The Steiner Spiral 2014-15

SPIRAL THE RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL

2014

OUR MISSION The Rudolf Steiner School embraces Waldorf education, a pedagogy derived from the insights of Austrian-born scientist, philosopher, artist, and educator Rudolf Steiner. The program, from nursery through twelfth grade, addresses the physical, emotional, and intellectual capacities of the developing child through an age-appropriate curriculum that integrates the disciplines of movement, fine arts, and practical arts into the study of humanities, science, math, and technology. Through the development of these capacities, we strive to educate the whole human being in a healthy and balanced manner.

The Rudolf Steiner School actively welcomes students, faculty, and staff of all ethnicities and gender preferences, and of all faiths and creeds.

We respect and support individuals’ spiritual beliefs and practices.

We strive to develop the mind, body and spirit of the child, encouraging, in the process, the child’s spiritual freedom and growth. As in every Waldorf School, our teaching works toward this aim by drawing on the insights into human development pioneered by Rudolf Steiner.

The Waldorf curriculum is diverse in nature and rich in the teachings of many great religious traditions.

Students develop an understanding and respect for the various cultures of the world through their experience in the classroom and in the celebration of seasonal festivals of the year. Drawing on many traditions, we celebrate our common humanity, not our separateness in belief or practice.

Bridging Memories Being new is exhilarating. The rush of adrenaline and a plethora of fresh thoughts and observations make newness exciting. This was my situation in January when I joined the Rudolf Steiner School mid-year. The excitement, the possibilities – it’s one reason I relish this position. I quickly found my footing in this heartfelt community. That’s the case for several new students and parents, many who joined in September. I took on another new role in September: Steiner parent. My son Zachary joined the fifth grade.

Steiner has a distinct story to tell. It is a story that is steeped in history and layered with relevant issues, such as biodynamic farming, the artistry of Eurythmy and why the foundation of education revolves deeply around Waldorf philosophy.

In a short period of time, I have been moved by provocative conversations with members of our faculty. For me, visiting classes is exhilarating. Our teachers enable their students to think profoundly through the use of imagination. I hear that resounding theme from parents, alumni and friends around the globe, who are equally as touched by Waldorf education.

Life is a series of memories that are crucial to hold closely. While life as an adult can be challenging at times, I frequently take the time to bridge my memories of school with what is permeating in Zachary every day; learning as a new student in this special education. As we conceptualized this issue of The Spiral, we thought deeply about Steiner’s science program.

We spoke with teachers, alumni and students, and we knew the timing was ideal to focus this magazine on what we were hearing.

As you read The Spiral, I hope you will allow your imagination to run a little wild, and embrace what is happening in our science program today. Take some time to discuss biodynamic farming with your child. Share that Rudolf Steiner was at the forefront of farm to table, CSAs and community gardening – almost 100 years ago. After reading the article Bridging Ties, discuss one idea about bridge design with your family while at the dinner table.

As the stories in The Spiral illustrate, bridging memories of yesterday with the observations of today is nothing short of exhilaration.

Enjoy this new look of The Spiral, and please share it with a friend or relative.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Brian Kaplan, P ’22 Director of Marketing and Communication 02. ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR 03. COLLEGE SPEAKER 04. BOARD CHAIR 06. LESSONS FROM THE LAB 10. COMING HOME 12. FARM MUSINGS 14. SCIENCE SCOOP 16. BRIDGING TIES 18. GALACTIC CLASSROOM 20. MICHAEL D’ALEO 22. CLASS OF 2014 26. COMMENCEMENT 28. PARENT COUNCIL CHAIR 30. GALA 32. FALL FAIR 34. ALUMNI ASSOC. CHAIR 35. ALUMNI REUNION

36. CLASS NOTES 42. ANNUAL REPORT 42. DEVELOPMENT COMM. CHAIR 44. TREASURER 45. BUDGET RESULTS 46. DONOR CIRCLES 50. PARENT DONORS 52. ALUMNI DONORS 53. ALUMNI PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS & FRIEND DONORS 55. CURRENT/FORMER FACULTY & STAFF 56. FOUNDATIONS, CORPORATIONS & MATCHING GIFTS 57. PLANNED GIVING 58. ENDOWED & SPECIAL FUNDS 60. COMMUNITY CALENDAR

ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR

Dear Steiner Community, As the 2014-15 school year picks up steam, we have renewed our commitment to the further development of a robust, academic program based on what is essential for a creative Waldorf culture and success in the 21st century. The College of Teachers, the Board of Trustees and, the Administrative Council are enthused about the work that was started last year, and is fully underway as I write this letter. We are excited to communicate with the Steiner community in a timely fashion, and celebrate our collective accomplishments.

Already this year, we have seen so many thoughtful activities, ranging from the Parent Council coffees on the terrace to the introduction of our school for the youngest children in the Parent-Child Program. We celebrated school spirit with Michaelmas, the diversity picnic and our first class trip of the year to Hawthorne Valley Farm – the 6th graders enjoyed a special time of the year to be in upstate New York watching the leaves change colors.

Knowing who we are as a school and being able to articulate this to the greater community of New York is central to our ongoing vitality. I encourage each of you to share your personal Steiner stories of success with friends and family.

At Steiner, learning is supported by the carefully crafted lessons prepared by our faculty. No matter the age or developmental stage in which we find the children, each member of the faculty listens and observes with care, challenging each student to stretch, but allowing learning to happen at a pace appropriate for the student. Maintaining a challenging academic environment, which promotes excellence, is central to our pedagogy. To help ensure this excellence we are engaged in the ongoing refinement of the curricular scope and sequence, Early Childhood through 12th grade. This process allows us to identify curricular areas where augmentation is needed to strengthen and deepen our program.

For 2014-15, the Upper School is adding courses in the Math and Science Departments to complement the broad spectrum of Main Lessons and run-throughs that already exist. In addition to the advanced chemistry elective we currently offer we will be rotating advanced elective courses in biology and physics. Just as the entire program prepares students for college applications in the Humanities and in the Arts, these new Upper School courses will continue to enhance offerings for students who plan to pursue challenging careers in the sciences. In this issue of the Spiral, we highlight a few of the recent Steiner graduates, who attended the finest collegiate programs in the world – Columbia, University of Chicago and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – to name a few, and elaborated on their advantages due to the education they received at Steiner.

It is through our dedication to Steiner that our long-term financial health is secure. Through the shepherding of many talented people – parents, alumni, family members, faculty and friends, we are dedicated to giving back to the school that offered so much. New to our Development team is April Pereyra, a member of our community for 13 years. April and I will be reaching out to the greater community of New York in an effort to increase our endowment and further ensure our sustainability as a learning community committed to social, cultural, and intellectual growth and excellence.

I ask you to reach out to your friends and family and share what is best about Steiner. Encourage them to read a few of the stories about the children on the website. Plan on attending the Fall Fair and bringing a few friends and family, so they can get a taste of our Waldorf magic. Our future is bright and can be brighter still as we work together to promote excellence in our curricular program, and nourish the health and integrity in our community.

Warm regards, Dr. William D. Macatee Administrative Director 02

COLLEGE SPEAKER

Dear Friends, OH! HOW FAR WE’VE COME! That was the thought that came to mind time and again this year especially in the spring when I prepared to hand the College Speaker reins over to Dena Malon, our incoming College Speaker. In the twelve years since I joined the Rudolf Steiner School community, the school has changed in some very significant ways. For instance, our governance and management forms have transformed dramatically in order to foster and support the deep wells of creativity and initiative living throughout our community. At the same time, the school has not changed at all in some equally significant ways as we maintained the integrity and essence of our foundational Waldorf education principles.

Similarly, the 2013-14 school year was a year like every other in some ways, and unlike any other in other ways. For instance, we welcomed the first graders into the elementary school with the opening Rose Ceremony, just as we do every year, and we managed our way through a complete technological infrastructure rebuild and modernization that brought some interesting challenges to our day-to-day work, something we had never done to this extent before. We moved through our annual rhythm marked by long-standing traditions such as the aforementioned Rose Ceremony, Michaelmas in the park, pumpkin carving in the first grade, Fall Fair, St. Nicholas’s visit, our winter season events, spring assembly and so forth.

Held by these traditions, new conversations and initiatives took hold.

2013-14 was the second year working within the new management structure, one where three governing bodies collaborate to guide the school through the day-to-day and also in striving towards our long-term vision and goals. With administrative tasks once held by the College now held in the Administrative Council, the College spent the year focused deeply on pedagogy and our school culture. As is part of the College’s annual rhythm, we worked closely with faculty to support their development and growth, and their work in the classroom. As part of that support, the College worked with the Social Inclusion Committee and faculty to address the social dynamic in some classrooms. As part of that work, the College collaborated with the Administrative Council and the Board to put in place a robust anti-bullying policy and process.

During the year we also turned our attention to the curriculum, taking up the results of last year’s parent survey and the results from the Art and Science work. There are exciting offerings afoot in the high school math and science curriculum, and we are working towards developing our technology curriculum, teaching students how to use technology as a tool for creative expression. At the end of the year, the College and the entire faculty embarked on a long-term study of our entire curriculum from Early Childhood through 12th grade. This scope and sequence work is part of our long-term strategic plan and provides us an opportunity to assess, affirm, augment, enhance and modify to ensure we are providing our students not only a robust 21st Century Waldorf education, but also a robust, 21st Century education period.

April Pereyra Speaker of the College of Teachers

COLLEGE OF TEACHERS 2014-15 BROOKE BROSENNE DENISE CRANE LAURA DONKEL RENNI GALLAGHER RALLOU HAMSHAW ’65 JULIA HAYS ’73 TIMOTHY HOFFMANN

LESLIE LI MARY LYNN LORINZ BILL MACATEE DENA MALON, College Speaker SAM MARGLES MARINA MCGREW LINDA OGDEN-WOLGEMUTH

APRIL PEREYRA RENATE POLIAKINE ’60 MARILYN RUPPART ANKE SCHEINFELD LUCY SCHNEIDER JEFF SPADE 03

BOARD CHAIR

Dear Steiner Community, In my over 16 years at the school, I have deeply appreciated the experience of engaging with such a wonderful and diverse community of empowering faculty, gifted students, supportive staff and a truly committed parent body. Serving as Board Chair of the Rudolf Steiner School is an honor and a responsibility that I accept with all the years of participation within our community as my guide.

As I think of the path that lies before us, I think of the six Board Chairs that have served during my time at the school, and numerous Board Trustees that I have had the honor of working with to add another building block to the journey that our wonderful school is on. I have never been more hopeful and encouraged that we stand ready to capitalize on our efforts to move our school ever further down its path with more realistic clarity and definition than ever before.

At the forefront of my mind is how we must effect change as we grow. Victor Hugo said, “Change your opinions, keep your principles; Change your leaves, keep your roots.” It is the duality of change that has always been a challenge. Can we change yet remain true to our foundational values? As I look back on my years, change has come in many ways. It has successfully brought us here, to a place where we have the good fortune to realize its benefits and challenges, regardless of the fears and efforts it took to make it happen.

As I look at this year, I hope that my fellow trustees and I can work effectively to realize our efforts and continue the changes that have so benefited us, while keeping “our roots”.

Key areas I would like to see us focus on include: • Increase the Board of Trustees focus on long-term strategic elements and away from tactical, dayto-day engagement. The Board will focus a good deal of its time on the completion of our last Strategic Plan while beginning the process of a new one to set priorities and goals for the upcoming years.

• Continue to build the strength, breadth and capacity of our administration and staff to fully assume active management of the school in a consistent, responsible and structured way. This will include our support of Dr. Macatee, along with yearly evaluations of our administration and staff.

• Improve the level of communication throughout the community that will be more timely, accurate, responsive, consistent and valuable. This work and commitment began with the hiring of Brian Kaplan, our Director of Marketing and Communications. Brian has already improved on our internal and external communications, and will continue this work through such projects as an upgrade and update of our website, new and improved calendar for parents, inbound marketing strategies, social media, updated admissions and college guidance materials.

• Continue to advance our financial controls and processes to insure good stewardship of our resources. The Board will play a more active role in the fundraising efforts of the school this upcoming year. This desire and need were clearly noted in our self-evaluation, as well as our evaluation from the Administrative Committee. We will work closely with the Development Office and Dr. Macatee as we explore avenues of possibilities. We will also work closely with the Finance and Investment Committees to continue defining and using our restricted and temporarily restricted gifts to support our institution. As we look back on the 2013-14 school year, the Board continued much of the hard work that began last year. We finalized our search for an Administrative Director with the overwhelming endorsement of Dr. William Macatee, who joined us in March. Dr. Macatee’s immediate efforts are already showing substantial results.

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We embarked on an ambitious project to rework our technology infrastructure and expand its functionality, improve reliability, reduce cost and build a platform for future capabilities. Our focus was to enhance our ability to support administration, faculty, students and the needs of our community, while creating new opportunities to merge the Waldorf approach to technology with the realities and readiness that our students need. Along with the new technology came a fresh set of skills and attitude in the form of our IT Director Adam Van Auken.

We continued the process of establishing a well-defined staff evaluation system and exit interview process, which has successfully been handed over to the AD. The work of the Diversity Task Force continues this year with the furtherance of in-house training and significant awareness goals for the upcoming year.

Our annual Board/College retreat, in which we explored who we are today and who we want to be in the future, came out of our current Strategic Plan along with results from the Arts and Science report. The topic of our identity and outcome of the retreat continues to inform our work in communications as we move forward.

There are so many exciting things happening at this wonderful institution that I cannot list them all. I look forward to opportunities this upcoming year to present and discuss many more than can be mentioned in this letter.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Stacey Kelly, last year’s Board Chair, for her support and council, and extend the Board’s appreciation to Mark Reed for taking on this role on an interim basis for much of the last school year. Finally, I also wish to thank Mitchel Friedman for assuming my previous role as Treasurer.

I close with a personal note to my family for their support of my volunteer efforts over the years and my new role as Chair within our community, for they are my inspiration.

We are all so lucky to be engaged in the pursuit of such a noble effort to enable our great faculty in their work and empower this community towards our common goals, all for the good of our children and the children to come.

With great humility and thanks,

Dawn Trachtenberg, P ‘12, ‘15 Alumni Spouse, ‘79 Chair, Board of Trustees

2014-2015 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

DAWN TRACHTENBERG, Chair SUSANNE KASTLER-KNERR, Vice Chair

MITCHEL FRIEDMAN, Treasurer STEPHEN LUBBEN, Secretary

WALTER ALEXANDER ALISON CARIATI ’83 BLANCHE CHRISTERSON GAIL CRUISE-ROBERSON SUSAN GOODALE RALLOU HAMSHAW ’65 JOHN HELLER STACEY KELLY DR. WILLIAM D. MACATEE MARINA MCGREW JEAN-HUGUES MONIER JOY PHELAN-PINTO

RENATE POLIAKINE ’60 MARK REED JOSEPHINE SALVADOR DEBORAH GRACE WINER ’79 TRUSTEES EMERITI VALDEMAR BERTELSEN III ROBERT BUXBAUM LUCY SCHNEIDER BRIAN KAPLAN, Assistant Secretary

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SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT

Lessons From The Lab

THREE SCIENCE TEACHERS BOIL DOWN THE ELEMENTS In today’s ever-changing world, one thing is certain: Core science skills are one of the most important foundations today’s students can have.

Steiner science teachers strive to meet the needs of individual students. The faculty has worked tirelessly and deeply to refine and improve the Upper School’s science curriculum by offering advanced science courses on a rotating basis. In 2014-15, we will offer advanced Biology and Physics; last year was Chemistry.

We sat down with Rich Turner, Marisha Plotnik and Sam Margles to discuss the ways in which

science matters at Steiner.

Rich Turner “I love to see kids get excited about the secrets in our world, and learn something about decoding or unveiling,” explains Rich Turner. “Science is so exciting to me. Everyday, I’m awed by what’s happening around us.”

That much is clear about the seasoned teacher, who has dedicated 35 years to connecting with students, helping them lock in on that “A-Ha Moment” that knocks them over like a bolt of lightning.

“We are pushing the envelope more and more in our science programs – always looking for ways to challenge the kids to go beyond 06

standard high school studies,” says Turner. “It’s not always on the theoretical, academic, philosophical side. Sometimes it’s hands-on science that kids haven’t been introduced to yet.”

Laurel Macey, ‘05, a medical student at The Commonwealth Medical College in Pennsylvania, reflects on her memories of taking chemistry classes at Steiner. “Mr. Turner made chemistry so fun and exciting. I still remember the day he lit magnesium on fire. It was awesome. He brought so much joy to something I found challenging and boring otherwise,” says Ms. Macey. “The types of skills that Steiner offers helps foster an excellent foundation for learning

interpersonal skills, which for a doctor translates to good bedside manners and to creating a positive relationship with patients.”

Turner gets excited when he talks about former students who go into the sciences. One student received his doctorate degree in chemistry, and then started a quantum dot company in Boston. “His company is researching and manufacturing materials with quantum dots that light up,” says Turner. “It’s fascinating stuff, really cutting edge. I love knowing that he was one of my kids. That’s a contribution! We give them the life and the light that allows them to thrive in college and grad school, and the skills to make that connection.”

Marisha Plotnik “What is so unique about the way we teach science at Steiner is that we take the sense experience very seriously,” says Plotnik. “As a teacher, I try to bridge the abstract by going deeper to consider the sense experience. By doing so, we ensure that concepts are embedded in conceptual truth, as well as abstract truth and perceptual truth.”

Ms. Plotnik perpetually seeks to make conversations more meaningful through thoughtfulness, and by being pensive and deliberate. Waldorf sciences teach through Phenomenology, the science of observation and complex math equations that measure angles of refraction, to deeply reflect on each student’s sense experience.

“I am most interested in gradual incremental evolution,” says Ms. Plotnik. “What’s really effective is to start something and see if it works.

Take the garden on the 5th floor (of the 78th Street campus). The students are so vested in its development. They are nurturing this wonderful place and reaping the rewards. It needs to start small, and gradually grow. Patience is a major component.”

