New Training Course for School Leaders and Administrators
Dateline Wilton, NH: Preparing to Teach Science in a Waldorf High School
Dateline Wilton, NH:
Where Are They Now?
Dateline Wilton, NH:
A New Vision for Alumni of CfA and Antioch programs
From the Editor’s Notepad
The word “new” keeps cropping up in this issue of our three-yearly newsletter: new leadership, new programs, new formats, new ideas about funding, and the formation of a new institute. And yet, the temporal and transitional is framed by the eternal and the enduring.
We invite you to explore this juxtaposition of timely and timeless.
Now and again, you may come across a remark by Rudolf Steiner in which he captures an infinitely complicated and seemingly ephemeral reality in simple down-to-earth words that speak across the centuries to the immediate needs of our time. Here is such an example:
Now I must show you how we can arrive at such an assumption that behind our physical nature there is an etheric or life body—strictly speaking, an etheric or life world—that is a multiplicity of differentiated beings. To express how we can arrive at this, I can clothe it in simple words: we are more and more able to recognize the etheric or life world behind physical nature when we begin to have a moral feeling and perception of the world around us.
What do I mean by perceiving or sensing the whole world morally? First of all, we direct our gaze upward from the Earth into the ranges of cosmic space from which the blue of the sky comes to meet us. Suppose we look upward into this blue sky spread out above us on a day when there are no clouds, not even the faintest, silver-white cloudlet. Whether we recognize it in the physical sense as something real or not, does not matter. The point is the impression that this wide expanse of the blue heavens makes upon us.
Suppose that we can yield ourselves up to this blue of the sky, and that we do this with intensity for a long, long time. Imagine that we can do this in such a way that we forget everything else that we know in life and all that is around us. Suppose that we are able, for one moment, to forget all external impressions, all memories, all cares and troubles of life, and can yield ourselves completely to the single impression of the blue heavens.
What I am now saying to you can be experienced by every human soul that fulfills the necessary conditions; this can be a common human experience. Suppose a human soul gazes in this way at nothing but the blue of the sky. A certain moment then comes when the blue of the sky ceases to be blue—when we no longer see blue or anything that can be called “blue” in human language.
If we turn our attention to our own soul at that moment when the blue ceases to be blue to us, an infinity arises before us, and in this infinity we experience a quite definite mood. A quite definite feeling, a quite definite sensation pours itself into the emptiness that arises where the blue had been before.
If we would give a name to this soul feeling, or sensation, and to what would soar out there into infinite distances, there is only one word for it: devotion, a devout feeling in our soul, a feeling of pious devotion toward infinity.
[CW 136; Lecture 1 of 10 given in Helsinki, 3-14 April 1912]
Dateline Keene, NH: Paying Forward for Explorations International
“Explorations”, CfA’s popular online program of foundational studies, is drawing a growing number of participants from around the world. Many of them, however, face the yawning gap between their level of income and the value of their currencies when set against the U.S. dollar. Torin Finser, President of the CfA Board of Trustees, outlines a way to help bridge this gap.
Thanks to an increasing number of donors to our annual appeal last year, we were able to award several diversity scholarships to eligible candidates for their teacher training. Recipients of these funds were most grateful for this new form of assistance, and our diversity fund will continue this year. At the same time, we recognize how few of these candidates generally apply to our teacher education programs, thereby limiting the scope of this new initiative.
By contrast, our Explorations Program, now fully online this year, has become much more accessible, thus increasing both the number of participants (we grew from 40 to over 100 this past year) and the scope of diversity. We are now planning to launch our first-ever international Explorations Program, thanks to active conversations with interested groups in Indonesia, Kenya, Denmark, and other parts of the world.
We hope that many will be attracted to this trend-setting program, which provides prerequisite foundational studies for prospective and practicing teachers (see program flyer here). If we can reach an even wider audience through Explorations, we can expect to increase the diversity of applicants wishing to become Waldorf teachers and, in this way, better serve our schools.
We will also need to determine an appropriate level of tuition for those who apply from other countries while still paying in U.S. dollars. This very real challenge affords us an opportunity to finally implement an aspect of social finance we have long yearned to initiate. Simply put, it is the concept of “paying forward”.
We propose that if we can raise the money needed for our first international Explorations cohort (approximately $30,000) through the generosity of our donors, we will not set any required tuition for international students in this program. Instead, we will suggest guidelines for donations based upon a participant’s country of origin and ability to pay.
