Empowering Digital Navigators

Shining Mountain Waldorf High School April 21, 2022, in Boulder, Colo. (Photo by Jack Dempsey)

Cyber Civics at Shining Mountain Waldorf School As screens and media become integral to our lives, Shining Mountain Waldorf School is at the forefront, equipping students to be ethical, responsible, safe, compassionate, and courageous members of both real-life and digital realms. Join us in shaping future leaders with a keen understanding of technology and a […]

Shining Mountain Waldorf High School: Senior Projects 2022

At Shining Mountain and most other Waldorf high schools, each senior chooses an area of interest starting by the end of their junior year, finds and works with a mentor from the wider community, and immerses themself in an individual project for approximately six months. During the process, the student documents their learning both visually […]

The Greatest Scientists are Artists Too

Louis Pastuer was a painter. Albert Einstein and Francis Arnold were both accomplished musicians. New research shows that award winning scientists, and especially Nobel Prize winners, are far more likely to have artistic hobbies than the general public. Many of them, including Einstein, cite the role of the arts in their breakthroughs. Creativity and perseverance […]

Working with Your Hands Does Wonders for Your Brain

Prolonged focus between our hands and raw materials encourages cognitive connections, fine-motor activity, concentration, perseverance with tasks, and a sense of pride in meaningful work. Susan Biali Haas M.D., originally published in June 2019 on the Psychology Today website. I’ve been working hard on a proposal for a new book. This involves a lot of sitting […]

Is ‘AQ’ more important than intelligence? Educating for an Uncertain Future

By Seb Murray, originally published in Nov. 2019 on the BBC website, Worklife 101 . As workplaces change, is it enough to be smart? Enter AQ, the capacity to adapt that may well determine your future career success. Once, if you wanted to assess how well someone might do climbing the career ladder, you might […]

Waldorf Schools are Media Literacy Role Models

By Soni Albright, originally published in Oct. 2021 on the Cyber Civics website. As we celebrate Media Literacy Week 2021, it’s hard to believe that Waldorf schools in North America have been leading the way when it comes to Media Literacy education. What’s that? Waldorf schools and “Media” Literacy? Do you mean those schools that […]

Shooting for the Stars: SMWS Alum and SpaceX Engineer Sarah Gillis

Sarah (Levine) Gillis, Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX and crew trainer for the Inspiration4 mission, graduated from Shining Mountain Waldorf High School in 2012. Less than a decade later, in September, 2021, at the age of 27, Sarah is playing a lead role in the historical SpaceX Inspiration4 all-civilian human space flight mission; their […]

Video Premiere! Educating our Children Beyond the Classroom

At Shining Mountain Waldorf School, an independent K-12 school in Boulder, CO, educating our children continues as faculty and staff deliver the comprehensive, experiential curriculum of Waldorf Education into our students’ homes. This video, which was created by Nita Davanzo, Class of ’99, on behalf of SMWS’s Advancement Team, provides a glimpse of the magic […]

Hermit Island Trip, Marine Biology Lessons & More

by Althea Wilson, Class of 2020 Every year, the Shining Mountain Waldorf School senior class, along with seniors from five other Waldorf schools, takes part in a week-long marine biology course in Maine. We all camped on Hermit Island and attended classes in the “kelp shed”– a building that’s over a hundred years old. Our […]

New video from AWSNA, the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America

Waldorf: An Education for the Future On September 19, 2019, Waldorf education celebrates 100 years. Across the globe, Waldorf schools are engaging in creative, social and environmental actions. With these initiatives, Waldorf communities are seeding the future. 100 years is only the beginning. Visit https://www.waldorfeducation.org/waldorf100 to learn more. Join the movement. Seed the future.

Shining Mountain High School Student Exchange in Germany

by Grace Remmert about her exchange during the spring semester of her 10th grade year. My name is Grace Remmert and I’m in the spring semester of my 10th grade year at Shining Mountain Waldorf School, Boulder. I am currently on a three-month exchange to Düsseldorf, Germany and attending the Rudolf Steiner Schule. For those […]

Redefining Language Acquisition: From Language Teacher to Language Partner

By Julie Irwin SMWHS Spanish Teacher My first child hardly spoke one word until he was three years old. Alternately, my other child couldn’t stop speaking from the time he opened his mouth. The third is still so young we will have to wait and see. You don’t have to be a language teacher to […]

World Language in Waldorf Schools – what to expect and why  

Paula J Blum, World Language Department Chair Shining Mountain Waldorf School and Association of American Teachers of German (AATG)  Professional Consultant “Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Zehe” sings the first grade German class as they touch their heads, shoulders, knees and toes. Frau Geck, Lower School German teacher at Shining Mountain Waldorf School in Boulder, Colorado, […]

Teaching World Languages with Storytelling: A Waldorf-friendly approach

By Joshua Berman I walk into the brightly colored 3rd grade classroom, where the children are already seated, with my guitar case slung over one shoulder and a covered basket of props in my hand. A few items are strategically overflowing and students try to catch a glimpse of what’s inside—today, a chef’s hat, a […]

- Sarah Gillis, SMWS Class of 2012 and Sr. Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX

“I feel like one of the really important things that you get out of a Waldorf education is curiosity—curiosity to go and learn and explore what’s out there in the world. I fell into engineering and a path that I don’t think I would have anticipated, but having an arts background where you’re bringing creativity and imagination into problem-solving, there’s a really incredible synergy between those.”

- Sarah Gillis, SMWS Class of 2012 and Sr. Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX

Empowering Digital Navigators