and runs track. You may have
seen him at our last May Faire … first in line
to send Mr. Olson into the dunk tank!
Janela Harris ’06 graduated with honors
from Walnut Hills High School last spring,
where she participated in the debating forum.
She is now a freshman at Haverford College in
Pennsylvania. Don’t miss her Q&A about her
Waldorf experience in this issue of Outreach!
Malcolm Harris ’09 is a sophomore at
Purcell Marian High School. He loves theater
and has already been in four school plays!
Anna Kaiser ’09 is a sophomore at Walnut Hills High School, where she plays cello
in the school orchestra. She is also a soccer
player and a member of My Nose Turns Red
Youth Circus.
Gus Merrell ’09 is a sophomore at St.
Xavier High School, where he participates
in school plays, Yearbook Club, two music
ensembles and fencing.
Jackie Jackson ’10 moved to Alabama
with his family this past summer, where
Jackie attends Columbia High School. He
is an honor roll student and is involved
in his school’s Global Arts Club. Jackie
participated in the Poetry Out Loud National
Recitation Contest. He won 1st place in his
high school and went on to take 1st place in
the regional competition. His original poem
will be copyrighted and he is slated to recite
the poem on the radio soon. He will go on to
compete in the upcoming state competition.
Collin Leonard ’09 is a sophomore at the
School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
He is on the honor roll and participates in the
Running Club and Thespian Society. Collin
was cast in multiple productions last year as
a freshman including SCPA’s major production of Macbeth. He was awarded a scholarship to attend the Thespian Society’s state
competition in Columbus and is applying
again this year.
Cameron Leonard ’10 is being homeschooled through Connections Academy. He
is maintaining a 3.7 GPA.
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The Eighth Grade Research Project
by Lori Kran, CWS 2nd grade teacher, Chair College of Teachers
Collin Leonard ’09 Trebouchet
Kes Baladad-Binns ’10 Dress Design
Mary Kate Norton ’10 Original
Piano Composition
The Eighth Grade Research Project and
Presentation exemplifies a fundamental
tenet of Waldorf education: to cultivate a
passion for life-long learning. The intentions of this year-long assignment are for
eighth graders to research a topic about
which they are passionate; to acquire new
knowledge and new skills; and to create something useful, beautiful, handy, or
innovative. Students are also expected to
ask an adult who is an expert in their field
of interest to mentor them throughout the
year. This fosters a meaningful relationship between mentor and student. It further
cultivates the well-known Waldorf student
quality of interacting easily with adults.
Those of us lucky enough to have had
personal experience with Waldorf graduates know that these fine young women and
men look adults in the eye, expect and give
firm handshakes, and expect to be taken
seriously by the adults in their lives. This
is why so many high school teachers report
that Waldorf students exude confidence
in their studies and genuine enjoyment
for learning. The projects culminate in an
evening of demonstrations as students are
expected to present their research to the
CWS community. Most students delve into
this project enthusiastically. It is an opportunity for them to individuate their interests
and studies and to work on a long-term
project. My students, the Class of 2009,
impressed me not only with their interests,
but also with the results of their research,
planning, practice, and hard work. Projects
included: building a trebuchet, a terrarium,
remote airplane, telescope, sewing a quilt,
learning: to cook, be an excellent “handy
man,” the piano, the electric and acoustic
guitar, to sketch, to hunt, research and write
poetry, improving martial arts skills, and
master a difficult song. Every presentation
demonstrated how seriously students took
their research project.
Anna Kaiser ’09 Quilt Design
Max Gust ’09 Electric Guitar
Rishabh Goud ’09 Martial Arts
Nayonika Goud ’10 Indian Dancing
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Hailey Olson ’09 Piano Performance
Jackson Savage ’10 Recycled Race Car
The Honored Eighth Grader
by Beth Norton, parent of 3 CWS Children
During the 2009-10 school year, I got to
experience the culmination of 12 years of
Waldorf education. I also got to experience
two new things about Waldorf!