Those donations, if successful in number and size, will determine whether we offer a further cycle of these courses in 2023-24 and fund it with these donations. After all, education is not a commodity, and the principle of “self” has to include the notion of “other”.
But this is more than a gesture of trust (and hope). As we assess the situation of the world today, we recognize that its most intractable problems cannot be solved on the basis of nationality and old habits, some of them deeply rooted in our economic system. Global warming, social injustice, the pandemic –– none of these challenges can be adequately addressed unless we collaborate across the globe in new and innovative ways.
With schools located in over 70 countries, Waldorf education is uniquely poised today to take the lead in promoting a new form of consciousness in service of common ideals. And CfA and the Waldorf Program at Antioch University New England remain firmly committed to preparing teachers who feel called to serve. To remain relevant and even thrive in today’s world we all need to embrace initiative!
We therefore invite you, our dear friends and alums, to sponsor one or more international Explorations students as part of this year’s annual appeal, whether at the full tuition rate of $72 per student for ten months (total of $720) or at a portion of this amount. All donations earmarked for this purpose will be directed in full to international Explorations students.
Dateline Wilton, NH: Exploring Relations with Parents
Bev Boyer, who coordinates CfA’s introductory “Explorations” program, reports on the latest round of this online course.
The Center for Anthroposophy’s Explorations program resumed in September after a summer recess. This year-long online course addresses timely issues in anthroposophy and Waldorf education, as well as offering students an artistic experience during each class session.
The theme for the month of September is “Parents and Community in a Waldorf School”, conducted by Torin Finser and Karine Munk Finser (pictured at left), with pastel drawing led by Karine. Upcoming workshop themes can be found on our website here. Supplementary seminars for high school teachers and participants in CfA’s Leadership and Administration course are tagged on to these weekend sessions.
The online format for this course has resulted in much greater accessibility for the entire worldwide Waldorf community, and we are very pleased to have welcomed a number of international students this year. It is our intention to continue to build on this foundation, and we are currently reaching out to friends around the world.
For our next cycle of Explorations, scheduled to begin on 3 April 2022, we hope to have many more international students adding their invaluable perspectives to our Explorations classes.
Dateline Conway, NH: Speech and Self-Development in a Forest Glade
As part of CfA’s “Building Bridges” program, Debbie Spitulnik reports briefly on working with teachers at one of two brand new charter schools in New Hampshire that have adopted the principles of Waldorf education.
During their introductory session at the Northeast Woodland Chartered Public School in Conway, NH, each participant told a short snippet of a place of beauty they experienced during the summer. I used those stories to begin work on speech exercises.
The first morning I bribed the group with fruit and sweets, and then, due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, we proceeded to our classroom in the woods! We spent 90 percent of two very, very hot days outside.
It was actually an excellent solution to a difficult situation. The outdoor area––created by the current 3rd grade teacher for his class last year––had logs to sit on with a fire pit in the middle. It was quite beautiful and there was even a stump for the teacher to sit on. We used one of these stumps to display figurines made out of beeswax.
“Building Bridges” is a series of workshops in Waldorf education that engage prospective and practicing teachers in lively presentations, group discussions, and classroom arts. The content of these courses includes foundational course work in preparation for further Waldorf teacher training at Antioch University New England (AUNE). Weekends, designed to accommodate working teachers, are hosted in schools around the country. For details of this year-long series of workshops, contact Torin Finser at torin@centerforanthroposophy.org
Dateline Keene, NH: From Renewal to Remediation
Karine Munk Finser, CfA’s Director of Professional Development, reports on the transition of leadership in the Renewal Courses she founded two decades ago and previews a new initiative focusing on the pedagogical remediation of trauma.
Dear Friends,
After 21 years of running our beloved Renewal Courses, I am happy to have passed the baton to Karen Atkinson. I cannot not imagine a more well-suited and capable person to take up this task, and I want once again to thank Karen for assuming her new role, which began last April.
I have loved my Renewal years and have learned so very much. Looking back, I remember sitting with Georg Locher and Arthur Auer when they asked me to take on this new task for the Center in 1999. I never imagined I would encounter thousands of people who would create their own room in my heart.
My goal has always been to make everything as alive as possible, and to connect with the enthusiasm within them all, inspired by the source of anthroposophy. It has been such a gift to have worked all these years with the same dedicated CfA colleagues, and I have loved working closely with our Renewal Manager, Lisl Hofer, and in earlier years with Lauren Morley. I am grateful also to all who have taught or participated in the numerous Renewal Courses of the past two decades, as well as to all our donors and trustees of CfA.
