by Sarah Flynn, Parent

Last year, we were a brand new family at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School, with a Sun Room kindergartener, a first grader, and a third grader. You could say we “hit the ground running.” Before that, we had no experience whatever with Waldorf education. There have been many “Ahaa!” moments for us as we come to understand more deeply the levels on which this education speaks to our children, as well as the care with which it is offered to them here at GBRSS.

One of those moments came on a cold day in the winter, when my kindergartener was home. We decided to make our very own “soup day.” I had heard all about how the children cut the vegetables and made their own soup, and I was eager to see this in action. So we went to the fridge together, and my daughter instructed me on which vegetables to get out (beets, carrots, potatoes, and kale). Then she picked out her knife and cutting board, and sat at the table expectantly. “Does Mrs. Kuzia give you the vegetables raw, or are they soft?” I asked. She told me they were raw and very hard. So I hesitantly handed her a raw beet. “Like this?” She took the beet, looked at it skeptically, shrugged her shoulders, and began to try to cut it with her butter knife. After the beet had shot across the kitchen a few times, I realized there must be more to it than that. I cut the beet in half and handed it back to her. “That’s more like at school,” she said, but of course she still couldn’t cut it. When I finally cut the beet into thin strips, she beamed and said encouragingly, “Just like that!” and proceeded to cut all the vegetables for a wonderful pot of soup.

While we ate our soup, I realized a few things. The children are not doing “little child things.” They are engaged in real-life tasks, at an age-appropriate level. Mia is learning to care for herself, others, and the space we inhabit, which is the first and most basic life skill. And at a very young age, the children are learning that it is enjoyable to be competent. These are things about the school that are difficult to explain. How do you tell someone looking for reading readiness that chopping veggies is actually exactly what kindergarteners need most? I did not know that myself just a year ago!

So, many thanks to the loving early childhood teachers who carefully prepare the veggies for little ones to chop, and who reverently break bread with them on bread day. I appreciate the intention and purpose that are behind these seemingly simple gifts you give our children.

Tuesday, February 3, 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
GBRSS
Great Barrington

Informational Tea & School Tour. Participants can observe our students and teachers in the inviting environment of our classrooms. For more information, please contact: Kathi Weinstein, Admissions Director, at (413) 528-4015, Ext. 106 or email admissions@rudolfsteinerschool.org.

Cyber Smarts
A Special Program for Parents
Presenter: Katie Koestner
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
7:00pm to 8:00pm
Hawthorne Valley School Hall

This program, with renowned national speaker Katie Koestner, is a crash course on everything a parent needs to know about the troublesome world of the Internet. New, popular technologies have revolutionized youth social scenes in ways we are only beginning to understand. Unfortunately, many parents have been left behind, unaware of the dangers offered by these new tools. Cyber Smarts will help parents better understand their children’s lives, as well as how to better protect them online.

Please Note: This program is designed strictly for adults and is NOT open to students.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER, KATIE KOESTNER
Katie Koestner is a national expert on teen relationships and current risk issues for schools. She has been featured on the cover of Time Magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC Nightly News, Larry King Live, Good Morning America, MTV and dozens of national news programs. HBO and Lifetime have made films about her life and in 2003, she completed two films with national award-winning Top Hat Productions: “Please Write Back: Sexual Assault among America’s Students” and “Helping a Sexual Assault Survivor.” She has extensive knowledge in the field of Internet safety, gleaning her insights from research, experience, insider information from teens, as well as partnerships with various technology institutions and the FBI.

Great Barrington Waldorf High School Open House
Tuesday, January 27, 7:30pm – 8:30p.m.
GBWHS
454 Main Street
Great Barrington

The Great Barrington Waldorf High School: Seeking Truth, Developing Imagination, and Fostering Responsibility. For more information, please call Renni Greenberg Gallagher at (413) 528-8833. GBWHS, PO Box 905, 454 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230 (2nd floor of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, corner of Rtes. 23/41 and 7)

by Heather Bellow, Parent

Twinkle twinkle little star,
how I wonder what you are…

This was a favorite song of my children’s when they were very small. They still love it, the way they love all reminders of their babyhood. But now, my eight-year-old is seeing stars in a different light. She informed me one night, as she was settling in to bed, “the sky is so black and big and all those little stars… I know it is called the universe, mama, and it’s keeping me awake.”

The universe does have that effect. I see she is growing up and that concepts which may not have stuck a year ago, are provocative now.

I suppose this has to happen. For all our efforts to preserve the wonder of small children, it fades rapidly in our material world, that material paradigm that Rudolf Steiner—at the turn of the twentieth century—said could be the undoing of a spiritually healthy humanity. The notion that everything must be measured and analyzed to be understood has taken its toll on the West. And now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it seems we are in real trouble.

As I climbed the stairs with yet another cup of warmed milk for my restless daughter, I recoiled at the idea that a feeling of unease about the universe may be a signpost of the arduous journey into the mainstream of modern Western consciousness.