After the ups and downs of 6th and 7th
grade, we weren’t sure what to expect for
our daughter’s final year. We knew the curriculum would be very challenging (and it
was). We knew the kids would have more
freedom and responsibility (and they did).
And we knew there would be the 8th grade
trip (which exceeded our every hope).
Beyond this, we just figured it was a year
to wrap things up and begin the moving on
Photograph by Tatum Davis ’07
process. What we came to realize was that
the 8th grade year is a very special year of
honoring the graduates. This was the first
new thing I learned.
I started to realize this during Wintergarden. The 8th graders were last to walk
the spiral. The parents all crowded in front
exchanging hugs, a little misty-eyed. The
kids walked the spiral with their “self-portrait” candles they had made and returned
to the classroom. When I turned around to
go, I saw that the back rows were full of
teachers and support staff - Early Childhood, Special Subjects, other Lead teachers - exchanging hugs, a little misty-eyed.
They too had come to honor these students.
These “honorings” continued throughout
the school year as privileges, invitations
to join other classes for special events and
opportunities to be of service to the school.
In Eurythmy, they had fun experiencing
their favorite stories and dances again. In
Games, they got to train for the traditional
8th grade vs. Faculty softball game. They
were asked to be special visitors to the EC
classes.
In April, the class put on an amazing performance of Much Ado About Nothing. And
then came the 8th grade trip. I wish I could
show you what those kids looked like when
we met them (after a week of sea-kayaking
off the coast of Maine) in the airport. They
all looked so confident and happy and
proud - not at all the usual picture of a
group of 13- and 14-year olds. The trip was
the rite of passage every parent hopes his or
her child will experience in adolescence. It
was an experience that will stay with them
always. (You just can’t say this about a trip
to DC with a busload of parents!)
After the trip, there was a rush to finish the 8th grade projects - projects of
their choice that had been in
the works since Fall. It was
amazing to see what the kids
achieved. And again, the kids
were honored with a wonderful
turnout from the community
and tons of applause and enthusiasm.
Graduation was a week later
and Mr. Cordray honored the
students by allowing them to
design the graduation ceremony. It was beautiful and unique,
just like their special class. The
parents and 8th graders spent
at least a month on cloud nine
remembering their last few
months at CWS.
The second thing I learned
happened while visiting high schools with
my eighth-grader. Inevitably, the question of grade point average and class rank
would be asked. We would explain that
Waldorf does not give grades and go into
a long drawn-out explanation of the 8-year
cycle etc. Without fail, the high school
administrator would look confused and say,
“That can’t work. How do you motivate a
child without giving a grade?” End of conversation. I started to think about this and
realized that here was another big divide
between Waldorf and traditional education. Waldorf doesn’t seek to motivate the
child. Waldorf seeks to bring forth the light
of self-motivation within the child. In the
early years, the child is motivated by a love
of the teacher. Around 6th grade, this love
changes and the child must pull forth his
or her own motivation in order to succeed.
An adolescent, who at age 14 can motivate
himself or herself to succeed without the
outside judgment of grades or ranking, will
be able to draw upon self-motivation his/
her entire life. And this may be the greatest
gift of a full 8 years of Waldorf education.
Artwork by Lisa Patterson ’09
Ruthie Arthur ’10 is a freshman at Lakota
West High School where she is currently
maintaining a 3.75 GPA. She was most recently seen captivating the imaginations of our
youngest students as a Fall Fairy at the Autumn
at Meshewa Festival, along with her CWS
classmates, Grace Rupp and Nayonika Goud.
Erica Patterson ’06 graduated from Highlands High School in Ft. Thomas, KY, in June
of 2010. She is now a freshman at Colorado
State University, with a double major in Biology and Equine Science. Don’t miss her Q&A
about her Waldorf experience in this issue of
Outreach!