May our Renewal Courses continue to flourish and serve the good purpose for which they were launched — namely to allow us to us meet one another and develop capacities to warm and support us on our individual paths.
When a bird jumps off the branch, it must trust both forces of gravity and of levity before it can fly to its next destination. So it is with thankfulness to the past that I look forward to new tasks. In the year ahead, I will continue teaching my Transdisciplinary Studies in Healing Education students at Antioch University New England, while initiating my next CfA journey. In these times of great need for healing modalities, we need to continue to develop observation and listening skills in order more consciously to encounter our children. Life-limiting challenges of PTSD, as well as other sorrows and struggles that imprison the soul journey and prevent destiny paths from unfolding, need careful remediation, using multiple healing approaches, many of them based in the practice of the arts.
The new institute I’m developing under the aegis of CfA will be called Kairos, a word that points to “the right time” or “where heaven and earth meet”. Courses offered by this institute will provide specialized trainings under the umbrella of healing and the remediation of suffering.
The first offering of this institute, during the first week of July 2022, will be led by Bernd Ruf, founder of a program in Emergency Pedagogy that trains trauma intervention teams to help children and youths in places of great struggle––whether due to war, displacement, environmental climate crisis, and more––and helps them to overcome the dangers of PTSD by using methods based on Waldorf education. Of the 12 modules that constitute this training, four are especially helpful to teachers, and we hope to make these available during the coming years.
I will continue to provide updates on Kairos as it develops, and I look forward very much to joining forces with others who feel called to this work.
With warm wishes,
Karine
Dateline Wilton, NH: Renewal in New Hands
Karen Atkinson, the newly appointed Coordinator of CfA’s week-long Renewal Courses, reports on her first summer at the helm of this program and shares some reflections of participants.
“Renewal 2021: Serving in the Interval, Part II,” as we referred to this past summer’s program, brought together over 550 individuals from around the globe. After more than 15 months of navigating the continuous challenges brought on by the worldwide pandemic, our participants joined together, virtually, with open hearts and a willingness to learn.
During the first week, we began each day by engaging in eurythmy, led by Leonore Russell, followed by singing with Meg Chittenden, together with her family. (We affectionately called them “The Trapp Family of Northern New England”.) Christof Wiechert then offered inspiring lectures to carry us through the day and into the weeks and months that followed.
One participant noted, “Christof Wiechert’s lectures were quite refreshing. It was encouraging to feel the resonance of truth-seeking in our current curriculum, as well as to learn from his profound understanding of how continually relevant the methodology of Waldorf education is.”
In addition to these magical moments that laid the foundation for each day, our stellar faculty led more than 400 participants through the journey of preparing to teach a specific grade, while others engaged in a Curative Education course that provided them with deep insights and practical elements for meeting our children today.
It was an honor to work with these outstanding instructors: Lori Kran, Michael Gannon, Kris Ritz, Wendy Kelly, Jen Kershaw, Anne Clair Goodman, Sarah Nelson, and Robyn Brown. Together they brought great light, wisdom, and practical application to grade school teachers seeking personal and professional renewal.
Each afternoon we returned to our virtual “Town Hall” to bear witness to Conversation on Decomposing the Colonial Gaze with Linda Williams and Cherié and Petna Ndaliko.
One participant shared, “Afternoons with the Ndalikos and Linda Williams were invaluable. I cherish their point of view, knowledge, and experience. It was incredibly refreshing to hear thoroughly action-motivated intellectual thoughts that dug deeper and offered more than purely academic concepts and evaluation. They brought life and warmth through story and feeling to the uncomfortable, cold process of dissecting and, as they re-termed it, decomposing the colonial gaze.”
When asked to share a highlight from the week, one participant wrote, “Honestly, the entire week was the highlight of my year! Starting the morning with lectures by Christof Wiechert, followed by a day filled with inspiration from my instructor, and the opportunity to witness discussions on decomposing the colonial gaze, was just what I needed after a year of teaching during a global pandemic.”
The second week of Renewal began with a deeply thought-provoking and inspiring keynote address by Orland Bishop, who also led a course entitled “Sacred Hospitality”. Michael D’Aleo facilitated a course entitled “Living Thinking”, while Roberto Trostli offered a practical course for teaching physical sciences in the upper elementary grades. Charles Andrade led his group on an artistic journey with pastels, and the Administration and Leadership Development Program met for a week-long intensive with Torin Finser. Carla Beebe Comey guided the Administration participants through a series of eurythmy exercises, and the entire program was enriched by a panel of guest presenters from across the country.
