To recognize the Martin Luther King holiday this year, all Shining Mountain students in grades 1-12 gathered in the gym and collaborated to make a large mosaic portrait of Dr. King.  The project was prepared as a mystery drawing, organized by the high school Student Leadership Group.  A grid was placed over a picture of Dr. King and the picture cut into many tiny pieces; each student received three squares from the grid with instructions to use crayons to draw the colors from the squares on post-it notes.  As students finished drawing, the colored squares were assembled on large sheets of foam board and the completed panels were hung on the gym wall.  None of the other students knew what the final image would be, and there was much joyful anticipation. Intrigue and guessing about the picture turned to satisfaction as the face emerged.  Everyone gathered under the portrait while a few HS students read inspirational words from Dr. King, and choir teacher Cobus du Toit led the gathering in singing “Oh Freedom.” 

 Many positive insights come from this experience.  Pursuing art together is valuable.  When everyone contributes, even just a little, substantial and meaningful things can be achieved in a short time.  Similarly, the finished portrait shows that each person’s contribution is essential – if even one small square were missing from the 6’x9’ mosaic, that flaw would be apparent.  The project also reveals the way that many individualities can blend harmoniously. All the students colored their squares based on their own interpretation and personality – some faithfully captured the colors and forms they were given, while others were more fanciful.  Viewed up close, those individual differences are notable; however, when the final product is observed from across the room the distinctions give way in favor of a unified and living whole.  Dr. King tells us, “we must accept finite disappointment and never lose infinite hope.”  This was a moment of hope.

Having not yet met the 10th grade class, I arrived to their classroom just three short weeks ago ready to dive into the always thrilling, ever daunting, sublimely challenging and thoroughly rewarding process of putting on a play. Stepping into the classroom that first day, I was reminded of my experience as a 10th grade Shining Mountain Waldorf student, and the excitement and apprehension at the thought of putting on a play in such a short period of time. My 10th grade memories of self melded with my current self, and off ‘we’ and the present day 10th grade students went –  on a journey through Moliere’s play The Imaginary Invalid.

         After spending the first few days getting to know the students, it was soon time to cast the play – 11 roles for 11 students. It is never an easy process to cast a play, especially in a Waldorf High School where one’s goal is not simply to create a strong and stellar final performance, but one’s goal is to also – and most importantly – support the students to grow, develop, strive and shine. Similar in ideal to SMWS’ Positive Coaching philosophy, drama and theater in Waldorf education is undertaken with the rehearsal process as the true focus. During a class’ rehearsal process, self-discoveries are made, new relationships are kindled and forged, ideas of self are broken and created, and the bonds tying the class together are stretched and strengthened. With the focus on the rehearsal process as one of growth and transformation, the end result is indeed a strong final performance, although that has not been the shared goal. As in athletics, a winning team is most likely one that knows itself and seamlessly works together out of respect and integrity, so too goes it for an ensemble of actors in a play.

         To bring the philosophy stated above out of the general and into the specific, in our particular play, taking place this next week, each student was cast in his or her role with a greater purpose in mind. Whether to stretch the student to explore unexamined parts of themselves, or to highlight and give that student confidence in abilities and characteristics already within them, or for a myriad of other reasons, each student was assigned their character with conscious and conscientious intentionality. While I – and certainly any teacher and director – cannot know all the intricacies, challenges, joys and successes that each student will meet and grapple with in their role, I can certainly imagine some of them and be there as director to support, guide and shape their experience and development through the rehearsal process.

         For this particular class, I chose a comedy. Having never met with the 10th grade before our rehearsal intensive time together, I trusted my intuition and what basics I knew about the class and chose a play which had characters who were melodramatic, fantastically outrageous, conniving, supremely foolish and full and nobly hearted. (All the trappings of a well-rounded adolescent experience!) I chose a play and the characters within it in which the students could shape and change and add their own interests and tastes to. I often think of a play as having a life of its own, and needing us – actors, directors, designer, musicians, etc – to bring it to life. In this way, the actors are essential in the (literally) creative process for they give life to the story – their lives. In this play, while I directed and guided at the helm, each student had his and her own addition as, ideas, visions and ideals to ask and give to the story and its characters. While we began a few weeks ago with a simple script, we will end in performance with scenes not originally written into it, music not noted, relationships not referred to – all out of the students vibrant hearts and creative minds.

         While this particular play may lack a deep meaning in and of itself (it has no great moral lesson hidden within its acts and scenes!), the students themselves give it purpose and meaning with their commitment to explore, their willingness to develop and transform, and their desire to grow.

         Come and give the 10th grade students your support this Thursday and Friday, Nov. 19 and 20, at 7:00pm in the SMWHS Assembly Hall. A short talkback and discussion with the actors and myself will be given after Thursday’s performance.

Join us! You will be glad you did – I promise.

To celebrate National German Week, the whole high school feasted on delicious German food. Tables decorated with the blue and white Bavarian flag and German Oompahpah music added to the atmosphere. Frau Blum had cooked with all the HS German classes on Wednesday and Thursday to prepare the food. Seniors, Gray Hill, Mattijs Ossorio and Hans Moser grilled all the brats, hotdogs and Smartdogs. To go with these, the students made Kartoffelsalat ( potato salad), Gurkensalat (cucumber salad), grünen Salat (green salad), Peace­Jam­Salat (using the enormous squash and swiss chard from the HS Peace Jam garden) and Sauerkraut. For dessert, there were a variety of cakes: schlesischer Apfelkuchen mit Streuseln (Apple Crumble Cake), verrückter Apfelkuchen (crazy apple cake), Bentheimer Kuchen (a cake made with almonds), feiner Österreichischer Marillenkuchen (fine Austrian apricot cake) and glutenfreier Schokokuchen (glutenfree chocolate cake).

The beautiful fall weather added to the Deutschfest. It was great for the high schoolers to spend the lunchtime together eating. Thank you to everyone who baked, peeled, chopped, shopped and grilled.

Photos outside by Riona Gipple
Photos in kitchen by Paula Blum

Shining Mountain’s faculty, administration and Board of Trustees is committed to providing a healthy social and physical atmosphere for all of our students. To support the mission of the school, which is based on helping our students become healthy, balanced human beings, our school created a Clean Living Task Force last year where we examined what we could do to help our students choose to refrain from illegal substance use, how to support a friend who might need some guidance, and learn how to be substance free in a society and culture that encourages such use. Additionally, we engaged an educator from Freedom from Chemical Dependency to host parent information evenings and work with the Middle and High School classes about unique issues they face in their social circles. 

Moving forward, the students have nominated and voted on faculty members to join the Early Intervention Team at the high school level. The intention of the EIT is to provide an access point, without disciplinary consequences, for students and families to communicate with the school about substance use and concerns related to substances. The EIT members will have their first training at the end of October, and then we will share the processes with the high school students and parents. 

The High School Leadership Group has also recently learned that parents desire more outlets and venues to communicate with each other about substance use among adolescents, especially because it can sometimes be a very controversial issue. In an effort to support our parent community and allow for facilitated discussion forums, we are looking at re-engaging parents in the Clean Living Parent Group. We will keep you updated as this program unfolds.

In order to provide the students at SMWS with the support, knowledge and confidence to make healthy choices, we believe it will take a hybrid approach―that includes parents, friends, faculty and administrators working together to support healthy living in our High School…and beyond.