June 2011 - Green Meadow Waldorf School

June 2011 

The Arts 

Building 

Topping-Out 

Ceremony. 

Image 

courtesy of 

Bill Pernice 

Letter from Tari Steinrueck 

Green Meadow Administrator 

We are perhaps more familiar with 

the second sentence of the quotation 

at right than the first. It is inspiring to 

reflect upon the course of this school 

year, and exciting to consider the role 

imagination has played in bringing 

about the changes taking place 

at Green Meadow. Teachers have 

consistently nurtured the students’ 

“All meaningful and lasting 

change starts fi rst in your 

imagination and then works 

its way out. Imagination 

is more important than 

knowledge.” –Albert Einstein 

powers of imagination within the classroom. In addition, staff members and 

teachers have worked with parents, members of school committees, and friends 

of the school to envision how we need to grow and change and who we need 

to be in the future. Improvements to our physical campus, as well as new ways 

of working and communicating, are products of our efforts. 

This year, it has been so exciting to watch each step of the transformation of 

our Arts Building. What a thrill it has been to see the great new performance 

space take shape. The steel girders have been delivered and placed, and 

we have begun to walk through the evolving space, imagining concerts, 

plays, and other creative endeavors taking place in the new theater. We are 

in the midst of planning a Grand Opening 

Celebration on Friday, October 28th. (Watch 

for more details about this event, to which the 

whole community is warmly invited.) We will 

be able to use the building at the beginning 

of the school year, although there will be final 

details to attend to. For those of you who 

would like to help with lazuring the walls of 

the new spaces, a lazure workshop will be 

offered this summer led by renowned artist 

Charles Andrade. The workshop will teach 

you this wonderful technique of painting and 

allow you to participate in bringing color to the walls. (Check the sidebar on 

page 17 and the Bulletin insert for more information.) 

So many people have helped us this year that it is not easy to select 

a few for honorable mention—but we will do so nonetheless. Behind 

continued on page 4 

Important Dates 

June 3 

Introductory Session for 

Prospective Parents and 

Last Day of School for the 

Nursery/Kindergarten 


Parent Council Meeting 


Last day of school for 

Lower and High Schools 

and High School Prom 


8th Grade Ceremony 


12th Grade Graduation 

Inside: 

Sports Corner 

page 5 

Departing Teachers 

page 11 

Post-Graduate 

Plans page 16 

... and more! 

With summer right 

around the corner, the 

Bulletin committee 

asked staff and faculty 

“What are 

you doing this 

summer?” 

Their answers appear 

throughout this issue. 

; 

The Bulletin • June 2011 • 1

School News 

A Monthly Publication of 

Green Meadow Waldorf School 

We invite readers to submit articles 

for consideration which relate to 

school activities and events. Green 

Meadow reserves editorial rights, 

including the right to reject any 

material it deems unsuitable for 

publication. 

The Green Meadow Bulletin 

Committee is composed of 

Katie Ketchum, Donna Miele, 

Ed Bieber, Janet Saylor and 

Steven Bavaria. Meetings are 

open; please contact Katie 

Ketchum if you wish to attend. 

Guidelines for 

Bulletin submissions 

All submissions are due by 

the deadline, emailed to 

kketchum@gmws.org. We will 

do our best to include your 

submission; however, due to space 

constraints, we may not always be 

able to include all items. 

Advertising 

(width x height) 

Sm Card (2 1 /4 x 3 1 /2) . . . . . . .$28.00 

Ext Card (2 1 /4 x 4 1 /4) . . . . . .$38.00 

Quarter page (4 3 /4 x 4 1 /4) . . .$55.00 

Insert (8 1 /2 x 11) . . . . . . . . . .$150.00 

Classified (per word) . . . . . . . . . $ .40 

Ad sizes are approximate and 

are sometimes modified to fit in 

the layout. To advertise, please 

contact Katie Ketchum at 

kketchum@gmws.org. 

The next issue of the Bulletin 

will be distributed in September. 

Please contact Katie Ketchum at 

kketchum@gmws.org to find out 

about submission deadlines over 

the summer. 

GMWS Comes to Tarrytown! 

In a modification to our plans to branch out next year into Ridgewood, NJ 

(made necessary by the requirments to become licensed to operate in another 

state), we have looked into other options for 2011-12 and are very excited to 

announce that we will be opening a satellite Early Childhood Center inTarrytown 

in September, bringing our unique curriculum to Westchester County. A Nursery/ 

Kindergarten class will be offered in Tarrytown, along with Parent & Child classes 

and workshops for parents. In spring 2012, we will offer a Simplicity Parenting 

workshop at the Tarrytown location, led by Deb Renna and based on the bestselling 

book by Kim Payne. Please contact Admissions Coordinator Patricia 

Owens at x302 for Tarrytown enrollment information. To help us promote the 

Center, please contact Vicki Larson, Director of Communications and Marketing, 

at x311. Please also join us at the Warner Library in Tarrytown on Friday, June 17 

at 11am for a free performance of The Three Arabian Princes, a magical puppet 

show brought to life by our Early Childhood teachers. We’ll keep you posted on 

plans for Parent & Child classes in Ridgewood next year as well. 

Dads’ Night Out will now be happening monthly! Contact GMWS dads 

Ed Bieber (ejbieber@aol.com) or Ben Carlson (sailorbenjamin@yahoo.com) 

for details, and watch the Bulletin for dates. A hike and a whiskey tasting are 

rumored to be in the works; who knows what else they’ll cook up? 

Save the Date! 

Back-to-School Celebration for all GMWS families 

Music, food, and community 

Saturday, Sept. 17 

Details to come, in your August packet and in the September Bulletin 

Summer Nursery 

For the first time at Green Meadow, we are excited to be able to offer a Summer 

Nursery. Over a 7-week period, beginning June 6, we will transition from Parent 

& Child classes to your child enjoying school independently. For more details, 

please contact Admissions 

Coordinator Patricia Owens 

at 845-356-9715 or 

powens@gmws.org. 

If your child is graduating 

or leaving the school and 

you would like to continue 

receiving The Bulletin, 

please contact Katie 

Ketchum at kketchum@ 

gmws.org or 845.356.2514 

x301. Please specify your 

preferred delivery method 

(mail or email). We want to 

stay in touch! 

Above and on facing page 3, at bottom: 5th Grade students 

perform Pythagoras. Images courtesy of Leo Dunn Fox. 

307 Hungry Hollow Road 

Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 

845.356.2514 

www.gmws.org 

8 

Go-Green Tip 

Invest in a reusable bamboo utensil travel set & eliminate 

the use of plastic cutlery for picnics, work, lunch boxes, carry-out 

and traveling. 

Now available at the Hungry Hollow Co-op checkout! 

All are welcome at our Go Green Meetings, Tuesday 2pm in the High School 

Common Room. Please join us! 

2 • The Bulletin • June 2011

A Time of Exciting 

Transition 

By Vicki Larson, 

Director of Communications and Marketing 

For the better part of this school year, I have 

carried the responsibilities of Director of 

both Development and Communications and 

Marketing. Now, as the year winds down, I am 

transitioning out of Development and into 

Communications/Marketing. I look forward to 

devoting myself to the core task of my new 

position: bringing awareness of Green Meadow 

and Waldorf Education to communities in our 

area. With a satellite Early Childhood Program 

opening in Tarrytown in September, and 

unprecedented interest in our school and the 

Waldorf movement from prospective parents and 

the media, we feel as if our moment has arrived. 

Having just finished putting together the 

Green Meadow Alumni Magazine, its theme 

of entrepreneurship particularly resonates 

with me right now, since much of what I am 

doing is in that vein: experimenting, employing 

outreach and marketing strategies we have 

never used before, or using them in new ways, 

and constantly evaluating the results. As I strive 

to explain what we do in language people can 

understand, and to demonstrate the results of a 

Waldorf Education, I am more convinced every 

day that this truly is the best education available. 

I appreciate the opportunity to continue 

supporting Green Meadow fundraising alongside 

Bill Pernice, whose relationships with many 

parents span so many years, and I can’t wait to 

take part in the opening of our new Arts Building 

this fall with all of you. Have a great summer! d 

Seeking Athletics Director 

Starting Summer 2011 

Contact Tari Steinrueck for more information 

at x310, tsteinrueck@gmws.org 

Annual Fund Participation by Class 

Mrs. Ruof’s Nursery 

Mrs. Grieder’s Nursery 

Mrs. Barton’s K 

Mrs. Gambardella’s K 

Mrs. Burchell-Fox’s K 

Mrs. Miccio’s K 

Grade 1 

Grade 2 

Grade 3 

Grade 4 

Grade 5 

Grade 6 

Grade 7 

Grade 8 

Grade 9 

Grade 10 

Grade 11 

Grade 12 

as of May 15 92% 

as of April 15 91% 

39% 

67% 

60% 

69% 

69% 

100% 

100% 

80% 

67% 

80% 

80% 

100% 

100% 

95% 

95% 

88% 

65% 

63% 

63% 

61% 

57% 

61% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

96% 

93% 

78% 

74% 

100% 

100% 

73% 

73% 

Looking ahead to 6th grade with a course 

at Sunbridge; Gaining new 

family members: getting 

married in August! 

