Weekly Bulletin

May 11, 2022

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Shelters from around the world created by the 3rd grade. Revisit the Bulletin from October 27, 2021 to see the life size shelters that the 3rd graders constructed in the woods on our campus.

Congratulations to the Class of 2022!

Our seniors have made their choices for the next phase of their journey after graduation from WWS. Many students are glad to know where they will go to college, and some students are taking gap time to gain experience, knowledge, and to better understand their own goals and options of what to do next. We are so happy for all our graduates, and wish them all the best in their next year and for years to come!

  • Ella C. - University of St Andrews, Scotland 
  • Ella M. - Union College 
  • Emma - University of Maryland College Park
  • Jaad - University of Puget Sound
  • Jake - Gap year, then Marist University
  • Jeremy - Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), studying with Prof. Steve Rose
  • Katherine - St. Mary's College of Maryland
  • Lucia - Mt. Holyoke College
  • Lucy - St. Olaf College
  • Lydia - Gap year, then attending Whitman College
  • Madhava - Savannah College of Art and Design
  • Mia - Gap year with "Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners," an organization which provides worldwide voluntary services for young people
  • Omari - Gap year
  • Rayan - University of Maryland College Park
  • Samael - Montgomery County Community College
  • Samuel - University of Oregon, Eugene (Clark Honors College)

High School Social Activism Club Art Sale

As announced last week, we had the opening of an art sale of donated pieces from our High School Social Activism Club. The sale is a fundraiser for two organizations: DC Greens and Many Languages One Voice. There are many pieces, different sizes, different mediums -- most of them in watercolor, some acrylics, and a few in oil. All of them done in earnest, and all of them donated with love for the school and the fundraiser.


View All of the Available Art


This is just a sample of the art for sale. Please take some time to view all of the offerings donated by students to raise funds for these organizations they chose to support.

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View All of the Available Art


Email Gabriele Schilz with questions or requests.

School Calendar
Staying Up to Date With Our School Calendar

You can view the full calendar online either on the website , in ParentSquare , or in the BigSis portal (these 3 platforms are synced from the same calendar). 
* Current Parents can find Zoom information for meetings in ParentSquare

May


12/ Thursday

  • G7 Parent Meeting and Calleva information session, 5:30-6pm
  • G7 & G8, Calleva Information Meeting, 6pm


13/ Friday

  • Spring Festival, 1:15pm (see below)
  • High School Prom


16/ Monday

  • G5 Parent Meeting, 7pm


18/ Wednesday

  • G1 Parent Meeting, 7:30pm


23/ Monday

  • Community Book Club, 8-9pm (see below)


25/ Wednesday

  • Seedlings Parent Meeting, 7:30pm


26/ Thursday

  • G2 Parent Meeting, 8pm


27/ Friday

  • 1/2 Day Dismissal - Memorial Day Weekend
  • Gym Groundbreaking, 11:30am (see below)


30/ Monday

  • NO SCHOOL - Memorial Day
Upcoming Events
Spring Festival

Spring Festival with Families Invited

**New Date Due to Weather**

Friday, May 13 from 1:15-2:30


We are excited for our outdoor Spring Festival together with our families. The program will include grades 2-8 and our high school ensembles as well as a special time for grades 1 & 12. 


We welcome current parents/guardians and any grandparents and special friends who are able to attend. We look forward to continuing to open up the campus in the fall as health conditions permit.


Please leaving parking on campus for those who need it most.

Community Book Club

Monday, May 23 from 8-9pm


The Community Book Club has chosen: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson as its next book for a May meeting. Wilkerson's first book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, won the Pulitzer prize.


"Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today".


Please contact Susan Walsh to sign up: swalsh@washingtonwaldorf.org

Groundbreaking and Launch of

the Room to Move Campaign

Friday, May 27 from 11:30am - 2:30pm


The secret is out! Thanks to the generous support of lead donors, countless volunteer and staff hours, and the leadership of our Room to Move campaign committee, Washington Waldorf School is thrilled to announce that we have raised $5.8 million out of a $7 million goal to build a gym on our school’s campus. We celebrate those who have helped us get this far, and invite YOU to be a part of the excitement! 


Join us on Friday, May 27 from 11:30am - 2:30pm on the blacktop for a community-wide celebration, including food trucks, music, and entertainment. Hear more about the plans to build the gym, and learn how you can play a part. Current parents and students, grandparents, alums and family members are joyfully invited to join us.


At the conclusion of the gym’s construction, we will have more “Room to Move”. The gym will not only serve as an athletic facility, it will be a central gathering place for our community and a source of pride.  


