Housatonic Valley Waldorf School, which celebrated its 25 anniversary this school year, held its annual commencement ceremony for graduating eighth graders on Saturday, June 6, under a tent on the grounds of its Newtown campus.

The students were welcomed to the stage by the school’s pedagogical resource teacher Marleen De Grande, who introduced Leslie Lew, who has been the Class of 2015 lead teacher for the past seven years.

Throughout the program, parents, trustees, and faculty spoke and the eighth graders recited, sang, and played recorders.

The Housatonic Valley Waldorf School Class of 2011 alumnus and Newtown High School graduate Michael Unschuld, who will be attending Cornell University in the fall, and three graduating eighth graders — Michael Wipf, Dillon Larkin, and Sanni Cohn —  also spoke of their experiences at the school during the ceremony.

During the event, a “reverse Rose Ceremony” was also held. Each year on the first day of school the eighth graders present their first grade buddies with a rose in an all-school assembly. At graduation the reverse happens. This year first and second graders presented a rose to their eighth grade buddies.

The graduates of the Class of 2015 will attend a variety of high schools including: Bethel High School, Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School, Immaculate High School, Isleboro Central School, Joel Barlow High School, Newtown High School, and Wooster School.