MARCH 2012

Our high school students welcomed over 60 high school guests from New England Waldorf Schools for our Winter Ball on March 17th.  Guests came from Lake Champlain Waldorf High School, Charlotte, Vermont, Merriconeag Waldorf School in Freeport, Maine, and Saratoga Springs Waldorf High School in Saratoga, New York.  Our own high school families welcomed these young guests into their homes and helped them prepare for this semi-formal event.  High school parents, acting as “caterers” provided a sit-down meal to a total of 90 students.Following are some images that were captured during the event.

 

FEBRUARY 2012

Students enjoyed a block of fiber arts with local fiber artist Marcy Schepker.
Students carded the wool:

Spun the wool:

 

   

Set up the looms to weave a variety of beautiful pieces:

   

Some students also improved their knitting skills or learned to knit for the first time.

    

JANUARY 2012

MWHS Performs The Mouse That Roared

Please click the image below to view a compilation of beautiful photos, courtesy of Robert Moses.

   

 

DECEMBER 2011

“And we went to the heart of crime and punishment. Nothing can replace that.”
Karl Schurman

10th- and 11th-graders at the Monadnock Waldorf High School visited the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Shirley this week as part of a civil liberties class. Below is an article from our local newspaper, The Keene Sentinel, describing the trip.

For a rights lesson, class heads to prison

Posted: Sunday, December 11, 2011 8:00 am
By Abby Spegman Sentinel Staff

Prison isn’t like the movies.
If you look past the barbed wire fence and watchtower, it’s a very different story inside. There are people who have made mistakes, know it and don’t want you to do the same.
“It was like, ‘We’ve already learned it. You don’t have to,’ ” said Gabe M. Shakour, 17.
Gabe was part of a group of 10th- and 11th-graders at the Monadnock Waldorf School in Keene who visited the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Shirley this week as part of a civil liberties class.
The prisoners ranged from young 20s to mid-40s, many violent offenders, some serving life sentences. But they also seemed like nice guys, and it was hard to believe they had done the things they did, the students said.
The men talked about serious crime — and the consequences that come with it — that is part of their everyday reality, which for students is unimaginable, said one student.
Will D. Henry, 15, said he was surprised at how casual the meeting was — there was no panel of glass separating the two sides, no jumpsuits, very few guards.
The trip was organized through Project Youth, which was started in 1964 by a prisoner who wanted to deter young people from criminal behavior.
Johanna A. MacIntyre, 16, said it was surprising how much the men seemed to care about the students, that they not make their same mistakes. Some of the men hadn’t seen their families or friends in months, she said, or had children growing up without them.
Many of their problems stemmed from drugs and alcohol, and they told the students not to go to the same lengths they did to “fit in” or “be cool.”
“When you’re studying the legal system, you’re really studying crime and punishment,” said Karl Schurman, chairman of the high school, who teaches history, social studies and English. “And we went to the heart of crime and punishment. Nothing can replace that.”
This sort of first-hand learning is customary at the Waldorf School, he said.
As part of their study on “Moby Dick,” students stay overnight on an old whaling ship and learn to throw a harpoon at Mystic Seaport. When they read “The Odyssey” in May, they’ll go paddling and camp along Lake Champlain, comparing their travails to the epic.
The trip to Shirley was part of a civil liberties class, which the students are either enrolled in or took last year. In it they talk about the rights of the individual versus the rights of groups, why the group may take away the individual’s rights and what is just punishment.
It can seem an unfair lesson to a 15-year-old, Schurman said, but it puts it into perspective when it comes from a man serving life in prison.
“They can’t just learn from books and yammering teachers,” he said.
Abby Spegman can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1409, or aspegman@keenesentinel.com

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As part of a High School Anatomy Block, students dissected Owl Pellets and identified skeletal bones found within...

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SEPTEMBER 2011

Medieval History / Trip to New York City

St. Mary's Monastery in Petersham, MA

 

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High School Orientation

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MAY 2011

MWHS Performs The Canterbury Tales

On Wednesday and Thursday, May 25-26, at Heberton Hall on Winter Street, Monadnock Waldorf High school presented its very first play production, and adaptation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Written over 600 years ago, Canterbury Tales is one of the greatest poetic works in English by the greatest English poet prior to Shakespeare. Living in a time of linguistic transition known as Middle English, Chaucer was “the first finder of our language,” and instrumental in forging a new vernacular out of its Anglo-Saxon and French roots. From his writings he emerges as a poet of love, both earthly and divine, whose stories range from lustful cuckoldry to spiritual union with God. He writes about man's relation both to his fellows and to his Maker, while simultaneously providing entertaining views of the frailties and follies—as well as the nobility—of mankind.
When Chaucer died in 1400, he became the first of England’s great men to be buried in the Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey—an extraordinary honor for a man of common birth.
Two hundred years prior to the tales, knights of King Henry II slayed the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, as a result of struggles over secular and sacred political power. The bloody deed took place inside the cathedral itself. Instantly hailed a martyr, Becket was soon made a saint and his shrine became the holiest pilgrimage site in England, with many miracles attributed to it.
In Canterbury Tales a group of twenty-nine pilgrims gather at an inn in springtime to start a journey to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury and, in order to pass the time, agree to engage in a storytelling contest as they travel there and back. Chaucer apparently planned 120 tales for his final masterpiece but completed only twenty-four. In the adaptation MWHS performed, eight pilgrims appeared telling seven tales. Karl Schurman