Yes, the universe is dark and mysterious. We all are confined to this spinning globe, in miraculous suspension, as though in the cupped palms of divine hands. Native peoples see the earth as a living, breathing being. It birthed us all. And the universe really is our mother home. The ancients knew this and they charted the paths of the stars. The universe is vast but we belong to her. The stars are her children as well.

Now, instead of a wondrous garden of celestial magic, the universe and her inhabitants are seen as a scientific cosmos to be navigated with machines. The modern world, with its need for abstraction and measure, is wonderful and necessary. Steiner, too, recognized this. But children live in a different consciousness; the world has not yet shaped them or assigned constructs. To a child, the star—whether in the heavens or in the apple’s core—are products of divine construction.

When my daughter was a baby, her crib lay directly under a skylight. Deep in the northern Vermont woods the stars above her were a source of comfort, easing her into sleep. Why should it be that they now inspire unease? In this world we live in, wonder and awe can slide into dread. I think this is what we are trying to avoid by preserving wonder in our children. Perhaps this preservation is an antidote to the existential fear that can lead humans down the material chute, in danger of becoming stuck there. Or is it the other way around? Perhaps the Waldorf way is so good for children precisely because it delays abstraction long enough to prevent becoming mired in a sense of dread that we parents, raised towards the end of the twentieth century, are prone to feel.

Of a renowned astronomer in our extended family, my daughter asks, “How does she study the stars?” I explain to her about the observatory and the powerful telescopes. But I also tell her that the stars have secrets which they will not tell. From earth they are magical lights which urge us to remember who we are and where we are.

Wonder precedes great scientific discovery—reason enough to keep it intact. The wonder of the astronomer must be as infinitesimal as the universe itself. Surely that wonder can only increase while the stars are examined. After all, knowledge acts as a rich fertilizer in the garden of wonder. But wonder, it seems, must come first. Watercolor by Senta Reis

All School Open House
Saturday, January 24, 1 – 4 p.m.
GBRSS
Great Barrington

This is a great opportunity to see the classrooms, meet our stellar faculty and view our children’s work. Tours from 1 to 2 p.m. Presentations at 2 p.m. in the school auditorium include: Learn how a subject like math is not simply taught, ingested and tested, but is experienced; Learn why the Waldorf approach enables reading to evolve as a natural stage of our stuedents’ mastery of language; and financial aid opportunities at our school. For further information call Kathi Weinstein, Admissions Director, 413-528-4015 ext. 106.

In acknowledgement of the historical significance of the inauguration of President-elect Obama, students in grades 7 and 8 will go to the Mahaiwe Theatre in Great Barrington to see a live projected broadcast. Students in grades 3 through 6 will see a live projected broadcast of the inauguration in the auditorium, including the swearing in of Barack Obama, his speech, and the poem written and read by Elizabeth Alexander for this occasion.

GBRSS initiated a new program entitled the “Star Code” at an elementary school assembly on Tuesday, January 20th.

The “Star Code” emphasizes the values the school community is expected to uphold. The five points of the star each represent attributes expressing positive behaviors: Respect for people and property, Kindness to self and others, Celebration of Diversity, Appreciation for the good in each other, and Responsibility for what you say and do. The implementation of the “Star Code” will remind all members of the school community to work together to further create a nurturing school setting encouraging positive behavior with consistent expectations for all. This code exemplifies the social skills expected not only in the classrooms, but also on the playground, on school buses and at after school activities.

The code was developed by the students, who along with their class teachers, revisited the daily classroom values they try to uphold. These were compiled and simplified in order to create a value system that all could follow. Although these values have always been an expectation of how Steiner students behave, the “Star Code” will renew these points as a way to set a higher expectation for the school community as a whole. The tenor of this program is for students, teachers and parents to model these values through their behavior.

In addition to presenting this program to the students at this assembly, posters illustrating this code will be given to each teacher for use in the classrooms. This assembly was specifically chosen since the school will honor Martin Luther King, as well as it being Inauguration Day for President-elect Obama. Faculty member, Ann Sagarin wove the values represented by these two individuals into the presentation of the Star Code, acknowledging that these values have been passed down through the decades.

This initiative was a result of the Social/Emotional Health Committee, formed in the fall of the 2007/2008 school year. This committee consists of Marilyn Ruppart, the school’s Administrator; Ann Sagarin, the current sixth grade class teacher; parent and trustee Jonathan Baum; and consulting psychologist Dr. Steve Hoff. One of the primary roles of the Committee is to develop policy and programming in the areas related to the social and emotional well-being of our students. The resulting programs involve the education of the faculty and parents, as well as students, and are formulated appropriately for each age level. Role playing, small group discussion and lively class discussions are used to address such topics as bullying and teasing, peer pressure, Internet safety and healthy human sexuality and identity development.