When asked to share a highlight from the second week, one participant said, “In striving to share my highlight from the week, words are simply inadequate. The instructor’s lectures were inspiring; he created space for both inner and outer reflection that not only related to our work as educators, but more importantly, as human beings contributing to the planet for its highest good.”
Renewal 2021 was certainly rich with inspiration and deeply rooted in anthroposophy. It is with heartfelt gratitude that I extend my warmest appreciation to all the participants who put their daily lives on hold in order to engage in these meaningful experiences. Each participant’s commitment to professional development and personal growth is to be celebrated. Likewise, our Renewal instructors and staff went above and beyond to create courses that we could collectively be proud of. I continue to imagine their beams of light raying out to children and families across this continent and beyond.
Plans are already underway for Renewal 2022! Please stay tuned for more information to come.
Blessings and best wishes to all,
Karen Atkinson,
Coordinator of Renewal Courses
Dateline Keene, NH: New Training Course for School Leaders and Administrators
Among its new programs this year, CfA is offering its first training course in school leadership and administration. Karen Atkinson, Coordinator of this program, reports on the progress of the initial cohort.
CfA’s first Administration and Leadership Development Program is off to an amazing start! For almost seven months now, the inaugural cohort of this program has been meeting, virtually, twice a month during the school year, with the addition of a week-long intensive in July. Participants in this program include school administrators, pedagogical leaders, and board members from both new and established independent and public Waldorf schools.
Through a combination of inspiring lectures, in-depth group discussions, a stellar series of guest presenters, and informative reading material, the group of some 40 participants has engaged in a variety of subjects at the core of their daily work in schools. Topics such as Collaborative Leadership; Rhythms in Administration; Working with Parents; Pedagogical Leadership; Racialized Trauma and Best Practices with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); and Cultivating a Work-Life Balance are just some of the areas of administration and leadership explored so far in this one-year sequence.
When asked to share highlights from the program thus far, one participant wrote, “The lectures by the instructor and the guest presenters, along with the group discussions, have been SO valuable!”
In October, participants will come together in Keene, NH for a five-day in-person intensive. In addition to daily lectures, guest speakers will present on topics such as Communication and Delegation, Board Leadership, Threefolding, Community Development, and Best Practices for Professional Development. Daily engagement with the social arts, such as “Eurythmy in the Workplace”, modeling with clay, and engaging in “Social Color Exercises”, will bring this training to the next level.
Looking ahead, participants will continue to meet twice a month, virtually, until their next in-person intensive in April 2022. Over the course of the next few months, topics such as Building a Business Office Team, School Operations, Marketing, Working with Money, Restorative Practices and Conversations, Creating a Successful Capital Campaign, and Working with Grief and Trauma will be presented.
The next cohort for the Administration and Leadership Development Program is already forming and will begin in April 2022. If you are interested in learning more, please contact me at any time. karen@centerforanthroposophy.org If you would like to reserve a spot in our next round, please contact Milan Daler, CfA’s administrator, at milan@centerforanthroposophy.org
May you have the strength and inspiration to lead our Waldorf schools into the future!
Dateline Wilton, NH: Preparing to Teach Science in a Waldorf High School
In an earlier issue of our online newsletter, we outlined new cycle of a training program for Waldorf high school teachers of science sponsored by the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA). In follow-up, two participants in this summer’s course––one just starting out in physics, the other just wrapping up her studies in biology––offer vignettes of their experience.
Susan Koppejan de Jongh moved from her native Holland to the West Coast of Canada, where she has just started teaching the physical sciences at the Vancouver Waldorf School. She relates here some of her initial impressions of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP).
Have you ever had the experience of opening your eyes after a nap lying on your back on a sandy beach and seeing the world slowly emerge, coming into focus in a completely different way? Blurry colors dance before your eyes. Your mind is still in standby modus, so all is pure observation –– pure wonder of the movement and patterns that form, dissolve, change course, move in intensity, deepen in color. It’s akin to being in Wonderland, Twilight Zone, or whatever word you prefer. You are feeling your way into the world around you.
Then your mind begins to kick in with its logical thinking mode and suddenly the scenery focuses, sharpens, snaps into place, drawing upon your mind’s library of references and images of objects. Blue color with dancing white dots takes form and is identified by the names ‘lake’ with ‘waves’, illuminated by ‘sun’. A constant moving white color in the alternating blue/white scene gets to be recognized as a passing ‘boat’ and the surrounding ribbon of green color is identified as ‘trees’.
