7 minute read
Emma Warren
ALUMNI PROFILE
Emma Warren Grade 9, 2009
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BA, Environment Science and Sociology, minor, Art and Art History St. Lawrence University, 2016
Joint International MS in Sustainable Development Universities of Graz and Basel, planning to complete in October 2020
Warren, fourth from the right, with a team of Nepalese local workers, volunteers and business partners
STUDYING GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
What and how was your academic experience after leaving Waldorf, both personally and academically? I went to the Santa Fe Waldorf School from first to ninth grade until 2009. I then went to the Verde Valley International Baccalaureate School in Sedona, AZ, and graduated in 2012. Even though I loved ninth grade at SFWS, it was always my dream to go to Verde Valley, which was founded by my grandparents. The school had 100 students from 17 countries. Going from the Waldorf grading style to a more rigorous and academic grading system was an adjustment, but it took me only a semester to adapt. I really enjoyed my entire experience.
Then I decided that I was meant to be on the East Coast. I’m not really sure why, but I applied early decision to St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. I fell in love with St. Lawrence primarily because I had visited in the summer and I didn’t realize how cold it got in winter. So, freshman year was very rough. It was -20° F for a month, and I was constantly frozen and missed the Santa Fe sunshine. But once I decided on my major, I felt more comfortable because I was taking courses that I had chosen and that I was interested in. I also studied abroad in New Zealand, and I had an internship in Costa Rica so I got a lot out of my experience (despite the terrible winters).
How did you choose your profession? I took two years off before going for my masters. I thought maybe I wanted to work in environmental law, so I came home to Santa Fe and did an internship at the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. It was a good experience, but it ended up not being what I wanted to do. I also worked at the Cowgirl Cafe, which I really loved—they are amazing people.
Lucy, my little sister (SFWS Grade 4, 2009) and I had been planning to travel together since I was about 12. We opened a joint bank account, and both lived at home and worked three jobs. She skipped eighth grade and graduated from Verde Valley School at age 17, so it worked out that we graduated the same year even though we are five years apart. On September 1, 2016, we took off with a one-way ticket to South America and went to eight different countries, going where the wind carried us and following the advice of locals and other travelers. After that, we came home for Christmas for 10 days, and in the beginning of 2017, I went with my best friend to Iceland, the Netherlands, and England. Lucy went to Vietnam and Myanmar.
In February, we met up in Kathmandu, Nepal, where we worked at the Maitreya Pathshala Waldorf school in Pokhara. The people were so lovely and I really fell in love with Nepal. We worked and trekked, and I actually met my partner Julian Hungerbuehler there, whom I’m living with now. He is from Zurich, Switzerland. In April, I flew home to help open our family coffee shop, the Coffee Wheel. I painted, organized all the equipment, and learned so much about how to get deals, make partnerships and source local products.
After that, in September 2017, I started traveling again to Asia with Julian and ended up back in Nepal where we stayed for 10 months building a sustainable rammed earth building on an organic farm. I went to source supplies for the Coffee Wheel but ended up becoming the volunteer coordinator. I did budgeting, fundraising, helped manage the farm, and bought materials. We lived in tents for eight months on the farm that was a 15-minute walk from
What is your current work today? Originally, I was going to get my master’s a year after college, but Nepal delayed that. In 2018, I was accepted into a joint international master’s in sustainable development, where I spent one semester at the University of Graz in Austria, and then the second and third semester at University of Basel in Switzerland. All the courses and papers are in English. I’m now in my fourth semester, which is basically just my thesis, doing that full time. I was applying for jobs here, but COVID-19 disrupted that. Now I’m waiting for everything to calm down before I try again.
COVID-19 hasn’t disrupted my schooling because now everything is just self-learning. The teaching style in Europe is so different than in the US; there’s more self-learning than I expected or anticipated. In Austria, they really only have class once a month and the rest of the time you self-organize and decide how much work you want to put into these assignments. I will finish in October, so I’m working on my thesis for the next seven months.
How did you choose this profession? I have always been interested in environmental issues. It began in high school when I was part of the Green Club, and then traveling reaffirmed my interest because I was constantly aware of my carbon footprint, which I always had guilt about. Also, I saw how other countries deal with waste, agriculture, travel, and how they get their energy. My thesis in college was about vertical farming, so I’m also interested in the technical side of things. Sustainable development is so interesting because it takes the environment, economics, and social and makes it very evident how these three are related—how everything is connected and how one person or company can’t do anything without the help of others.
Looking back, how does your Waldorf education benefit your life today? This master’s degree is trans-disciplinary, and requires me to look at things from different angles and to have a creative outlook. I credit Waldorf for being able to think creatively and think outside the box. In morning lessons, we’d have a different block every month, and we had the ability to immerse ourselves in one topic but were then able to change to a new topic. Later, we’d compare everything when we assembled a huge main lesson book. Art and care and thoughtfulness were put into our lessons books, and that has affected how I think and act in life.
Please describe your daily life? Daily life is very strange right now. I moved recently and haven’t found a routine yet. I am in Chur, Switzerland, living with Julian. My daily life is I work on my thesis about five hours each day, doing research, my proposal and a literature review. I study German for an hour each day and enjoy the spring weather outside.
What is the best part of what you do now? The best part is that I have a lot of freedom to go after my passions and hobbies because I don’t have a nine-to-five job. I’m really grateful I’ve had these four years since college to explore everything and to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. I’ve had to adapt to being away from home, to living in a new country, and to learning about this new country, all of which can be very challenging at times. But it has been a really good chance for me to push myself out of my comfort zone, so I’m really grateful that I’ve had that opportunity.
What do you do for fun? I cook. That’s my biggest passion right now, so that’s a big happy moment. I live basically plant-based/vegan and I like creating meals that aren’t focused around meat proteins. With my degree I became very aware of supply chains and management, and how bad some of the industries are. But I definitely cheat because Swiss cheese is delicious! I also paint. I’ve been doing painting Skype dates with Kyri Johnson (SFWS HS, 2008). We are best friends, so we’re trying to keep each other company during these weird times. And we’re in the same time zone, because she lives in the UK, which is really nice. We are working on a cactus painting because we are missing the desert. Lucy and Emma looking over Machu Picchu
Emma in the Maitreya Pathshala Waldorf school's garden