; 

(Evangeline Wolfe) 


continued from cover 

the scenes, Corey Weiss, 

Finance Committee member, 

and Lisa Oswald, Board Chair, 

have been assuring that our 

building project proceeds in a 

timely and efficient way. Their 

imagination, dedication and 

expertise as members of the 

Project Management Group have 

contributed to the success of 

the project. We relied on their astute 

judgment and are grateful for their 

generous service. Thank you, Corey 

and Lisa. 

Our expanded marketing and 

communications initiatives have been 

supported on a volunteer basis, by 

Kathee Rebernak, a Board member 

who chairs the Communications 

Committee, and Ilan Blum, who has 

lent his experience and perspectives 

to the marketing efforts. Thank you, 

Kathee and Ilan, for your leadership in 

this important area. 

As this year comes to a close, we 

acknowledge with gratitude the 

contributions made to the school 

by those who are leaving. Longtime 

colleagues Bonnie Manacas, class 

teacher; Renate Kurth, high school 

chemistry teacher and former class 

teacher; and Karl Fredrickson, high 

school history and social studies 

teacher, are retiring. These three 

colleagues between them have served 

here for over 75 years. They have been 

devoted to scores of students and 

helped grow not only Green Meadow 

and its community, but the Waldorf 

movement at large. We wish you well 

in your new adventures. 

Candido DeLeon, Spanish teacher; 

Rebeca Wolf, Spanish and math 

teacher; Shauna Winnerod, high 

school math teacher; Klara Pataky 

and Judit Gilbert, class assistants; and 

Julia Lieberman, gym assistant, will 

not be returning to teach in the fall. 

Rose Fitzgerald and Brigitte Marten, 

who oversaw the extracurricular 

athletic program this year, and in so 

doing expanded the offerings, much 

to our students’ benefit, will not be 

The Arts Building roof arch. Image courtesy of Bill Pernice 

continuing as athletic coordinators. To 

all of you, whether you have worked 

a short time or a long time at Green 

Meadow, we thank you for your 

efforts on behalf of our students. 

We have already introduced our 

new teachers to you in the recent 

Letter from the Administrator. A fuller 

picture of each new colleague will be 

given in the first Bulletin in the fall. 

We are looking forward to having this 

group of enthusiastic teachers join us 

in September. 

Over the summer, GMWS alumna 

Teresa Bellaby will once again be 

leading Green Meadow’s Play, Picnic 

and Pond program to give children a 

relaxed experience of summer. She 

will hold an open house at Oak House 

on Sunday, June 5, from 2-4pm for 

those who are interested in knowing 

more about the program. (Details and 

application forms can be found at 

gmws.org.) 

Looking ahead, we are excited about 

the inauguration in September of 

a mixed-age satellite kindergarten 

in Tarrytown, NY, in a lovely space 

overlooking the Hudson River. Over the 

summer, the Early Childhood teachers 

will be performing puppet shows and 

offering programs in the surrounding 

area to highlight the richness of our 

early childhood programs. 

In the fall, the After School Program 

will be offered in the heart of the 

school. We have simplified the fee 

structure to allow for more flexible 

participation between 3-6pm on 

school days. (You will find more details 

about the program over the summer 

on our website; application forms can 

also be found at gmws.org.) 

Jana Hawley will be continuing 

as class teacher in grade seven, 

so the singing classes will be 

divided between Evangeline 

Wolfe, class teacher and 

accomplished musician, and 

Jana, who will also mentor 

Evangeline. Evangeline will 

teach music to the younger 

grades, and Jana will teach 

music in grades 5-8. 

This year, the curricular focus was 

on strengthening math instruction 

in the school. As a result of this 

concentrated review of the program, 

the Collegium made the decision to 

hire a middle school math specialist 

for the coming year. The newly 

configured math program will be 

presented in the Parent/Faculty 

dinner on November 4. Next year, 

the Collegium will undertake a review 

of the school-wide foreign language 

program. 

Please mark your calendar for 

Saturday, September 17, when 

parents are invited to the ‘Back to 

School Celebration’, a morning of 

food, music, and fun. This event 

has been conceived and planned 

by the newly created Envisioning 

Group, whose members come from 

the Collegium, Finance Committee, 

Board, Development Group and the 

Parent Council Steering Committee; 

all the major organs of the school. We 

have been meeting all year to look 

at ways to further enliven our school 

community. 

The power of imagination leads us 

to significant and lasting changes for 

the future. I want to thank all of you 

parents and colleagues who have 

offered your imaginative thoughts 

and pictures about the development 

of the school during my first year as 

school administrator. I have been 

inspired by your thoughts and 

perspectives, as well as by the depth 

of your commitment to seeing the 

school become the best it can be. It 

has been a privilege for me to lead 

the school at this important phase of 

its life. Thank you. d 


Sports Corner 

Congratulations to all athletes at 

Green Meadow Waldorf School! 

By Green Meadow Athletic Directors, Rose Fitzgerald and Brigitte Marten 

As we reflect upon this school year 

in Green Meadow athletics, we 

have only words of congratulations 

and encouragement to all of the 

athletes and coaches. We hold only 

the deepest respect and honor for 

the level of dedication and effort 

that was put forth. Whether it was 

to show up to participate wholeheartedly 

in practices or in games, 

every participant became a role 

model displaying attitudes of good 

sportsmanship and hard work to all 

of the other teams and spectators 

that showed up to cheer them on. 

Watching the athletes, we witnessed 

how they were inspired by each 

other, taking turns as leaders on 

the court, track or field. This year, 

when we replaced Mr. Kornberg in 

his position as Athletic Director, we 

weren’t exactly sure what we signed 

on to do. We did not have long to 

ponder the task. Instead, we took a 

plunge into the strong current and 

began swimming into the very busy 

basketball and indoor track season, 

learning the job as we went along. As 

we journeyed through the schedule, 

we watched each team improve 

with every game and practice. We 

witnessed the newcomers’ bodies 

wake up to the newness of the 

sport, giving them an opportunity 

to see their natural athletic abilities 

and the more experienced players 

improve in their basic skills, as they 

became leaders both on and off the 

court. Watching the dedication and 

outstanding efforts of the athletes 

inspired us to put our hearts and 

minds into helping facilitate a 

successful year in sports and doing 

our task correctly and thoroughly. 

In late winter, 21 young adults showed 

up to participate in the HS co-ed 

volleyball program. The athletes had 

fun as they worked side by side to 

improve their skills and to attempt 

to manage some dynamic volleyball 

playing. The season was shortchanged 

by not having any matches 

available to them; however, the 

students wished to continue in the 

fun and the feeling of success as they 

continued to improve in their game. 

Holding a vision towards the future, we 

heard the students call and brought 

more sports into the middle school. 

In the late winter began a 7th and 8th 

grade co-ed volleyball clinic. There 

was great enthusiasm to improve on 

skills that were new and an attitude of 

respect toward the game of volleyball, 

realizing that volleyball skills have 

to truly be worked at to master the 

finesse of the sport. The 6th and 7th 

grade basketball clinics were wellattended 

by both girls and boys. For 

a few weeks in the beginning of the 

spring, these young athletes proved 

to themselves that with will and focus, 

anyone can accomplish a task at 

hand with marked improvement each 

passing week. The clinics opened up 

the young minds to the possibilities of 

becoming skilled basketball players, 

by putting forth some effort while 

having fun. The girls in the 7th and 

8th grades self-initiated softball back 

onto the map at Green Meadow. They 

wanted to play some ball, so they 

found themselves a coach and waited 

patiently for some skills and drills 

sessions to be scheduled. Perhaps 

next year, this enthusiasm will carry 

them to a schedule of games, to make 

their efforts official. 

The tennis program remains alive, 

with some interest on both the high 

school and middle school level. 

The spring track team consists of 

athletes from only the middle school 

this year. They have had one meet 

so far. The level of commitment from 

this group of athletes continues to 

be inspiring. 

The high school and middle school 

baseball teams are finding success on 

the field. Both teams are young and 

gaining experience with each game 

they play. With the consistency of their 

coaches and their stick-to-it attitudes, 

the athletes continue to make great 

strides as individuals and as a team. 