Human beings unfold gradually, and it is essential to patiently nurture children, Ms. Plotnik believes.

It is one of the unique qualities of Waldorf education, which she

The Seed of Science Zachary Swarth has taken the reins from Ms. Plotnik as Steiner’s new physics teacher. Mr. Swarth is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Following, he received his Masters in Adolescent Science Education from Brooklyn College. Most recently, Mr. Swarth has been teaching engineering and physics at Brooklyn Technical High School.

confidently asserts is radically and profoundly different from so many other philosophies.

Ms. Plotnik, who grew up in Ontario, Canada and received a Master’s degree from the Klingenstein Fellowship Program, has taught physics, calculus and math to grades six through 12 at Rudolf Steiner School.

“Teaching several grades, including the middle years, informs my teaching,” says Plotnik. “If I am only teaching grades 6 to 8, I lose sight of where the education is going.

And, by only teaching high school, I start to forget why it is that some students are having difficulty. I want my students to have a deep understanding and well founded experience, so I love teaching at different levels.”

SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT

Sam Margles Sam Margles, Life Science teacher at Steiner for the past 12 years, exudes boundless energy. Asked about making science fun at a Waldorf school, Ms. Margles commented, “When you start talking about diseases of the intestine, intestinal parasites and how diseases move in the body, the kids are interested, which furthers my awareness. I’ve always felt that I’m lucky in terms of what I do to keep the students engrossed.”

Sciences can be challenging at a Waldorf school, however. “Laboratory work is inherently experiential and you can’t do science without getting your hands dirty,” says Margles. “It can be chal08

lenging to give kids an authentic experience, but once they grasp the subject, the connection they make is so deep and they take it with them forever. We are igniting a lifelong interest in students, especially ones coming from other schools who never thought they would be interested, and they quickly realize how interesting the subject is. There’s a lot of energy at the school right now around the science curriculum. That’s why students at Waldorf schools are so interested in the sciences.”

The challenging component of laboratory work is figuring out how to add the experiential. Ms. Margles stresses that making main lesson a time for participation, not a lecture, while getting the kids to add their observations,

is why science is so stimulating.

Whether with botany, zoology or physiology, Steiner sciences are always about a true interdisciplinary experience. Periodically more drawing and observation will be called for while the next block may have a deeper experiential component, such as visiting aquariums and spending time observing animals. Ms. Margles points out that physiology is especially unique for the upper school students.

“We used clay in Embryology to develop three-dimensional zygotes to see the changes taking place,” exclaims Ms. Margles.

“The students change the clay shape in the way that things were developing. We would take a ‘here’s the situation’ approach, and I would ask, ‘how could you

imagine this happening,’ to get them to imagine and envision it on their own. It was interesting how accurate they were collectively.

That’s truly interdisciplinary work!”

The same case exists with their lab work. Whether they are collecting samples from around the school, which they grow in petri dishes, or fermenting grape juice in chemistry to distill small samples of alcohol, the lab work reflects back to sense experience.

There’s a lot of energy at the school right now around the science curriculum.

“Whether the students are building amplification speakers, changing copper into gold, or through genetics, forensics or light refraction in physics, it always comes down to the interdisciplinary and experiential in our lab work.”

The science curriculum has significantly shifted over the past four years. “We’re consistently looking for ways to take the science curriculum deeper by adding to it,” says Ms. Margles. “We made lab its own course, and we’re offering additional electives. We’re also bringing science more into our math curriculum by discussing topics that are happening in science and math around the world.”

Asked about challenging the students beyond the classroom, and Ms. Margles elaborates that her fellow teachers take pride in visiting environmental organizations such as the River Project, or introducing them to projects and events beyond the classroom that they’ll find exciting.

DEEPER EXPERIENCES Beginning this year, Ms. Margles will join the Upper School Admissions department to ensure that we continue attracting the best students for our high school.

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SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT

WELCOME HOME After graduating from Steiner in June 2005, I was ready to set out and face the world as an international relations major at Georgetown University in Washington DC. But life had many surprises for me: I would end up transferring to Barnard College, moving back to New York, and exchanging my interests in the relations of the political realm to the relations of organisms in the environment. And the final surprise finds me writing this piece for the Spiral as Steiner’s newly appointed high school Biology Teacher.

There is a spirit about coming home to Steiner.

Many graduates return to the school and community that provided so much. For Sarah (Bärtges) Ohana ‘05, returning to her alma mater, the school she attended from kindergarten through 12th grade, is even more of a homecoming because Mrs. Ohana is a true legacy. Her mother teaches English Literature in the upper school, and her grandmother, Renata Soybel, has been with the school for many decades, and still teaches Handwork to the younger students. Welcome back, Mrs. Ohana!

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Through my activities with the environmental action group at Georgetown, I quickly became disillusioned with my peers and their priorities on campus - when approaching a fellow student with a request to sign our recycling petition, he responded, “Why should I care about the environment?” This attitude was rampant among students and adults alike, and was alien to me, having been raised in a school and community where nature dictated the daily rituals of our year, and where we spent equal amounts of time studying the reproductive cycle of moss and the history of the Americas. Combined with the fact that there was a dearth of good science classes at Georgetown, I returned to New York to pursue a degree in Environmental Policy at Barnard College. My time at Barnard shaped the future direction of my adult life in many ways. My science classes were stimulating and eye opening, ranging from courses in environmental anthropology, natural risks and disasters, to those in carbon sequestration. I spent a year and a half

interning at NASA, leading a research project which aimed to assess how much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could be sequestered in the soils of Hudson Valley Farms if the farmers adopted methods of agricultural cultivations that were more conducive towards storing carbon. This research was mostly conducted through the use of GIS mapping data - a mapping technology that allows you to evaluate huge volumes of data in a spatial realm.

The internship at NASA was the start of my realization of the degree to which my Steiner education had prepared me for the world outside its rose-hued walls. While the mapping technology I was using at NASA was complicated and technological, the act of creating aesthetic maps containing meaningful information was a skill I first came to love and learn in elementary school and continued to hone in my main lesson books through the 12th grade. Another reflection of my Steiner years was my involvement in starting the first organic garden on Columbia University’s campus. Skills I had learned during our many trips to the Hawthorne Valley farm, and my month long senior internship working alongside those farmers, provided me with gardening talents that led to kudos from my college classmates and their growing interest in the project.

This allowed a handful of other garden enthusiasts and I to set up a vegetable garden that is still thriving today if you ever visit Columbia’s campus!

After graduating from Barnard in 2009, I counted myself lucky to have landed a paid intern-

SARAH OHANA ship, leading an environmental summer camp at the Columbia Secondary School (CSS), a newly opened public school in Morningside Heights that specializes in Math, Science, and Engineering. Initially, I fell in love with the students, an oddball mix of kids from all kinds of backgrounds and cultures, whose interest and excitement in spending a month doing environmental engineering seemed boundless. I felt drawn to the school’s mission because, as I realize now, so much of it mirrored many of the sensibilities present in my Waldorf education.

The camp consisted of a monthlong project that in some way addressed a problem posed by our desire for a rooftop garden.

For my group of students, this included finding a way to water the plants in an eco-friendly manner: we settled on a solar-generated pickle barrel rainwater catchment system. That summer found me often in the school’s workshop, clamping various tubing, sawing and nailing wooden pieces, and doing other tasks that I had learned and honed in Ms. Poliakine’s wood shop starting in the third grade. During our installation of the solar panels I needed to exercise my memory, recollecting back to Ms. Plotnik’s physics class and how we wired electrical circuits (and wishing I remembered more of it!). And boy was I thankful for Mr. Marsch’s sometimes bizarre-seeming, perspective drawing lessons: I could actually draw an accurate design of the system we wanted to make in perfect perspective and with accurate proportions. During that summer I realized that working with students to foster learning through these sorts of hands-on projects was not only successful at generating learning and en-

gagement in science, but also so much fun! From then on, I knew I wanted to be a teacher and specifically a teacher of science, where my students and I could explore the world together through hands-on trial and error.

can’t take Steiner out of a kid.”

(Where did that originate by the way?) Well, I now know the truthfulness of that saying. In this 11th grade science class, I witnessed students interacting with botany material in a personal and artistic manner, and I was astounded Fast forward a few years and I am with the beauty they were able to sitting in Ms. Margles’ 11th grade accomplish in their main lesson Botany Main Lesson in the spring books. In a survey I conducted for of 2014. A lot had happened in my my thesis, I found that the biggest life before that moment - I worked complaint students had about at CSS for two more years, got the class was that they wanted married and had two beautiful to learn more of the scientific girls; I have written gardening/ material. This is like music to any science curriculums for Organic teacher’s ears – clearly these stuGardening magazine and Annie’s dents were captivated by the conNatural Foods, spent three years tent and wanted to learn more. tutoring a diversity of kids, and I Ms. Margles had succeeded in inam in the final stages of my grad- stilling in the students a curiosity uate school degree in Secondary and desire to learn that is rare to School Biology at City College. So find in today’s world. After visiting why was I sitting in Ms. Margles’ other schools and interviewing main lesson? For my graduate various principals, I realized more school thesis, I was examining acutely how Steiner offered an whether the act of drawing in environment where students are a science classroom could imable to learn purely for the sake prove student engagement with of learning and not because they the material as well as increase need to pass some regent exam meaningful comprehension of the or satisfy a principle’s quota of material. How did I come up with passing students. And that is this thesis question? As I’m sure exactly the kind of place where I is clear to so many of you, my felt my career would flourish and years of drawing at Steiner made help me to discover who I am me acutely aware of the imporas a teacher – an environment tance of providing students with where students and teachers alike a multi-discipline approach to are given the freedom to pursue learning material and I wanted to knowledge and learning in a creshare this insight with my fellow ative, hands-on and meaningful teachers and peers at CUNY using manner. The upcoming years will the more literal realm of data and be full of mistakes, challenges, research. and hopefully triumphs, but I know that I will love every minDuring that botany main lesson, I ute of working together with my was also in the midst of applying students, making discoveries to schools as I was ready to take about the world. And I hope that the next step in my career and I can give my students some of become a full time classroom the invaluable skills and lesson teacher. I’m sure many of you are that I received at Steiner, and that familiar with the saying, “You can have proven instrumental in every take a kid out of Steiner, but you aspect of my career and life.

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OFF THE BEATEN PATH

Views from the farm Two Days of Bucolic Splendor

BY BRIAN KAPLAN DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

Every day at Steiner brings new and unexpected adventures for me—without question, one of the exciting parts of my job. So, when Sam Margles, High School Life Science teacher asked if I would join the 10th grade on their field trip to the Hawthorne Valley Farm this past Spring, there was no way I’d miss the opportunity.

At the time, I didn’t know much about the farm, other than the fact that it was a biodynamic community. I sensed there was a spirituality to its ecological approach of cultivating, understanding and appreciating food, and how farmers create a diversified ecosystem. So when the morning came for me to hop on the bus to Columbia County with the students, I was determined to shed my city mode for the country life.

During the twohour bus ride, I chatted with different students, and was impressed with their knowledge about biodynamic farming and the economics of a unified approach to agriculture. I was also happy to spend time with three amazing teachers: Ms. Margles, Marisha Plotnik (High School Physics) 12

and Alex Spadea (Upper School Eurythmy), all of whom I did not know well.

Our trip was off to a great start.

When we arrived, Nick, a revered employee of The Farm, and one of the leaders of this community, greeted us and told us we would be sleeping in lean-tos, which were a quarter-mile hike to the place we’d be calling home for a few days. Surprisingly, that hike was the first of my many “calming moments,” periods of time where I literally felt my city-life stress

wash away. (Full disclosure: I love nature, hiking, farming and cultivating, so arm-twisting wasn’t necessary).

After we set up our sleeping areas, Nick took us on a property tour

and told the students about their responsibilities and jobs. This was not an average school trip, I soon learned, as Nick described what it would take to clean the barn, ferment manure, plant lettuce crops and much more. The students would work as if this was a full-time job.

I soon found myself taking a moment in nature, snapping photos of rolling hills, picturesque horizons and even the farm’s pigs, chickens and cows. Once again, more calming moments. I had forgotten my worries. Then again, what’s the point of going to a farm if you aren’t going to lose yourself for two days? I quickly became immersed in farm life.

Dinner was another treat.

Served communally, the organic meal (much of it locally sourced) was delicious, the conversation delightful.

Instinctively, several of us began laying out utensils, bussing tables, asking the kitchen chefs what we could do to help. Nick sat with us, quickly getting the students engaged in interesting discussions. After dinner, we helped with the clean

up and asked kitchen crew where to put things.

Next up: A three-mile hike to Ms. Plotnik’s cabin. There, we would meet up with her husband, Mr. Radysh, an alumni and former Facuty member at Steiner. The students were genuinely excited to see Mr. Radysh again and we took a tour of their property and took in a gorgeous sunset from their campsite, which overlooked the Columbia County valley. Mr. Radysh bought the students marshmallows, which were toasted by each student the way they saw fit (some with great patience, others burnt to a crisp).

We hiked back in the dark, telling stories and listening to the students reminisce about previous school trips. These students had just spent a couple of days at the Cropsey Farm (cropseyfarm.org) in New City, New York, another project where Ms. Spadea and her husband participate.

The night ended at 11 PM as we all quickly fell into a restful sleep.

In the morning, I woke early and climbed a hill that took me to a majestic peak overlooking the farm.

I spent 15 minutes in awe of this magnificent sight. After breakfast, the students got their assignments — once again, I was deeply impressed with their work ethic. It was immediately apparent that these students truly appreciated their short mission time at the farm. I thought about our school’s mission, and was pleased to see the focus in the students’ eyes. They laughed and embraced the fact that they

were about to take on five hours of strenuous work, and they all did it with a completely positive attitude.

This is no accident. According to Ms. Plotnik, the students’ sense experience, as well as the values that our school teaches, are exactly why they had such positive attitudes.

They were learning to take responsibility for the world we live in.

“Think about the fact that eight students and two adults planted 3,000 heads of lettuce on a Friday morning,” Ms. Plotnik said. “This movement is everywhere for local food. This whole small scale, hands-on, artisanal, farmto-table philosophy speaks directly to Steiner’s scientific approach.”

That philosophy is rubbing off on Steiner students and alumni, too, Last year, Michael Robinov, ’11, launched a company named Farm to People and immediately began cultivating a relationship with the farm.

The small-batch artisanal producer now carries Hawthorne Valley Farm hot sauce, rye bread and cheese.

Mr. Robinov anticipates expanding this relationship to eventually include meats and other breads sourced from the farm.

For Sasha, one student on the trip, her trips to the grocery store are forever changed.

“I hadn’t really thought about all that goes into a head of lettuce when I go to the supermarket,” she said.

As for me, my first sense experience was tremendously rewarding. I learned about ecological, social and economic sustainability, and I felt even more connected to my environment and the Steiner community. I’m anxious to return to the farm and dig in even deeper!

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SCIENCE SPOTLIGHT

Musings from an

Engineer of the Future Benjamin Trachtenberg ‘12 is an engineering major at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

During his graduation speech, excerpted below, Mr. Trachtenberg refers to himself as a rare breed of Steiner student, who grows up out of our liberal arts education to go on to engineering.

This speech was so inspiring, we decided to print it in this edition of The Spiral. We hope you get as much delight from it as we did!

An engineer is someone who applies science, mathematics and ingenuity to solve problems.

Engineer? Science? Mathematics? Robotics? Computers? From Steiner? Absolutely!

As I look back on my years at Steiner a question keeps coming to mind. How exactly did I become the engineer and person I am today? What was it about my education and within myself that opened engineering up to me?

Only of late have I come to formulate an answer. I realize now it was my teachers, my parents, my friends, and the experiences they shared with me that have shaped who I am.

My teachers each imparted a piece of themselves, which developed my approach to the world. It was how I was taught that fostered such a desire to solve problems, understand why and take inspiration from anything.

what you see, you must be open to imagination and abstraction and paint what you feel.”

My class teacher taught me the basics – from Math and Science to English and History, in such a rich, knowledgeable, interesting and direct way: always taking the time to make sure I understood the subjects and able to apply them. Her resolve to develop my math skills and her vibrant love for engaged science led me to take advanced mathematics courses and sparked my love for chemistry.

I see now how that helped form me, to think beyond the tangible. The admonition was not only directed at my painting, but to the way I thought. She wanted me to open up my mind to more than what was in front of me and bring my imagination to my life, my work and my perceptions.

Now... as a Steiner engineer, I do not consider myself an artist, a poet or a historian, though some say I am. Yet, one of my important learning points came from art.

In my eleventh grade painting class, I was given a piece of advice that stuck with me. My art teacher came up to me and said, “You are too literal, Mr. Trachtenberg. You must not paint only 14

Open to Abstraction?

I have found that the more unlikely the place, the better and more durable the inspiration. It happened to me recently while I was struggling though a main lesson on Goethe’s Faust. Something clicked and an idea came forth that was the most unrelated of ideas for me to have.

The key to Faust was Eurythmy! But it lent itself to Faust. REALLY! I used Eurythmy, which is speech

translated into movement, and choreographed a passage from Faust. I had no idea that Eurythmy – something I had taken for granted and never paid much attention to — would open Faust up to me. Finding inspiration from the most unlikely of places....

On the practical side, have you ever been asked to build a strong and elegant bridge from a pile of balsa wood and white glue? And, to have that bridge support the weight of five fully-grown men (or women)?

Well that’s what my classmate Michael and I did in 10th grade Math class. Simple design, built and put to the test. With only our belief in our abilities, no formal bridge-design skills, and hard work, we accomplished the task in three weeks. The bridge stood the test of the weight of books, massive boxes of clay and even a teacher or two.

SCIENCE SCOOP With more and more Steiner graduates entering the ever-changing fields of science and research, there’s no longer one “pre-med” path, as we learned from a few Steiner grads.

What an intense experience, proving that by applying my ideas, common sense, ingenuity and teamwork, together with a real world experience, I strengthened my love for hands-on engineering, simply nothing a book can teach you. And certainly, a break from the formulas and laws of mathematics.

