Housatonic Valley Waldorf School Graduates

Saturday, June 11, marked the graduation of the  2011 Housatonic Valley Waldorf School graduating class. 

Charles Keating, a Shakespearian thespian and daytime television actor from Another World, was the keynote speaker for the event. He noted the significance of having an actor/artist as the graduation speaker, and the central role the arts play in the academic instruction at the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School.

“The teachers must be creative each and every day at school, calling upon the best in them to educate the students as human beings first and foremost,” said Mr Keating.

The ten graduates add to the growing number of Waldorf graduates in the state. The Housatonic Valley Waldorf School is the only preschool through eighth grade Waldorf school in Connecticut. 

Three special events mark the culmination of the Waldorf curriculum in the eighth grade: performing in a Shakespearean production, the presentation of a yearlong experiential graduation project, and the graduation ceremony itself.  This year’s class performed Love’s Labour’s Lost with Charles Keating’s help for its Shakespearean production. 

The students’ graduation projects were: Rachel Crosby studied cake decorating; Abraham DeFeo built a wood-fired brick oven; Shami Khoshabo adapted, directed, and acted in a one-act play; Nora Laymon learned jazz improvisation on the guitar; Peter Mihok built a model glider; Serena Pedane designed recycled clothing; Lena Reznikoff studied self-expression in contemporary art; Noah Siddiqui built an acoustic and an electric guitar; Michael Unschuld designed a website; and Quinn Whelehan learned falconry and built a Native American teepee.

During the graduation ceremony the graduates sang choral works, performed on recorders and strings, recited famous Shakespearean soliloquies, and offered words of gratitude to their parents, teachers, and school for the education they received.