We are inspired by the enthusiasm of 

all the Green Meadow athletes. You are 

awesome and it has all been worthwhile 

organizing these programs for you! 

Good luck and all the best from your 

2010-11 Athletic Directors. d 

Preparing for the upcoming school 

year augmented by beach, gardening 

; 

and books. (Tari Steinrueck) 

Non-competitive & 

Nature-oriented 

Join us for our 26th Summer at GMWS! 

15% discount for all 

Green Meadow families 

www.thenatureplace.com 

845.356.6477 


2010-11 High School Basketball 

By Green Meadow 9th grader, Lukas Chin 

Coach Oswald did it once again with 

his amazing coaching. He is always 

about the “fundamentals” and wants 

us all to be exactly like the big Tim 

Duncan. I know he sometimes forgets 

stuff, but we don’t mind because he’s 

a great coach. 

This was the first time Luke Marlow 

coached our basketball team. I liked 

him immediately because he let me 

rub his goatee. When Coach Luke 

talked, it always reminded me of 

someone but I couldn’t quite think 

of who he was. But then I realized he 

sounded a bit like “Clyde” Frazier, the 

hall-of-famer who played on the Knicks 

and is now the announcer at MSG. So 

I told him that and he laughed and we 

all made fun of his suits. 

Images from the Kimberton Waldorf Tournament, ©Janet Maya 

We’re up against Saddle River Day 

School. The game is on the line, the 

score 50-51, and their number 24 has 

the ball. It was as if Blake Griffin had 

traveled all the way from L.A. to play 

against us. Not only did he come 

from L.A. but he also developed a 

jump shot. Yes, imagine that… Blake 

Griffin with a jump shot. Well, there 

is 10 seconds left and of course little 

Blake gets the ball; he already scored 

40 points. John Robertson was 

guarding him…10…9…he pushes 

off John and shoots…. swish!… 3 

pointer. But wait! The ref calls a foul! 

…What?!…On John?!? …The ref 

said John had pushed him before 

he got the shot off but they were in 

bonus and so he goes to the line. 

He had already gone 11 for 11 and 

he hits the first one easily. Before 

the next shot, I tell him he looks like 

Blake Griffin. He smiles and says, 

“I’ve been told that before” and 

hits the second shot; 8 seconds left; 

51-52. John drives up the court and 

gets stopped but it hits an opponent 

and it’s still our ball, 2 seconds left. 

They give the ball to Taylor Miccio, 

he shoots it and misses, the buzzer 

sounds; we lose our second game of 

the season and do not lose a single 

game afterwards. 

Our season was coached by the one 

and only Head Coach Bill Oswald 

and assisted by Coach Luke “The 

Doc” or “The Other Clyde” Marlow. 

Our starting five had three seniors: 

Our captain John Robertson, Jasper 

Williams and Eli Biagi-Lee and 2 

juniors: Alex Chin and Mehmet 

Doganata. We played 16 games in 

total and lost 2 of them, our final 

record was 14-2. We had some 

interesting games. My favorite one was 

when half of our team was sick and we 

still played. It was against Community. 

Jasper and Taylor were sick and not 

there and Allie and I were both playing 

but coughing all over the place. I didn’t 

know it then but I had a huge grimace 

on my face the whole time. The good 

thing was the other team didn’t guard 

too close to me because when they 

came close I coughed really loud. We 

won 41-27. Our leading scorer on our 

team was John Robertson who had 240 

in total and averaged 15 per game, our 

leading rebounder was Alex Chin who 

grabbed 105 boards and leading with 

assists was Taylor Miccio with 35. 

We had two tournaments this year: 

the Storm King Tournament and the 

Kimberton Waldorf Tournament. We 

won the Storm King Tournament, 

which was in the middle of the 

season, but the tournament that we 

were looking most forward to was 

the Kimberton Tournament; our last 

games of the season. On the day 

of the Kimberton Tournament, we 

woke up bright and early and got 

on the bus. It was a really long bus 

ride. But we finally got there. We had 

an early game against Washington 

Waldorf. Washington had these two 

big kids that looked like they washed 

down 48-ounce steaks with 24-ounce 

steaks. The game turned out to be 

continued on next page 

©Janet Maya 


Student Council Corner 

By Green Meadow 11th Grader, 

Nina Kornberg 

As the school year comes to an end, 

the members of the Student Council 

extend warm thanks to the senior 

members who have made their 

departure from the group earlier this 

spring. This eclectic group of students 

from the high school was held 

together this year by the dependable 

leadership of Rafi Gilbert, Hannah 

Peltz, and Amelia Stutman. The 

council looks forward to continuing its 

progress of bridging the gap between 

students and teachers, as well as 

acting as the articulated voice of the 

student body in 2012. 

Sports continued from page 6 

not so tough though, and we won 45-21. 

Our next game was against Hawthorne 

Valley, but that was later the next day. 

We checked into our hotels and then 

went back to Kimberton and caught an 

amazing game with Garden City and High 

Mowing. We all thought High Mowing 

was going to win because they were up 

by 15 with about two minutes left, but 

then Garden City went on a run and 

were suddenly down by 5 with around 

30 seconds left. Then a kid from Garden 

City hit a 3 and they were down by 2 with 

about 15 seconds left. Garden City then 

got the ball again but failed to hit the 

game-winning shot and High Mowing 

won. The next day we all got ready for 

the Hawthorne Valley game. It was a 

tough one, but we managed to win with 

John leading our team with 14 points. 

The next day, there was the all-star game 

and the 3-point contest. In the 3-point 

contest, Mehmet came out in his street 

clothes and made it all the way to the 

final round. 

So our basketball season is now over. Lots 

of freshmen have come and we lost some 

great seniors. But we are ready for next 

year and hope that we will finally prove to 

the NYSAIS people that we can actually 

play some ball. d 


Summer Beads 

Two weeks of Jewelry making, 

Crafts and Fun 

June 13-17 and June 20-24 

9:00-2:00 

for ages 10 and up 

location: Jewelry studio in 

Chestnut Ridge 

daily activities include morning circle and 

games, creative activity and closing gesture 

Beverages will be provided. 

Child must come with her/his snack and lunch. 

If interested contact April Kornberg 

845-425-1757 

aprilsk1@verizon.net 


Rockland Community College Nursing 

Students at Green Meadow 

By Green Meadow School Nurse, Jeanne Schirm 

Rockland Community College (RCC) 

nursing students in their Pediatric 

clinical have been coming to Green 

Meadow this year. Each semester, fall 

The RCC students with Jeanne Schirm. Image courtesy of Donna Miele 

and spring, a group of students visited 

for two sessions; the first to observe 

the children, and the second to make 

a presentation in grades 1-4. In the 

fall, the nursing students took up the 

subject of hand washing in an artful 

and fun manner for the children. In 

spring, the teachers requested that 

they bring to the children the reason 

they chose to become nurses. This was 

also presented very well. 

The relationship with RCC nursing 

students was established by school 

nurse, Jeanne Schirm, as a public 

school nurse in the Pearl River school 

district. Clinical Instructor Cathy 

Sullivan requested that we maintain 

the connection when Jeanne retired 

from Public School and moved 

on to Green Meadow. The Green 

Meadow teachers were supportive 

of this effort. The time here has been 

especially meaningful to the nursing 

students. They all requested literature 

on Waldorf Education. Jeanne Schirm 

also offers a presentation on school 

nursing in the Waldorf School when 

they come. d 

Penpals! 

Examples of 4th grade letters to their Peruvian pen pals 

at Colegio Waldorf Lima. Our pen pal program begins 

in the 4th grade and continues through until 7th grade. 

Letters are written in both Spanish and English, bringing 

all that they have learnt in Spanish class into a meaningful 

relationship with another human being. Images courtesy of 

Katie Ketchum 


Navigate your journey 

the Shamanic way! 

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Earth Wisdom Teacher & Life Coach 

(201) 787-0920 

www.ConsultNorthStar.com 

Medicine Wheel Training 

Journey to Retrieve your Destiny 

Energetic Healing 

Pattern Recognition 

For more information: (201) 787-0920, 

SylviaGolbin@ConsultNorthStar.com 


Tributes to Departing Teachers 

A Tribute to Renate Kurth 

Interview by Green Meadow Parent, Donna Miele 

Recently the Bulletin caught up with Renate Kurth, who retires this year, along 

with husband Karl Frederickson. She bubbled about her many years here at 

Green Meadow, discussed learning through teaching, and speculated on how the 

learning process continues as we age. 

A graduate of McGill College 1968 with BS degrees in biochemistry and genetics, 

Renate did one year of postgraduate study in biochemistry before meeting 

anthroposophist Francis Edmunds, a founder of Emerson College in Sussex, England. 

