Dear Friends,
We are happy to report that, in many ways, this has been our best year ever at the Great Barrington Waldorf High School. At a recent dinner to honor the soon-to-graduate Class of 2011, it was a pleasure to watch each of our seniors speak about a project or recent travel, and to remember each student as he or she entered our school, younger and less self-assured. Year after year, the intelligence, grace, candor, and maturity of our graduates makes us feel strongly that we are doing what we are called to do in the education of our students.
Some of the highlights of the year almost past are these:
- We enrolled 35 students, a high-water mark for us, including six mid-year entrants. Half of our students started their education at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School and half came to us by other routes—from homeschools, public schools, and other prep schools. These students’ backgrounds and experiences offer our school a healthy diversity.
- The entire High School began the year with a three-day Orientation at Camp Hi-Rock that served to establish human relationships for the coming year.
- The Senior class traveled to Hermit Island, Maine, to study tide pool zoology with 100 seniors from 7 other Waldorf high schools.
- Three German students visited for a semester, and another 9 visited for three weeks in October and November.
- Thirty students participated in our school play, “The Taming of the Shrew,” performed in February at the Berkshire South Regional Community Center, under the direction of Beth Robbins and Rachel Siegel.
- In April, we sent twenty students to Munich, Germany, with Ursula Wirth, or Cali, Colombia, with Sonia Cintron. Our policy of shared fundraising again made it possible for all students to travel, regardless of means.
- Half a dozen 11th and 12th graders (those who did not travel) completed projects and internships in electrical engineering, television production, masonry, fitness, early childhood education, auto repair, and pottery.
- Our Spring Concert in early June, including Paula Nuss’s choral direction, Gili Lev’s instrumental direction, and Stella Elliston’s eurythmy teaching, represented a renaissance in our performing arts.
- In addition to our strong Core Faculty, students enjoyed seminars from visiting teachers who included Lisa Damian (life science), Peter Elliston (history), and Diane Rossman (English). Visiting artists this year included Dan Bellow (pottery), Guy Nordoff (sculpture), and Paul Pitman (photography).
- Students in Winslow Eliot’s seminar on Parsifal will produce a book—ISBN number forthcoming—available on Amazon or the school’s website next fall. Each student wrote a story of a quest, and each story will be a chapter in the book.
- We will graduate 6 mature, confident Seniors on June 12, each of whom is prepared for college and for whatever life after high school brings.
- For the third year in a row, we finish the year with a balanced budget, due in large part to your generosity.
- We elected a new Board President, Lou Serpe, and we added two new trustees—Vanessa Halley, a lawyer with Caine Hibbard & Meyers in Great Barrington, and Alan Lombardi, a retired business consultant. Under his direction, we have already begun strategic planning for the next five years.
- In planning for next year, we anticipate stable enrollment, and we are already discussing improvements in math and science; improvements in instrumental music; more elective courses; an application to be able to grant student visas to foreign students who wish to attend our school; and a party next spring to celebrate our 10th anniversary!
We are fortunate to grow closer each year to our aim—to create an excellent, small, sustainable, community-oriented and community-integrated Waldorf school in the Berkshires, one that students value and want to attend. But more and better teachers and programs and facilities mean larger expenses, too. We cover 80% of our costs through tuition, but, like almost all independent schools, rely on the generosity of those, like you, who value what we do. We accept gifts gratefully, large and small, and put them to work efficiently to support education for adolescents and Waldorf high school education in the Berkshires. One thousand dollars pays for a visiting seminar teacher for 2 weeks; $25 pays for test tubes for one chemistry seminar. Please contribute as generously as you can. Thank you!
To donate online, quickly and safely, use the Google “Donate button” above this letter.
Sincerely,
Stephen Sagarin, PhD, Faculty Chair
Lou Serpe, Board Chair