No surprise, I am sure you can tell by now that my favorite class would be chemistry. I LOVED IT, not only because I was very good at it or that the science aspect itself was so interesting and enjoyable... all true, but by far it was my teacher. He illuminated a point that I believe is not emphasized enough today and that is to simply ask, “why?” He had a phrase that he used: “How could this be?”

Simple enough, but I think applicable to anything. He pointed out that we must not always take what we are taught, told or read at face value, but we must dig deeper and discover for ourselves the reasons behind it.

All of these experiences and many more contributed in making me the person, the artful, hands-on engineer I am today and hope to grow into. They helped me break through the daunting prospect of failure and freely challenge myself to:

• • • •

Enable me to ask the questions Enable me to challenge myself to find the answers Enable me to open my mind’s eye to imagine Enable me to take inspiration from everywhere, all without chance of failure

Don’t be afraid to PAINT the ABSTRACT.

Charlotte McGuckin, Class of 2011, created her own major at Columbia University, graduating in three years.

“I majored in Medical Humanities,” she says.

“It’s like science humanities and it’s entirely because I attended Steiner. My entire focus of going into medicine, and then taking a Humanities approach – and not a biological approach — is totally Steiner.

Sarah Hetherington, Class of 2005, concurred: “Steiner plays to its strengths. So taking the approach of ‘you’re a person who focused on pre-med, and you brought your interest in the Humanities and your belief in how Science should be taught differently to your college education’…that’s a GREAT story about science at Steiner.’”

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SENSE EXPERIENCE

Bridging Ties BUILDING BRIDGES AND TYING TOGETHER CURRICULA Waldorf graduates are steeped in the concept that their personal experience, a sense experience, is a great way to appreciate and tie together education and life experiences. Periodically referred to as a three-dimensional kind of imagination, it’s the experience of recognizing how to learn through observation.

For the last ten years, Steiner students have taken their sense experience to an even higher level via the Bridge Project, a high school staple.

Introduced by Dan Marsch, a high school math teacher, the bridges today are created using trees that Marsch cuts and mills by hand. When the project began, these student-built bridges could only sustain five or six bricks, says Marisha Plotnik, an esteemed Physics teacher with 19 years experience at Rudolf Steiner. Today, the students are building bridges that support weights of over 1,000 pounds.

“What’s really interesting, however, is the building of the bridges,” says Plotnik. “We have now embedded the bridges in an actual geographical reality, based on the design of an existing bridge – that’s the sense experience.”

As is the case with all Waldorf education, instead of just telling students what dimensions their projects are required to meet, Steiner teachers embed the bridge in a story that requires imagination, mechanical and perspective drawing prior to the 16

modeling of the respective bridge. Together, these elements create an overlap with a three-dimensional view of civilization.

“I’ve been told by prospective parents, including a geologist who recently visited Steiner, that the modeling and design approach our students take up in their bridges is on an entirely different level,” says Julia Hays ‘73, Upper School Chair. “The geologist said he would have greatly benefitted from an experience like this when he was in high school.

When I interview prospective students, I let them stand on a bridge. They love it. ” Since the Bridge Project was introduced, the expectations have changed about the amount of weight a bridge can sustain. Plotnik stresses that the weight-bearing component is purely for fun. Records aren’t maintained, and the bridges aren’t tied to a student’s grade – some students, in fact, choose against building their bridge with weight tolerance in mind. They simply want to build a beautiful bridge with individualized expectations and goals.

How the bridges are built Before they even begin sketching out their bridges, Steiner students visit existing bridges. For example, they hiked up the East River with the intent of understanding how New York City bridges are built. Ar-

chitecture teacher Yael Hameiri presented the students with an in-depth series of lectures on both the bridges themselves, and how they were constructed, emphasizing the different aspects of tension and compression.

Recognizing the power of the art structure through observation is the paramount first step of the Bridge Project. The students also sketched stone arches in Central Park, an example of engineer compression.

They analyzed the RFK Bridge (formerly Triborough), a suspension bridge, and the Hellgate Bridge, which is a railway, to add depth to the bridge-building lesson.

Next, Hameiri and Plotnik began delving further into bridges that had certain specific proportions.

“I started looking at topographic maps for bridges that were narrower and taller than bridges that are typically found around New York City,” says Plotnik. “We took a train up the Hudson River with the 10th grade to the Dia Art Foundation in Beacon, New York. There, I found the Popolopen Creek Bridge by New York Route 9W – it’s very high and narrow. Dan and I built a physical representation, a landscape into which the bridge needed to fit.”

The dimensions and the requirements were the same as they were the previous year – a 17-inch clear span that an 11-inch boat could sail under.

In math class, students discussed the bridges, and followed with vector analysis of the forced diagrams. They pondered the answers for structural questions, such as ‘how are those forces resolved?’ Students developed an appreciation for the effort of increasing the angle of suspension, or the results of doubling compression.

“It’s a trigometric relationship, so it’s not linear, it goes by square powers and trig functions,” says Plotnik.

It’s about the weight So how is it possible for architectural models, built with balsa wood and glue, to hold 1,000 pounds? It’s all in the engineering, Plotnik says. Wood doesn’t withstand much tension, and it can be snapped easily. But it does withstand a lot of compression. An incredibly strong person can push the capacity of the wood to withstand the compression, and it would not break. It’s simple engineering that enables specific shapes to be created that allow the design to work with compression forces as opposed to tension forces.

Benjamin Trachtenberg ‘12, now a junior at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), says this high school project put him one step ahead of his classmates.

“I had a class in college called Introduction to Engineering Design,” says Trachtenberg, who is majoring in Mechanical Engineering with the intention of adding Product Design as a double major. “I was at a great advantage because none of my teammates knew how to be creative and think outside of the textbook. I was able to come up with an idea that lead the team into building a great project.”

The Bridge Project develops significant student capacities in a relatively short period of time. This is achieved through the personal experiences of each student. This year, the excitement reached a feverish pitch in the Upper School Assembly Room on June 11 when each bridge was put to the weight test. But more important was the pride and outright respect that was shown to the students who put their hearts and souls into these projects. The Bridge Project will continue evolving in many fascinating ways, but it will always be held with a genuine, heartfelt sense experience that defies the expectations of each student.

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STEINER ON THE FRONTEIR

Journey to the Galactic Classroom THE FINAL FRONTIER BOLDLY TAKES STUDENTS WHERE FEW HAVE GONE Musician Lou Reed anchored his music career on a seven-word phrase from one of his songs, “Take a walk on the wild side.” Perhaps the dozen Steiner students from grades six and seven didn’t anticipate as wild a ride when they visited the Colloquium Room at New York Universities’ Global Center on Friday, May 30, but they were taken on a space journey which will offer memories that last a lifetime.

Three scientists from the International Space Station (ISS) discussed life in outer space.

Sandy Magnus, a former NASA astronaut, and now the executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the world’s largest aerospace professional society, joined Tara Ruttley, a NASA scientist and engineer at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Mark Weislogel, a thermal and fluid dynamics research specialist.

This was all part of the Galactic Classroom, an ongoing opportunity for middle and high school students to discuss the machinations of space with astronauts, engineers and scientists, all of whom have spent time at ISS. The World Science Festival (WSF) sponsored the event. Students from the sixth and seventh grades met several times

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prior to the Galactic Classroom to discuss the curriculum and other science-related information before representing Rudolf Steiner School.

This was the fourth year that Rich Turner, a chemistry, math and earth science teacher in the upper school, was invited to bring students to learn from these aerospace experts. However, this was

the first year that middle school students attended.

“I didn’t realize that we would only be one of three schools in attendance with a handful of students joining through a Google Hangout video feed,” said Turner. “What a magnificent sense experience for these 11- and 12-year old students. This type of experiential learning is critical for our students to apply many facets of science, ranging from chemistry and biology to mechanical engineering and neuroscience.”

The students learned that in space, water becomes a spherical ball, hovering in the air, plants grow

sideways and humans lose muscle mass. Without Earth’s gravity things behave differently. Life and science aboard the International Space Station takes the extremes of microgravity experimentation, ranging from fluid dynamics to vaccines, and research about the origin of life to predicting natural disasters, to an entirely different level.

During the panel, one Steiner student put the astronauts to the test by asking about the most challenging difficulties in space. He was surprised to hear how much muscle mass and bone mass was lost on ISS, which is located 240 miles above earth. The students were astonished to hear that all scientists are required to exercise a minimum of one- to two-hours every day while there.

For these sixth and seventh graders, this walk on the wild side could plant the seeds for future studies in global space issues and challenges.

“I was extremely impressed with how engaged these students were and how well they handled themselves at the Galactic Classroom,” said Turner. “All of them stepped up to the plate when the scientists asked for specific details. Many students did significant research and asked elaborate questions about science and space exploration.”

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Michael D’Aleo on Scientific Intuition THIS IS A REPRINT FROM THE APRIL BULLETIN:

The atom is the smallest unit of matter. Nothing is faster than the speed of light. Absolute zero is as cold as it gets.

False, false and false.

High schoolers are often exposed to faulty preconceptions like those as they build their scientific knowledge, says Michael D’Aleo, a mechanical engineer and Waldorf educator who spoke at the Upper School Assembly Room on May 12. But the key to real discovery, he argues, requires students to draw on perception, intuition and collaboration rather than a mere retelling of facts - and a Waldorf education is at the heart of this shift.

“What happens,” D’Aleo asks, “if you have a whole generation of people who don’t have to undo?”

D’Aleo worked in the electronics industry for seven years and holds 17 lighting-technology patents. He was chief of new product development at Lutron, a maker of lighting controls, before embarking on a teaching career. He is a co-founder of the Saratoga Experiential Natural Science Research Institute in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and has worked extensively with teachers on improving science education.

D’Aleo, who lives in the Adirondacks, and will be collaborating with Steiner’s science faculty next year, credits many of his own technical inspiration to an ability to observe natural processes in the world around him. But too much standard-issue science education 20

is built on rote memorization and the ingestion of ready-made concepts and observations, he says, rather than coming by knowledge more organically.

Artists, he points out, have long had the freedom to draw on experience as they create. Writers and musicians do the same. And so should students in the sciences, he says.

D’Aleo points to Leonardo da Vinci as the ultimate example of a scientist guided by intuition; his innate capacity to weave together disparate threads of science and math led to huge leaps of knowledge.

The Renaissance inventor had “an incredible capacity to observe, to make relationships,” D’Aleo says.

Most of da Vinci’s Codex Leicester, for which Bill Gates paid a record-breaking $30 million in 1994, is simply a series of observations: Why there are fossils on mountains, why the moon doesn’t shine as brightly as the sun, how water moves.

In explaining his own fascination with Da Vinci, Gates previously told business magazine Fast Company, “It’s an inspiration that one person - off on their own, with no feedback, without being told what was right or wrong - that he kept pushing himself. That he found knowledge itself to be the most beautiful thing.”

invented the laptop computer? All these wireless technologies and devices have so many different technologies - where did somebody learn how to do this?”

That work – and D’Aleo’s own research – grew from group efforts that combined individual knowledge to develop new creations.

“This, to me, is the most high form of thinking,” he says. “Because it’s collaborative thinking. It’s no longer ‘Am I right and are you wrong?’. It’s ‘Am I right and are you also right?’”

Collaboration is in short supply, he notes. Congress is at a standstill.

Nations can’t find peace. “This way of thinking is what everybody’s longing for,” D’Aleo says. It’s also what a Waldorf education delivers.

That quest has inspired D’Aleo’s career, too.

“This is the most important quality that we can give anybody as they leave high school – regardless of what they do, whether it is college, working world or social relationships and developing friends and family,” he says. “That capacity to understand the other, find the truth or lack of it, and then be able to point exactly at aspects or consistency or inconsistency.”

“What interested me the most about engineering was this whole idea, this whole question, how do you develop a product that doesn’t exist?” he says. “Who invented the cell phone? Who

The elements of a Waldorf science education lead to the point where students can make these connections on their own. In high school, D’Aleo says, students first learn to “come back to their senses” and

trust their own perceptions; they ultimately progress to a point where they gain the skills in logic and pattern recognition that they can build their own interpretation of the world around them.

“I urge students to think out of their own experiences in order to begin seeing through these things,” D’Aleo says with a glimmer.

“The wrong approach is ‘they’ve given me the observations and the concept, so I believe it and let’s move on.’ It’s predicated on trust.”

It’s why science lessons show the experiment not at the beginning, but the end: Students are first given a chance to work through the problem, and then see the demonstration that proves or disproves it. Seeing the results first absolves them of the need to draw the conclusions on their own.

“Slowly the system becomes more rich,” D’Aleo says. “It becomes less of a system and more of a cultivation of quality and originality.”

D’Aleo emphasizes in his mind the paramount distinctions for growing a 21st Century program. Integrating cutting edge materials, while remaining true to Waldorf pedagogy, is key to education. However, collaboration is fundamental.

“Just because two thoughts don’t point at the same goal does not mean that one is wrong and one is right,” he says. “It may mean that they are pointing at different aspects. Letting go of your ideas and embracing

other people’s ideas…that’s where we find the relevance to teaching.”

How students are educated is shifting today. “Teaching human beings with their own thoughts, through their own experiences, through their own senses of perception, through their own connections in order to make various conceptual relationships while at the same time dissolving that thinking in an instant, and taking up the thought of somebody else that is completely different, is where thinking gets really interesting.”

D’Aleo sets up even the youngest students to think along these lines, asking himself three questions before the beginning of every class: Where have they seen these phenomena before? Where might this knowledge be used? And why should they care?

The goal is to build a personal connection to the world – to craft a story that personalizes the learning for the student. Eventually, they come to build the connections and relationships on their own. The thinking he’s hoping to inspire doesn’t come overnight.

“This is not an easy way of thinking. This is not something that’s going to be particularly comfortable,” he says.

Breaking barriers, though, never is.

“The greatest obstacle to intuition,” D’Aleo says, “is what you already know.”

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SENIOR CLASS 2014

CLASS OF 2014 ELISHA ANDRADE LEAH CHIN MARCUS COLLINS IBRAHIMA DIANE LUCA EISEN JOHN GRAZIANO LILLIAN GEIGER ROMAN HALPERN SERENA INGRAM ISABELLA KEFGEN FILIP KORITYSSKIY 22

ELEANOR MCGRATH LIANA NGAI EMILY RENTROP VICTORIA SANDLER DANIELLE SANG MEG SCHAEFFER ANNA SWEENY VITA JOSEPH RUSSELL WILLIAMS AUSTIN ZOLA

CLASS OF 2014 COLLEGE MATRICULATION GOUCHER COLLEGE SUNY COLLEGE AT GENESEO MANHATTAN COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO TUFTS UNIVERSITY WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI FORDHAM UNIVERSITY — ALVIN AILEY DANCE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES

HUNTER COLLEGE OF THE CUNY LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY SUNY COLLEGE AT POTSDAM DEPAUL UNIVERSITY FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE GOUCHER COLLEGE MCDANIEL COLLEGE BARD COLLEGE DICKINSON COLLEGE ELON UNIVERSITY

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SENIOR CLASS 2014

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SENIOR CLASS 2014

Sarah Hetherington When I decided to transition from academia to business a few years ago, almost every interviewer asked a version of the following question: “Art history?

Why did you study that? Not really transferable, is it?”

Sometimes they asked the question kindly, and at other times they asked the question with a bit of a grimace, as if to say, “[wince] bad life decision!”

Though I found these questions disappointing, I had anticipated them and prepared for them. I was in an art history PhD program, where I had come to understand that many of the activities I liked best and skills I performed most naturally, were mismatched with what that career path was meant to reward. I had always had an interest in business, particularly the idea of working with clients, and I thought consulting would give me a sense of different industries and functions I might enter.

Eventually, I was hired by an innovation consulting company whose response to learning that I was trained as an art historian was “Wow—that’s fascinating, tell us about that. That will be so useful here.”

I tell this story for a few reasons. One is that the line of questioning I faced in many of my interviews is probably one with which many of you are familiar.

A lot of the pressure that Waldorf education faces, and that you seniors specifically probably faced as you prepared for college admissions, is pressure to meet the demands of the so-called “real world.” What exactly is the “real world”?

I think there are two of them. First, there’s the one for which adults and employers—real or imagined—tell you to prepare. This is the one over which they, or maybe even you, may have already wrung your hands: did I learn the right things to let me succeed? Am I going to be able to meet the demands of my classes, of being off on my own, and of being in the professional world?

Will I cut it? Put simply, this “real world” is defined by anticipatory anxiety.

The other real world is the one in which you will actually live. Quite simply, it won’t be what you anticipate: it will be what you experience, first in college, and then in the working world. Which brings me to the second topic I want to speak about. What I want to speak about today is how your Waldorf education has prepared you for your future present, rather than the perpetually

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belated future you may have been told to fear.

You could say I got lucky when I found my current position. You could say I found the unusual organization that possessed a broader understanding of relevance than the typical management consultancy. But my takeaway from the experience was actually that I had landed on my feet because I had learned how to look for a job. Because I understood that my cultural literacy was valuable even if others were skeptical.

Because I wasn’t governed by fear, going through the process. I attribute these measures of life-readyness in no small part to the education I received in the two Waldorf schools I attended.

I’m going to speak about three specific kinds of readiness with which you have been equipped and that may not come to mind when you think of what you’ll need to face “the real world”: First, I want to speak about creativity and about what kind of relevancy it offers you.

Second, I want to talk about comfort with public speaking and self-possession.

And finally, I want to speak about having a sense of wonder and its counterintuitive practicality.

Let’s take the first: creativity and how the two together serve as valuable forms of life-readiness. In fact, what I believe Waldorf education argues, if you can say that a system “argues” anything, is that creativity is merely another form of literacy. The same way that we correctly demand that every child read, write, and do math, so also should we be demanding creative literacy. With the word “demand,” I want to suggest that the standard to which Waldorf education holds students is incredibly high. If you look at main lesson books, at our class plays, at the socks we knit—we create objects of incredibly high quality.