Renate left her master’s program to begin the Waldorf teacher training at Emerson, 

also teaching her first high school science class at nearby Michael Hall. At only 24 

years old, fresh out of teacher training, she took a 4th grade at the budding Toronto 

Waldorf School, and taught the class through 8th grade. She followed this up with a 

10-year “mother’s sabbatical,” during which her daughter Mary Elizabeth was born. 

Intending to devote her time to motherhood, Renate nevertheless helped to found 

the Alan Howard Waldorf School in Toronto during this time, crafting their bylaws 

and becoming their first Administrator. Renate found her way to Green Meadow 

when her then-husband began playing music for 

the Metropolitan Opera and her family relocated to 

New York. She and Mary Elizabeth thrived at Green 

Meadow, so much so that when her husband took his 

life to New York City fulltime, they stayed. Renate took 

her first class at Green Meadow from 4th through 8th 

grade, and married fellow teacher Karl Frederickson 

during this time. In the fall of 2001, she took her third 

class in their first grade, and graduated them in 2009. 

Currently, Renate teaches chemistry in both the 

Image courtesy of Donna Miele middle school and the high school. 

D: Tell me what brought you to 

teaching, rather than research science. 

R: Teaching requires so much more 

of you than you think you have, and 

then you find you have more than 

you think you did. You have to find 

a way, because things don’t just go 

away. And I just liked the personal 

interaction, that your “person” is 

very much involved in the teaching 

process. I’ve forgotten which one of 

my teachers said this, it’s something 

I’ve often said about Waldorf 

education: It’s not the subjects we 

teach, it’s the children. And the 

subjects are your medium. I love the 

subjects, but I mostly just love the 

children! And then to provide the 

education for my daughter, and Karl’s 

sons… so many people don’t have 

that opportunity. I’m always grateful. 

D: Tell me about coming to Green 

Meadow. R: Oh, I loved it! That you 

really had a community. And the 

colleagues also. The Collegium [here 

is] a group that chooses to carry the 

school, not just the business of it, 

but its spiritual nature. You say, “Yes, 

I will spend Thursday night, another 

couple of hours, not because I have 

to, or because it’s part of my job, but 

because it’s something I really want to 

carry.” And so that was a group that 

I joined, and I really felt that [I had 

my] community in a physical, in a soul 

sense, and [my] community in a spiritual 

sense… What an incredible gift! To me! 

D: After your last 8th grade, you 

took a sabbatical to be with your 

mom, and recorded her life story. 

R: It was such a different experience 

from what I thought. It made me think 

about growing old. I’ve spent so much 

of my time working with the learning 

you do as a young person, because 

that’s been my job. And then of course 

as an adult, there’s nothing like learning 

as a teacher! So this learning in the last 

chapter of your life… [earlier] learning 

happens by going out into the world, 

and it teaches you about yourself. Then 

you get old and all of a sudden the 

outer world starts to make not much 

sense anymore, and you can’t really go 

out into it much anymore. And where’s 

the learning then? How do you then 

learn, in this inner space? 

D: You experienced your mother still 

learning, still processing things within. 

R: That’s right. It’s totally different. 

And my sense now, going on sort of 

permanent sabbatical, [I] feel full of 

things to do, which is really wonderful, 

but I want to work in a more inward 

way. I want to have the time to work 

on [things] that are of my choosing, 

and perhaps also to be of a more 

inner nature. [Karl and I] still want to be 

working with schools, and maybe we’ll 

even come back here, and you know, 

give an eighth grade teacher a break, do 

a main lesson here or there, work with 

teachers or work with parents, maybe 

for a few months a year. And then spend 

the rest of the time doing other things. 

I’d like to paint again… there’s a lot of 

things I’ve sort of put on hold because 

there’s only so many hours in the day. 

D: Any other ideas about the high 

school? R: I think it’s so desperately 

needed, what we’re doing. The trend 

is to go into the accumulation of 

facts and “expertise”, and the human 

being, in his or her fullness, has shrunk, 

to the eyes up… And that’s our whole 

society. And it happens in the feeling 

realm, in the constant entertainment. 

This real engagement, where you 

are really, fully involved in the life of 

another person, of an issue, or so on, 

so much is just on the surface, and the 

feeling life has become so thin. 

D: It’s given no importance. So it 

has to be pushed away. 

R: Yes, it’s just entertainment. You 

don’t need to do it. And then in the 

realm of actually physically doing 

something, if it’s not sports… why 

bother? So [Green Meadow students] 

go into their university experiences 

with some real questions, and some 

sense of, “I don’t have to just follow 

the path that’s being laid out for me, 

there are lots of paths.” d 


Bonnie Manacas: A Class Teacher for the Arts 

By Green Meadow 7th Grade teacher, Jane Wulsin 

Bonnie was born in 

Montreal, the oldest of 

five children. Her father 

was a manufacturer 

of clothing and had 

a very artistic nature. 

He was a folk singer 

who spent his free 

time writing songs, 

playing the guitar, 

and singing. Bonnie 

was surrounded by his 

music and grew up 

singing harmony with him. When she 

was a teenager, Bonnie learned to 

play the guitar. She wanted to learn 

every song she could and learned 

hundreds from the sixties folk revival. 

When she was sixteen, she played at 

her first café in Quebec City. 

In high school, she and her best 

friend loved to copy Renaissance 

paintings and the drawings of great 

masters, especially wizened, old 

faces in charcoal. She majored in art 

and began a master’s degree in art 

education at Concordia University in 

Montreal. During that time, her father 

brought her yards and yards of white 

canvas from his factory, on which she 

painted huge, abstract, color paintings. 

Through Bonnie’s instruction, her father 

began to paint and filled his factory 

with huge paintings. 

One day at the university, someone 

heard Bonnie singing in the hall 

and suggested that she come and 

audition for his band. Bonnie did, 

and who was the guitar player and 

leader of the band? None other than 

her future husband, Ray Manacas! 

Ray had started the first blues band 

in Montreal, the music of which was 

based on Chicago-style, electric blues. 

When Bonnie joined their group as 

singer, they expanded their repertoire 

to include folk music, and Bonnie 

began writing songs. Bonnie married 

Ray when she was twenty-one. 

Singing in the band was very hard 

on her vocal cords, especially when 

using primitive sound systems. 

Bonnie began taking 

voice lessons with 

Jan Simmons. One 

day she came upon 

a book by Rudolf 

Steiner in his waiting 

room. It happened that 

Simmons’ mother was 

one of Montreal’s first 

anthroposophists and 

had been a kindergarten 

teacher for twenty-five 

years. Discovering and 

reading the book by Rudolf Steiner 

changed Bonnie’s life. She joined the 

city’s anthroposophical study group 

and felt as though she had “come 

home” in a spiritual sense. Bonnie 

decided she did not want to continue 

in the band, and felt that now she 

understood what it would mean 

to have children in today’s world. 

She gave birth to Noah in 1975 and 

Galilee in 1977. 

During her Masters’ work, Bonnie 

had become disillusioned with 

the art world, finding it barren and 

reduced to intellectualism. Once 

she read Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on 

art, however, she took up her work 

with new enthusiasm and wrote her 

master’s thesis, Art in Anthroposophy. 

While Bonnie was pregnant with 

Noah, she and Ray initiated a study 

group in their home, which led, a few 

years later, to the founding of the 

Montreal Waldorf School. They were 

instrumental in starting the school. 

Bonnie taught English in the Frenchspeaking 

school for nine years. Since 

foreign language teaching is primarily 

oral in the early grades, rich with 

singing, plays, and illustrations, she 

felt right at home. Over the years she 

read and studied Anthroposophy and 

Waldorf pedagogy by herself, in study 

groups, taking courses and attending 

conferences, and she learned the art 

of teaching a foreign language as 

she went along. She nourished her 

artistic work by studying once or twice 

a year with Donald Hall in his painting 

school in Harlemville, New York. 

Totally committed to Waldorf 

Education for their children, Bonnie 

and Ray began to look for a high 

school when their children approached 

that age. They were drawn to Green 

Meadow and arrived in 1989, in time 

for Noah to begin 9th grade and 

Galilee, the 7th. Bonnie was delighted 

to immerse herself in a year studying 

child development and Waldorf 

Education in Sunbridge College’s 

teacher training program. 

After completing that year of studies, 

Bonnie became a class teacher at 

Green Meadow and began her journey 

with her first class (the Class of 2002). 

After shepherding them through 8th 

grade, she launched her second class 

(the Class of 2013), and by the end 

of this school year, Bonnie will have 

guided her third class through their 

first four years. Bonnie’s classes have 

greatly benefited from her artistic gifts. 

