Students Interview Sarah Gillis, Class of 2012, about Upcoming Polaris Dawn Mission

Annabelle Boak, 8th grader, interviews Sarah Gillis, alumni astronaut.

Annabelle Boak and Violet Dempsey, Student Journalists, met with Sarah Gillis for this interview on November 14, 2022, at the CU Aerospace Engineering Building. Sarah and her crew are set to launch and orbit the earth for five days sometime in spring 2023. Learn more about the mission here: POLARIS DAWN. INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: Annabelle Boak, […]

Untold Story: How Waldorf Education Prepares Students for the Online World

Sixth grade students at Shining Mountain Waldorf School dissect a computer in a Cyber Civics lesson entitled “Investigating Today’s Tools.” PHOTO: Joshua Berman

By Joshua Berman This article was originally published in The Boulder Daily Camera’s “Raised in the Rockies” Family and Parenting Guide on August 1, 2022 An excited cluster of sixth graders surrounded the table where I’d placed an assortment of devices — an old iPhone, PC and laptop. I was about to remove the side […]

Land Acknowledgement: An Evening With Dr. Joaquin Munoz

Joaquin Muñoz

By Lori Kran, PhD, Pedagogical Director  Last Monday evening Dr. Joaquin Muñoz, a professor of American Indian Studies, presented, via zoom, ideas for how our community could move forward in developing a meaningful land acknowledgement. Close to 40 faculty, staff, and community members attended. I left the presentation feeling hopeful and invigorated for the work we […]

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 […]

Turning The Curricular Tide: What Happens When The Weight Of The Community Gets Behind You

By Joshua Berman In my 8th grade Spanish class, students listen to podcasts featuring musicians from the Spanish speaking world, most recently, a young Mexican engineering student who raps in his indigenous language of Cuicateco. In 6th grade, my Spanish students participate in a hands-on, Fair Trade bracelet sale that connects them with Central American […]

Field Day 2020: Summer Wishes and Water Splashes!

Here’s an end-of-the-school-year, pre-summer gift from all of our faculty and staff. This video goes out to all our dear families—especially students and parent volunteers who would normally have been out at Field Day today! Be sure to turn up your volume, watch the video all the way to the end, and don’t forget your […]

SMWS | Statement on Racial Injustice

June 02, 2020 SMWS Statement on Racial Injustice from the SMWS Diversity & Inclusivity Committee: • The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery are among the many recent incidents in a long history of police brutality and institutionalized racism against Black people in this country. • We are angered and full of […]

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 […]

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 […]

Social Justice in Waldorf Education

What is the conversation at the national level and what is the conversation at Shining Mountain Waldorf School in Boulder, CO? By Leigh Ann Hill, High School Administrator and co-chair of the SMWS Diversity and Inclusivity Committee The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA) offered their annual summer conference, held this year at […]

- 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

Shining Mountain Waldorf School Unveils New High School Campus in North Boulder: Grand Opening Event Friday, May 10, 2024