 

 

APRIL 2011

 

The Tenth Graders begin their block on Homer's Odyssey with a water journey on the Batten Kill River! April 25-28

The Tenth Graders begin their block on Homer's Odyssey with a water journey. The Odyssey has been a nodal point in the Tenth Grade experience in many Waldorf schools. In addition to being one of the great pillars of western culture, this epic is uniquely suited to meet the soul journey of the developing individuality of the Tenth Grader. Odysseus must find his way home to Ithaka in a world that seems constantly on the verge of breaking apart. In this world, he must develop the capacity for inner sight to find and keep his way, contending with gods and monsters, temptations and enchantments, loss and despair. His story allows Tenth Graders to consider the value of self-restraint in the face of our world’s many monsters,temptations and enchantments as each seeks his/her own Ithaka. In partnership with Kroka Expeditions, the Tenth Grade, along with teachers will spend the first week of the block canoeing on and camping along the Batten Kill River in Vermont. Taking up their oars and journeying under their own power, the class will be navigating by map and compass and honing daily the skills necessary to meet their essential needs. The winding course of the river, the ceaseless current, the song of the wind and the rhythmic dipping of the paddles will provide the ideal backdrop to embark on an exploration of the world of Homer and the themes of the Odyssey.

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Ninth Grade studies The Birth of America, and journeys to a traditional Mohawk community of Kanatsiohareke. April 25-28

“What is this New Man, this American,” asked Crevecoeur in 1751. The Ninth Grade will explore that question in their American History morning lesson by examining the roots of the tree of liberty that grew into this nation. They begin by studying Native American beliefs and values (notably by journeying to the traditional Mohawk community of Kanatsiohareke), specifically the Iroquois confederacy and its contribution to our Constitution. Students will examine the footprints of the great powers on the North American continent in 17th century, whose legacies we still encounter. They will continue with stories of the settling of the southern and northern English colonies and the distinct cultures they  produced, Loyalist and Patriot arguments for the Revolution, the failures of the Articles of Confederation, and early continental expansion up to the Mexican War. Through the rise of conscience in the 1830’s and 40’s (movements such as abolition, women’s rights, and others) that plays out in the Civil Rights era of the 1950's and 60's, the Ninth Grade will begin to address the paradox embedded in the founding of America, that “all men are created equal…” 

(Pictures: 1. Students swimming in the Mohawk River, 2 & 3. Students driving posts for fencing, 4.Students in Canajoharie Creek, the location of the cauldron rock formation that gives Kanatsiohareke its name, "The Cooking Pot that Cleans Itself."

 

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10th Grade Blacksmithing Intensive at The New England School of Metalwork - April 21st

For its blacksmithing intensive, Monadnock Waldorf High School was fortunate to partner with the nationally known New England School of Metalwork in Auburn, Maine, the only craft center in the country entirely devoted to the metalworking arts.

Click Here for an article explaining why we introduce blacksmithing to 10th grade students!

 

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Monadnock Waldorf High School Attends DartMUN VI  - April 7th

   Six intrepid MWHS students made their way to Hanover, NH last weekend to attend their first-ever major Model United Nations conference at Dartmouth College, an opportunity for high school students to discuss international issues, meet other students with similar interests and learn public speaking and diplomatic skills.  They joined over 400 other high-schoolers from twenty-four New England schools (including another Waldorf high school from Maine) as well as schools from California and Germany.

   The MWHS students all represented The Netherlands on General Assembly committees ranging from DISEC (Disarmament and International Security), SOCHUM (Social, Cultural & Humanitarian, Legal and an historical reenactment of the League of Nations, to special committees for the WTO (World Trade Organization) and UNDP (United Nations Development Program).  They debated and passed resolutions on a wide variety of topics including Global Counterfeiting & Piracy, Combating AIDS/HIV in Developing Countries, Human Trafficking, Distribution of Humanitarian Aid in Conflict Zones, and the Responsibility to Protect with a belief that yes, it is possible to make a difference in the world.

   From Friday through Sunday, the students spent a total of nearly fourteen hours in intense sessions moderated by current Dartmouth students all of whom had Model UN experience from their own high school years.  The atmosphere of Dartmouth’s impressive lecture halls encouraged students to step up to the best part of themselves and to really consider the overarching problems facing our world today as well as how to resolve conflicts through diplomacy.

   University of Michigan Political Science Professor (and former member of the US Army Special Forces) Allan C. Stam set the tone on Friday with a keynote address examining the doctrine of “RtP” (Right to Protect) in light of the current UN actions in Libya.  He noted that such a policy only became possible with the end of the Cold War and as a result of the notable international failures to protect civilians in Bosnia, Kosovo and Rwanda.  He outlined three keys to success in pursuing any policy, or in fact any goal in life: knowledge, skills and attitude, the last being by far the most important, the determination to see things through and never give up.  He issued a challenge to the students to go out and “do the right thing,” advice they embodied in the days that followed.

Karl Schurman

 

MARCH 2011

 

The 9th Grade Visited Mystic Seaport, CT during their block study on Moby Dick!

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The tenth grade took a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston as part of their ancient cultures block. Here are some examples of sketches made at the museum as well as art made for one of the original cultures created by the students.

 

 

 

 

 

(1. The tenth grade in front of the MFA, 2. Fish God of the Lkasha culture by Noah, 3. Assyrian guardian deity by Lili, 4. Noah sketches Gudea of Lagash)