They have sung their way through the 

curriculum. The students of her first 

class were such songbirds that they 

recorded a beautiful album of songs 

with exquisite harmonies. Her classes 

have often given two performances 

a year: one, a marionette play with 


help from a puppeteer, and the other, 

a play written by Bonnie. Her visual 

arts gifts have been manifest in her 

outstanding chalkboard drawings, 

main lesson illustrations, and in the 

vivid weaving of colors in her beautiful 

paintings, which have often graced 

the walls of the Lower School. For 

an education in which the learning 

readily springs from the wings of the 

arts, Bonnie has had enormous gifts to 

bring to her students. She has been a 

valued colleague and numerous times 

has had the ability to ask the crucial 

question to help the faculty consider 

an issue from a fresh perspective. 

Bonnie has treasured her years as 

a teacher and will certainly miss 

working directly with children. 

Having been an integral part of 

the fabric of Green Meadow for so 

many years, she is encouraged by 

the new wave of colleagues coming 

to lead the school forward into 

its next phase. Bonnie considers 

herself immeasurably blessed in 

her journey as a Waldorf teacher. 

However, she is approaching a new 

chapter of her life and work with 

joyful anticipation. Over the years, 

Bonnie has continued to pursue her 

connection to music and painting, 

and she now has a deep desire to 

work more deeply with both of them. 

She intends to continue to contribute 

to the growth and development 

of Waldorf Education, both within 

Waldorf schools and in other venues 

as well. Currently, Bonnie is enjoying 

her new grandchild, Liana Sophia, 

recently born to Galilee ‘95 and her 

husband. 

The Green Meadow community is 

grateful to Bonnie for all she has 

given to her students, colleagues, 

parents, and to the wider school and 

Threefold community as well. d 

Karl Fredrickson: Gypsy Rover 

By Green Meadow High School teacher, John Wulsin 

Karl Frederickson has lived many 

places and been almost everywhere 

else. He grew up quietly, in the 

modest heartland where “all the 

women are strong, all the men are 

good looking, and all the children are 

above average.” Karl was born into 

a good Lutheran family of Swedish 

descent. His father taught voice at St. 

Olaf College outside the Twin Cities of 

Minneapolis-St. Paul. In the context of 

a healthy, innocent, Midwestern youth, 

signs of Karl’s insatiably adventurous 

spirit first emerged when his college 

pursuits led him to the sensuous, 

exotic city of New Orleans. There, as 

a transfer student, Karl became the 

roommate of the first black student to 

integrate and attend Tulane University. 

Karl thrived in the dynamic, southern 

world of 1968. When he eventually 

returned to complete his studies at St. 

Olaf’s, Karl met a dynamic professor 

of architecture who had worked with 

Frank Lloyd Wright. Through this 

professor, he learned about architect 

Rex Raab who did the initial interior 

work on Der Bau, the Goetheanum 

building designed by Rudolf Steiner. 

At this professor’s urging, Karl visited 

Steiner’s Goetheanum in Dornach, 

Switzerland, a visit that ultimately led 

to a meeting with Rex Raab himself. 

This experience ignited in Karl a 

spirit of wanderlust which led him to 

continue his explorations of the world: 

first living for three years in Germany; 

later traveling through Spain; thence 

onward to Israel where he lived for 

almost a year, working on Kibbutz 

Galon; and finally to the Greek island 

of Karpathos, where he spent months 

living on a rock ledge, spearing fish 

for sustenance. 

When, at last, Karl returned to his home 

country, he found his way, via San Jose 

and Los Angeles, to Werner Glas’s 

Waldorf Institute at Mercy College 

in Detroit. There Karl deepened his 

explorations into Anthroposophy 

and delved into the world of Waldorf 

education. From Detroit, Karl went to 

England, where he worked with Jesse 

Darrell, a legendary Waldorf class 

teacher who completed five eight-year 

class cycles. It was Jesse Darrell who 

guided and initiated Karl into a life-long 

study of the dynamic processes and 

mysteries of history. 

When Steven Edelglass, one of Green 

Meadow’s founding high school 

teachers (physics/math), first met 

young Karl in Detroit in 1978, he knew 

immediately that Green Meadow 

needed Karl Fredrickson. Although 

Karl had come to Detroit specifically 

to apprentice under Rene Querido, at 

the last moment, Rene was offered the 

opportunity to found the Rudolf Steiner 

College in Sacramento, CA. When 

Rene left Detroit, Karl set off for Green 

Karl Fredrickson with some of his students. 

Meadow, where he began teaching 

the full high-school history curriculum, 

without benefit of the year’s training he 

had planned for himself. 

Over the course of his thirty-three 

years of teaching at Green Meadow, 

Karl has witnessed some surprising 

challenges, battles, and many exciting 

developments. A genuine historian, 

Karl did doctoral work at Fordham 

University and worked for two years 

at Sunbridge College before he came 

to the realization that above all else, 

he preferred working with developing 

adolescents. During his years 

teaching in Green Meadow High 

School, Karl has fostered debating 

clubs, led students to Model United 

Nations, and initiated a highschool 

orienteering program-while 

continuing to participate himself in 

orienteering at senior levels. Karl has 

sought out and brought to the school 

countless fascinating people who 

have pioneered unusual initiatives, 


and are helping people near and far. In recent 

years, Karl has supported his students in efforts 

helping to end child labor practices throughout 

the world. He has always reached back deep 

into the past while, at the same time, exploring 

the emerging cutting edges of the present and 

anticipating future developments. In 1995, he 

memorably told his sophomores there would 

soon be a world wide web of interconnection. 

At the time, they thought he was a bit daffy. 

Karl Fredrickson knows far more about the 

natural terrain of the Ramapo Mountains and 

Harriman State Park’s 56,000 acres than anyone 

else in the school, with the possible exception of 

Ed Bieber. Karl also knows a prodigious amount 

about places and times in New York City. His 

walking/train/ferry/bus tours are legendary. Karl 

Fredrickson has explored more places in the 

world and knows about more fascinating places 

than just about anyone in our school community. 

What a privilege for our students to experience 

his guidance and to meet both the world’s past 

and to anticipate its future through him. 

Every Wednesday morning at the high school 

meeting, Karl helps us to discover surprising 

events from the past, always tying them 

together in surprising ways. Few can forget 

Karl’s gestures as he recreated the mysterious 

Poe-roser bringing roses stealthily through 

the night to Edgar Allen Poe’s Baltimore 

grave on the eve of Poe’s birthday each year. 

Moreover, one can almost never take what 

Karl is saying at face value, because he’s 

usually setting up a surprise. 

This global dude joined his wife, Renate Kurth, 

on her sabbatical in India and Thailand. On his 

own sabbatical, he spent time in Nicaragua, 

Argentina, and Ecuador. He speaks Spanish 

impressively well and is learning Portuguese 

in anticipation of spending time in Brazil. Karl 

sings in a local choir, sails, skis, runs, and hikes 

(especially in winter). He and Renate look 

forward to further explorations and to helping 

people here, there, and everywhere. 

Born in the 1949, Karl Fredrickson is essentially 

the age of the Green Meadow Waldorf School. 

It is most fitting that in this, his final year of 

teaching, the long-anticipated construction 

of an Arts Building extension (the first new 

Green Meadow building since 1972) will be 

completed. May Green Meadow continue to 

rejuvenate itself, this year and in the years to 

come, even as Karl continues his explorations 

of the world far beyond the borders of Green 

Meadow Waldorf School. d 

Third graders 

enjoyed modelling 

the hats they 

crocheted this 

winter. They 

created their own 

patterns using 

plant-dyed yarn, 

careful planning 

and counting and 

perseverance. 

Images courtesy of 

Chris Marlow 

relax, Balance, Energize, Heal 

Adults and Children. For more information 

call 201-529-3545 


Parent Education 

Accountability—Putting it All Together 

By Green Meadow Parent, Suzanne Lynn 

How do you feel when you accomplish 

something new? Do you feel empowered, 

smart, and excited, ready for the 

next adventure? Do you feel the same 

way when your plans don’t turn out 

the way you thought they would? Why 

not? Do you get frustrated or upset? 

All too often we can get caught up in 

the blame game. If we fail or fall short 

of our goal, we have a natural tendency 

to search for blame. Sometimes 

we blame ourselves; sometimes we 

blame others; and sometimes we 

blame uncontrollable circumstances. 

No matter what we blame, we are 

wasting our time. Blame is a non-productive 

habit that stunts growth. 

What’s the alternative? Accountability: 

owning the results of our actions, 

good or bad, and learning from our 

experience to improve for the future. 

