retiring faculty and staff 2016 - austin waldorf school€¦ · safety and security there was a lot...
TRANSCRIPT
Inspire, Experience, Grow, Create
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Year in Review 2
Parent Society Corner 3
Screenagers the Movie 3
Senior Play 2016 4
Juniper Tree News 4
Third Grade Success 5
Sandfest 2016 5
Board of Trustees News 6
National German Exam 7
Book Award Finalist 7
Spring Sports Review 8
Please Join Our School Community, AWS Families, Faculty, and Friends from the 1986's to 2016 at the retirement celebration
for our beloved Betsy Hanelius, Carol Stewart, Chris Eason & Pat Mouton
Austin Waldorf School PAC/Recital Hall
Saturday, June 11, 2016 1-4pm
June 2016
RETIRING FACULTY AND STAFF 2016
THE MESSENGER
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL PICK UP TIME CHANGE
On the last day of school, grades will be dismissed at noon and high
school at 12:15 pm. After the Rose Ceremony, grades students will return to
their classrooms and high school to their end of year assembly. Grades par-
ents may pick up their students from the classroom beginning at 11:30 am.
Students may only be released to parents unless a previous arrangement has
been made with the class teacher. Remaining grades students will go to pick-
up locations at noon.
Wednesday June 1
Last day of Kindergarten
Crossing Over Ceremony
Thursday June 2
High School Theatre Elective
Performances, 2:10 & 2:30
All ages Welcome, PAC Stage
AWS Mom’s night out
7pm, Rusty Mule
Friday June 3
Last day of School, 1st-12th
Grade, Early Dismissal
Rose Ceremony
10:30am., Gym
8th Grade Ceremony
5-7pm, Gym
Saturday June 4
12th Grade Commencement
3-5pm, Gym
Saturday June 11
Honoring our Retiring Faculty
and Staff, 1-4pm
EVENTS
Page 2 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2015-2016 Submitted by, Kathy McElveen, General School Leader
IMAGINING A NEW HIGH SCHOOL AND REDESIGNING THE CAMPUS
The collaboration with the University of Texas, School of Architecture was a semester long project that
culminated in four different versions of a master site plan and two scale models of the campus and vicinity.
The students, parents, and teachers who had the opportunity to review the projects and meet the
UT students were inspired by the possibilities of how the school can grow and develop in the future.
The next step will be to create a final master site plan and then identify the first priorities for new buildings
and redesign.
NEW WEBSITE! https://austinwaldorf.org/
We launched a brand new website this spring that better represents our vibrant school and community. A Waldorf alumnus from the
Garden City Waldorf School called and left a message recently to see if he could visit the AWS campus later this month. One of the
things he said was ―Your website is awesome!‖ There is still a lot of content to revise and that will be ongoing. We’ll also be uploading
more ―useful documents‖ to the BigSIS Parent Portal instead of to the website. Let us know if there is a ―useful document‖ that
you’re missing and would like to see.
COMMUNICATIONS IN GENERAL—NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
The new website is a much needed step in the right direction, but the question of how best to communicate about the school is
ongoing. We still haven’t found a new database and communications manager, but have begun conversations with Parent Society
leaders and others about improving overall communication within the community. This is a front burner topic.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
There was a lot of behind the scenes work this year as the school continued to implement the results of last
year’s safety/security audit. Faculty and staff have received training in suicide prevention, sexual misconduct
prevention, and lock-down protocols. We held a first-ever ―secure the building‖ drill last week. Parking lot and
playground safety are high on the list for continued improvement. The Parent Society led a first-ever
Parking Lot Safety Week and another is planned for the fall. Parent leaders have been meeting with administrators and
teachers to improve some aspects of playground safety and supervision.
ANNUAL GIVING, THE GALA, AND DEVELOPMENT
Board Chair Leslie Callahan and parent Shir Shoham led the way in ensuring the school met its fundraising
goals this year. Leslie spearheaded the Giving Tree Annual Fund campaign in the fall and met our goal.
Shir Shoham organized a team to put on the spring gala, A Night in Old Havana, and netted $33,000 for the
school, $23,000 to the general operating fund and $10,000 for the music department. We have a new Development
Director, Catherine Herzog Ashton, starting July 1 to build and strengthen the school’s development program.
STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS!
First time ever! Won through hard work and determination by the coaches and players and
lots of love and support from the AWS community.
