NEWS ARCHIVES

Fall Open House

Saturday, November 7

Enrollment event

Bring the whole family to the Lake Champlain Waldorf School for our fall open house! Experience the early childhood, grade school and high school curricula, view students' work, and take a tour with a student ambassador. Little ones will enjoy lantern-making and free play in the kindergarten cottage; older students and parents can sit in on a sample class lesson and learn more about the philosophy behind Waldorf education from a teacher during one of several informal presentations scheduled throughout the morning. Free refreshments and childcare will be available. Shelburne Campus, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.. FREE. RSVP to Pam Graham

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All-School Michaelmas Celebration

Friday, October 2

Hearth, Health and Harvest

Dressed in red and ready to work, students from the Lake Champlain Waldorf School took to the forests and fields last Friday, Oct. 2, for the school’s annual celebration of the festival of Michaelmas.

Even the youngest students worked side by side through the afternoon, pulling invasive honeysuckle and buckthorn plants from the undergrowth in the woods surrounding the school, on land which has been preserved by the Nature Conservancy. The students joined forces with the group for the day to tackle the invasive species: Hard work is an integral part of the students’ experience on Michaelmas, and an opportunity to engage their will in the spirit of service. In this case, the benefactors of their efforts included the many species of wildlife that make their home around campus.

“Honeysuckle is like junk food for the animals,” explained first-grader Michaela, who helped drag the tangled vines to the bonfire burning in front of the school. “It gives them a tummy ache.”

By day’s end, much had been accomplished, and many students returned to the school in the evening with their families to share a potluck meal in celebration of their labor.

The feast of Michaelmas has European origins relating to the celebration of the autumnal equinox and the marking of shorter hours of daylight, as well as the Christian celebration of the feast day of St Michael, the archangel credited with expelling Lucifer from heaven.

In Medieval times, the festival of Michaelmas marked the end of harvest time and the turning of the weather and the seasons. The success of the harvest determined quality of life for months to come: A good harvest gathered was a reason for celebration.

Michaelmas was also traditionally a day of reckoning when rent was collected; and marked an end of fishing, fruit-picking and other activities which could only be carried out during the summer months.

With the crops safely gathered, Michaelmas marked the time when landowners stocked barns and sheds full of food to last through the winter ahead.

Michaelmas is celebrated in Waldorf schools worldwide.

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Rummage sale benefit a success!

A big thank-you to all

Seventy volunteers and $7,000 later. . . the massive rummage sale effort to support the LCWS scholarship fund has paid off. Thank you to all who made this much-loved event happen for our school.

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Rose Ceremony: Welcoming our new first grade

September 2, 2009

The Lake Champlain Waldorf School kicked off the school year with a twist on an annual tradition. Following the opening-day rose ceremony—during which first-grade students walk through a flower covered arbor to be welcomed with a long-stemmed rose and a warm handshake from one of their twelfth-grade peers—staff surprised students with a parade of cakes in honor of the school’s 25th year.
Faculty member Stephen Vdoviak shared a brief history of the school, from early class meetings in local churches to the construction of its 22-acre grade school and 6-acre high school campuses, and students and teachers joined in a round of “Happy Birthday” before blowing out the candles on the cakes and heading off to their respective classes. The day’s main lessons in math and reading ended with a well-deserved slice of dessert.

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Lake Champlain Waldorf School graduates class of 2009

High School Commencement Ceremony

A packed audience was treated to Rossini’s William Tell Overture during the high school commencement ceremony of the Lake Champlain Waldorf School on Saturday June 13. Twelve students in the class of 2009 performed a cappella and in full, gorgeous harmony during their poignant and emotional farewell to the independent school in Charlotte and Shelburne. Founded in 1984 upon the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, the Lake Champlain Waldorf School taught them to be creative, free and sensitive individuals.

Andrew Homan, one of the school’s humanities faculty members (who taught at Columbia University before moving to Vermont) described each student to the gathered parents, friends and teachers before presenting the diplomas, each a beautiful water color. He spoke not about their accomplishments but about a unique quality that each individual brought to the class and to the whole Lake Champlain Waldorf School community.

For the graduation ceremony, the school drew upon the rich festivals and celebrations that mark each student’s career. On the first day of each school year, every first grade student walks through a flowered arbor, and is presented a rose by a high school senior who welcomes them into the school community. As a lovely closing to their Waldorf education, each graduating senior received a rose to mark the completion and flowering of their education, along with their diploma that was created by an alumnus of the school.

Graduate Ayla Yandow, in her address to the class, reflected on the significant and rare gifts she has received through her education: individuality within the unity:

“What it all boils down to for me are the people and our relationships. The relationships that the students have with their teachers at the Lake Champlain Waldorf School are like no other. The most important thing that we are taught here is to be unique, to find who we really are, what makes me, me and you, you. We are led to our passions and encouraged to follow them. We are not half-baked students who are pushed out of the same shoot, entering futures that have already been laid out in front of us. We are fully baked young adults, ready to follow our passions and dreams and explore all of our talents, of which we have many. I enjoy every single day with my class. I always learn something new because we are free to be who we are, and we are encouraged to go in the direction in which our hearts tell us to go. Of course, we have nudges in certain directions, but really, it’s up to us to decide who we want to become.”