Consider all of the Executive Function 

Skills (EFS) we’ve talked about this 

year. We use Organization to create 

a place for everything and put it 

in its place. We use Planning & Goal 

Setting to determine what needs to 

be accomplished, and by when. We 

use Time Management to schedule 

when to do what needs to be done. We 

use Self-Regulation to keep on track 

or adapt our approach to reach our 

defined goals. Now it’s time to tie it all 

together and close the loop. Think of 

accountability as the executive function 

of executive function skills. Just like 

the first four EFS allow us to focus all 

of our skills and energies productively, 

the fifth EFS, helps us tune the other 

EFS for even better results. This means 

stepping back to assess what we’ve 

done or not done, whether it worked or 

failed, understanding why our actions 

succeeded or missed the mark, and 

committing ourselves to an improved 

course of action for the next time. 

Business schools teach a famous 

story about IBM’s founder Thomas 

J. Watson, Sr., in which a young vice 

president offered his resignation after 

spending $10 million on a research 

project which failed. Watson replied, 

“Why would I fire you? I’ve just spent 

$10 million on your education. Now, 

let’s talk about your next assignment.” 

Watson understood accountability. 

It’s not about judging or blaming. It’s 

about learning and growing. 

Waldorf Schools are committed to 

the ideal of helping young people 

develop their own capacities of 

understanding, caring, and acting, to 

become adults engaged in learning 

and growing throughout their lives. So 

how do we model and teach accountability 

in a Waldorf School? 

In Early Childhood classes, children 

learn different techniques of fingerknitting. 

Aside from the small motor 

skills, eye-hand coordination, and 

pre-reading brain development, this 

also provides an opportunity for children 

to make mistakes and learn from 

them. Teachers model acceptance 

of diversity and different skill levels. 

Older children are shown not to tease 

younger children for what skills they 

haven’t mastered, but help younger 

children in mastering skills they don’t 

yet have, like tying their shoes or 

climbing monkey-bars. 

In the Lower School, children experience 

through painting and form drawing how 

to incorporate simple shapes into other 

more complex shapes. This models for 

students how to adapt what may at first 

feel like a mistake into something constructive. 

Students receive simple homework 

assignments and are held accountable 

to turn in their work on time. 

In the Middle School, when inevitable 

social conflicts arise, teachers teach 

conflict-resolution and group problemsolving. 

Students learn to discuss their 

disagreements without judging or 

blaming one another, to seek common 

ground and win-win outcomes. 

More complex assignments like reports 

receive more critical feedback—offering 

not competitive ranking of grades, 

but guidance on how students can 

improve their work. 

In the High School, students begin 

developing their critical thinking skills 

as their astral bodies develop. They 

study archetypal stories of people 

who face and overcome their fears 

and weaknesses to become heroes. 

Students are challenged to assess 

their own work, explore their strengths 

and weaknesses, and begin steering 

their own course toward continuous 

improvement, learning and growth. 

How can we as parents support our 

children to learn, practice, and incorporate 

these skills in the way they deal 

with success, failure, and everything in 

between? First, recognize and break 

down the blame game. Instead of getting 

upset about a bad test score, use 

missed questions or problems as a 

guide for further study. Help your child 

understand that they’re not expected 

to be perfect; they’re expected to 

learn from their mistakes. 

Second, help your child practice all of 

the EFS we’ve reviewed. Help them 

observe and assess what works for 

them and what doesn’t. Help them 

consider why they got the results they 

got, and what they could do differently. 

Encourage them to continue 

experimenting, learning, and growing. 

Lastly, model self-acceptance while 

striving for self-improvement in your 

own life. In the end, EFS are a set of 

tools. Our job as parents and teachers 

is to help our children/students 

develop their skills, use these tools, so 

that they can become independent, 

self-motivated, happy, contributing 

members of adult society. When they 

put all of the EFS together and take 

ownership for their achievements and 

lessons learned, they will be well on 

their way toward this goal. 

How do you take accountability for 

your own successes and failures? How 

do search for, understand, and apply 

lessons learned? How do you teach 

and model these behaviors to your 

children? Let me know how EFS works 

for you, and what you struggle with at 

slynn@gmws.org. d 


Understated Richness: 

The Senior Class 

Advisors’ perspective 

on the Class of 2011 

By Green Meadow Parent, Donna Miele 

As freshmen, this year’s graduating 

class offered these words of gratitude 

at the Thanksgiving assembly: “We 

are grateful for opportunities to give.” 

It was a mature and thoughtful 

gesture by a group of budding 

teenagers, some of them new to the 

community, and it fittingly echoed 

advisor Defne Caldwell’s statement 

in her previous year’s address to the 

high school: Measure your wealth by 

what you can afford to give. 

The Class of 2011 has followed 

through on that freshman offering 

throughout their career at Green 

Meadow, participating avidly in 

Midnight Runs and Helping Hands, 

acting as a driving force behind the 

high school’s recent fundraising 

efforts for the Goderich Waldorf 

School in Sierra Leone, Africa, and 

finally scaling back their plans for 

prom and their class trip, allowing 

them to contribute $6,000 to GMWS’s 

community service programs. 

Advisors Defne Caldwell and James 

Madsen recently shared with the 

Bulletin their admiration for the class’s 

deep thoughtfulness and readiness to 

The Class of 2011 on Hermit Island. Image courtesy of James Madsen 

help, whether fundraising as a class, 

or, as individuals, spending a summer 

in a Nepalese village just to do 

whatever needs doing, participating 

in World Wide Opportunities on 

Organic Farms, and standing up 

to help a friend present a personal 

statement to the community. 

Mrs. Caldwell and Mr. Madsen also 

shared their enjoyment of the senior 

class’s playfulness, noting that their 

choice to spend thousands of dollars 

less than usual on prom was not 

wholly due to their commitment 

to service, but was also based on 

their recognition that dancing and 

celebrating together is the most 

important thing. Downplaying the 

traditional importance of flashiness 

and posh trappings, the class helped 

the juniors to plan more subtly 

appointed festivities in the gym. 

Mr. Madsen compared this year’s 

seniors to a blooming lilac bush, more 

understated than the bright pink 

crabapple tree, but richly fragrant. 

In their post-Green Meadow careers, 

Mrs. Caldwell and Mr. Madsen expect 

this year’s seniors to continue to 

uphold the freedom that they have 

so beautifully used and valued during 

their high school years, and to make a 

deep and lasting impact on the world, 

wherever their life’s journeys take 

them. Congratulations and good luck 

to the class of 2011! d 

Internship 2011 

This year, from April 25 through May 6, all the seniors pursued a variety of rewarding internships from soapmaking 

to boat-building. Some used this opportunity to explore possible career paths, while others deepened an 

area of interest or worked in a totally new setting. 

Naika Adams ...............................................Veterinary Office 

Eli Biagi-Lee .............................................. Architecture Firm 

Gabby Blumenthal ...................................................Teaching 

Brinton Crawford ...........................................Music Therapy 

Alexa D’Angelo .................................................. Yoga Studio 

Nicholas Frei .............................................. Music Recording 

Rafi Gilbert ........................................................ Solar Energy 

Misha Kuznetsov ..........................................Teaching Tennis 

Annie McFee ........................................... Barn Management 

Lauriel Marger ..................................Classic Car Restoration 

Sung-Ryul Moon ..............................................Boat Building 

Rebecca Renold .................................... Hauschka Skin Care 

John Robertson .................... World Police and Fire Games 

Cate Sandstrom ...............................Biodynamic Gardening 

Noemi Santo ................Educational Computer Application 

Renee Scherer ........................................ Working on a Farm 

Soria Shultz ..........................................Volunteer at Hospital 

Julia Steinrueck ..............................Soap and Paper Factory 

Amelia Stutman ............................ Teaching at Otto Specht 

William Ulaneck-Dunn ....................................Boat Building 

Jasper Williams .................................................Construction 

Vanessa Wuergler ........................................ Jewelry Making 


Post-Graduate Plans for the 

Class of 2011 

Our congratulations to the Class of 2011 as they 

embark on the next stages of their lives! 

Naika Adams 

Eli Biagi-Lee 

Gabrielle Blumenthal 

Brinton Crawford 

Alexa D’Angelo 

Nicholas Frei 

Rafael Gilbert 

Michael Kuznetsov 

Lauriel Marger 

Annie McFee 

Sung-Ryul Moon 

Hannah Peltz 

Rebecca Renold 

John Robertson 

Alice Catheryn Sandstrom 

Noemi Santo 

Renee Scherer 

Soria Shultz 

Julia Steinrueck 

Amelia Stutman 

William Ulaneck-Dunn 

Jasper Williams 

Vanessa Wuergler 

SUNY Ulster 

Interning at a Violin-Making 

Shop in Chicago 

Bennington College 


Marymount Manhattan 

McGill University-Schulich 

School of Music 

Ithaca College 

Fashion Institute of Technology 

Wake Forest University 

Barn Manager, 

Brilliant Stables/EMT 


Montclair State University 

Honors Program 

Kindergarten Assistant- 

Waldorf School in Israel 

Pace University 

Connecticut College 

Columbia College of Chicago 

Warren Wilson College 

Travelling in Germany 

Adelphi University 

Honors Program 

Mount Holyoke 

Bronx Community College 

SUNY New Paltz 

New York Institute of 

Technology 

A Lazure Workshop: 

The Chance of a Lifetime 

By Larry Fox and Leslie Burchell-Fox 

Most of you have taken note of the ways 

that Waldorf classrooms are painted, and 

may have wondered how it was done, and 

if there would ever be a way to learn it. 

