A traditional Rose Ceremony marked the start of the 25th academic year at Housatonic Valley Waldorf School on Wednesday, September 3.

During the ceremony eighth grade students act as mentors for first grade students and present the first graders with a rose for the first day of school.

Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra spoke during this year’s ceremony and delivered a proclamation from the town for the school.

Housatonic Valley Waldorf School Pedagogical Resource teacher Marleen De Grande welcomed all in attendance at the event, reminding everyone it was the school’s silver anniversary year.

According to the school, a small group of parents first met in New Milford in 1989 to discuss opening a Waldorf-based kindergarten, and by the following January a group was meeting weekly. Within that year the program grew to a three-day nursery-kindergarten, according to the school, and eventually the school moved to its location in Dodgingtown.

Ms de Grande shared a memory of welcoming the second grade students in 1996. That ceremony, she said, fit entirely in one classroom, with the students and invited guests. This year the ceremony was held under a large white tent set up on the school’s campus.

“So we have grown a lot,” Ms de Grande said, looking around at the assembled guests, students, and teachers.

Housatonic Valley Waldorf School Board of Trustees President Tom Storrier also spoke during the event, saying numerous volunteers have brought the school “to where we are today.”

He also acknowledge both the 2015 Housatonic Valley Waldorf School graduating class, its eighth grade students, and its 2022 future graduates, the first grade students, before introducing Mrs Llodra.

“You have added great value to our community for 25 years,” Mrs Llodra said before sharing the proclamation.

After all 14 first graders received their rose through the ceremony, teacher Genevieve Dagobert shared a “first story” with the students. Sharing a story is part of the Rose Ceremony. Ms Dagobert will teach the first grade class through their eighth grade year at Housatonic Valley Waldorf School.

The ceremony ended with the assembled group singing the school’s song.

Second grade students also helped welcome the first graders to the school, by presenting the first graders each with a “Schultuete,” a German and Austrian tradition that had each second grader at the school create a “Schultuete” the previous year to present to the first grade students. Each creation held a crayon, pencil, beeswax for modeling, a candle, and other items shared by school teacher Frau Garten.