A letter from the faculty chair
by Stephen Sagarin, Faculty Chair - 12 Mar 2007

The following letter was sent last week to last year's Steiner School graduates:

Recently, a student from another school applied for mid-year entrance. I asked him why he wanted to come to our school. His answer? “I want to learn again.” He transferred to our school, and, after one week of cell biology, said, “I’ve learned as much this week as I learned in a semester at my old school.”

I hope you are having a great school year. If you are not entirely happy where you are, however, if your experience is not perfect, I am writing to invite you to visit our High School, to apply, and to consider coming here next year. I’ll use the rest of this letter to tell you why we would be an excellent choice for the rest of your high school education.

First, we are having our strongest year since our founding five years ago. The atmosphere in our school and in the studios, libraries and labs that we visit is happy and energetic. Right now, the floor is shaking with our students’ singing as they prepare for a concert with great local singer, Vikki True.

Seniors loved studying zoology in Maine, and they are enthusiastic about their senior projects, work that will take them out into the worlds of journalism, flight school, woodwork, and professional photography for three weeks in April. One senior has already been accepted at all 6 of the 6 colleges to which he applied and the rest are waiting for April to learn about their applications. Freshmen enjoyed history through art, trips to New York and Boston, and visiting Michael Zelehoski’s studio in Pittsfield. Sophomores were enthusiastic about studying the history and culture of Africa and they eagerly attend their non-fiction writing workshop, which “rocks.” All of the
students are excited about Noel Coward’s comedy “Blithe Spirit,” which they will perform in May.

Our teachers are uniformly respected and admired, and they are committed to our school; all will return next year. They are enthusiastic experts in what they teach. They have great experience and credentials. Dr. Sagarin studied art history and fine art at Princeton University, and later received a PhD in history from Columbia University. Mrs. Robbins studied literature at Barnard College. Frau Wirth is a graduate of the Munich-Schwabing Waldorf School, and she has taught German and English in South Africa and Germany. Senora Nunez majored in languages at Wichita State University and studied languages in graduate school at Middlebury College and Hunter College. Mrs. Gallagher taught dance for the Merce Cunningham Studio and is a certified specialist in therapeutic education. Ms Blexrud has her BA from Colorado College and her MAT from Queens College; she has also studied educational administration at Central Connecticut State College. On average, these teachers have taught in Waldorf schools for more than ten years. Our arts teachers, too, are outstanding—come to our school and study pottery with Dan Bellow, blacksmithing with John Graney, and photography with Will Wendt. Paint with Mrs. Lombardi and sculpt with Lukas Zay. Sing with Vikki True and play music with Jon Suters. The Berkshires are rich in the arts, and we are rich in talented artists who teach at our school.

At the Great Barrington Waldorf High School, we provide a deep, broad, and meaningful education, one that will reveal its treasures as much when you are an adult as when you apply to college. At other schools, you pick history courses from a smorgasbord. This may be superficially attractive, but, without context, cannot be meaningful. Our comprehensive history curriculum—from ancient to modern, U.S. and world—supplemented by courses in cultural history—art, music, drama, and architectural history—will place you in the world prepared for college and ready to be a world citizen. This is just one example from our curriculum. In addition, you will learn to think. Through observation, comparison, analysis, interpretation, constructive criticism, and synthesis, we will lead you through a careful development of thinking. You’ll leave us as a strong individual, able to hold your own and make your mark on the world.

You will be prepared for college and your application will stand out from the crowd. Private school students make up 10 percent of high school students in the U.S., but 50 percent of elite college admissions. By attending a private school, you are, in effect, multiplying your chances of getting into the college of your choice by five times. Not all private schools are the same, however. At a large high school, fierce competition will hurt your chances of admission—many of the students are qualified to go to elite colleges, but colleges will not take more than a small quota from these schools. Research shows, over and over, that small schools are best. Further, in addition to your excellent academic preparation—all of our courses are honors level—you will have a portfolio of work in glass, ceramics, wood, photography, painting, and drawing. You will have been part of our annual plays, our student council, our newsletter, our student forums, our sports teams… In a small school, everyone stands out. Your “extracurricular” resume will shine.
In addition, you will have visited Munich or Peru—our school travels here every other year—and perhaps even spent a few months on visiting in these countries. No other school can guarantee you the opportunity for an visit or extended visit, but we can. Colleges will see you as a person of the world—our students have helped impoverished Peruvians to make adobe bricks and build shelters; our students have built houses and school buildings in Romania.

As a small school, we are flexible. Are you interested in photography, as one of our students is this year? Tell us, and we’ll work all summer to find a teacher and facilities for you to pursue this interest—we’re building a darkroom that will be ready to receive students in March. We’ll arrange an internship for you, and for three weeks in each of the years in which you don’t travel to a foreign country, you can try a different art, skill, or career. Our students haven’t just pursued pottery and glass blowing, they have also worked behind the scenes at the 92nd Street YMHA in New York, in a New York law office, at Fairview Hospital, and on an archeological dig near Boston.

By joining us, you’ll become a big fish in our small pond, and you’ll help us grow. Your growth will become part of our growth, your strengths our strengths, and your struggles our struggles, too. Years from now you’ll remember us vividly, and we’ll remember you. You won’t be just a donor or a number on a list of alumni; you’ll be a valued member of a great school. You’ll be able to say that you helped a great school find its feet, that you were part of something real.

Before I end this letter, I want to address two more points that may concern you. The first is sports. Here are the current possibilities for sports at our school: Soccer, cross-country, and basketball. We are growing and adding games to our schedule. Play for us; don’t sit on the bench at a large school where upper-class students play and 9th and 10th graders don’t. At our school, too, you can join Simon’s Rock athletic teams. We offer more than it may appear, and we’ll work to accommodate your interests. Two years ago, Tavish Gallagher was recruited to play baseball for NCAA Division II and III teams—he chose Occidental College—despite the fact that we have no baseball team. He played for the Mt. Everett team, American Legion baseball, and a “Fall Ball” team. He made it work.

The last point is this: Please don’t believe that coming to our high school will be “just more Steiner.” It won’t. We don’t have class teachers. We won’t ask you to decorate notebook pages; for many courses, you won’t even make a notebook. What will you do? You’ll read, write, think, discuss, create, and solve problems. You’ll change and grow and discover who you really are. In our high school, it’s fair to say, you’ll be a different person each year—maybe even each month or week or day. And we’ll accommodate and challenge and teach you as you grow and change.

Please call me or talk to me if you have any questions about this letter, our school, or anything else.

Sincerely,
Stephen Sagarin, Faculty Chair

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