Creating objects of high quality is communicated as a vital activity at Waldorf schools. But Waldorf education doesn’t simply “demand” creative literacy. It also makes a bold assumption that it regularly proves to be correct, namely, that just as we all can be expected to learn to read and to reach a certain level of ability in math, so also can we all reach a certain level of creative competence.

We wouldn’t accept the idea that some people simply aren’t meant to learn to

read, and in Waldorf schools, we don’t accept that some children simply can’t learn to create beautiful work.

Now, why is fostering a high degree of creative literacy so important for life-readyness? What I have experienced thus far in both academia and business is that despite what you may have been lead to believe about how important it is to give right answers on the SATs, the value of giving “correct answers” plummets the day you set foot on a college campus. My professors in college rarely asked me to give them the right answer to a question. They asked me to construct ARGUMENTS and INTERPRETATIONS. This was true even in math class! What is a mathematical proof but an argument, the strength of which determines a good one or a bad one? Beyond college, in my work, I am almost never asked a question to which the questioner already knows the answer. They are asking for my take on a situation or a problem. They are asking for my opinion on the quality of an idea.

Or, they are asking for high-quality ideas from me. I’m not arguing against the value of correctness here, so much as suggesting that what you will be called upon to use in higher education and in your work lives will be your ability to think and act creatively, rather than to fill in the correct bubbles on the answer sheet. To give not just the right answer, but a persuasive answer. And I think the form that creative work takes in Waldorf schools, in which it is made inextricable from all the other kinds of academic work we do, educates us in the many tools for communication we have at our disposal, and how we can use them all.

Creative literacy means understanding the difference between the content that you’re communicating and the

WAY you communicate that content. Because we don’t simply write essays, and because we have to also place them on a page, write them in cursive in fountain pen, think about them in sequence with other essays in the same main lesson book, and then illustrate them not just adequately but excellently, we as Waldorf students have been asked to develop a sensitivity to aesthetics, but also more than aesthetics. We have been asked to make judgments about quality, to become discerning and critical. We have been asked to interpret single ideas in multiple media, and sometimes even in multiple styles. Being able to cleave medium from message is a hugely important intellectual step, and one that I call on all the time when I’m trying to explain my thinking to a colleague or to a client.

Which brings me to the next topic I want to talk about, which is speaking in public and being a self-possessed person. I’ll talk about public speaking first and self-possession second. In main lessons, each day, starting at a very young age you are asked to recount what your teacher said to you the previous day. A dedicated part of the lesson is you owning the information taught to you the previous day and effectively teaching it back to the teacher and to your classmates the next. Each of you has also been in plays, and if you were here for more than a year or two, you’ve been in many plays. You also were asked to memorize and recite poems in front of your class, and sometimes in front of the whole school. Taken together, you were put on the spot on a daily basis to speak publically in front of others, extemporaneously and with a script.

I can’t tell you how useful your experience with speaking publically will be. First of all, college seiminars will entail speaking in front of the whole class and the professor, sharing your opinions, disagreeing with others, jumping in when there doesn’t seem to be an opening. Second of all, in your professional lives, you will have to speak aloud your ideas to your colleagues, maybe to customers, and even to the broader public. If you had skated through your elementary and high school education solely writing, handing in worksheets and problem sets, and basically flying under the radar, public speech would be this new catastrophe you’d have to face right now. However, you’ve already had tons of experience with it. Even if you’re shy, even if you naturally fear public speaking, I guarantee you were forced to do it. Right?

Though I’ve emphasized public speaking, simply being a public person is a fact about adulthood.

Here, I want to talk about my classroom teacher, David Blair, whom some of you might know, and who passed away last year. Mr. Blair was special to me for so

many reasons, not least of which was because he modeled how to be a public person. There is a Waldorf tradition of beginning each day with the classroom teacher shaking every student’s hand and wishing them a good morning, and ending each day in the same way. Mr. Blair demanded that we look into his eyes, say “good morning, Mr. Blair” clearly, and he would smile sincerely at each of us as he greeted us by our names as well, and shook our hands firmly. He would stand in front of our class each day and with enormous charisma and great attention to his delivery, would convey our lesson. When he wrote and directed our plays, he worked with us tirelessly not just on memorizing our lines, but on how we DELIVERED our lines.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, through his loving presence, he helped each of us learn to take as a given that when we spoke, he would be listening.

And in this way, actually, Mr. Blair wasn’t unique as a Waldorf teacher. My consistent experience with Waldorf teachers is perhaps best epitomized by how they would stoop down to speak to me when I was much shorter than they were.

They wielded a non-adversarial brand of authority, and eschewed short-term disciplinary tactics like yelling or condescension. What affect do teachers like Mr. Blair have on us? In modeling self-possession, and in equipping us with the assumption that when we speak, we would be worth hearing, they help us go out into the world and be public people with confidence.

That they gave us the enormous gift of wasting minimal time on wondering whether our opinions are worth sharing, and on whether we sound stupid. They make us feel that we merit sitting at he table. I tell you, even when I assume incorrectly that people want to hear what I have to say, it is infinitely more pleasant to walk around with the assumption of being worthy of being heard, than the other way around. In the time I’ve spent with other Waldorf students, I know that this self-possession is absolutely commonplace among them. I know that you were given this gift as well.

I’ll end this speech by talking about the last form of readiness I believe you possess as a Waldorf student: that of the capacity to wonder. What do I even mean when I say wonder? I mean having reverence and admiration for the world around you. I mean retaining the capacity to be surprised, curious and interested in the world. I mean a persistent feeling of not fully knowing the world, and that there is more to understand about it. Wonder might seem counter-intuitive as a form of hardcore life-preparedness. Learn economics, learn coding, learn how to wonder….which one of these doesn’t belong? I believe not only that wonder should belong in this list, but that our education allowed us to possess it.

Your journey as a first grader begins with receiving a rose, and your journey as a senior ends with that first grader giving you one. You light a candle at the start of each main lesson, and speak a verse. You play for hours outside when you’re very young, and you learn stories like those of the ancient Norse, Greeks, and Romans as you get older. You read Parzifal and the Odyssey for the way they metaphorize your journey into adulthood. You work on a farm or at Camp Hill. You are disciplined when you aren’t kind to one another and not just for forgetting your homework.

All of these experiences are examples of how our education prioritized leaving intact our sense of wonder. I say “leave intact our sense of wonder” because our Waldorf educations didn’t so much instill a sense of wonder so much as shepherd us through the hyper-vigilant landscape of contemporary parenting and education.

Our Waldorf education wasn’t spent on avoiding admittedly tough questions like “why did you study that.” And because our educations weren’t spent worrying about whether the apparent topical quality of a piece of subject matter made it worthy of study, we all had the time and space to continue to cultivate our inborn sense of wonder—not to mention, enjoy ourselves on a regular basis!

Why is wonder relevant for readiness for the “real world” as you will live it? It’s relevant because it is arguably a definition of wonder to be able to see the familiar and treat it as unfamiliar. This ability to defamiliarize is hugely important: the best way to learn about a market, a culture, or simply another person is to push past what feels familiar or known about it in order to observe it with curiosity, care and attention. Moreover, I think it’s important to note that despite being told up until this point that the real world is full of land mines you can accidentally step on if you’re not ready for them, it can actually end up feeling monotonous and full of drudgery if you let it. If you don’t have the capacity to feel reverence for life’s small graces, for what makes the experience of big institutions like work, marriage, and education fresh and different on a daily basis, you’re going to have a terrible time.

Fortunately, I know you each have this capacity. It’s amazing to me that even as I tell you how lucky you are to have the ability to wonder, I know you fellow students know what I mean, in that special shared language we have as Waldorf children.

In conclusion, I hope you start to see, as soon as possible, that there is a cleavage between what you have been told to get ready for, and what you will actually need on your journey. I hope you know you have you what you need.

Congratulations, class of 2014!

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PARENT COUNCIL

Dear RSS Parents, The school year is off to another fast start. The excitement at the beginning of the year is always so invigorating, and the members of Parent Council are delighted to bring our Steiner community many programs throughout the year.

We amended the role and structure of Parent Council by changing the electoral process for 2014-15. This decision has been successful because there is now a Parent Council representative for each grade. We believe this structure provides greater efficiency of communication and more opportunity for involvement and discussion across the parent community. Most importantly, it allows Parent Council to be an active and substantial presence for every class.

Parent Council supports several vital school events and parent initiatives during the year, including the Fall Fair, the Spring Gala, the Pumpkin Sale and the Book Fair. We will once again handle the sponsorship and organization of the welcome baskets for new Early Childhood families.

Additionally, we will continue overseeing a weekly gathering of parents who have been knitting play strings to be included in the baskets.

We began the year by hosting four “Coffee on the Terrace” mornings in September. We re-connected with old friends and welcomed several new friends into our community. This is one of our major themes for the year – please help us by speaking with your friends about being involved. There are many ways.

Our fall Apple Picking Trip was a great success, as always – all of the bus seats were taken. Once again, we partnered with City Harvest by donating several crates of apples to people in need of food.

Last year’s Winter Coat Drive was a tremendous success, and we will be partnering with New York Cares again this December so we can exceed the number of donated coats this year.

Another raucous good time is our annual Square Dance at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in February. Parents from every grade socialize, dance and enjoy delectable BBQ. It is a wonderful chance for parents and faculty from all parts of the school to come together.

The High School Wine Tasting is an ideal way to bring together parents from grades 9-12, as well as welcome parents, who currently have children in grades 6-8, with members of the administration, Board and faculty.

In the spring, we will once again celebrate the season with our traditional dancing around the May Pole in Central Park (we are assured to have improved weather this year).

I would like to thank all of the people who have served on the Parent Council from last year. It is through their enthusiasm, commitment, lively debate, discussion and volunteering that all of the above events and initiatives happen each year. I would especially like to cite those who stepped down at the end of last year – Chandra Graves, Michele Melland, Gloria Mills and Shoshannah Sutherland.

There has been a great sense of collaboration and teamwork this year, and the level of commitment that Parent Council members have displayed only goes to show the extent to which we all value the warm and lively community that is the Rudolf Steiner School.

Warmly, Sam Sutton, P ’26, ’28 Parent Council President 28

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SPRING GALA 2014

Spring Gala On May 16, event co-chairs Laura Bonarrigo and Jeannie O’Conor guided parents, alumni, teachers, and administrators through one of our finest Spring Gala fundraisers to date. We returned to one of our favorite event spaces, Guastavino’s, because they know the kind of soiree we like. Attendees bid on student-created work, as well as trips, dinners, events and much more. The proceeds went to the school we love dearly.

We enjoyed the antics of roving mimes and illusionists during the cocktail hour while a jazz quartet played. Then, we adjourned to the upstairs dining room for a magnificent performance by Steiner parent Art Garfunkel, followed by the live auction and lively dancing.

So what can be expected from this year’s Gala? We can tell you the when and the where, but parents, friends, alumni and Steiner employees will just have to attend to truly understand the what.

Trust us, you won’t regret it!

SPRING GALA 2014 VOLUNTEERS Co-Chair Co-Chair Silent Auction Silent Auction Live Auction Décor Décor

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LAURA BONARRIGO JEANNINE O'CONOR FELICIA PANEPINTO GLORIA MILLS JOY PHELAN-PINTO AMY SCHIMEL DIANA MAHIQUES

31

FALL FAIR 2014

Fall Fair On Saturday, November 22, as the last of autumn’s fiery brilliance clings to the branches, and the bright colors dazzle in the chilly sun, the Rudolf Steiner Lower School will be transformed into A Walk in the Woods. At 10:00 a.m. on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, our beautiful 79th Street landmark building will morph into a fall wonderland.

Step into the Candle Dipping Room where cauldrons bubble with melted beeswax; then visit the Crystal Cave and see the glistening crystals sparkle. Lovely music wafts through the bustling hallways, as the Pocket Fairy glides from place to place, encouraging children to claim a special prize. Ah, the look of excitement on the children’s faces as they enter The Autumn Experience on the terrace.

The Fall Fair is truly one of the most special places to regroup with old friends, and meet others in the community, while everybody – young and old – relishes in the transformation and art installation that becomes A Walk in the Woods.

Join us! Take a journey to the Fall Fair and reminisce with past friends at Alumni Weekend 2014.

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Guests young and old will have fun feeding the cute and cuddly lambs, goats, and ducks!

IN ADDITION TO THE NAMES LISTED BELOW, WE SEND A HEARTFELT THANKS TO ALL OF THE DEDICATED VOLUNTEERS WHO MADE THE 2013 FALL FAIR POSSIBLE.

Cakewalk

Chair

JAMIE CARTER / 4TH GRADE LIAISION FELICIA PANEPINTO / 4TH GR LIAISION

CARLA LUNDER Logistics

Candle Sales

LAURA BONARRIGO

TAMAR QUILLEN / 5TH GRADE LIAISON

Activities, Area Heads and Participating Grades

Crystal Room

DAWN RHODES

OLGA BERG / 6TH GRADE LIAISON KRISTY GLASS / 6TH GRADE LIAISON

SARAH GUNDERSON

KARLA OTIS / 7TH GRADE LIAISON

DEIGHN ELIASON

DENNIS PINTO / 8TH GRADE LIAISON JOY PHELAN-PINTO / 8TH GRADE LIAISON

Volunteer Coordinator

Brown Bag Rafle

Trip Raffle

Game Room

Décor

Under the Sea

LAURA MONTANO SONO KUWAYAMA Knitting FELICIA VAN VGUT JENNIFER STRENT Needle Felting

REBECCA DAHALE Millet Babies

CLARISSE APPLEMAN Woodworking

RENATE POLIAKINE GABBY ORTIZ Silent Auction

DIANA MAHIQUES GLORIA MILLS Food Service

ABBEY WARSH CHEF LI US Liaision

MARISHA PLOTNICK LS Liaision

MARYLYNN LORINZ Pocket Fairy DAN GOLDSTEIN / 1ST GRADE LIAISON RANI VAZ / 1ST GRADE LIAISON EAMON O’KELLY / 1ST GRADE LIAISON Candle Dipping

ELLEN JACOBSEN / 2ND GRADE LIAISON Book Room

KATI GINGOLD / 3RD GRADE LIAISON

33 31

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT

Dear Alumni Community, When I heard that this issue of the Spiral would focus on the sciences, I was immediately transported back to junior and senior year biology main lessons. My seat was in the back of the classroom, but I remember leaning forward enough to be at the front of the class.

Our Biology and Chemistry teacher was Nanette Grimm. Mrs. Grimm engendered both fear and admiration in equal proportion. In a toss up, fear would likely have won out. She was someone I did not want to disappoint.

In class, we examined the inner workings of cell structure, division, physiology, the nervous system, plant biology and more subjects. Many of the details escape me now, but I carry with me the excitement and engagement of those classes and the deep connection I felt to the subjects. I found the material fascinating and alive, most certainly a credit to Mrs. Grimm’s teaching. She brought biology to us in ways that inspired curiosity and a sense of wonder, creating the desire to learn what beautiful complexity might be hidden beneath the surface.

When I went on to study biology in college, the subject lost its luster for me. Perhaps it had to do with way the material was presented in lecture/textbook form.

For whatever reason, it felt dry and detached to me, so I moved on.

To this day, I am grateful to Mrs. Grimm for being one of the teachers who instilled in me lessons about learning, and the importance of meticulous work that is much more important to me today than it was years ago.

Perhaps you have stories about a teacher at Steiner, who inspired you and taught you to examine life with new perspective. If so, we would love to hear from you.

Post one to the Alumni Facebook page.

I wish you all a wonderful fall. Please be in touch with Eileen Diskin, the school’s Director of Alumni Programs. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Fall Fair or at the All-Alumni Reunion.

Warmly, Rani Vaz, P ’25 Alumni Association Chair

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Alumni Soccer Match On a cold and windy May afternoon, alumni representing various class years hit the soccer field on Randall’s Island for the third annual Alumni Soccer Game. The two-hour scrimmage, which included current students from the Varsity Soccer Team, was an energetic match, played with the utmost camaraderie and friendship.

Prior to the game, there were questions of the weather holding up, but this was a gathering that was meant to

happen. In between swigs of water and bites of orange slices, Steiner alumni discussed plans to get together socially, as well as ideas for next year’s game.

Thanks to everyone who came out to play, including our two energetic coaches, Christian Perry and Luis Llosa. It was a spirited and lively time, and a good experience for our current students. We look forward to seeing even more alumni on the field this year.

JUSTIN AARONSON ’02 WILLIAM BALL ’12 EMILIANO BOMBIERI ’11 TEVYA BOMBIERI ’09 MO BONE ’13 CALEN COLE ’08 NICOLA D’ANCONA ’10 LUNA GARZON-MONTANO ’10 GABRIEL GARZON-MONTANO ’07 JASPER HARTNETT ’13 IAN HOFFMANN ’03 JAKE MELROSE ’05 MICHAEL POLISANO ’12 KI SMITH ’09 SEI SMITH ’08 GARTH SUTHERLAND ’06 BENJAMIN TRACHTENBERG ’12

ALL ALUMNI REUNION Friday, November 21 AND Saturday, November 22 Alumni come together every year in November to enjoy the Fall Fair and to reconnect with classmates and former teachers at the All Alumni Reunion. This year, for the first time ever, reunion events will extend for two days.

On the morning of Friday, November 21, alumni are invited to observe main lessons in grades 9-12.

After reliving your days as a Steiner School student, spend some time with members of the administration, including Administrative Director, Bill Macatee, at the Alumni Association meeting.

The day will conclude with a light luncheon in the

Upper School.

On Saturday, November 22, the main events begin with Fall Fair. Invite your friends and family to this beloved tradition. But don’t expend all of your energy! That evening, the All Alumni Reunion will move south to a small art gallery in Chelsea, and will feature artwork and photography from members of our own alumni community. Alumna and artist Jessica Winer ’80 will co-manage the event with Eileen Diskin, Director of Alumni Relations.

RSVP is required for participation in main lesson, and to attend the gallery showing. Check the Alumni page at steiner.edu for details and to RSVP.

