SPRINGTIME COMES TO WSP

The campus is buzzing with Spring activities. The school garden is in full bloom; the field is just about recovered from the rain and turning from mud to grass again; and the third graders are hammering and sawing on the black top making birdhouses.

Plus, there has been palpable relief in the air, since the re-accreditation visit ended!

Accreditation

The team from AWSNA (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America) and WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) spent several days on campus the first week in March and visited ALL the classes, met with faculty, students, parents, board and administration, and compiled their report for re-accreditation. They disclosed the summary of their findings to the FAB (faculty, administration and board) at the end, and there were no surprises, thank goodness. Most of the recommendations are, in fact, already contained in our Strategic Plan, like creating an early childhood center and providing more support for faculty and administration, including commensurate compensation.

We were very pleased to hear all the wonderful commendations, especially the praise for our enthusiastic and dedicated faculty. When the team met with a group of our Middle School students and asked them what they didn’t like about the school, it took the youngsters a minute to think about it, before they were able to come up with a few suggestions. Most precious for me to hear was the reaction of one of the team members not related to Waldorf education. She admitted to having arrived with the preconceived notion of WSP as a school for rich kids – located in Los Altos Hills, after all! – and had been amazed to realize how diverse (and kind!) our community in fact is. She revised her prejudice completely, and, like the rest of the team, admired our Tuition Adjustment program, which contributes not only financially, but socially and culturally to our community.

Now we are waiting with bated breath for the final results, i.e. length of accreditation term, which will be revealed in May/June. We are also thrilled to realize that after four hard years of work, our High School will now be accredited along with the Lower School.

Parallel Bars

The tradition for alumni students to offer us their time and skills for community service or scout projects is still going strong! In the course of last year, two former students fulfilled their community Eagle Scout badges by improving our campus: Ian Humphreys (class of 2006) (and his parents and lots of helping hands) spent countless hours installing the parallel bars in between the two classroom wings. The students were thrilled to have this new equipment at their disposal, and I have heard of one of them playing the violin atop it.

25th Anniversary Tile Project & Campus Beautification

Lindsay Maggard (class of 2005) was instrumental in overseeing the installation of the alumni tiles on the wall outside the bathrooms. The making of these tiles was part of our 25th  anniversary celebration last year, and will serve as a visual reminder of our quarter century together. See if you can spot yours! An Eagle Scout project some of you might still remember was Chip Gringeri’s (class of 1998) mural on the aftercare room wall. Alyssa Woodman (class of 2002) spent most of her high school community service hours on campus, painting the two murals on the doors of the educational support program.

Meanwhile, a very dedicated team of individuals (members of the high school steering committee with real estate experience; a parent working in the field of real estate, and our board president) is working feverishly to find the next site for our budding High School. The satellite site in Cupertino is already too small, and we anticipate adding a big ninth grade in the fall! Our lone 12th-grader, Melisa Nolan, is looking forward to her graduation, and the next year’s seniors are already thinking about their senior trip destination! The High School hosted their first formal with great success, and many friends from earlier Waldorf days joined them for dinner and dance. See pictures in the Messenger of March 19.

The queens of the Spring Gala, Sandy Olson and Kristy Brandenburg, and their Gala Committee, are busy preparing for the event of the year: our annual Spring Gala on May 22nd. This year’s theme is “Cirque du Waldorf”, and the event will take place in the Menlo Circus Club again with live music, dinner, dance and auction.

If we don’t have your email address yet, let us know now, so you will be sure to receive an invitantion for this spectacular event!

My Family Alums Alyssa and Merlin were just home for their (measly one week!) Spring break, and I loved spoiling them with their favorite foods and seeing them soak up the California sunshine! It is so precious for me to observe how they connect with their friends from grade school and meet for coffee, bike rides and movies. As I keep telling people at school tours: Waldorf students form life-long friendships with their classmates.

Alyssa, 22 Drexel University, PA WSP class of 2002 Dana Jain SFWHS class of 2006

Merlin, 20 Seattle University, WA WSP class of 2004 Carolyn Armstrong SFWHS class of 2008

CONGRATULATIONS!

Several of our former students got married:

Class of 2002 (Mrs. Jain)

Lauren Elise Ringelman – Steve Sparks
Jennifer Paige Albera – Dean Robson
Kaja Gibbs – Matthew Davidson

Isha Kuhns is engaged to Brenton Deville

. . .  and from previous years:

Alexandra Webb (1995) – Evan Phillippe
Shauna Webb (1996) – Will Brubaker
Lucinda Sears (1996) – Casey Speed

OTHER NEWS

One of our very first graduates, Joshua Stauffer (1992), who graduated from Stanford University and Santa Clara Law School, is a Deputy District Attorney in San Mateo County and is now the lead attorney in the Gang Unit. Joshua married two years ago.

His classmate Daniela DiPiero is back in the Bay Area and running a not-for-profit organization in Oakland, supporting underprivileged youth.

Another classmate, Sara Raffo, who originally designed our new website for us, is currently attending Rhode Island School of Design!

Vahe Markosian (2001), won first prize in the 2010 Student Design Awards Competition held by the IIDA (International Interior Design Association), Northern California chapter. His theme was sustainable and community-oriented housing for large numbers of misplaced people. Vahe described it: “This project is my response to an impending global housing shortage that will mostly affect the developing world.”

Killian Nolan (2002), graduate of UC Riverside, was accepted into Harvard Law School.

David Kellenburger (2004), a Freshman at Dartmouth, was one of four students accepted to the Keeble School of Economics at Oxford University next year as a student for the winter semester.

Former class teacher Dana Jain, who occasionally substitutes for us at WSP, brought her daughter-in-law and little granddaughter to one of our school tours in March! – Start ‘em young!

Our former handwork teacher, Kris Keckley-Stauffer, is now retired and enjoying a new puppy and lots of travel with her husband Mike.

I would love to hear about any updates you would like to share from our former students! Our alumni are our best advertising, and we would love to have as much data as possible. Gail Evenari, our Communications and Marketing Director, and I intend to set up an alumni page on the website with individual profiles, so any help you can give us will be much appreciated! Any updates can be sent to Katharina Woodman at 408-530-9101 or katharina_13@yahoo.com.

Katharina Woodman, WSP Alumni Coordinator
Photos & text