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Living History: World War II Memories

March 2009

If you could speak to a World War II code-breaker, a military doctor who was on the front lines, a man who escaped the Nazis as a sixteen-year-old boy, fleeing across the mountains on Christmas night—what would you ask? The eighth grade had the chance to meet each of these men, and two of their wives, to ask them about their life experiences as part of the eighth grade study of World War II. In eighth-grade English class the students read Our Great War, a collection of WWII memoirs from residents of the local retirement community, Wake Robin, then spoke to some of the authors who agreed to share their memories of the war. The eighth grade was spell-bound by each of these elders—Hervie and Patricia Haufler, Theodore and Claire Kowalski, and James McKay. The students were full of questions, listened carefully, and gathered eagerly around the speakers at the end of each presentation. Hervie Haufler was a cryptologist in the U.S. Signal Corps, sent to Britain to help the massive code-breaking effort against the Germans. His wife Patricia was a college student at Middlebury, living a life wrapped up in news of the war. Theodore Kowalski was a Polish high school student when Hitler invaded his country; he escaped on foot across the Carpathian Mountains to Hungary, eventually making his way to France and then England. His wife was a child in Canada during the war, with a child’s perspective on food shortages and friends going to war. Robert McKay, grandfather to two LCWHS alumni, Robbie ’05 and Willy McKay ’07, was a U.S. battalion doctor or “surgeon” in Germany, dealing with “combat fatigue”—mental distress from the trauma of battle. As the students reflected on these visits, they spoke about how young the men and women were who participated in the war. Most were only a little older than they themselves. They were interested to hear about a war that was seen as a just and necessary one, that most of the country was behind. Most of all, they were appreciative to hear stories that were so full of courage, and wondered what circumstances would test that quality in themselves. Abigail Diehl-Noble

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Tango!

October 2008

On Friday, October 24th, the high school gym program had the pleasure of hosting a 40-year veteran of dance, Monsieur Boies of Montreal. A friend of French teacher Madame Reed, Monsieur Boise, a dance teacher for 35 years, and a Tango instructor for 13, came to give the high school students their first lesson in Tango. To the boys he began with, “Your best friend when dancing Tango? Breath-mints.” To our girls the advice he gave was, “Let your partner take care of you.” When word got out that the students in gym were going to be learning tango, all other students from the other electives asked to be excused to be a part of the dance experience. Monsieur Boies was able to teach 24 students, in 1 1/2 hours the basics of Tango and the students LOVED it! Mr. Boies will be returning for more Tango lessons on a regular basis. His last bit of wise advice? “Never marry anyone with whom you haven't had Tango lessons.”

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Taming the Dragon! LCWS Celebrates Michealmas

October 2008

The regular schedule of academics, orchestra, gym and German was put aside all day last Friday, October 3, as the entire Lake Champlain Waldorf School student body, faculty and staff celebrated their annual Michaelmas Festival. An ancient harvest festival dating back to the sixth century, Michaelmas is still popular in Europe but mostly forgotten in the United States. Legends describe St. Michael facing and taming a dragon. It is a festival that celebrates deeds of strength and courage, of facing “dragons” both external and internal. It is a time for harvest, a time for work, a time for harnessing inner strength as the cold dark months approach.

Dressed in red to symbolize courage, over 200 students, from grade school through high school, organized in small work groups of mixed ages. Under the direction of parent volunteers and faculty members, they worked outdoors in Shelburne and Charlotte. Students went to New Village Farm where they helped with chores and made leaf rubbings. Others prepared a snack for the entire school, making applesauce and roasting potatoes on a bonfire. Students tied together branches constructing a Sukkah (an outdoor shelter commemorating the 40-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert), and tested their strength, teamwork and dexterity on an obstacle course.

The fourth through tenth grade students were challenged with outdoor work and beautification projects. They sawed and chopped wood, removed invasive plant species like phragmites, planted pounds of garlic, and turned over soil in the school’s many garden plots. Cornbread was mixed and baked; a thirty-foot arbor of flowers and vines was twined together and draped over the entrance to the grade school. A group rehearsed seasonal songs, which they performed at The Arbors.

The festival ended with a medieval-styled pageant, based this year on an African tale, complete with a dazzling damsel, dragon and determined hero.

“Michaelmas is my favorite of our school’s many seasonal festivals,” said parent Sarah Thompson, who helped organize the day. “The students are challenged with a day of physical and artistic efforts, and confront the unexpected. They work hard, they work together and they experience deeply this special time of harvest.”

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Greek Olympics in Shelburne

May 2008

The Lake Champlain Waldorf School (LCWS) hosted a six-school Greek Olympics on Friday May 23, 2008, at The Field House in Shelburne. Over 90 fifth grade students from six Waldorf schools in Vermont, New Hampshire and New York competed in a five event Pentathlon including javelin, discus throwing, long jump, 50-yard dash, and wrestling. The students, organized in city-state teams—Sparta, Corinth, Marathon, and Athens—competed wearing white Greek tunics. The games opened with a grand procession down Harbor Road to the altar of Zeus, accompanied by adult hand drummers. Once at the altar, each city state made a ceremonial offering with live music and dance, followed by the lighting of the Olympic torch.

In over 150 Waldorf schools across the country, the fifth grade students spend the year intensively studying ancient civilizations. The Greek Olympics is the culmination of their studies. “The student participants are judged on the beauty of their form, understanding of the athletic feat, their grace and their strength,” explains Mashobane Moruthane, LCWS athletics teacher. “The Olympics challenges the students socially as well as physically. For two days they strive to embody the spirit of an Olympian.” Each athlete returns home with a handmade medal acknowledging their striving towards excellence.

In addition to LCWS, other participating Vermont schools were the Upper Valley Waldorf School in Quechee and the Orchard Valley Waldorf School in East Montpelier. The New Hampshire school participating was Pine Hill School in Wilton. New York schools participating were the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs and the Mountain Laurel Waldorf School in New Paltz

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