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CLASS NOTES

1950’s SEAN STULL ’59 I am happy, living in the mountains, and deeply inspired by painting. My early days at Steiner were part of the creative education of my life. With the rich and endless creative exposure that Steiner gave me, I consider myself extremely lucky to have attended high school there. Among some of my richest memories are participating in Shakespeare plays every year.

Connecticut Network, the states version of C-SPAN, she was named the co-chair of the town’s Tourism Committee, and the Board Secretary for Simsbury Community Television, the local public access station where she hosts three monthly interview shows. She also writes a bi-monthly town newscast and produces an-other show about the town. Her proudest achievement remains having founded Simsbury’s Old Drake Hill Bridge of Flowers.

ROS WELCHMAN ’61 Greetings to long lost friends! I live in a tiny hamlet in Delaware Country, about 3 hours drive north from New York City. I am retired from a career as a mathematics and education professor at Brooklyn College, and for many years lived in Park Slope. Now I do pottery, am involved in local arts groups near home, and still visit Brooklyn frequently to sing in a chorus in Brooklyn which I started over 25 years ago. I have two children, living in Oakland, CA and Glenwood Springs, CO, and two grand children in Colorado. I am working hard on learning to speak Chinese, partly because I have a Chinese daughter-in-law and as a result, extended family in China. I would love to make contact with people I knew at Rudolf Steiner so long ago. I can be reached at roswelchman@gmail.com.

Artwork by Sean Stull ‘59.

1960’s BOB LILIENTHAL ’61 After driving around the country for 4 years, and having the times of our lives (along with our 13 critters), Roe and I decided to settle down a bit in Arizona. Coming out of retirement presents its own challenges, and locating a job quite another. For the past 3 years I have been working as a Special Education Coordinator/ Community Relations Specialist for a small charter school in Apache Junction, Arizona. As many of us have found out, what’s old is new, and what’s new is old, so I started a vocational program, much like the one I initiated in Connecticut in the 70’s (and Florida in the 80’s), and have had similar success as in the past. Maybe in a couple more years we’ll “retire” again, but, for now, we are feeling involved in several good causes (animal and human), and look forward to each new challenge.

DOMINIQUE LUNAU AVERY ‘61 Was recently honored by the town of Simsbury, CT as a Hometown Hero for her volunteer work. Since her retirement from her job as Program Director for 36

Jennifer Berne’s ‘62 Einstein biography for children.

JENNIFER BERNE ’62 Some good news to share. In 2014 I had two new children’s books published. First, On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein, which happily received six starred reviews, breaking a record for my publisher, Chronicle Books. In August Calvin, Look Out! was published, which is a sequel to my first Calvin the Bookworm Birdie book.

I’d love to hear from my fellow alums. You can email me at jberne@fairpoint.net or through my website www.jenniferberne.com.

CORRINE SPINGARN ’64 My husband Steve Bicknese and I took a month long trip to Croatia and Italy. Part of that trip were the dragon boating events in Venice, Italy. For the past year and a half, I have been working on organizing members of my team, the Alameda Dragon Flyers and members from another Bay Area team, Portland, Oregon, Nanaimo, Canada and Queensland, Australia to all meet in Venice. We paddled in the Dragon Boat Parade down the Grand Canal and competed in the Sprint Races on Lido island. We were awarded bronze medals for our efforts! A couple of days later, we participated in the Vogalonga, a 17 mile paddling route for non-motorized boats around the islands near Venice. It was grueling, but we did it!

Corrine Spingarn ‘64 (front row, kneeling) and the Almeda Dragon Flyers in Venice.

COLONY ELLIOTT SANTANGELO ’65 It’s been a good and busy year. I have a full-fledged Etsy shop which showcases my hand-painted children’s furniture, wall art, and other accessories, and I’ve added custom-painted pet portraits as well. The model for my first portrait is my cat Finn. The inspiration for much of my artistic energy comes from my granddaughters Grace (almost 9) and Callan (almost 7), who, although born into the digital age, are not beyond appreciating Nana’s artwork. They help me program my iPhone, and then we paint murals together! Please visit me at www.etsy.com/shop/storiesandtapestries, or www. storiesandtapestriesinwood.com

JANET CAPRON ’65 I am currently publishing my mother ‘s last novel, Best Time for Love, about 2 people in their 70s who fall in love. It ‘s a wild ride, funny and a page turner, especially for seniors. So much fun publishing it on all the platforms, especially as a gorgeous trade paperback.

KATHY WANGH ’65 I have been living outside Boston for about 35 years with my husband, Larry. We have both been working at Brandeis University, he as Professor of Biology and I as a social worker at the Psychological Counseling Center. Our two daughters, Rebecca and Marina are pursuing careers in writing and social work and are both married. We are delighted to have a lovely granddaughter, Neva, who will be three years old this summer! I look forward to connecting with classmates at our 50th reunion!

JANET ASTEN ’67 With four grown children out of the house with children of their own, my husband Peter and I live in Rancho Mirage (in the Palm Springs area), with our 27-year-old youngest son Patrick who has Down Syndrome. He’s a remarkable person and we feel blessed to accompany him through the years. In a gift of fate, the director of Camphill Special Schools in Pennsylvania spoke at an assembly at the RS High School about the special needs children there. This was in 1967, the year I graduated, and I arranged to volunteer at that school before starting college. It was life-changing. I fell in love with these children, and even wrote in my diary that I wanted one. Well, twenty years later, I got one! Because of all I learned at Camphill, I knew more than I would have about how to care for this special child. I’m presently on the Board of Directors of the Palm Springs Writers Guild, which is an enriching experience. I recently won first place in our annual grammar contest!

1970’s PETER BING ’72 Flew out to Portland, OR, at the end of May to help celebrate my dear friend and classmate (Steiner ‘72) Eric Foxman’s 60th birthday. It was a wonderful occasion. But if he already had his 60th, can mine be far behind? Yikes!

AMY KOHN ’73 Jeanne and I celebrated our 28th anniversary. We continue to live in Croton-on-Hudson, but are daydreaming about a place in NYC. Jian, our daughter, is heading to George Washington University in the fall.

Sydney, our very large dog turned 11 years old and I 37

CLASS NOTES

remain the Chief Executive Officer of The Mental Health Association of Westchester. I continue my lifelong BFF relationship with Madeleine Rudin Johnson, whose son just graduated from Swarthmore!

ALLISON STONE STABILE ’74 Five years after Vin’s untimely death, I am dating a lovely man. We met locally and are both involved in our community. What did Dorothy say, sometimes you needn’t look further than your own backyard? My older son, Chris, is doing a reverse commute and living in the city now. He is still in the solar energy field. My younger son, Josh, is still battling PTLD and will start new treatments this summer. He has transferred from UDel to Pace University to finish his education degree closer to home.

named Angel, and I still cherish my old friends and look for everyone on Facebook.

DAVID BAGLEY ’78 I just recently moved back to NYC. I am still with Nestle, not doing commodity trading anymore, but rather procurement operations for the Nestle Nutrition business (Gerber, Infant Formula, Powerbar etc). Been separate /divorced now for 4.5 years. Andrew my son is starting his junior year at Sonoma State (Geography and Spanish). He spent a year in Mexico working in the coffee business and learning to speak Spanish and getting to know another culture. My daughter Bianca just graduated from HS and will be a freshman at San Jose State (general ed. for now). Things are really hectic these days as I settle in, commute and manage a long distance relationship. No complaints though.

DANIEL HAYS ’78 I moved to Maine near Lorenzo. I’ve been writing a blog: singledad.wordpress.com

Members of the class of ’73 and ’74 gathered for a reunion in December 2013. Pictured: Elena Schaaf-Brandes, Jon Hess, Ethan Dufault, Andrew Block, Susanne Grégoire, Julia Hays, Allison Stone.

SUSAN FRANKS ’75 For those who know, I am building my business as a Membership Advisor at Equinox. If anyone knows anyone who may be interested in trying and possibly joining Equinox, email me the name and email address of your friend(s) and I will invite them as my guest to the club of your choice. susan.franks@equinox.com ANA VARGAS ’75 She took her first vacation since 2005 this winter when she spent a week in Florida visiting family. A woman of many talents who keeps reinventing herself, she is now research aide at NYU Langone Medical Center. At 86 her mom still clings to her, and with her filial piety on her sleeve Ana continues to care for her. These are the days, Ana, and we have every faith in you.

CARMEN LAUBE ’75 I am in a whirlwind of crafts projects. Thanks to those of you who donated materials for my shelter pets crate comforters project; I stitch with love. And I’m knitting hats to sell this winter. Peter’s still making cheesecakes, and the dogs and I still eat them. I still ride a horse 38

CHARLIE LYONS ’78 I am completing my job at the UN, where I have been producing 3 films. Recently I was Creative Director for Beijing + 20 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, for UN Women. As a post-Stanford/Yale dramaturg and screenwriter and freelance video producer, my creative talents continue to provide compelling takes on current events.

ANDREW MOOS ’78 He is happy in Florida, living near mom Jamie who enjoys time cruising and lunching with him. His work with the JC’s shifted to Lions Club, where he has risen through the ranks to regional coordination. He and Suzie have been building their life together the past 3 years.

HALLIE ROBBINS ’78 I always said I’m in Utah for the foreseeable future, now on an extended run as mother to Celia, a nearly-eighth grade girl who’s exploring both genetics and acting-singing-piano talents. I’m in SLC more than anyplace else, practicing integrative rehab/physical/ wellness/hands-on health medicine while preparing manuscript/media for publication and speaking engagements. I was in Chicago this summer repeating my stint as lead Utah delegate for the American Osteopathic Assn. Based on my work and observations, plus needing a better electronic health record to take care of patients instead of paper/e-work, I developed some IP software concepts towards various applications and am seeing where this leads. In the past year, I became a member of a Cooperative Capitalism organization called CEO Space Intl, which has opened several doors as a medical advisor to a few companies with local to

global health interests. Fortunately, I derived some insight from ordeals including divorce, accidents, illness, regaining health, and determining to be happy! During many of my occasional NY journeys to visit my dad -who at 88 just climbed to Lady Liberty’s crown for the first time in 84 years! -- and Russ and family, I enjoy a neighborhood coffee or juice with Deb and Jess Winer.

Thanks to many of you for staying life-long friends.

BARON ROBERTS ’78 After a number of years doing startups, I am doing the big company thing as a Staff Software Engineer at LinkedIn. Great company, people, technology, and food! My son, Michael, just graduated from University of the Pacific with a Master’s in Electrical Engineering, and my daughter, Olivia, is going into her Junior year at UC Santa Cruz (go Banana Slugs!). They are pretty great additions to the planet! My wife, Sue, is truly enjoying this phase of being a parent and is rediscovering her artistic talents. Best to all and you all have a standing invitation to Casa Roberts if you are ever in the Bay Area.

MARK SONNINO ’78 Regarding me and my kids, I’m splitting my time between New York and Santa Barbara, CA. While I still consider NY my home, my older son is attending University of California Santa Barbara and my daughter attending high school in the Santa Barbara area; I have good reason to come out to sunny Southern California as much as I can! My middle child (my younger son) just graduated high school and will be attending Swarthmore next year. He was recruited by the soccer coach, so hopefully he’ll make the team and I’ll get to drive down and watch his games.

AMY STEWART GOLDBERG ’78 After being a public school elementary teacher for 18 years with an after-school knitting club for my students for four years, I was accepted into the summer session of the Rudolf Steiner College Handwork program but opted instead for private mentorship with a seasoned handwork teacher. My husband and I vacationed in Utah at Capital Reef in late July.

1980’s CLAY BAKER ’80 Big changes all happened at the beginning of this year.

My architectural design firm, Clay Baker Design, was acquired in February 2014 by CJW Architecture of Portola Valley, California. I’m now a full-time member of the CJW team where I am in charge of business development and also work on client projects. In particular I seek out the equestrian architecture projects where

I have the pleasure of designing beautiful horse facilities, barns, arenas and the surrounding landscapes.

About the same time my firm was acquired I found myself a single parent with two daughters, eleven and fifteen years old at home and my eighteen year old now in college at the University of Colorado at Boulder studying Engineering Physics. I am still mountain bik- Clay Baker ‘80. ing and skiing, though a little less since a near fatal accident in Aspen, I play some golf and I’m preparing to start flying lessons. I still hunt and fish annually in Montana and as always love to cook up a storm for anyone who will let me feed them. Wishing all my classmates the best of everything in life.

CHRISTOPHER GRANOZIO ’82 I am working my 18th season as producer, writer and scoreboard operator for the New York Mets, as well as scoreboard operator for the New York Yankees. For the past 10 years, I have produced the Arthur Ashe scoreboard show at the US Open. In addition, I write for various websites and a college basketball magazine in a freelance capacity. I was recently inducted into the Le Moyne College Athletics Hall of Fame for broadcasting the school’s home and road basketball games each of the past 22 seasons.

MARC WEINGARTEN ’82 My film THE OTHER ONE: THE LONG STRANGE TRIP OF BOB WEIR was shown at Tribeca Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the San Francisco Film Festival. Hopefully it will come around your town soon.

ALISON CUNNINGHAM-GOLDBERG ’83 After nearly 10 years of co-owning Sonia Rose Restaurant, I decided to go back to school to study Biology and Psychology at Hunter College CCNY. In the interim, I taught science and math in the Upper School at Rudolf Steiner. In 2010 I graduated with honors from Pratt Institute, Graduate School of Art, and Design with a master’s degree in Art Therapy Allison Cunningham-Goldberg ’83.

39

CLASS NOTES

and Creative Development. Since graduation, I have been on staff as an Art Therapist at the New York State Bronx Psychiatric Center. At the beginning of 2014, I was promoted to Senior Art Therapist.

I am also in training to become a Psychotherapist in the Child and Adolescent Program at the International Psychoanalytic Training and Research Institute. I am happily living in Inwood, NYC, and continue to paint and draw in my leisure time.

LIANE CURTIS ’83 Has been living in Los Angeles since 1997 where she made a living acting. More recently after raising 3 children, she has been managing, co-writing, and producing songs for and with her 15 year old daughter JAQ MACKENZIE. Jaq’s 1st commercial EP “Jaq Mackenzie 101” was released to iTunes on Monday June 23rd along with the music video of the title song “101 DAYS” on YouTube and Vimeo. Liane is happily married for the past 15 years and her 2 sons are both thriving. One is in Med school at University of Louisville (full ride/ UC Berkeley grad) and the other is in the UK earning an MA /MFA in Eng Lit/Creative writing. “I am definitely a proud mom and will never suffer from empty nest as I have 36 birds! May my progeny go forth and be awesome!” Itunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id886670313 / Music Video link http://youtu.be/ dY6ah3pLR7E

Liane Curtis’s ‘83 daughter, Jaq Mackenzie and her band.

ERIKA LUDWIG ’86 We had a long, hard winter in the Berkshires (Massachusetts); just the right environment for me to work on my latest project, Berkshire Summer Strings. While outside it snowed, I sat inside planning a week in July for acoustic musicians of all ages. As the winds blew the snow in drifts, I imagined the sounds of traditional dance tunes played by fiddles, cellos, mandolins and guitars drifting across the fields of my neighborhood park. I assembled a group of instructors from Brooklyn, Boston and Northampton to come together and inspire my local community to make a joyful noise, and organized a dance for us too. I colored my world 40

Erika Ludwig ‘86.

with designing posters, flyers and my own website (www.berkshiresummerstrings.com). I hope to get out and play some of my own musical compositions at a couple of local open mic events, spend my mornings in the garden, and maybe even take a break from the Berkshires for a week, but after this long, hard winter, the best place to be is is sitting by the fire circle in the backyard without a plan, a project or a wool coat… maybe with my ukelele.

DAVID NADEL ’87 It’s been 10 years since my wife Nicole and I were married in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan during a year of travel together. We recently celebrated the 10-year milestone by running the Brooklyn Half Marathon together. Nicole’s dedication to running has really inspired me, so my lucky legs ran a 6 minute 47 second mile pace to finish the 13.1 miles in 1 hour 28 minutes before leaping into the brisk surf off Coney Island…ahhh that cold water felt amazing! Work-wise, I just started my 8th year at The Royce Funds, where I direct their international investments including in India, which recently completed the largest democratic election in history with 800 million voters! A 10-page white-paper I authored for Royce on India http:// www.roycefunds.com/insights/2014/02/what-columbus-missed-royce-rediscovers-india was profiled on CNN, Bloomberg TV, Consuelo Mack’s WealthTrack, and in the May 5th cover story of Barron’s. Hope everyone’s doing great!

David Nadel ‘87 discusses India and its largest election in history.

ALEX RICCIO ’88 Everything is going well for us up here in Saratoga Springs, NY. I am still practicing Homeopathy and now Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy for musculo-skeletal injuries and pain in my office. Max is going into fourth grade next year at the Waldorf School. We skied a lot this winter as we had tons of snow! Looking forward to an invigorating summer and will travel to Glacier

2000’s DIANA MARIN ’00 I got married last summer and started a new job as a workers’ rights attorney at the Urban Justice Center, a non-profit legal service organization in NYC. Isabelle is entering 11th grade this fall and I am looking forward to seeing her graduate from the School in 2016.

EVAN BUXBAUM ’02 I recently finished my first feature film, Sun Belt Express, due out later this year. I currently live in Brooklyn.

Alex Riccio ‘88 and son Max hiking in the Adirondacks.

National Park, MT at the end of August for vacation.

JON EPSTEIN ’89 I recently got cast in a small role for new NBC Pilot that was picked up called “Allegiance,” and I have sold my first apartment as a Corcoran agent. It is a one bedroom on the Upper West Side. Very exciting on both fronts.

Still an artist and growing in business.

1990’s

SKY DYLAN-ROBBINS ’07 I have settled into a producing role at The New Yorker. I am thrilled to have joined the team that’s shaping the future of the magazine! Previously, I was at Tumblr, the blogging platform (now part of Yahoo). My content can be watched in The New Yorker’s digital editions, and at video.newyorker.com VICTORIA H. COVERDALE ’08 I am the proud new owner of Provisions Bake Shop located in Pelham, New York. I am the Cake Decorator and we employ a staff of five. We are a made-fromscratch bakery, voted Top Five Bakeries in Westchester. Our specialty cakes are designed and customized to address individual customer needs. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and check our website, www.