Ready, Set, Play!
Friday, January 9, 7:30 p.m.
GBRSS Auditorium
Great Barrington

A presentation by our Athletic Director Krista Palmer on the value of Childhood Games. Come dressed to move for an evening learning about why and what children play through the grades and how our movement program supports healthy child development. From the Parent Association of the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School. Admission is free. Don’t miss this one!

Mark Orlowski is doing his part to ensure a brighter future. The nonprofit organization he founded in 2005, the Sustainable Endowments Institute, engages in research and education to advance sustainability in campus operations and endowment practices. Its “College Sustainability Report Card,” which rates colleges on their “green” practices, is attracting media attention and encouraging colleges to take a closer look at how they can maintain more environmentally friendly campuses and invest responsibly. The organization provides interactive sustainability profiles and grades for 300 schools with the largest endowments, ranging from approximately $150 million to $35 billion. The institutions of higher education rated include Ivy League schools, liberal arts colleges and large state universities. Here, Mosaic asks Mark about his work and how his days at GBRSS may have influenced him.

Mosaic: How is the Report Card affecting colleges and students?
Mark: Making a commitment to sustainability, ranging from local food sourcing in cafeterias to renewable energy investments, is no longer a priority of only environmentalists. These types of innovations are capturing the attention of everyone, from college trustees to admissions applicants. In a poll by the Princeton Review, for example, 63 percent of more than 10,000 college applicants polled said that a college’s commitment to the environment could affect their decision. Schools can’t ignore this growing awareness.

Mosaic: What sorts of practices does the College Sustainability Report Card rate?
Mark: The Report Card helps schools and students compare how the different institutions measure up on issues such as food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, climate change and energy, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement. We also show trends across policy categories. We hope that this not only helps applicants, but also allows the schools to learn from each other. For example, in the transportation category, car-sharing programs at schools have more than doubled over the past year. This is a healthy trend.

Mosaic: How might your experience at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School have influenced your career path?
Mark: I had a great eight years at Steiner, starting in first grade with Mr. Eurich. I learned at my own pace and, after eight years, still had a passion for learning and creativity—and an ability to think outside of the box. My home life also affected my sensibilities. My parents believed in environmentally friendly living and lots of natural light. At the Steiner school, too, the classrooms are inviting and filled with natural light, and there’s an appreciation for nature, with recess outside in the fields and woods. It keeps you connected. And Mr. Eurich had a multi-dimensional way of teaching that included auditory, kinesthetic and visual elements. This allowed me to get a strong grasp of the material and go on from there with confidence.

Mosaic: Where did you attend college, and what was your focus?
Mark: I started out at Berkshire Community College and then finished at Williams College. I ran a computer consulting business simultaneously. After getting my associate’s from BCC, I underwent an intense transfer process and was one of five students accepted to Williams out of 150 applicants. I majored in political science and environmental studies.

Mosaic: So you must have hit the ground running when you graduated.
Mark: I started the nonprofit organization right after graduating. At Williams, I chaired the Campus Environmental Advisory Committee and served on the Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. Through this involvement, I learned that there was no coordinated mechanism to find out what other schools were doing. The information available was anecdotal and fragmented. There was a need for a reliable, independent tracking mechanism for what was happening on campuses in New England and nationally. I am deeply involved in the research, of course, and now we have a summer research fellows program through which undergraduate and graduate students engage in research.

Mosaic: How did you get the organization going, and how do you fund it?
Mark: John Chandler, former president of Williams College, encouraged me to get the organization off the ground and now serves on our board of advisors. The organization is a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, which takes care of our accounting, legal and bookkeeping needs, and receives funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and a number of other foundations. I personally do all of the fundraising for the organization. One of the first seed grants we received was from the Rudolf Steiner Foundation.

Mosaic: What are some of the media outlets that have taken an interest in your work?
Mark: We’ve received attention from the New York Times Magazine, CNN, Money, Business Week, Forbes, PBS and the Chronicle of Higher Education, as well as from many local and campus presses. This kind of coverage is important. All too often, there’s terrific research out there, but no one knows about it. It’s reminiscent of an old riddle, “If you publish a great piece of research and no one knows about it, does it have an impact?” But we are having an impact, and people are interested. Since the beginning of 2007, more than 250,000 visitors have come to our website to look at research.

Mosaic: What other activities does the organization engage in?
Mark: We give out Champions of Sustainability in Communities Awards and Sustainability Innovator Awards to noteworthy schools. We look at things like resource efficiency or reduction of resource use, educational impact, creativity and uniqueness of solutions, and how well an approach is adaptable to other schools. These awards recognize successes and, we hope, bring attention to what progressive schools are doing so that other schools will be inspired to follow their leadership.

Mosaic: Thank you, Mark. You’re doing some valuable work in the world.

To learn more about the Sustainable Endowments Institute, visit endowmentinstitute.org. More about the College Sustainability Report Card can be found at greenreportcard.org.