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News from AWSNA             December 2012
The official e-news of the Association of independent Waldorf schools
Greetings!

 

Thank you for keeping all our hearts and prayers with the families who must face these days with such wrenching and tragic loss. Keep the community of the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School, a near neighbor to the Sandy Hook School, also close in your thoughts. May the light of our compassion shine love and warmth and light onto those in need.
  

Patrice Maynard and Frances Kane

AWSNA Leadership 

SING with Millions of Others 
on December 21 at 5 pm EST

Join 15 million people around the world in singing at 5 p.m. EST on Friday, December 21, 2012, for fifteen minutes. Together we will midwife the birth of a new consciousness for the Earth and plead with the leaders of the world to stop the violence to the Earth (including the violence on the Earth).

 

Hawaii The goal of the "One Earth. One Voice" campaign, led by classical singer  and Waldorf parent Shyla Nelson, is to rally 15 million people worldwide to learn and sing a Nigerian song, "Ise Oluwa," for an unprecedented global event on Dec. 21, 2012. The words of the song translate as "That which has been created can never be destroyed."

 

Shyla Nelson has generated widespread international support of "One Earth. One Voice." in more than 45 countries, and among world-renowned musicians, scientists, environmentalists and world leaders. She has traveled through Nigeria, France, England, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan and Australia, and will continue her journey until Dec. 21.

 

To follow Nelson's journey and for more information about the One Earth. One Voice. campaign, visit their website.

 

bells We ask that you join us in dedicating this singing to the children, teachers, and staff who died on Friday at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut, and to their families. We will also sing for all those in the community of our sister school, the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School. They are neighbors in Newtown and experienced the mandatory lock down and the shock of what happened to their friends and colleagues at Sandy Hook very closely. Our support at this time will give them strength, too.

Thank you and we at AWSNA will be singing for you and with you on December 21! For more information please visit Why Waldorf Works. 

 

 

Waldorf Schools Receive Award for Excellence in Environmental Education from Captain Planet

 

NOLA workers2At December's big annual fund raising gala for the Captain Planet Foundation Waldorf Schools received the Award for Excellence in Environmental Education

 

"Waldorf educators know that by cultivating a personal relationship with the Earth and her resources,young people can develop a genuine ecological consciousness," states the Captain Planet website. "Waldorf students are engaged in experiential learning that fosters their potential to be thoughtful, caring, and active stewards of the Earth. Waldorf schools work with an awareness of where all things originate as gifts from the Earth: paper from trees; crayons from bees, color from plants, and so on. The teachers lead students in daily practice of remembering these gifts with gratitude and in exercising care for how the Earth's resources are used. This builds inner habits that prepare the children for being environmentalists on the deepest levels. The Waldorf students learn about the ways in which the Earth is threatened and how they can take action to help: recycle trash; tread lightly when in the wild; bring awareness to their energy use and purchases; educate others; identify problems and imagine solutions. To this imagination they bring a deep feeling for the Earth that has been cultivated during their Waldorf years.

 

Other award winners were former president Jimmy Carter and Sir Richard Branson.

 

How You can Help to Further
Waldorf Education
Lakota student
We want to remind you of some ways you can further Waldorf Education in North America: Sign up to receive the enews and on the Alumni Corner on 
Why Waldorf Works to stay informed about Waldorf news; find us on Facebook; support your local Waldorf school every way you can; use GoodSearch (instead of Google) when surfing the web. You can also support AWSNA online on Why Waldorf Works. Thank you for your commitment to Waldorf Education!

 

Read more on Why Waldorf Works.  


Website News

We have a lot happening on the Why Waldorf Works website, including a new job postings page. Please send us your school's employment openings. Submissions should include AWSNA member school or institute name, position that is open, and contact information (email address, phone number, web link to your school). Your job listing will be up for three months or until you inform us that the post has been filled (please do let us know so that we can include the information in our "People" section!) Please send submissions to the web editor: webeditor@awsna.org.   We also seek your Green School Pages submissions. Read school news about green ideas on the Why Waldorf Works green pages. 

 

WALDORF EDUCATION EVENTS

 

Event details, including contact information, can be found on the Events page of the Why Waldorf Works website. Please send us your events so we can include them in our calendar. 

 

December 21, 2012: San Fancisco, CA

Waldorf Alumni Gathering in San Francisco

Hosted by the San Francisco Waldorf School

 

February 1-2, 2013: Phoenixville, PA

Doing Well by Doing Good - a Social Entrepreneur Conference for High School and College Students

Hosted by the Kimberton Waldorf School and organized by Triskeles

 

February 22 -24, 2013: Burlington, ON Canada

The Great Lakes / Ontario Regional Conference and Delegates' meetings

Meetings will be at the Halton Waldorf School

 

March 1, 2012: Princeton, NJ

Mid-Atlantic Regional Delegates Meeting

Hosted by the Princeton Waldorf School 

 

March 7-9, 2013: Chapel Hill, NC
Southeast Regional Delegates Meeting 

Hosted by Emerson Waldorf School in Chapel Hill, NC

 

March 15-16, 2013: Cotuit, MA

Northeast-Québec Delegates Meeting & Conference

Hosted by Cape Cod Waldorf School in Cotuit, MA   

 

April 19-21, 2013: Detroit, MI

AWSNA ALUMNI Service Weekend 2013
HEADS HANDS AND HEARTS IN DETROT! Be there and show you care!

This year the traveling Service Weekend will be at the Detroit Waldorf School in the much beset with economic woes city of Detroit. The school will get us painting, digging, wiring, carpentering (skills anyone?) and generally sprucing up the beautiful old building that houses this little Waldorf school. See the Motor City while lending a hand to a school with a long-standing special mission to serve Detroit's children of all nationalities and economic levels.

Details coming soon.

 

SAVE THE DATE: June 24-27, 2013

AWSNA Summer Conference  Co-Sponsored by the Anthroposophical Society

Practical Life, Meditation, and the Waldorf School: The Anthroposophical Challenge.

 

February 17-20, 2013: Boulder, CO

TMCSR Regional Teacher's Conference with Aonghus Gordon

Conference held at the Shining Mountain Waldorf School in Boulder, CO

 

Please inform your communities and mark your calendars!

 

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You are welcome to send Waldorf-related events for posting on our web site.

 
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AWSNA provides leadership to schools by facilitating resources, networks and research as they strive towards excellence and build healthy school communities. The Association performs functions that its member schools and institutes could not do alone, including:
·    Outreach and advocacy
·    Accreditation and school support services
·    Professional development activities
·    Research and publications
Please contact us if you have any questions about AWSNA or this or any other newsletter

 

Leader of Association Administration              Leader of Association Outreach and Development
Frances Kane                                                     Patrice Maynard
fkane@awsna.org                                              pmaynard@awsna.org
2344 Nicollet Ave S.                                           38 Main Street  

                   Minneapolis, MN 55404                                       Chatham, NY 12037
                   612-870-8310                                                      518-392-0613