Room to Move Campaign Committee: Vanessa and John Beckman, Maria Monteverde-Jackson and Jon Jackson, Lelia True, Taisto Saloma, Stephanie Hanson, Miriam Zarin, Pat Jackson (Campaign Counsel)

Graduation Speaker Announcement

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We are thrilled to have Jennifer Page as our graduation speaker this year!


Jennifer Page, former WWS teacher, Faculty Chair and Head of School, is an educator, musician, athlete, lawyer, seminarian, and community volunteer and activist. Her professional experiences and related pursuits derive from a lifelong love of teaching, learning, and advocacy for the disenfranchised. Jennifer is currently engaged in both formally organized and grassroots efforts on behalf of Washington, DC’s unhoused population. Cooking WITH, eating WITH, engaging WITH, rather than doing FOR our unhoused neighbors is the principle behind the work she is doing. The documentation of her work will serve as the foundation for her Master of Theological Studies thesis and a new non-profit organization she is developing.

 

Jennifer is a graduate of Northwestern University (BME) and the University of Georgia School of Law (JD) and received her Waldorf teaching certificate from Antioch University of New England and her Waldorf administrative certificate from the Sound Circle Center. She is a member of the Maryland and District of Columbia bars. Prior to her time at WWS, Jennifer clerked for the Supreme Court of Georgia, practiced general civil and criminal law in Maryland and DC, directed the Simple Abundance Charitable Fund, taught high school music and history, and coached high school track and field and softball. She and her husband Greg have three adult children, Alli, Andrew, and Erin, all of whom attended WWS, a son-in-law, John (Erin’s husband), and a grandchild, Lukas. 

Last Chance for Buy-In Parties

There are just a few slots remaining at selected Buy-In Parties - final chance to purchase before Friday, 5/13.


View Available Buy-In Parties

One Gala housekeeping note: If you took home event flowers to enjoy and no longer need the vase, please return to the front desk so we can reuse them for future events. 

Last Chance to Preorder the Yearbook

Preorder Your Copy(ies) of the 2021-2022 Yearbook! 


Full color coverage of Children’s Garden through 12th Grade & events. 

You can preorder a yearbook with free delivery to the school if you place your order by May 15, 2022. Orders placed after the May 15, 2022 deadline will include the cost of shipping the book directly to the purchaser. 


Preorders with free shipping cost $43.57 and will be available at the school for pickup by June 3, 2022. All yearbooks are printed on recycled paper and for every yearbook purchased, TreeRing will plant a tree. Please contact Erina O’Brien, Yearbook sponsor, with any questions. 


Preorder online by May 15, 2022 


Yearbooks can only be ordered through the TreeRing website.

Please Note: TreeRing’s website works best in the Chrome internet browser. If you visit the website directly, the school passcode is: 1015278619434770 

Update on Affinity Groups

In an effort to support the experiences and needs of marginalized and underrepresented voices, the Parent Leadership Group (PLG) supports two affinity groups at WWS. 


LGBTQ+ Group to include family members

The LGBTQ+ affinity group will now expand to include families of LGBTQ+ individuals in our community. Like the BIPOC group, it will be facilitated by a group email list on the groups.io platform. We invite those who self-identify as LGBTQ+ and those who are allied with a family member in our community who self-identifies as LGBTQ+ to follow this link to indicate your interest in joining the group: https://groups.io/g/WWSLGBTQ


BIPOC Group

Our BIPOC affinity group continues to use the following email list to gather, connect and exchange ideas. If you identify as a BIPOC adult yourself and would like to join, please visit: https://groups.io/g/WWSBIPOC


Please contact contact Dini Rao with any questions.

Bulletin Board
How to Submit a Listing
  • We welcome submissions of community news, items for sale, want ads, etc. Please keep notices to 500 characters or less. There is no charge for listings.  
  • Please submit listings by COB Tuesdays with the subject "Bulletin Submission."
  • If you are sending images or flyers, a link to an online version is preferred.
  • Bulletin Board notices generally run for 3 weeks - if space allows - unless other arrangements have been made. Please let us know if listing information is no longer accurate. Listings may not be accepted and will likely be edited.
These notices are from the WWS community, the greater Waldorf community, and occasionally from our school neighbors. The information and views in them belong to the individuals who submit the notices and do not necessarily reflect the views of WWS.
Events
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Undoing Racism: An Open Community Forum

from WWS Parents, Dini Rao and Jesse Travis


TOMORROW - Thursday, May 12 from 7-8:30pm (Zoom)

Register here


You may be aware of the ongoing efforts at Waldorf schools across the country to renew Waldorf pedagogy and institutions to become more inclusive and anti-racist. One tool several Waldorf schools are using is the Undoing Racism Community Organizing Workshop, the signature offering of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond.