PelhamProvisionsBakeShop.com.

CYNTHIA DIAZ ’95 After 15 amazing years of teaching young girls at The Brearley School, I have left my professional nest to join a start-up charter school in the Bronx under the Public Prep Network. I am currently the Founding Director of Student and Family Affairs for Boys Prep Bronx Elementary School, opening its doors to approximately 120 kindergarten and first grade boys on August 25, 2014. Born and raised in the Bronx, I am delighted to join a former colleague who will serve as our school principal and other members of the leading team in welcoming these young male students and their families to our school. As a graduate of a single-sex institution, Wellesley College, then a teacher of young girls and a proud mother to a fabulous 8 year-old boy, who also successfully attends a charter school in East Harlem, I embrace the challenges and joys that come along with being a charter school leader who will closely guide Bronx families through their children’s first school experiences.

41

ANNUAL REPORT

Dear Friends, Waldorf education is a gift we give to our children, and being part of this wonderful community is a gift we receive in return. As I enter my 14th year as a parent at Rudolf Steiner School, I still marvel at my incredible good fortunate to have found such an inspired, caring community of parents, educators and students.

With my eldest child now entering 11th grade, I’ve also witnessed nearly the full arc of this exceptional education of the head, heart and hands. Rudolf Steiner School develops not only a student’s intellectual gifts but embraces the whole child, encompassing the realm of feelings, (emotions, aesthetics, social sensitivities), willpower (ability to get things done), moral nature (clarity about right and wrong), the practical, and the artistic. Truly, what more could we ask of our children’s school?

Gratefully in return, I—as well as so many of you—provide support through gifts of time, talent, and donations to the Annual Fund, the financial cornerstone that touches every aspect of the education.

The most exciting part of the 2013-14 Annual Fund story? Not only did parents and alumni donate in great numbers, but a stunning 98% of our fabulous faculty made a gift to the Annual Fund, in an extraordinary leadership display of support.

Thank you, faculty, for setting the standard, and brava to College Speaker April Pereyra for piloting the initiative. One year ago, April assumed the position of Liaison to the Development Committee, the dedicated team of parents and faculty who map our fundraising activities.

We navigated the year solidly in the absence of a Director of Development, ending virtually on target—and this year, we’re thrilled that April will be the school’s Director of Development.

We’re also indebted to class parent Annual Fund Representatives who faithfully announce, remind, telephone and occasionally sweet talk donations from fellow parents!

Four classes achieved 100% Annual Fund participation—kudos Downstairs and Upstairs Kindergartens, 1st and 7th grades! We also salute the 3rd, 4th and 8th grades for coming within a hair of the goal. Overall, a strong 85% of the parent body contributed … but parents,

DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE JOY PINTO, Chair ROBERT LUNDER RENA NEVILLE DAWN RHODES

42

ALEXANDRA SPADEA MICHAEL STEINER RICHARD STRASSBERG ROBERT STRENT

the faculty has thrown down the gauntlet! Surely we can join them in the 90th percentile next year!

Our celebrated Fall Fair and Spring Gala were also flourishing fundraisers, oodles of fun, and community highlights made possible by the heroic parents who chaired them. We were awed by the effortless grace of Carla Lunder, P ’16,’18, as she (once again!) chaired the Fall Fair, and by the equally fabulous Laura Bonarrigo, P ’17,’19 and Jeannie Baer, P ’18 for spearheading the Spring Gala, where musical enchantment was provided by the great Art Garfunkel, P ’24 and his wife Kim Cermak. We thank these magnificent parents for their special gifts.

Indeed, we thank all of our magnificent parents and Annual Fund donors. Your generosity enables RSS to provide a diverse student body with an education that develops deep-thinking, self-directed young people, eager and ready to make great contributions to the world. What a beautiful use of a philanthropic donation!

This Annual Report honors our children and all of you. Thank you for your stewardship of Rudolf Steiner School.

In gratitude,

Joy Phelan-Pinto, P ’16, ’18 Development Chair

2013-14 ANNUAL FUND CLASS AGENTS LENA ARMEL BASIL ASHMORE CHRISTINE AUSTIN LAURA BONARRIGO MICHAEL FILLER SILVIA HELLER

GINA IOVINO SCOTT KLEIN ALLEN KRAUS CLAUDIA MAHLER GLORIA MILLS RENA NEVILLE

CHRISTOPHER NGAI JOY PINTO JIM SALSER MICHAEL STEINER ROBERT STRENT

43

TREASURER

Dear RSS Community, After almost four years on the Finance Committee, I am pleased to accept the Treasurer’s baton from Dawn Trachtenberg as she moves into the role of Board Chair. I would like to thank Dawn for everything she has done as Treasurer over the past five years. I look forward to continuing our working relationship as Officers of the Board.

We ended the fiscal year with an operating deficit that was anticipated and mostly offset by the surplus from the previous year. We had been accruing surpluses in recent years and made a conscious decision to run a leaner budget this past year and were prepared to end the year with this deficit. Past year surpluses have been a result of prudent expense management, new students that join throughout the year and a strong performance of our investment portfolio.

This year was one of investment as we invested heavily in the information technology infrastructure of our school. We not only fixed what was not working properly, but we vastly improved the technological backbone of the school with new hardware, software, internet connectivity and a phone system. We look forward to enjoying these state of the art solutions for many years to come.

Looking ahead, while our school is in sound financial condition, our paramount goals continue to include higher enrollment and optimal retention. Full enrollment is the key to financial sustainability for all independent private schools, and through the good work of our Admissions Office, we continue to attract students who are a strong fit for our fine institution. A key focus for everyone going forward continues to be steps toward greater retention and moves toward full enrollment The past few years have been focused on strengthening the financial and business practices of the school as part of the transition to a new Business Manager. I am pleased to report that much of this work is now complete. The Finance Committee has a much higher level of reporting, which has made guiding the finances of our school much easier. With this foundation in place, it is my intent to transition the efforts of the Finance Committee to spend more of their time on strategic matters while also making sure the fiscal side of our operations remain on track.

Going forward, we will need to focus on ways to get our beloved school closer toward a place of prosperity.

In order to do this, our focus will be on expense management and identifying significant sources of additional revenue. This needs to come from both additions to our annual operating budget and additions to our longterm funding (i.e., endowments and capital funds).

There has been much work done over the past 18–24 months around strategic initiatives. There are currently very strong, directed efforts happening around driving our strategic plan forward (more on that as the year progresses). As Treasurer, I look forward to working with this amazing community to help drive RSS towards a future based on sound financial results and the prosperity to fulfill our dreams.

Respectfully,

Mitchel Friedman, P ’19 Treasurer

44

BUDGET RESULTS 2013-2014 (UNAUDITED)

INCOME AMOUNT % OF TOTAL Gross Tuition & Fees Tuition Assistance Net Tuition & Fees Addl. Program & Misc. Income Net Fundraising

$11,599,542 ($3,294,355) $8,305,187 $637,710 $685,651

86.3% 6.6% 7.1%

$9,628,548

100%

Faculty Salaries Administrative Salaries Faculty & Staff Benefits Program Expense Facility Expense Administrative Expense

$4,142,930 $2,063,952 $1,682,540 $1,045,739 $381,018 $683,040

41.6% 20.7% 16.9% 10.5% 3.8% 6.4%

TOTAL EXPENDITURES

$9,954,219

100%

TOTAL INCOME

EXPENDITURES

Net Operating Excess (Deficit) Capital Expenses Strategic Plan Expense NET CASH

($325,671) $622,149 $90,000 ($1,037,820)

Summary of Fundraising Annual Giving

UNRESTRICTED Annual Appeal Unrestricted Fall Fair Unrestricted Spring Benefit RESTRICTED Laura Nadel Art and Music Fund Kacey Cisyk Rakowicz Fund Endowment for Professional Development

TOTAL ANNUAL GIVING TO CURRENT OPERATIONS

$552,955 $48,458 $84,238 $3,803 $5,415 $800

$695,668

45

ANNUAL REPORT

Annual Giving Restricted and Unrestricted Every donor to our school is important, and every gift is significant. Donors listed in the following categories made unrestricted and/or restricted gifts to the school during the 2012-2013 school year in direct cash and securities support, special events, sponsorship and underwriting. We extend our warmest gratitude to everyone who participated. + indicates giving for five or more consecutive years ++ indicates giving for ten or more consecutive years +++ indicates giving for fifteen or more consecutive years ++++ indicates giving for twenty or more consecutive years 1928 Circle ($25,000 +) Anonymous (2) Leaders Circle ($10,000 - $24,999) Dr. Robert Bracket and Mrs. Joyce Lee Gerda Carmichael ’43 +++ Paul and Chandra Graves Mark Reed and Daria Ilunga ++ Brittany and Michele Weeden Partners Circle ($5,000 - $9,999) Anonymous (2) Pierre and Connie Crosby +++ Gianpaolo De Felice and Gabrielle Karan + Luiz De Salvo and Patricia Schwarz + Rhoda Herrick Isabel Hill Shirley L. Latessa +++ Andrew and Catherine Newmark Eric and Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth ++ Dennis Pinto and Joy Phelan-Pinto ++ David Sepiachvili and Natalia Martin + Mark Sonnino ’78 and Lyn Brillo +++ Mario Sorrenti and Mary Frey + Marc ’79 and Dawn Trachtenberg +++

46

Friends Circle ($2,500 - $4,999) Allan A. Bastos and Luciane L.D.M. Bastos Alfredo de Palchi and Rita Di Pace + Daniel Goldstein and Terri Adler Susan Goodale ++++ David R. Hillcoat and Ellen Jacobson Karen Lefcourt-Taylor Rama and Sara Madhu + Luigi Perin and Christine Mitsch-Perin Sandeep Qusba and Dawn Rhodes + Michael and Camila Steiner + Dr. Daniel Szekely ’68 Waldorf Circle ($1,000 - $2,499) Anonymous (2) Mark Abel and Kathleen Williams Belinda Agar + Ceki and Seniha Aluf-Medina Peter Bing ’72 + Ricardo and Cristina Caliço Deborah Carmichael ’79 + Blanche and Jim Christerson Danielle Do and Samantha Sutton Arlan and Barbara Ettinger Tommy Friedner ’85 and Doreen Lilienfeld + Olena Horban Galanti + Jason and Kristy Glass Alexander and Caryn Halpern Eli Holzman ’92 Joanna Jordan

Jim and Sue King Scott I. Klein and Elizabeth A. Barasch Anthony Knerr and Susanne Kastler-Knerr ++ Lisa Kulson Dick Latessa Paul and Renee Marchand ++ D. Edward and Julie Martin + Glenn McDonald Christina McInerney ’61 + Bradford and Fleurine Mehldau Michael Moebius and Rani Vaz ’83 + Jean-Hugues and Veronique Monier David ’87 and Nicole Nadel +++ Walter Pereyra Whitney and Tamar Quillen + Eric ’71 and Fiona Rudin James Salser and Lisa K. Greissinger ++ Amy Schimel + Vincent Schimel + Gideon Schwartz and Alissa Manocherian Schwartz Friederike Felber Seligman ’63 + Ms. Inna Shaykevich ’03 + Arthur and Renate Soybel ++++ Marco Spinar and Claire Brown Allison Stabile ’74 Goran Sare and Claudia Stone ’77 ++ Joel and Shoshannah Sutherland

Wyatt Troll ’87 Christopher Tsai and Andre Stockamp Dominic and Marilyn Vaz Juan and Susann Villanueva + Jeffrey ’83 and Stacey Weber +++ Dian Woodner ’64 Araks Yeramyan Brad Zola + Community Circle (Up to $999) Jim and Sherry Adams + Faith Adkins Mark and Stacey Adkins + Benjamin Ahrens ’02 Mr. and Mrs. Walter Alexander Rudy and Vivian Almonte + Azusa Ammar John and Kirsten Anderson Roland Antonides and Karen Imhof James Nate and Clarisse Appleman Sasha Archer James Archey + Lena Armel ++ Dr. and Mrs. Richard Ascher + Janet Asten ’67 + Ms. Mary Aumell + Lydia Austin Dominque Avery ’61 + Mauricia Baca ’88 Shawn and Semone Bailey Emily Baldwin ’88 ++ William and Susan Baldwin ++++ Lee Bartell Paula Bass Mrs. Esther Bauer Lawrence Bauer ’73 ++ Brooke Bedrick ’80 + Walter Behr and Luciana F.L. Pinto John and Gaily Beinecke ++++ William B. Beinecke ’07 Andres and Carolina Belen Juan and Monika Beltran Deike Benjoya Dale Bennett ++ Svein and Olga Berg Mr. John Bergman Dr. Revaz Beridze and Dr. Zoya Zak Laurie Bernstein Cristina Berusch Cecilie R. Birner ’86 Angela Bjelland +

Lynne and Patrick Blankenship-Stolfo Andre Bondi ’73 Admiral Kevin and Eugenia Bone + Eric L. Bowman ’00 Karen Braga ++ Sara Briggs + Brooke Brosenne + Pat and Barbara Brosenne Bianca Brousseau Travis E. Brown and Anandah J. Carter Richard Camacho Jerry and Doris Cannon Kevin and Elena Cannon + Feng Cao and Lynn Chen Janet Capron ’65 Alison Cariati ’83 Julio Catano Victor and Zahira Catano Joanna Charnas ’78 ++ Haniff Clarke + Patricia Coates ’74 + Renee Cossutta ’73 Ms. Katrina Cox ’04 Shawn and Bibb Coyne Denise Crane + German and Maria Creamer + Gail Cruise-Roberson Robert Dandrew ++ Raym De Ris ’59 Dolores and Milton Dean ++ Jan and Anne Debassac Diana Delgado-Andrade Michele Dexter ’69 Cynthia Diaz ’95 Eileen Diskin Djordje and Sarah Djordjevic Guy Donahaye Laura Donkel Antoine Douaihy + Robert Drach and Terri Gumula Linette Dunbar + Skyler Dylan-Robbins ’07 Vera Edelstein Jonathan Edwards ’96 Kristie Edwards ’99 Joshua Eisen and Ellen Silverman +++ Deighn and Ying Eliason Richard Emery and Melania Levitsky + Alan B. Eskenazi and Stefanie Rinza Esther Faingold

Aaron Fedor + Tamar Feeser Matthew Fenton and Justine Cuccia + Jose Ferreira and Suzette Soltero Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi + Manuel A. Figueroa and Leticia Zuniga Sergio Filippi and Anthea Webb Michael Filler and Christine Austin + Juliet and Gary Fleming Virginia Flynn ’59 + Fabrice Fortin Charles Foster and Joylynn Holder Daniel and Ruth Franks Bess Freedman Arkady and Maria Fridman Mitch Friedman ++ Meggan Friedman ++ Bruce Frishkoff Adam Fuss + Renni Greenberg Gallagher Skip Geiger Judy Gex Andrew Gibbons and Manveet Saluja Alexandra Gifford ’68 + Dr. and Mrs. Richard Gilbert + Mr. and Mrs. Julian H. Gingold + Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg ’76 +++ Laurence and Katalin Gingold + Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg ’76 + Carol Gleklen ’57 + Thomas Glocer ’77 + Tori Golub + Andres Gonzalez Mrs. Irene E. Goodale +++ Stathis Gourgouris and Neni Panourgia + Katharine Grant ’83 + John Greene + Suzanne C. Grégoire ’74 ++ Mohammed and Betty Grimeh Samuel and Isabel Gross ++++ Chris and Sarah Gunderson Lisa Gustin Patricia Haft ’70 ++ Herbert Hagens ’41 ++ Dieter and Gudrun Hahn + Cindy Hall ’80 Jenny Hall ’72 Michael Hall Yael Hameiri Rallou Hamshaw ’65 ++ Mr. Chris J. Hancock Renata Harbison ’70 47

ANNUAL REPORT

Annual Giving Restricted and Unrestricted continued Joshua Haron and Leah Azoulay Meggan Harrison Kristin Hawkins Terri Hawkins Julia Hays ’73 + John and Silvia Heller + Martin and Margaret Heller + Frances Hershkowitz ’60 + Helga Hesse + Rosemarie Hester Carl and Elsa Hetherington Bohdan and Silvie Hilash Abigail Hill Judith Hindman Randall and Elizabeth Hixenbaugh Lester and Dorothy Hoffman + Ian Hoffmann ’03 Timothy Hoffmann and Irene Mantel ++ Markus and Paula Homor Jeffrey and Romi Howard ++ John Howell and Laura Weymouth + Abraham Hsuan and Melinda Hung ++ Kaining Huang Gertrude R. Hughes ’54 +++ Amira Ingram Darrell Ingram Gina Iovino Michelle Jackson Elanor James Irma Jennings Kumar Anuraj Jha and Mrs. Jill K. Landis Jha David Johnson ’68 Richard and Pinckney Johnson +++ Stephanie Junger-Moat ’99 + Alexander Kadvan ’90 and Sarah M. Fanning + Patricia Kadvan Moo S. Kang and Sonia Lee Brian Kaplan and Lambeth Hochwald Martin Kasdan Scot and Wendy Kelly Thomas Klein ’62 Gregory and Sarah Knight Martin D. Koffman ++ Liyudmila Koritysskaya