Rishabh Goud ’09 is a sophomore maintaining a B+ average at Sycamore High School
and is quite active in sports at his school. He
plays football, volleyball and is on the wrestling team.
Alyssa Thompson ’10 is a freshman at the
School for the Creative and Performing Arts,
where she is a Visual Arts major. She made the
A Honor Roll her first quarter! She is pursuing her interest in acting by taking the Acting
Certificate Program through the CCM drama
department and participating in Groundlings at
the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company.
Jacob Wergers ’09 is a sophomore at Anderson High School where he plays football,
baseball and is on the Student Athlete Leadership Team. He also maintains a 4.0 GPA and
was voted “Student of the Month” last April.
He recommends that CWS students transitioning to large high schools join a team, club or
organization right away as this is the best way
to meet new people and develop a new group
of friends with similar interests.
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Resources for Alumni Families
WARM GREETINGS TO ALL WALDORF SCHOOL ALUMNI FROM
THE ASSOCIATION OF WALDORF
SCHOOLS OF NORTH AMERICA
We all know that “Alumni” means
any of you who have attended a Waldorf
school for any length of time at any level
of schooling, and who wish to remain in
touch with the Waldorf Education community.
Please join us! We’ll keep your contact
information private and secure, and we’ll
keep you informed of news and events.
We’d also love the opportunity to share
your news. What have you been up to?
This is a great way to keep us and you
in the Waldorf loop. If you contacted us
before on our old website, awsna.org,
please know that we have your information securely on file. Rest assured that no
one else has access to your information.
So please tell all the alums you know
to join the site. The more the merrier!
Our community of Waldorf attendees is a
highly creative, social, and effective one.
Connected through this website, much
can happen: http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/alumni/index.php!
WARM GREETINGS TO ALL
WALDORF EDUCATION ALUMNI
PARENTS FROM THE ASSOCIATION
OF WALDORF SCHOOLS OF NORTH
AMERICA
Parents of Waldorf Alumni include
some of the most cherished members
of our community. Not only have they
generously given over and over both financially and emotionally for many years
to ensure the wellbeing of the school of
their choice, but they continue to care
about the healthy future of teaching and
learning in the Waldorf way long after
their children have left their Waldorf
environment.
So, welcome to the Parent Alumni
page on our website: http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/. We hope you’ll use
this resource to remain in touch with the
Waldorf Education community. On this
web site you’ll find stimulating publications, thought-provoking news articles,
information about Waldorf Education
around the globe, and how our Waldorf
graduates are faring.
Lisa Patterson ’08 is a junior at Highlands High School in Ft. Thomas, KY, where
she has maintained a GPA of 4.1! She is
involved in track, Spanish Club, National
Honors, Art Honors Club and plays cello
in the orchestra. She also teaches cello lessons and is a Spanish tutor and English as a
second language tutor. She was most recently
seen as the “Pocket Fairy” at our 2010 Holiday Faire.
Dylan Miller ’07 is a senior at King
Kekaulike High School in Maui, Hawaii. He
is on the B Honor Roll and a member of the
varsity wrestling team. He is interested in
returning to Ohio for college to study Sports
Management.
Elyse Wergers ’07 is a senior at Anderson
High School where she has maintained a 3.8
GPA and is in the National Merit Society.
She is a member of the Young Democrats
Club, the Culinary Club, and is currently
doing an internship at November Strategies
for her business class. She plans to attend
University of Cincinnati next year as a Business major with a minor in Spanish.
Nayonika Goud ’10 is a freshman at
Sycamore High School and is off to a great
start with a 3.8 GPA. She is a swimmer and
continues to do Indian dancing and beautiful
artwork.
The Cincinnati Waldorf School is a
candidate member of the Association of
Waldorf Schools of North America
5555 Little Flower Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45239
voice (513) 541-0220 fax (513) 541-3586
www.cincinnatiwaldorfschool.org
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