That time will come this summer! Some 

time around the middle of August, the 

new theater will be lazured by a team 

of individuals, and you can have an 

opportunity to be a part of that team. 

Yes, you can finally learn how to do that 

special kind of painting called lazure. 

Lazure painting is not to be confused 

with faux painting, for there is nothing 

faux (false) about lazure. Instead, lazure 

is painting that has a spiritual quality to 

it, where one has an inner experience 

in a space that has been painted that 

way. Lazure painting, sometimes called 

glazing, consists of applying layers of 

thin washes of color over a base of an 

ultra-white background. It is the ultrawhite 

background that “shines” through 

the color wash that gives the living or 

breathing quality of lazure. 

Lazure work is most often done as a 

team effort, so that it is considered a 

social art. Working together as a team, 

we will work our way from the new 

entrance to the Arts Building, to the 

grand theater, and then to the hallways 

surrounding it. 

We will bring to our work here, one of the 

master lazure artists in the U.S., Charles 

Andrade. He will lead us for a weekend 

filled with color. First, he will give a talk 

on Color Psychology, followed by a 

demonstration of the lazure technique 

experience. Then we will have two entire 

days devoted to learning and working 

together to lazure our new spaces. The 

cost of the workshop will be $175, which 

includes a special lazure brush for each 

registrant. All of the proceeds for the 

weekend workshop will go to GMWS. 

To register, or ask questions, please 

contact Larry Fox/Leslie Burchell-Fox at: 

lazureworks@aol.com. Register early— 

space is limited! 


I’m planning to move a little more slowly, 

see what our garden produces, go to the beach with my 

daughter, swim in the pond, stay in bed late on 

the weekends, and sleep under the stars. 

Also, I will talk to everyone I meet about 

Waldorf Education. (Vicki Larson) 

; 

Classifieds 

Clockwork Construction Inc., Precision 

craftsmanship at affordable prices. GMWS 

parent Ben Williams. 845-429-7735 

Looking for Live-In or Live-Out Child Care 

Monday to Friday from 7:00 am to 8:30 am 

and 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm for two boys for 

ages 8 & 5 from GMWS living in Chestnut 

Ridge. Call 845-367-1751. 

Wanted! Fencing for vegetable garden– 

odd pieces that can be patched together 

considered! Please call 845-517-0316. 

Chestnut Ridge Home For Sale: This 

Sunny & Spacious 3/4 Bedroom—2 Baths 

Sprawling Ranch Style is situated on .70 

acres; boasts stunning hardwood floors 

larger than average living, dining, and 

eat-in kitchen, full unfinished basement, w/ 

great workspace. Large patio overlooking 

terraced garden with raised beds just 

waiting for your vegetable or flower 

gardner’s green thumb. Possible office 

space, 1 car garage, List Price $349,900, call 

Mary @ 845-558-0645 of Baer & McIntosh 

Real Estate to show. 

Eurythmy Spring Valley Publicity 

Coordinator We now have an opening 

in our staff at Eurythmy Spring Valley 

for a part-time Publicity Coordinator. 

The position would handle all areas 

of publicity, including press releases, 

ads, posters, mailings, and web sites. 

Qualified individuals with graphic design 

skills especially encouraged to apply. To 

apply, please email Beth Dunn-Fox at 

bdeury@aol.com with resume and contact 

information. 

Handwork Classes every Tuesday evening 

from 7-9:30pm. Please bring your ideas 

and projects. Beginners to advanced. For 

more information call Madeleine Wuergler 

201-529-3545 or hrwuergler@aol.com. 

BIG Waldorf family House moving sale 

June 4th 9am-3pm (no early birds), 

5 Ullman Terrace, Chestnut Ridge. 

House one, get one free! – Our cats 

Mike and Lola need a home for eighteen 

months. Both come with medical/food 

stipend, your reward is love, laughs and a 

critter-free home. Email us at 

yaklulu@hotmail.com. 

Waldorf family with two girls (5&9) 

looking for a part-time babysitter during 

the summer months. Preferably someone 

who likes to be outdoors and explore the 

woods and fields. Please call 201-360-1113 

or email mohonklady@yahoo.com. 

Home Repair and Carpentry: 

GM Parent Bruce Calabro, 445-1938 (H) or 

845-239-9273 (cell). 

Summer Art Lessons, Waldorf approach, 

any ages, any media, flexible days/hours, at 

your home or my studio. Gosha Karpowicz 

artist/painter, Waldorf Art Teacher. 845 596 

3478 gosha.karpowicz@gmail.com. 

Come enjoy an easy, beautiful, 

affordable summer vacation on Plum 

Island. North of Boston with 9 miles of a 

national wildlife refuge beaches. Newly 

built beach house. 10% off Special for 

Waldorf Teachers and Parents. 

http://www.plumislandbeachretreat.com/ 


Community Announcements 

The Christian Community 

www.christiancommunitysv.org 

845-573-9080 

Christian Community Tag Sale 

June 4, 9 am to 2 pm, Christian Community 

Church, 15 Margetts Rd., Monsey, NY. 

Loads of furniture, clothing, children’s items, 

and more. Come early for best selection, 

later in the day for great deals. DONATION 

DROP-OFF: Wednesday or Thursday 

evenings from 6-9, Friday all day. 

Please be kind and bring clean, sellable 

items. For more information or to schedule 

a pickup: Please contact Rafal Nowak: 

rafau.nowak@gmail.com. 

Fiber Craft Studio 

www.fibercraftstudio.org 

845-425-2891 

information@fibercraftstudio.org 

Sheep and Wool Festival 

June 5, 10 am to 5 pm, Fiber Craft Studio, 

Orchard House, 275 Hungry Hollow Road 

Bring the whole family to celebrate 

nature’s gifts and fiber transformation. 

Free admission; small charge for activities 

(including spinning, felting, dyeing and 

knitting). Food will be sold at Threefold Cafe 

and a sushi table. 

Eurythmy Spring Valley 

www.eurythmy.org 

845-352-5020 x13 

The Crystal Sphere–Eurythmy 

Performance for Children 

June 7, 4pm, Threefold Auditorium. 

$5 adults / $3 children. 

The Crystal Sphere is the story of a journey to 

the castle of the golden sun and the rescue 

of a princess. The youngest brother in the 

story can only do this if he is willing to listen 

to the words of an ugly maiden. A whale, an 

eagle, a bison, and a magical fire bird all help 

him on his journey. This fairy tale is part of 

our graduates’ first performing experience, 

bringing to life a world rich in fantasy and 

costumes. Information: 845-352-5020 x13, or 

email info@eurythmy.org. 

Spring End-of-Term 

June 9, 7:30 pm, School of Eurythmy. 

Donations welcome. 

In our final end-of-term for the year, the firstand 

third-year students will present their 

pieces and finish off the year with another 

rich evening of their work. Information: 845- 

352-5020 x13, or email info@eurythmy.org. 

Summer Eurythmy Week 

June 19–24, School of Eurythmy. 

Join us this summer for our one-week 

eurythmy intensive, a great way to “try 

out” eurythmy. Open to all, this week-long 

intensive course gives a direct experience 

of the refreshment and depth that eurythmy 

provide. The 2011 Summer Eurythmy Week 

will feature the exploration of short fable-like 

poems. In them we will find creatures of all 

kinds and enjoy their names and movements, 

including how the sounds of speech capture 

their characters. We will work with musical 

pieces that bring out different moods and 

characters. As we move to music that is lively, 

tender, meditative, sorrowful, or passionate, 

we will expand our souls into all directions 

of experience. Faculty: Annelies Davidson 

(speech), Michael Widmer (tone), Shannon 

Boyce (singing), and Francesco DeBenedetto 

(painting). Complete brochure and registration 

form are available at www.eurythmy.org/school. 

htm. For more information, please call 845-352- 

5020 x13, or email: info@eurythmy.org. 

The Pfeiffer Center 

www.pfeiffercenter.org 

845-352-5020 x20 

info@pfeiffercenter.org 

The Role of the Horse in the Farm 

Organism 

June 4, 9 am to 5 pm. $95 

Lecture and practical work with the Pfeiffer 

Center’s team of draft horses, led by 

biodynamic farmer Mac Mead. 