48

Robert Koszta and Ildiko Koszta-Kope Michael Kramberg ’83 Allen Kraus and Lynn Parkerson + Kalin Kresnitchki and Zora Boyadzhieva Catherine Krupnick ’63 Hannah Labovitch Nicholas and Samantha Leader Chung-Yu Lee and Yuen Wa Chow Adam LeGrant ’78 ++ Frederick ’76 and Jennifer Leichter ++++ Hope Leichter + Caleb and Jennie + Myron Levitsky + Ching and Leslie Li Robert Lilienthal ’61 + Johan Lindeberg Lynne Lipton Luis and Mary Llosa + Mary Lynn Lorinz + Stephen Lubben and Jennifer Hoyden + Erika Ludwig ’86 Antonio Luis and Teresa Benedict Charles Lyons ’78 Ms. Jennifer Lyons ’79 Nick and Mari Lyons + Laurel A. Macey ’05 Diana Mahiques + Daniel and Claudia Mahler Michael T. Mainieri and Dee Carstensen Mainieri + Dena Malon + Alessandro Mangerini and Gabriele Jooss-Mangerini + Kristina Mani ’87 Tristan Mantel-Hoffmann ’06 Darlene Marashlian Brennon Marcano and Isabelle Delalex Samantha Margles + Diana E. Marin ’00 Anouska Martin Jorge Martinez and Cybelle Afable Susan Marx James Mayne and Jacqueline Chang Andrew McCarthy and Dolores Rice + Whitni McDonald

Peter and Lauren McGrath Marina McGrew + Stephen McKenzie ’75 Wayne and Lisa McKenzie Mac and Ellen Mead + Saket and Simrat Mehta Martina Meijer ’02 + Robert and Pamela Melet + Deborah Mohabeer Joyce Monges +++ Katherine Monges ’73 Alfrits J. Monintja and Rosalin Masinambow Darlan R. Monterisi ’97 Marta Morales ++ Gary Mui Dr. and Mrs. Warren Nadel +++ Richard Neel ’57 M. Henry and Rena Neville + Michael New + Christopher Ngai and Lixiao Wang Marc ’90 and Ann Nioche Peter Nitze ’76 + Jeannie O’Conor + Eamon and Mary O’Kelly Antonio Ortiz Marin and Gabrielle L. Ortiz ’83 + Lucia Oswald Karla Otis Joseph and Felicia Panepinto + Greg and Ginger Pardlo Ron Passaro ’95 Raphael Peacock and Mrs. Christina Glover-Peacock Paola Pedrignani Willie Vigil and April Pereyra Vigil + Rafael Perez-Ramos Geri Perkal Christian Perry + Geoffrey and Ahna Petersen + Helene Pinsky ’65 ++++ Brian and LeeAnna Plane + Nicholas Platt and Robyn Watts + Niomi Plotkin Ihor Radysh ’71 and Marisha Plotnik + Boris and Renate ’60 Poliakine + Jane Porter ’72 Zak and Robyn Powers Jennifer Price

Syed A. Rahim and Syedha D. Nazneen + Ivan Rahman ’07 Chris and Lydie Raschka + Wilken Ratz and Alexa Meyer Mark Recht and Myra Friedman + Gail Reed, Ph.D. ’61 John Reed and Yeardley Leonard Heather Ricciardi Andreas Richter ’72 ++ Johannes Richter ’76 Pieter Kuypers ’72 and Gail Ritscher ’72 + Raoul J. Roach Dr. Russell D. Robbins ’80 + Joe Robertson Susan Robinson ’69 + Marie Rock Claudio Rodriguez and Laura Montaño Diana Ronell ’60 Nir Ronen and Natalie Lo + Katharina Roos John and Mary Elizabeth Rosa Ms. Morgan Ross ’09 Michael and Chanit Roston Ami Rothschild + David and Carolyn Rothschild + Winnie Rubin ’08 Marilyn Ruppart Laurent and Kim Salteil Josephine Salvador Roger Questel and Ellen Salvadori + Andres David and Ayarilis Sanchez + Rosetta Sang Colony Santangelo ’65 + Angel Santiago and Nancy Acosta Jose and Edyta Santiago Lucia Santiago ’79 Lluisa Sarries Mary Ellen Schaeffer ++ Oliver Schaper and Lily Zand Andrew and Anke Scheinfeld ++ Marion Schlapfer +++ Edward Schlieben ’71 +++ Katherine Schlieben ’99 + Todd Schlieben ’70 + Carol Schneider + David Schneider ’84 + Lucy Schneider ++++ Alexander and Julia Sergeyeva-Benenson + Tushar and Anjali Shah Anne Shapiro ’64

Hisatoshi and Tsuya Shiraishi + Deborah Shriver ’67 Ms. Anne Sidamon-Eristoff ’49 +++ June Sidman ’59 Rebecca Silver Frank and Margot Silverman + Merle Louise Simon + Amba Singh Petra M. Singh-Grunert Douglas Sklar Michael and Beatriz Smith Charles Smith and Sono Kuwayama Robert and Diana ’63 Smith + Fred and Marny Smith Ki Smith ’09 Kwanza Smith Dr. Samuel Smith ’54 +++ Robert Snider and Francesca Marc-Antonio ++ Beverly J. Sonner ’50 Jeffrey Spade Alexandra Spadea Catherine Spann Albert and Alice Spekman ++++ Courtney L. Spiller ’07 Corinne Spingarn ’64 +++ Irene Stein ’61 + Susan Stein ’75 Jim Steiner + Joan Stern Richard Strassberg and Michele Melland-Strassberg + Howard Straus ’60 Robert and Jennifer Strent Scott Sturniolo and Stefanie Soichet ’74 ++ Melissa and Jeffrey Sussman + Michael Sutton + Mads Svendsen and Rebecca Dahele Steven and Elena Taurke Joseph Trivikraman Thampy and Meredith Burns Erik and Cornelia Thomsen + Cosmin and Katinka Toader Richard Turner + Mike Ungerleider Vadym and Kateryna Ustymenko Adam Van Auken and Marinne Kinney Victor and Felicia Van Vugt Ingrid Vega Jeffrey and Clio Venho ++++ Mr. and Mrs. Matthew G. Verdery Jose and Christina Vicente +

Suzanne Furth Victor ’73 + Lukardis von Studnitz ’85 Franklin Wagman ’80 + Peter and Patricia Wan Anne Waxman ’74 Stuart and Tanja Wechsler + Ryan and Hope Welker Grant Werner ’75 +++ Thomas Wetzl ’50 +++ David W. White + Joan Williams + Robert and Shannon Williams + Deborah Grace Winer ’79 + Maxine L. Wolf Dr. Steven Wolf ’73 ++++ Mrs. Waltraude S. Woods ’48 + Dedra Wright Alexander Yagupsky and Claudia Knafo Claudia Yatsevitch ’41 Steve Yung and Nicole Kassell + Jean Zay Robin Zeamer ’65 +

49

ANNUAL REPORT

Parent Donors by Class The faculty, staff and Board of Trustees of the Rudolf Steiner School are in grateful receipt of direct cash and securities contributions from the following Steiner families.

Middle Nursery 88% Parent Participation Mark Abel and Kathleen Williams Feng Cao and Lynn Chen Laurence and Katalin Gingold Wilken Ratz and Alexa Meyer Robert and Jennifer Strent Joel and Shoshannah Sutherland Back Nursery 83% Parent Participation Travis E. Brown and Anandah J. Carter Charles Foster and Joylynn Holder John and Silvia Heller Jean-Hugues and Veronique Monier Christopher Ngai and Lixiao Wang Luigi Perin and Christine Mitsch-Perin Tushar and Anjali Shah Mads Svendsen and Rebecca Dahele Christopher Tsai and Andre Stockamp Larry and Abbey Warsh Stuart and Tanja Wechsler Downstairs Kindergarten 100% Parent Participation Ceki and Seniha Aluf-Medina Roland Antonides and Karen Imhof Feng Cao and Lynn Chen Danielle Do and Samantha Sutton Alan Eskenazi and Stefanie Rinza Jose Ferreira and Suzette Soltero Arkady and Maria Fridman Laurence and Katalin Gingold Mohammed and Betty Grimeh Bohdan and Silvie Hilash Gregory and Sarah Knight Lisa Kulson James Mayne and Jacqueline Chang Brian and LeeAnna Plane Nir Ronen and Natalie Lo Gideon Schwartz and Alissa Manocherian Kwanza Smith Robert and Jennifer Strent Victor and Felicia Van Vugt Peter and Patricia Wan Araks Yeramyan Upstairs Kindergarten 100% Parent Participation James Nate and Clarisse Appleman Robert Brackett and Mrs. Joyce Lee Shawn and Bibb Coyne Luiz De Salvo and Patricia Schwarz

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Djordje and Sarah Djordjevic Deighn and Ying Eliason Daniel Goldstein and Terri Adler Paul and Chandra Graves Mohammed and Betty Grimeh Chris and Sarah Gunderson Markus and Paula Homor Gina Iovino Nicholas and Samantha Leader Alessandro Mangerini and Gabriele Jooss-Mangerini Saket and Simrat Mehta Greg and Ginger Pardlo Paola Pedrignani Zak and Robyn Powers Wilken Ratz and Alexa Meyer Michael and Camila Steiner Richard Strassberg and Michele Melland-Strassberg Trivikraman Thampy and Meredith Burns Cosmin and Katinka Toader Vadym and Kateryna Ustymenko Araks Yeramyan 1st Grade - Class of 2025 100% Parent Participation Sasha Archer Shawn and Semone Bailey Juan and Monika Beltran Revaz Beridze and Zoya Zak Kevin and Elena Cannon Shawn and Bibb Coyne Djordje and Sarah Djordjevic Andrew Gibbons and Manveet Saluja Daniel Goldstein and Terri Adler Paul and Chandra Graves Kumar Anuraj Jha and Mrs. Jill K. Landis Jha Harold and Stacey Kelly Robert Koszta and Ildiko Koszta-Kope Nicholas and Samantha Leader Chung-Yu Lee and Yuen W. Chow Andrew McCarthy and Dolores Rice Jean-Hugues and Veronique Monier Eamon and Mary O’Kelly John Reed and Yeardley Leonard Nir Ronen and Natalie Lo Amba Singh Marco Spinar and Claire Brown Joel and Shoshannah Sutherland Mads Svendsen and Rebecca Dahele Michael Moebius and Rani Vaz ’83

2nd Grade - Class of 2024 91% Parent Participation Rudy and Vivian Almonte Walter Behr and Luciana F.L. Pinto Juan and Monika Beltran Svein and Olga Berg Ricardo and Cristina Caliço Gianpaolo De Felice and Gabrielle Karan Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi Andres Gonzalez John and Silvia Heller David R. Hillcoat and Ellen Jacobson Anthony Knerr and Susanne Kastler-Knerr Antonio Luis and Teresa Benedict Raphael Peacock and Christina Glover-Peacock Nicholas Platt and Robyn Watts David Sepiachvili and Natalia Martin Richard Strassberg and Michele Melland-Strassberg Erik and Cornelia Thomsen Larry and Abbey Warsh Stuart and Tanja Wechsler Robert and Shannon Williams 3rd Grade - Class of 2023 92% Parent Participation James Archey Luiz De Salvo and Patricia Schwarz Antoine Douaihy Jose Ferreira and Suzette Soltero Laurence and Katalin Gingold Joshua Haron and Leah Azoulay Abigail Hill Luis and Mary Llosa Diana Mahiques Brennon Marcano and Isabelle Delalex Brad and Fleurine Mehldau Antonio Ortiz Marin and Gabrielle L. Ortiz ’83 Greg and Ginger Pardlo Sandeep Qusba and Dawn Rhodes John Reed and Yeardley Leonard Mark Reed and Daria Ilunga Heather Ricciardi Ami Rothschild James Salser and Lisa K. Greissinger Jose and Edyta Santiago Marco Spinar and Claire Brown Joe and Christina Vicente Juan and Susann Villanueva

Steve Yung and Nicole Kassell 4th Grade – Class of 2022 95% Parent Participation Svein and Olga Berg Philip and Jamie Carter Shawn and Bibb Coyne Richard Emery and Melania Levitsky Esther Faingold Aaron Fedor Sergio Filippi and Anthea Webb Adam Fuss Andrew Gibbons and Manveet Saluja Tori Golub John and Silvia Heller Joanna Jordan Moo S. Kang and Sonia Lee Chung-Yu Lee and Yuen Wa Chow Daniel and Claudia Mahler Joseph and Felicia Panepinto Andres David and Ayarilis Sanchez Frank and Margot Silverman Richard Strassberg and Michele Melland-Strassberg Larry and Abbey Warsh 5th Grade – Class of 2021 88% Parent Participation Gianpaolo De Felice and Gabrielle Karan Robert Drach and Terri Gumula Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi Sergio Filippi and Anthea Webb Andres Gonzalez Randall and Elizabeth Hixenbaugh Jeffrey and Romi Howard Harold and Stacey Kelly Robert and Pamela Melet M. Henry and Rena Neville Michael New Whitney and Tamar Quillen Laurent and Kim Saltiel Amy Schimel Vincent Schimel Michael and Camila Steiner Juan and Susann Villanueva 6th Grade – Class of 2020 88% Parent Participation Rudy and Vivian Almonte Svein and Olga Berg Cristina Berusch Guy Donahaye Bess Freedman Jason and Kristy Glass Scott I. Klein and Elizabeth A. Barasch Luis and Mary Llosa Andrew McCarthy and Dolores Rice Brad and Fleurine Mehldau Nicholas Platt and Robyn Watts Sandeep Qusba and Dawn Rhodes Mark Reed and Daria Ilunga

Carol Schneider Robert and Shannon Williams 7th Grade – Class of 2019 100% Parent Participation Laurie Bernstein Laura Bonarrigo Jan and Anne Debassac Gary and Juliet Fleming Mitch Friedman Meggan Friedman Anthony Knerr and Susanne Kastler-Knerr Martin D. Koffman Kalin Kresnitchki and Zora Boyadzhieva Johan Lindeberg Luis Fernando and Mary Llosa Michael T. Mainieri and Dee Carstensen Mainieri Alfrits J. Monintja and Rosalin Masinambow Karla Otis Raoul J. Roach James Salser and Lisa K. Greissinger Hisatoshi and Tsuya Shiraishi Mario Sorrenti and Mary Frey Catherine Spann Goran Sare and Claudia Stone ’77 Ingrid Vega Mr. and Mrs. Matthew G. Verdery 8th Grade – Class of 2018 90% Parent Participation Paula Bass Allan A. Bastos and Luciane L.D.M. Bastos Ricardo and Cristina Caliço Haniff Clarke Linette Dunbar Arlan and Barbara Ettinger Suzanne C. Grégoire ’74 Robert and Carla Lunder Anouska Martin Jeannie O’Conor Dennis Pinto and Joy Phelan-Pinto Nicholas Platt and Robyn Watts Niomi Plotkin Whitney and Tamar Quillen Mark Recht and Myra Friedman Andres David and Ayarilis Sanchez Andrew and Anke Scheinfeld Frank and Margot Silverman 9th Grade – Class of 2017 79% Parent Participation Mark and Stacey Adkins Lena Armel Meggan Harrison Harold and Stacey Kelly Allen Kraus and Lynn Parkerson Hannah Labovitch

Wayne and Lisa McKenzie Eric and Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth Geoffrey and Ahna Petersen John and Mary Rosa Angel Santiago and Nancy Acosta Oliver Schaper and Lily Zand Charles Smith and Sono Kuwayama Robert Snider and Francesca Marc-Antonio Michael Sutton 10th Grade – Class of 2016 68% Parent Participation Vera Edelstein Tamar Feeser Scot and Wendy Kelly Luis Fernando and Mary Llosa Robert and Carla Lunder Diana Marin ’00 Deborah Mohabeer Jeannie O’Conor Dennis Pinto and Joy Phelan-Pinto Syed A. Rahim and Syedha D. Nazneen Andrew and Anke Scheinfeld Petra M. Singh-Grunert Brad Zola 11th Grade – Class of 2015 52% Parent Participation Belinda Agar Cristina Berusch Brooke Brosenne Manuel A. Figueroa and Leticia Zuniga Michael Filler and Christine Austin Rama and Sara Madhu Andrew and Catherine Newmark Richard Prince and Noel Grundwaldt ’82 Whitney and Tamar Quillen Claudio Rodriguez and Laura Montaño Lluisa Sarries Michael and Beatriz Smith Scott Sturniolo and Stefanie Soichet ’74 Marc ’79 and Dawn Trachtenberg 12th Grade – Class of 2014 52% Parent Participation Diana Delgado-Andrade Joshua Eisen and Ellen Silverman Skip Geiger Lisa Gustin Alexander and Caryn Halpern Isabel Hill Amira Ingram Darrell Ingram Liyudmila Koritysskaya Peter and Lauren McGrath Rosetta Sang Mary Ellen Schaeffer Steven and Elena Taurke Joseph Brad Zola

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ANNUAL REPORT

Alumni Donors by Decade The Rudolf Steiner School greatly appreciates the continued support of its Alumni.