In the summer of 2021, two parents with children at the Washington Waldorf School felt a need to support and galvanize efforts to create a more inclusive and anti-racist community within and surrounding WWS. More than 20 people who have taken the workshop since then have formed the Undoing Racism Working Group.

  • The URWG provides a space to continue building on the workshop's insights and to organize ourselves and others around anti-racist principles.
  • Through personal exploration, conversation and study, we aim to engage more people at WWS and in our surrounding community in creating a shared analysis of systemic racism and how it operates in our community, and develop our understanding of how to function as anti-racists.

We, the core organizers of the URWG, have been inspired by anti-racist organizing in other Waldorf communities, and want to share that inspiration with you. At this open community forum, you will hear:

  • about the history of PISAB as an organization and about the Undoing Racism workshop, which over 2 million people have taken since 1980;
  • testimonials from people who have taken the workshop and who participate in the URWG;
  • from core organizers at other Waldorf schools about how their institutions have been affected by their community's participation in the workshop and ongoing organizing efforts. 

If inclusivity and anti-racism are important to you, as we hope they are to all, we ask that you activate your own agency and attend this open forum to learn more about how your personal development of racial consciousness can meaningfully connect you with others and create a network for positive change. See you there!


–URWG Core Organizers Dini Rao (dinivrao@gmail.com) and Jesse Travis (jessetravis@gmail.com)

Free Workshops for Children at the Gaithersburg Book Festival

From Susan Walsh, WWS Librarian


Saturday, May 21 from 10am - 6pm


Children of all ages can explore their creativity through creating comics and graphic novels, writing haiku poetry and building their college essays at the 2022 Gaithersburg Book Festival. A full day of free workshops—designed for elementary, middle and high school students—will be led by top authors and illustrators in the Children’s Workshop Tent. The festival takes place on Saturday, May 21, at Bohrer Park at Summit Hall Farm. 


Learn More

Classifieds & Notices

Looking for Cooking Support

From April McDowell, WWS Faculty


Part-time cook needed at a home in Kensington beginning in mid-August. A responsible teenager is preferred, although adults would be considered. Three dinners a week are needed. Expertise in cooking is not necessarily required. Ability to read and follow a recipe accurately is. Hours are roughly 3:30-5:00, three days a week. Competitive salary. 


For more info, please contact April McDowell at amcdowell@washingtonwaldorf.org or 240-472-7204. 

For Sale: Ostereier toys & Violins

from Clare André, WWS Faculty & Parent


  • Ostereier toys - $5 each or we can negotiate a bulk purchase. In excellent condition. As per the photos:
  • Three violins all negotiable to sell: 
  • A half size, including case and bow. In need of a bridge, E string and tuning.
  • A 3/4 including case and bow.
  • A 4/4 including case, bow shoulder rest and several spare strings.


Email Clare

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Items for Sale

From Gabriele Schilz, WWS Faculty & Alum Parent


Wooden play kitchen in very good condition. We can bring it to school or you could pick it up from the Woodley Park neighborhood in DC. $60.00


Painted child's chair, for 3-5 year olds. We can bring it to school or you could pick it up from the Woodley Park neighborhood in DC. $25.00


Contact Gabriele 415-200-8850

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Partners in Parenting - Support Group for Parents of Adolescents Who Struggle With Mental Health (VA residents - DC and MD to come in the fall)

From Jessica Gottlieb, WWS Faculty


This 6-session virtual group provides a safe, nonjudgmental space for parents to come together for education, support, and peer connection.


The group facilitators will provide information, tools, and resources that will assist participants in finding the most effective ways to support their adolescents and care for themselves. Group members are encouraged to bring their concerns as well as to offer and receive input from each other.


To register or for more information, please email Cate Riihimaki, LPC at cateriihimaki@gmail.com

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View the Flyer

Summer Job Opportunity

From Caitlin MacKenzie, WWS Alum, Parent, and Former Faculty


Calleva is hiring its summer camp counselor staff which could be a great opportunity for WWS students, recent alumni, etc. See the attached flyer and visit the Calleva website to learn more.

Wooden Play Stands, Cradle, Trucks, Toys and Stokke Chair for Sale 

From Theodora Scarato, WWS Parent


Beautiful wooden toys gently used for sale. Playstands, cradles, American door wheelchair, red Stokke high chair and more! Our family will donate all funds from raised to WWS Annual Fund and the Jane Goodall Institute/Roots and Shoots.


View the list of items and photos.


If you are interested please contact Theodora Scarato at theodorams@aol.com

Published by the Washington Waldorf School
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Washington Waldorf School
4800 Sangamore Road,
Bethesda, MD 20816
301-229-6107
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