Pfeiffer Center Benefit Garden Party 

June 25, 5 to 7 pm. 

Join us in the garden for handmade clayoven 

baked pizza. See what’s growing, meet 

other fans of the Pfeiffer Center, and hear 

what’s coming up. Donations large and small 

are welcome. 

Preserving the Harvest 

July 30, 9 am to 5 pm. $95 

This workshop with Megan Durney and Mac 

Mead will introduce five major methods of 

food preservation: canning, drying, freezing, 

root cellaring, and lacto-fermentation. 

Sunbridge Institute 

www.sunbridge.edu 

845-425-0055 

Essentials of Waldorf Education 

July 10-15 

Have you ever wished you had gone to 

Waldorf School when you were a child? This 

summer you too can engage in the Waldorf 

Curriculum for a one-week immersion into 

the Essentials of Waldorf Education. Come 

learn why Waldorf works, experience the arts 

that your children receive at school everyday, 

and enjoy the beautiful campus of Sunbridge 

Institute in the summertime. 

“Thank you for such a beautiful, inspiring 

and deeply informative course—very full 

and enriching of mind, body, and soul.” 

- Summer 2010 Course Participant 

Visit our website for more information. 

www.sunbridge.edu. Or email Kathleen 

Morse at summer@sunbridge.edu 

See you this summer at Sunbridge! 

Threefold Educational Center 

www.threefold.org 

845-352-5020 

info@threefold.org 

The Art of Acting End-of-year Sharing 

June 11, 4 pm, Threefold Auditorium 

Free. Check out some Chekhov (mostly 

Michael, this ain’t no Anton), soak up some 

Shakespeare, glimpse some acting magic, 

share the joy and accomplishment of the 

2010-11 class of the Art of Acting, and learn 

about what’s in store for next year’s course. 


Parent Council 

Meeting Dates 

for the 2011-12 

school year 

All 7:30 – 9:15pm in the 

High School 

September 14 

October 5 

November 4 

November 21: 

Parent Council joins 

Board meeting 7-8pm 

December 8: 

Open Finance Meeting 

February 8 

March 2 

April 4 

May 9 

My summer begins with the 

AWSNA conference focused 

on adolescents. From there the 

weeks will be filled with home, 

garden, family, and friends. 

(Andrea Gambardella) 

; 

June Events Calendar 

Wednesday, June 1 4:15pm 

7:30pm 

MS Track 

The Grapes of Wrath Performance 

Thursday, June 2 7:30pm The Grapes of Wrath Performance 

Friday, June 3 9am Introductory Session for 

Prospective Parents 

Last day of school for the 


Saturday, June 4 10am Japanese morning in the 


4pm 

Violin/Viola Recital 

Sunday, June 5 4pm Jaqueline Stern’s cello recital 

Tuesday, June 7 3:30pm Violin/Viola recital 

Wednesday, June 8 7:30pm 

Thursday, June 9 

Friday, June 10 

Saturday, June 11 

3pm 

Parent Council Meeting 

8th Grade Beach Day 

2nd Grade end-of-year celebration 

High School Prom 

Last Day of School for Lower and 

High School 

8th Grade Ceremony 

Sunday, June 12 11am 12th Grade Graduation 

Saturday, June 18 

4pm 

Cello recital 

Hudson Valley Artist Collective 

Art Show to benefit GMWS 

What is Waldorf Education? 

(courtesy of AWSNA, the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America) 

For the Waldorf student, music, dance, and theater, writing, literature, legends and myths are not simply subjects 

to be read about, ingested and tested. They are experienced. Through these experiences, Waldorf students 

cultivate a lifelong love of learning as well as the intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual capacities to be 

individuals certain of their paths and to be of service to the world. 

Read more at whywaldorfworks.org. 


The Three Arabian Princes 

A Magical Puppet Show 

Performed by Green Meadow Waldorf School’s Early Childhood Teachers 

Friday, June 17 at 11am 

Warner Library, 121 North Broadway, Tarrytown 

Free admission! For details, contact Patty Cohn at the library: 

914.631.7734. 

Green Meadow Early Childhood Center opening in September in 

Tarrytown! Call Admissions Coordinator Patricia Owens at 

845.356.9715 for information. 

Transforming Education 



845.356.9715 www.gmws.org 

Printed on FSC-certified, 

100% recycled paper.

The Yearbook 

Delivery... 

$50 

is Right around 

the Corner! 

Reserve your Copy 

( Just f ill out this for m, at tach a check made out to “GMWS” 

and drop it of f to Helen Morgan in the high school of f ice, 

or mail it to: 

307 Hungr y Hollow Road | C hestnut Ridge, N Y 1097 7 

at t : Yearbook ) 

Name: 

Phone: 

email: 

Number of copies: 

Deliver to ( child/grade): 

for more information 

please call Helen at 845-356-2514 x 309 

or email us at yearbook@gmws.org

Local Event 

Sunday, June 5 

10am - 5pm 

On the Grounds of 

Threefold Educational Center 

275 Hungry Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 

Rain or Shine 

Indoor and Outdoor Activities 

Celebrate Nature’s Gifts and Fiber Transformation 

* * * * * 

Meet Sheep, Angora Goats, and Bunnies. 

Participate in Fiber Craft Activities: 

...Spinning...Weaving...Knitting...Felting...Plant-Dyeing... 

Silent Auction 

Raffle 

Clearance Sale 

Puppet Show 

Delicious Food 

General Admission is free! 

A small fee will be charged for the activities. 

Proceeds will benefit the Fiber Craft Studio. 

The gift of a sheep will be donated through Heifer International. 

For more information please visit our website at www.fibercraftstudio.org or call us at 845-425-2891.

Warriors Summer Basketball Clinic 2011 

Registration Form 

For Green Meadow students entering grades 6 through 9. 

Monday-Thursday: June 27, 28, 29 & 30 

Location: Green Meadow Gym 

Girls’ Camp: 9:00 am-12:00 pm | Boys’ Camp: 1:00 pm-4:00 pm 

4 Day Camp..................$90 

Per Day Charge............ $30 (2 day minimum) 

All camp participants receive a GMWS T-shirt 

Please send this registration form and a check payable to GMWS to: 

Green Meadow Waldorf School 

Attention: Summer Basketball Clinic, 

307 Hungry Hollow Rd. Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 

Feel free to write with any other questions: brendan.oswald1@gmail.com 

Child’s Name _____________________________________________________________________________________ Date ________________________ 

Entering Grade_ ______________ Address _ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 

Parent/Guardian _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Home Phone__________________________________________ Work Phone ____________________________________________________________ 

Email address _ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Emergency Contact_______________________________________________________________ Phone _ ____________________________________ 

Email address _ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

My child is in excellent health and is able to participate in all the strenuous activities of a basketball camp. 

Parent/Guardian Signature ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Transforming Education 307 Hungry Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge, NY 10977 Telephone: 845.356.9715 Fax: 845.371.2358 www.gmws.org

Lazure 

A Hands-on Workshop 

Come join us for a once-in-a-lifetime 

experience!!! 

We are going to lazure the new 

Performance Hall in the Arts Building. 

Learn the unique European Color wall 

glazing technique called lazure painting. 

Lazure painting is based on color theory 

that understands the psychological and 

spiritual effect that light and color have on 

the human being. 

We will be lead by master lazurist, Charles Andrade, 

who will give a talk on Color Psychology, followed by 

a demonstration of the lazure technique. Over the 

course of a weekend, we will lazure our new spaces 

together. Lazure painting is taught as a team effort, 

and thus is a social art form 

REGISTER EARLY - SPACE IS LIMITED 

WHERE: The new Performance Hall in the Arts Building 

WHEN: Near the middle of August - for one weekend 

(Friday night through Sunday) 

COST: $175 (includes a lazure paint brush) 

All workshop proceeds go to GMWS 

DRESS: Wear loose pants, comfortable shirt, and gym shoes 

CONTACT: Larry Fox or Leslie Burchell-Fox at 

lazureworks@aol.com to register.

© Natt McFee 

After School Program 

Moving from Oak House to allow for an expanded program, Teresa Bellaby will 

continue to lead our After School Program, on the GMWS campus. 

Starting September 7, 2011: 3-6pm on a drop-in basis 

Ages Nursery and up, Monday-Friday, snow days and some school vacations. 

Activities include snack time, simple crafts, games, outside play and homework 

for those who may have homework. 

Contact Teresa Bellaby at tbellaby@gmws.org with any questions. 

Transforming Education 



845.356.2514 www.gmws.org 

Printed on FSC-certified, 

100% recycled paper.

June 2011 - Green Meadow Waldorf School

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