Herbert Hagens ’41 Claudia Yatsevitch ’41 Gerda S. Carmichael ’43 Mrs. Waltraude S. Woods ’48 Anne Sidamon-Eristoff ’49 Beverly J. Sonner ’50 Thomas Wetzl ’50 Gertrude R. Hughes ’54 Dr. Samuel Smith ’54 Carol Gleklen ’57 Richard Neel ’57 Raym De Ris ’59 Virginia Flynn ’59 June Sidman ’59 Frances Hershkowitz ’60 Renate Poliakine ’60 Diana Ronell ’60 Howard Straus ’60 Dominique Avery ’61 Robert Lilienthal ’61 Christina McInerney ’61 Gail Reed, Ph.D. ’61 Irene Stein ’61 Thomas Klein ’62 Catherine Krupnick ’63 Friederike Felber Seligman ’63 Diana Smith ’63 Anne Shapiro ’64 Corinne Spingarn ’64 Dian Woodner ’64 Janet Capron ’65 Rallou Hamshaw ’65 Helene Pinsky ’65 Colony Santangelo ’65 Robin Zeamer ’65 Janet Asten ’67 Deborah Shriver ’67 Alexandra Gifford ’68 David Johnson ’68

Dr. Daniel Szekely ’68 Michele Dexter ’69 Susan Robinson ’69 Patricia Haft ’70 Renata Harbison ’70 52

Todd Schlieben ’70 Ihor Radysh ’71 Eric Rudin ’71 Edward Schlieben ’71 Peter Bing ’72 Jenny Hall ‘72 Pieter Kuypers ’72 Jane Porter ’72 Andreas Richter ’72 Gail Ritscher ’72 Lawrence Bauer ’73 Andre Bondi ’73 Renee Cossutta ‘73 Julia Hays ’73 Katherine Monges ’73 Suzanne Furth Victor ’73 Dr. Steven Wolf ’73 Patricia Coates ’74 Suzanne C. Grégoire ’74 Stefanie Soichet ’74 Allison Stabile ’74 Anne Waxman ’74 Stephen McKenzie ’75 Susan Stein ’75 Grant Werner ’75 Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg ’76 Frederick Leichter ’76 Peter Nitze ’76 Johannes Richter ’76 Thomas Glocer ’77 Claudia Stone ’77 Joanna Charnas ’78 Adam LeGrant ’78 Charles Lyons ’78 Dr. Hallie Robbins ’78 Mark Sonnino ’78 Deborah Carmichael ’79 Jennifer Lyons ’79 Lucia Santiago ’79 Marc Trachtenberg ’79 Deborah Grace Winer ’79 Brooke Bedrick ’80 Cindy Hall ’80 Dr. Russell D. Robbins ’80 Franklin Wagman ’80 Anonymous ’82

Alison Cariati ’83 Katharine Grant ’83 Michael Kramberg ’83 Gabrielle L. Ortiz ’83 Rani Vaz ’83 Jeffrey Weber ’83 David Schneider ’84 Tommy Friedner ’85 Lukardis von Studnitz ’85 Cecilie R. Birner ’86 Erika Ludwig ’86 Kristina Mani ’87 David Nadel ’87 Wyatt Troll ’87 Mauricia Baca ’88 Emily Baldwin ’88 Alexander Kadvan ’90 Marc Nioche ’90 Eli Holzman ’92 Cynthia Diaz ’95 Ron Passaro ’95 Jonathan Edwards ’96 Darlan R. Monterisi ’97 Emily Baldwin ’98 Kristie Edwards ’99 Stephanie Junger-Moat ’99 Katherine Schlieben ’99 Eric L. Bowman ’00 Diana E. Marin ’00 Benjamin Ahrens ’02 Martina Meijer ’02 Ian Hoffmann ’03 Inna Shaykevich ’03 Katrina Cox ’04 Laurel A. Macey ’05 Tristan Mantel-Hoffmann ’06 William B. Beinecke ’07 Skyler Dylan-Robbins ’07 Ivan Rahman ’07 Courtney L. Spiller ’07 Winnie Rubin ’08 Morgan Ross ’09 Ki Smith ’09

Alumni Parents, Grandparents and Friends Anonymous (2) Faith Adkins Dr. and Mrs. Richard Ascher Mary Aumell William and Susan Baldwin Lee Bartell Mrs. Esther Bauer John and Gaily Beinecke Dale A. Bennett John Bergman Lynne and Patrick Blankenship-Stolfo Admiral Kevin and Mrs. Eugenia Bone Karen Braga Sara Briggs Pat and Barbara Brosenne Jerry and Doris Cannon Blanche and Jim Christerson German and Maria Creamer Pierre and Connie Crosby Gail Cruise-Roberson Robert Dandrew Alfredo de Palchi and Rita Di Pace Dolores and Milton Dean Matthew Fenton and Justine Cuccia Wilson Ferreira and Chiara Filippi Juliet and Gary Fleming Daniel and Ruth Franks Bruce Frishkoff Renni Greenberg Gallagher Judy Gex Dr. and Mrs. Richard Gilbert Mr. and Mrs. Julian H. Gingold Irene E. Goodale Susan Goodale Stathis Gourgouris and Neni Panourgia John Greene Samuel and Isabel Gross Kristin Hawkins Julia Hays ’73

Martin and Margaret Heller Rhoda Herrick Helga Hesse Carl and Elsa Hetherington Judith Hindman Lester and Dorothy Hoffman Timothy Hoffmann and Irene Mantel John Howell and Laura Weymouth Abraham Hsuan and Melinda Hung Irma Jennings Richard and Pinckney Johnson Patricia Kadvan Martin Kasdan Mr. and Mrs. Harold Kelly Jim and Sue King Dick Latessa Shirley L. Latessa Karen Lefcourt-Taylor Hope Leichter Myron Levitsky Lynne Lipton Stephen Lubben and Jennifer Hoyden Nick and Mari Lyons Daniel and Claudia Mahler Darlene Marashlian Paul and Renee Marchand Diane E. Marin ’00 D. Edward and Julie Martin Susan Marx Glenn McDonald Mac and Ellen Mead Joyce Monges Marta Morales Dr. & Mrs. Warren Nadel Richard Neel ’57 Marc ’90 and Ann Nioche Walter Pereyra Ihor Radysh ’71 and Marisha Plotnik Chris and Lydie Raschka Marie Rock Michael and Chanit Roston

David and Carolyn Rothschild Josephine Salvador Roger Questel and Ellen Salvadori Marion Schlapfer Edward Schlieben ’71 Lucy Schneider Merle Louise Simon Charles Smith and Sono Kuwayama Fred and Mary Smith Arthur and Renate Soybel Albert and Alice Spekman Jim Steiner Joan Stern Mike Ungerlieder Dominic and Marilyn Vaz Jeffrey and Clio Venho Brittany Weeden Michele Weeden Ryan and Hope Welker David W. White Joan Williams Maxine L. Wolf Robin Zeamer ’65

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THE

CHALLENGE IS ON! FACULTY AND STAFF SET NEW RECORD

PARENTS: LET’S STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGE PLEASE SUPPORT THE ANNUAL FUND 54

Current and Former Faculty and Staff We are deeply grateful for the support of faculty and staff in the Annual Fund. We thank them and honor all they do on behalf of our students.

Anonymous Sherry Adams Cybelle Afable Walter Alexander Rudy Almonte Azusa Ammar John Anderson Kirsten Anderson Lydia Austin Semone Bailey Andres Belen Deike Benjoya Dale A. Bennett Angela Bjelland Brooke Brosenne Bianca Brousseau Richard Camacho Julio Catano Victor Catano Denise Crane Maria Creamer Robert Dandrew Dolores Dean Eileen Diskin Laura Donkel Joshua Eisen Jose Ferreira Fabrice Fortin Myra Friedman Olena Horban Galanti Renni Greenberg Gallagher Gudrun Hahn Michael Hall

Yael Hameiri Rallou Hamshaw ’65 Christopher J. Hancock Kristin Hawkins Terri Hawkins Julia Hays ’73 Rosemarie Hester Abigail Hill Timothy Hoffmann Kaining (Kevin) Huang Michelle Jackson Elanor James Brian Kaplan Wendy Kelly Jennie Leung Leslie Li Mary Lynn Lorinz Dena Malon Kristina Mani ’87 Irene Mantel Samantha Margles Jorge Martinez Whitni McDonald Marina McGrew Laura Montaño Marta Morales Gary Mui Charity Navarrete Linda Ogden-Wolgemuth Lucia Oswald Felicia Panepinto April Pereyra Rafael Perez-Ramos

Geri Perkal Christian Perry Brian Plane Marisha Plotnik Renate Poliakine ’60 Jennifer Price Ihor Radysh ’71 Joe Robertson Katharina Roos Winnie Rubin Marilyn Ruppart Andres David Sanchez Anke Scheinfeld Edward Schlieben ’71 Lucy Schneider Julia Sergeyeva-Benenson Rebecca Silver Amba Singh Douglas Sklar Beatriz Smith Sono Kuwayama Renate Soybel Jeffrey Spade Alexandra Spadea Melissa Sussman Richard Turner Adam Van Auken Clio Venho Jeffrey Venho Shannon Williams Dedra Wright Alexander Yagupsky Jean Zay

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ANNUAL REPORT

Foundations, Corporations & Matching Gift Companies ACE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION BANK OF AMERICA DEUTSCHE BANK FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND GOLDMAN SACHS & CO. JEWISH COMMUNAL FUND JP MORGAN CHASE AND COMPANY, INC. LAZBRIDGE FOUNDATION PEPSI CO.

PHILANTHROFIT TRAINING, LLC PROSPECT HILL FOUNDATION ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS RSF SOCIAL FINANCE SANFORD C. BERNSTEIN & CO., LLC SONIA RAIZISS GIOP CHARITABLE FOUNDATION T.F. TRUST THE STOLLMAN FOUNDATION TSAI CAPITAL CORPORATION

Gifts in Memory of: Arthur and Renate Soybel

Martin Kasden

Benjamin Ahrens

Maxine L. Wolf

In memory of Paul Weil

In memory of Christopher Rouch

Beverly J. Sonner

In memory of Paul Trunsch

Corinne Spingarn

In memory of Colin Easton

In memory of Jeanette Bendheim Metzger In memory of Jeanette Bendheim Metzger

Michael, Lou and Karen Kramberg In memory of Thiago Mello

Irene E. Goodale

Judith Hindman

In memory of Peter Goodale – father of Tom ’06 and Joe ’09 Goodale

Linette Dunbar

In memory of Jeanette Bendheim Metzger

In memory of Jeanette Bendheim Metzger In memory of Ned O’Gorman

Marie Rock

In memory of Jeanette Bendheim Metzger

Susan Marx

Olena Horban Galanti

In memory of Thomas Soybel ’75, Chrystyna Francesca Rymarenko and Luciano Galanti

Gifts in Honor of: Arlan and Barbara Ettinger

Ki Smith

Catherine Krupnick

Martin Meijer

In honor of Eli Ettinger

In honor of Christy Barnes

Fred and Marny Smith

In honor of Sei ’08, Ki ’09 and Sen ’18

Jenny Hall

In honor of Stephanie Takacs ’73

Jerry and Doris Cannon

In honor of Iliana Cannon ’25

Jim Steiner

In honor of Samuel and Beatrice Steiner

Joan Stern

In honor of Renate Soybel’s birthday 56

In honor of the ’06, ’07, ’08 Steiner soccer teams In honor of Chris Rouch

Waltraude S. Woods

In honor of Diversity at the School

Patricia Haft

In honor of Mrs. Barnes

Shannon and Robert Williams

In honor of Eileen Diskin and her awesomeness

Shirley L. Latessa

In honor of Madeline Ortiz ’23

Suzanne Grégoire

In honor of Dr. Ogden

Timothy Hoffmann and Irene Mantel In honor of Renate Soybel

PLANNED GIVING THE FOUNDERS CIRCLE HONORING THE PAST, BUILDING A FUTURE Named in honor of the men and women who established the first Waldorf School in North America, The Founders Circle welcomes all those who wish to follow in the footsteps of these great visionaries by making a planned gift to the School.

We would be pleased to provide donors, their attorneys, and financial advisors with additional information. Gifts and bequests to the school are deductible under the federal income, estate and gift tax laws.

Inquiries, which will be held in the strictest confidence, may be made in writing to the Development Office.

Sir John Baring, Bt. Dale Bennett Gerda Schmid Carmichael ’43 Robert Dandrew Daniel and Ruth Franks Ruth Geiger* Frances Hershkowitz ’60 Adam LeGrant ’78 Joyce Monges Gertrude Johanna Peter* David Nadel ’87 Raymond Schlieben* Lucy Schneider Irene Stein ’61 Elizabeth Kovacs Washburn ’54 David and Gretchen Weir Joseph and Gaile Zolot* *Deceased If you have named the Rudolf Steiner School in your estate planning and your name does not appear under The Founders Circle, please contact the Development Office at 212-535-2130.

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ENDOWED AND SPECIAL FUNDS FACULTY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND This fund is permanently restricted to support faculty professional development.

E.E. FORD HIGH SCHOOL FACULTY DEVELOPMENT FUND Established in May of 2000 by a matching grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, this fund supports High School faculty professional development.

THE LAURA NADEL ART & MUSIC FUND The Laura Nadel Art & Music Fund was established in memory of Laura Nadel, class of 1983, and is designed to meet the most pressing priorities within the music and arts program, and to foster the unique approach to arts education for which the Rudolf Steiner School is known.

2013-2014 Contributors John Bergman • Eli Ettinger ’18 • Chris J. Hancock • Gregory and Sarah Knight • Paul and Renee Marchand • David ’87 and Nicole Nadel • Dr. & Mrs. Warren Nadel Pepsi Co. • Jeffrey ’83 and Stacey Weber KACEY CISYK RAKOWICZ FUND Named in memory of parent Kacey Cisyk Rakowicz, mother of Eddie Rakowicz ’09 and an outstanding vocalist who cared deeply about music education, this fund is dedicated toward the enrichment of the music program.

2013-2014 Contributors Eli Ettinger ’18 • Olena Horban Galanti ENDOWMENT FUND FOR FACULTY COMPENSATION Established through the Capital & Endowment Gifts Initiative, this fund is restricted to faculty compensation to ensure the quality and caliber of the Rudolf Steiner School faculty.

MAY AND SAMUEL RUDIN FAMILY FOUNDATION FUND Since the 1980s, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation has been a generous supporter of the Rudolf Steiner School tuition assistance program.

NEW YORK ROTARY FOUNDATION FUND FOR TUITION ASSISTANCE This fund was established in 1998 by a gift from the New York Rotary Foundation to fund scholarships for deserving students with financial need.

ESTATE OF GERTRUDE JOHANNA PETER In accordance with Mrs. Peter’s last wishes, this fund was established to support scholarships for students who demonstrate both a financial need and strong scholastic aptitude.

SOYBEL FAMILY FUND IN HONOR OF TRUDE HAAKE This fund is designated to support the Rudolf Steiner School Language Program.

2012-2013 Contributors Olena Horban Galanti • Timothy Hoffmann and Irene Mantel Charity Navarette 58

WAYS TO GIVE Annual Giving is the yearly appeal made by all independent schools to their constituencies to bridge the gap between tuition income and the cost of running the school. These gifts are tax deductible.

Your contribution is important to the Rudolf Steiner School. Here are ways to contribute:

GIFTS OF CASH Checks are the most popular way to make a gift. Checks should be made payable to the Rudolf Steiner School.

GIFTS OF SECURITIES The school maintains a brokerage account to accept gifts of stock. If your broker or bank holds your stock, it can be transferred directly to the Rudolf Steiner School. Instructions for transferring stocks to the School may be obtained from the Development or Business Office.

MATCHING GIFTS Many companies match the philanthropic contributions of their employees. Donors should obtain Matching Gift Request forms from their company’s Human Resource Department. If you are unsure if your company participates, ask your Human Resource Department or the Rudolf Steiner School Development Office.

BEQUESTS Naming the School as a beneficiary in your will is a generous way to remember the Rudolf Steiner School while reducing your estate tax. Donors can choose to leave a percentage of their estate or a fixed amount.

DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS 212-535-2130 Eileen Diskin, Director of Alumni Relations ext. 222 April Pereyra, Director of Development ext. 250 A note to our readers: We have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this report. For any errors or omissions that may have occurred, please accept our apologies and contact the Development Office to let us know.

Printing: Libow Direct, Incorporated Graphic Design: Jason Wizelman/nice-design.com Photography: Courtesy of Marina McGrew, Rich Turner, Victoria Jackson and Brian Kaplan.

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COMMUNITY EDUCATIO OCTOBER 01 8:15 AM BREAKFAST WITH DR. WILLIAM D. MACATEE 08 8:15 AM COFFEE WITH MARILYN RUPPART AND LAURA DONKEL 15 8:15 AM TEACHING READING IN A WALDORF SCHOOL 22 8:15 AM COFFEE WITH JULIA HAYS 31 8:30 AM HALLOWEEN PARADE GRADES 1 – 4 NOVEMBER 04 OPEN HOUSE EVENING SCIENCE CURRICULUM SPIRAL TALK WITH

MICHAEL D’ALEO

05 8:15 AM BREAKFAST WITH DR. WILLIAM D. MACATEE 12 8:15 AM COFFEE WITH MARILYN RUPPART AND LAURA DONKEL 12 7:00 PM NANCY BLANNING 19 8:15 AM COFFEE WITH JULIA HAYS JANUARY 07 8:15 AM BREAKFAST WITH DR. WILLIAM D. MACATEE 14 8:15 AM COFFEE WITH MARILYN RUPPART AND LAURA DONKEL 21 8:15 AM COFFEE WITH JULIA HAYS FEBRUARY 03 6:30 PM TALK WITH EC PARENTS WITH NANCY BLANNING 04 8:15 AM BREAKFAST WITH DR. WILLIAM D. MACATEE 11 8:15 AM COFFEE WITH MARILYN RUPPART AND LAURA DONKEL

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ON CALENDAR 2014-15 FEBRUARY -CONTINUED18 8:15 AM COFFEE WITH JULIA HAYS 26 7:00 PM PARENT TALK WITH SHARON MAXWELL

MARCH 05 7:00 PM SHARON MAXWELL 11 7:00 PM MEDIA COMMITTEE PRESENTATION 12-17 TBD

ONLINE SAFETY

31–APRIL 2

DIVERSITY WORK WITH MONIQUE MARSHALL ‘86

ALUMNI EVENTS NOVEMBER 21 AND 22, 2014: REUNION WEEKEND NOVEMBER 22, 2014: FALL FAIR AND ALL-ALUMNI REUNION MARCH 31-APRIL 2, 2015: DIVERSITY WORKSHOPS WITH MONIQUE MARSHALL ‘86 APRIL 2015: WEST COAST REUNION-DATE/INFORMATION TO FOLLOW MAY 8, 2015: SPRING GALA - HONORING THE 25TH REUNION OF THE CLASS OF 1990 AND THE 50TH REUNION OF THE CLASS OF 1965 MAY 27, 2015: 4TH ANNUAL ALUMNI SOCCER GAME JUNE: SENIOR SEND-OFF LUNCHEON-DATE/INFORMATION TO FOLLOW

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RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL Lower School 15 East 79th Street New York, NY 10075 212-535-2130 Upper School 15 East 78th Street New York, NY 10075 212-879-1101 www.steiner.edu

THANK YOU

FOR YOUR SUPPORT