Each April, after the Patriot’s Day week, Waldorf High School students head out into the world. Every two or three years, the whole high school travels—German students to Munich, Spanish students to Colombia or Peru (or possible another Spanish-speaking country; stay tuned for news of next year’s travel plans). Other years, students stay closer to home. Eleventh and 12th graders complete internships and projects, and 9th and 10th graders work together as a group. In the past, 9th and 10th graders have volunteered at Camphill Copake, worked on a local farm, or helped to make naturally fermented sauerkraut.
This year, eleven Waldorf High School 9th and 10th graders hiked the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway, a fifty mile trail that links Mt. Monadnock and Mt. Sunapee in southern New Hampshire. Students planned, packed, and hiked together, cooking meals in small groups under the direction of Krista Palmer, Kroka Outdoor Expeditions leader Lisl Hofer, and Mrs. Palmer’s son, John, Steiner School Class of 2002. The first night had a low in the 20s, and one night brought rain, but otherwise the weather was good. The group stopped each day mid-afternoon to set up camp. Some campsites had lean-tos, but these were not large enough for our group. Those not in the lean-tos strung a large tarp and created a huge nest of pine bows on which to lay their sleeping bags. This trip extends the school’s outdoor education program, which includes a week each September for 12th graders, camping on Hermit Island, Maine, to study tidepool zoology.
While the 9th and 10th graders were on their hiking trip, 11th and 12th graders completed projects and internships that took them out into the “real” world. This year, projects and internships included building a guitar, helping to rehabilitate wild animals, working at a large commercial stable, working for a fashion photographer, writing and producing a radio play, tanning hides, working for a coffee roaster, building and maintaining hiking trails, working at the library, and assisting a documentary film crew. Students commented on how frequently their adult supervisors and mentors gave them real work to do, trusting them as young adults. These projects and internships offer a way to investigate an interest, even a passion, that a normal school day would not offer.
Students returned to academic classes the last week of April full of enthusiasm and stories, ready to tackle the last six weeks of calculus, evolutionary biology, the U.S. Constitution, soapstone sculpture, and the many other subjects that fill their days.