Without thinking, the mind organizes the scenery into geometric perspective, so we know the boat is closer to us and the trees lining the opposite side of the lake are further away. Unawares, we have formed relationships between us and the world around us through our sensing perception and our life-long frame of references.
The scenery now feels familiar, and we see more patterns and relationships emerging: the boat passing with a velocity and a direction; the movement of the boat creating ripples in the water with complementary velocity and direction. These movements can now be translated into basic mathematical formulas expressing fundamental laws of nature.
What if we now go a little further into what we see? How does illumination influence this scene? How do colors affect our spatial experience? How do we know when the ripples in the water turn into waves on the shore? And how is our perception of this visual field different, say, for a friend sitting next to us or on the other side of the lake or above us in a plane? And, perhaps most important, how does this scene relate to us?
For the past weeks of this summer during the first year of my Waldorf high school science teacher training at the Center for Anthroposophy, my eyes were opened to life in a rich, expansive, and engaging way. In my specialized physics seminar with Michael D’Aleo, a seasoned Waldorf high school science teacher, I was shown another way of experiencing and applying the laws of nature.
Through experiments (integrated into an online Zoom platform) I was able to methodically break down my frame of references and preconceptions in order to arrive at a neutral, pure place of observation. Then, step-by-step, through logic and reasoning, I felt the opening to a science of relations, as well as to my place in them. It is this ‘place’, this ‘A-HA!’ of being in the world that allows room for changing perspectives, seeing through someone else’s eyes, and recognizing how each person, each object, each moment in time is unique.
My head is still spinning as I try to comprehend it all and capture this new understanding in words. It is one thing to look at the teaching material of a physics course in a different way, to use it as a means for understanding and clarifying the world and universe with fresh eyes. It is another thing to perceive myself––indeed, each person––as a micro-universe and find there the same forces and hence laws of nature that apply to my own being. It is mind bending, and yet it feels so natural!
I am so very grateful for having had this journey into the universe and self. It inspires me deeply as a teacher to meet each of my prospective students in their micro-universe and their own understanding of it, and together with them to go on experimental adventures through sense experiences and find out how they relates to the world and to themselves. We’ll find more lakes and boats. We’ll explore color. We’ll talk about illumination. We may even take an imaginary trip to observe black holes and gas clouds and move into the radiating, contracting forces that create anew. And to come to the conclusion that, in the end, all is related.
Vanessa Valdez Ramirez has just completed her final summer of Waldorf teacher training at CfA, specializing in the life sciences. She reflects here on her experience of preparing to teach biology in her native Mexico.
After four years studying anthroposophy at my children´s Waldorf school in Mexico, I decided I was ready to become part of the team as a high school teacher. Coming from a biology background, I knew that I needed a highly recognized program with quality instruction that combined experienced teachers with a rich curriculum. After some research, I chose the Center for Anthroposophy’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHISTEP). I liked their part-time approach spread over a three-year interval, their worldwide recognition, the fact that I could specialize in a particular field, and their overall approach to imbue the teacher with the essence that is required to lead young adults through their final years of school.
For my specialization I chose the Life Sciences seminar with Michael Holdrege, a leading instructor of many years’ experience as a high school science teacher. All his classes were imbued with enthusiasm, passion, and a desire to share the experience that years of teaching have given him. The class included an overview of each grade´s curriculum as well as practical teaching tips that gave me the tools I need to move forward.
Having just finished the final summer of courses, my heart fills with gratitude for him and the rest of the instructors´ warmth, their constant presence, and their commitment to form the next generation of Waldorf leaders. I am particularly amazed by how each of them showed a passion that could be felt, even over an online Zoom platform.
The Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the world has brought many challenges to the Waldorf community, but I have witnessed how each member of the CfA team rose to meet them by adapting the program to the needs of their students. It has been clear to me that their aim is to share their subjects across the digital divide as best as possible, while still caring for their students’ wellbeing and learning satisfaction. The CfA team has always held a high standard selecting their instructors, and these new conditions have not changed that at all.
An additional and unexpected gift has been the wonderful friends I have made through the program ––people who are committed to bringing a high-quality education to their classrooms and families; people who, inside classes and during breaks, have shared their teaching experiences, challenges, ideas, and love for what they do. All these gifts have filled me with even more love and excitement for this new path in my life.
Finally, I never cease to be amazed by the commitment of the CfA admin staff. They are always ready to help their prospective and currently enrolled students understand the challenges, requirements, and steps designed for the program, aiming to create a swift, rich, and deeply satisfying learning experience. I am delighted to have chosen this program to begin my path as a Waldorf teacher. I look forward to spreading and planting the seeds gathered here back in my country, Mexico.
