Winter 2025
by Torin Finser
From Shore to Shore…
Over the past nine years, we have enjoyed collecting images bridges across North America. From Alaska to Florida, northern New Hampshire to LA (with three stops in central California along the way!) we have found bridges that portray the mission of our Building Bridges Program: to connect aspiring Waldorf teachers with our teacher education programs at Antioch University and our Center for Anthroposophy. This past November we opened a new cohort at the Ocean Charter School in Los Angeles, and in March we will graduate a group at the Waldorf School of Baltimore.
We often hear that Waldorf teacher education needs to be more accessible and less expensive. Building Bridges does that by offering face-to-face courses at a host school Most of our participants have done our Explorations Program and seek to continue without traveling many miles when they start teacher education, thus saving on costs. Often the host school pays tuition at a group rate, and instructors enjoy teaching in refreshing, ever-changing classrooms, from snowbound Anchorage to outdoors in Atlantic Beach, Florida. Over 250 participants have completed Building Bridges; some went right on to the rest of their teacher training at Antioch, others continued to better serve their schools in administrative , parenting, and pedagogical roles with greater understanding of the core principles of Waldorf education and Anthroposophy.
The theme of bridges also applies to the intensive work in the arts, curriculum, and research. By gifting themselves time to work on destiny questions and engage with others in lively group activities, participants also have opportunities to stretch beyond the everyday affairs of life. When working artistically and meditatively, it is also possible at times to connect beyond the “shores” of place and time and reach for the starry heavens that hold infinite wisdom and unending nourishment for those who seek with earnest, heart-felt striving.
Torin M Finser, PhD
Director, Building Bridges
