Carole Cressman

legal assistance, clients obtain health care, housing, a sustainable income, and restored dignity.

During COVID-19, HAC has severely reduced our in-office staff, so I am currently working from home. There are still thousands of folks who are currently un-housed, and the state's priority right now seems to be focused on housing for those who are currently symptomatic. One of the biggest worries we have for clients, at this time, is whether or not many of them will receive some portion of the stimulus package, as most rely on General Assistance or SSI and had no measurable income from last year. The indication we've received from the federal government has not been exactly clear at this time.

Looking back, how does your Waldorf education benefit your life today? I'm grateful that as a child I was given the opportunity to just be a child, and not worry about homework or grades or tests. A lot of pressure is put on children, especially now, but Waldorf managed to keep that pressure at bay, or at least make it manageable.

Overall, Waldorf provided me with a solid foundation to build my education after high school. Not too many can say they had a class dedicated to Goethe's Faust or Dante's Inferno; though most folks also have a lot more elective freedom in high school. I've built upon that foundation in some places, and blown it up in others.

Please describe your daily life. I cook a lot. When I am not working, I'm planning my next meal.

What is the best part of what you do now? Problem solving. I earnestly enjoy helping people work out the tech issues they are experiencing.

What do you do for fun? My wife Emma and I love to travel. We were fortunate enough to go to Greece for our honeymoon last October. It was truly incredible.

We like to take our dog Finn on a lot of hikes and to the beach. In my spare time, I like to make art, read, and photograph street art.

STAFF PROFILE

Carole Cressman Campus Manager

It took a little while for Carole Cressman to come around to the idea of putting her two young daughters in the Santa Fe Waldorf School, but in a way, it was already a done deal. In her years of studying education and working with kids and the outdoors, Cressman realized that she was looking for an educational system flexible Photo by Dham Khalsa Photography enough to meet an individual student’s needs. Multiple friends, after visiting her in El Pueblo, NM, noticed that her home reflected a creative, nature-based environment much like the Waldorf curriculum, and urged her to seriously consider the Santa Fe school. After the third friend brought it up, Cressman gave in and went for a visit. “When I came to the campus in 2000, I fell in love with it,” she notes. In 2002 Cressman began working in early childhood and substitute teaching throughout the grades. By 2006, she was hired full time.

A native of northern Ontario, Canada, Cressman has worked everywhere from the TransCanada pipeline to Sony Canada Limited where in six months, she jumped from mailroom manager to national sales coordinator for the firm’s professional video and audio division. Realizing she wasn’t happy working in the corporate world, Cressman searched for something more fulfilling, settling on managing a retreat center for corporations, and being a group facilitator and a ropes course instructor. During her training, Cressman first saw her future husband Dan in a video in which he carried a woman with multiple sclerosis on his shoulders up a 30’ pole to give her a zip line experience. Not long after, in 1986, Carole and Dan married and took off on a three-week honeymoon to the US on an old BMW motorcycle.

Riding up the Pecos Canyon, the Cressmans happened to visit Brush Ranch, a boarding school for adolescents with learning differences. “They offered us work immediately and we decided to stay in New Mexico,” she notes. Over the following years, the Cressmans purchased land on the Pecos River and she became an organic farmer, while also working on her bachelors degree, managing a state university community program for the special education population, and then, becoming a mom.

Once a Waldorf family, the Cressmans were committed. Both children started in kindergarten. Daniella, (Grade 11, 2012) now 24, graduated university with a BA, and works as a freelance writer and English tutor. Amia (HS 2018 class valedictorian), now 20, is a junior studying neuropsychology at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

When the Cressman girls left Santa Fe Waldorf, many expected Cressman would quickly move on to other work. For the moment, however, her commitment to the school is solid. “After 20 years, my heart connection to this school is strong. I stay because I believe in the Waldorf curriculum and the incredible potential of this little school community.” 19