Dateline Wilton NH: Where Are They Now?
All nine students who graduated this summer from CfA’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) have already had teaching experience in the classroom. Here is a brief outline of where they are now working.
Of the Class of 2021, all were working in Waldorf schools even before they completed their three-summers training in CfA’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP). As the 24th graduating group, they come from a wide range of North American locations stretching from Alaska to Mexico. One member of this group of nine actually resides in Mexico; two are themselves Waldorf school alumni.
— Marina Budrys: teaching humanities at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula in Mountainview CA
— Emily Fuchs: teaching English and leading the high school at the Lake Champlain Waldorf School in Shelburne, VT
— Ann Johnson: toggling between Fairbanks, AK and Tucson AZ, taking up the teaching of high school arts
— Emily Jones: teaching high school arts at the Kimberton Waldorf School in Kimberton, PA
— Tori Manship: teaching high school arts and history at the Cincinnati Waldorf School in Cincinnati, OH
— Susanne Mitchell: teaching high school arts and art history at the Waldorf School of San Diego in San Diego, CA
— Vanessa Valdez Ramirez: teaching life sciences in the upper elementary and high school grades in Mexico while continuing her internship
— Brian Scannell: teaching humanities at the Hawthorne Valley School in Ghent, NY
— Ellen Taylor: teaching arts while interning at the Waldorf High School of Massachusetts Bay as well as the Seacoast Waldorf School in Eliot, ME
Looking ahead to the summer of 2022, a new group of high school trainees is already forming, with specializations offered in
· Arts and art history
· English language and literature
· History and social sciences
· Life science and earth science
· Mathematics and computer studies
· Physics and chemistry
For details, contact Douglas Gerwin, Executive Director of the Center for Anthroposophy and chair of WHiSTEP: douglas@centerforanthroposophy.org
Dateline Wilton, NH: A New Vision for Alumni of CfA and Antioch programs
New mission and vision statements signal the direction that the alumni association for graduates of CfA and the Waldorf Program at Antioch University New England will be taking during the coming year. Bev Boyer, convenor of this association, reports.
The Alumni Association, serving both CfA and Antioch graduates, continues to grow and evolve. Recently the Association’s leadership group formally adopted a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement, reproduced here:
Mission Statement
Our Alumni Association exists to further the excellence and integrity of Waldorf education and its ideals. We strive to advance the personal and professional connections of the graduates of the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA) and the Waldorf Program at Antioch University New England (AUNE) by building a strong, easily accessible community of mutual support and creative collaboration.
Vision Statement
Specifically, we intend to create an online platform for connecting with each other to promote:
· Opportunities for interest-based study and collaboration
· Building connections between the graduates of the many programs offered through AUNE and CfA to support teacher training and on-going professional development
· Networking for employment and volunteer activities in conjunction with AWSNA, WECAN, and the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education
· Mentoring and speaking partner opportunities
· Gatherings by and for alums
A specific goal for this year has been identified –– namely, to sponsor a series of three hour-long Zoom events to take place during the winter months. These gatherings will feature alums sharing something they have been doing or thinking about, followed by a group conversation. The series will be called “Alumni Voices”. If any alums feel that they would like to contribute to such an event––or would simply like to hear more about it––please contact Betsi McGuigan at blmcwig@hotmail.com
Now I must show you how we can arrive at such an assumption that behind our physical nature there is an etheric or life body—strictly speaking, an etheric or life world—that is a multiplicity of differentiated beings. To express how we can arrive at this, I can clothe it in simple words: we are more and more able to recognize the etheric or life world behind physical nature when we begin to have a moral feeling and perception of the world around us. 
The Center for Anthroposophy’s Explorations program
“Renewal 2021: Serving in the Interval, Part II,” as we referred to this past summer’s program, brought together over 550 individuals from around the globe. After more than 15 months of navigating the continuous challenges brought on by the worldwide pandemic, our participants joined together, virtually, with open hearts and a willingness to learn. 
Susan Koppejan de Jongh moved from her native Holland to the West Coast of Canada, where she has just started teaching the physical sciences at the Vancouver Waldorf School. She relates here some of her initial impressions of the Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (
Vanessa Valdez Ramirez has just completed her final summer of Waldorf teacher training at CfA, specializing in the life sciences. She reflects here on her experience of preparing to teach biology in her native Mexico.