“Slow Down,
Look Around”
FOR THE MICHAEL AGE
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes towards Man out of the future
And we must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future
We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come
And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely to live out of pure trust without any security in existence.
Trust in that ever present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
And we must seek this awakening within ourselves every morning and every evening.
–Rudolf Steiner
The Messenger Page 3 Back to Table of Contents
PARENT SOCIETY CORNER
Greetings from the Parent Society!
A longtime Dallas/Fort Worth-area sports scribe used to include a seg-ment called “Scattershooting”, in which he’d deliver short, quick-hitting thoughts. In honor of our own, home-grown AWS Roadrunners sports cor-respondent Corey Horton, we’ll do the same here.
Scattershooting... ...while wondering how many volun-teer hours Hani Talebi and Susan Henson have given this school over the past couple of years in their roles as President and Vice President of the Parent Society. I imagine if they were paid an hourly rate they would have earned enough to pay for at least one or two tuitions...
...Parking Lot Safety Week was a great success in the moment. Great example of the Parent Society working with the administration to determine a need, create a plan and volunteers making it happen. The real key is for drivers and kids to remember to keep it slow the rest of the year as well…
...my favorite parts of Parking Lot Safety Week- greeters who served one day showing up unannounced the next because they saw so much value in it...
…great year for the Parent Society overall. Healthy attendance at each of our Parent Society meetings. Inspiring small group discussions and an outstanding array of Slice of Life components.…
...not sure what my favorite Slice of Life was- interview of adults who had graduated from Waldorf schools? Our recent Q&A session with the graduat-ing seniors? Woodworking and Art with Mr. Smith and Mr. Miller? Games class with Coach Olson and Ms. Mo-ran? Tough to choose just one …
...another new Parent Society initiative this year, the Welcome Wagon, seemed to be a success. The inaugu-ral Welcome Wagon Picnic had over 80 folks in attendance. Already in touch with the incoming families for the fall. Couldn’t have done it without those amazing volunteers!
...in case you missed them, PS Pod-casts (including our most recent one) are available here. Just another ex-ample of our Communications Circle trying to meet parents in a variety of ways…
As always, many thanks and see you soon, Your Parent Society Leadership Council Jeff Roberts, Shir Shoham, Michelle Lemberger, Rene Crosby, Suzanne Tejada, Jill Powell and Monica Erb
SCREENAGERS THE MOVIE COMING AUGUST 2016
Submitted by Jeff Roberts, Parent Society Leadership Council Secretary
All School Parent Morning—Screenagers Screening
August 26 & 27: Please save the date and look for announcements over the summer for several view-
ing times for this important documentary. ABOUT THE FILM In her award-winning documentaries on
mental health, physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she
probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social me-
dia, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories,
along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals
how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower children to
best navigate the digital world and find balance.
This film will be a springboard for the AWS community to engage in meaningful dialogue throughout the
year on enhancing family life and consciousness in a digital world. Contact Carol Toole with questions.
[email protected]. The Trailer can be viewed at screenagersthemovie.com
Submitted by Carol Toole, Student Support
The Messenger Back to Table of Contents
Page 4
This year’s play was an adaptation
of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Wom-
an of Setzuan, sometimes known as
a “parable in 10 scenes.” The play
was originally produced in 1943
and published in 1953 as Der gute
Mensch von Sezuan. The title has
many English-language variants,
including The Good Person of Sze-
chwan and The Good Soul of
Szechuan.
Our version of the play is set in
New Orleans in the early 1960s.
The title character, Chantal Bon-
net, is a poor but warmhearted
young woman. Because she alone
was willing to shelter three gods in
search of a good person on earth,
they reward her with a gift of mon-
ey. She purchases a tobacco shop
but finds that her former landlords,
and others are trying to take ad-
vantage of her kindness.
To save her business, Chantal
adopts an alter ego-Claude Bouvet;
dressing as a man and acting the
role of her tough, practical cousin,
she is able to help her shop stay
afloat. She is loved and admired by
several of her neighbors who give
her the title "Angel of the Slums".
The gods watch over her through
their liaison, the water seller, Ril-
leaux.
Submitted by Morgan Vierheller, High School Humanities. Pictures by Ryo Inoue
SENIOR PLAY 2016
Bravi Class of 2016
Juniper Tree News:
HUGE end of school year sale! ALL Books and Yarn are on sale at the Juniper Tree
until school is out! Check out our graduation gifts, Father's Day gifts & cards too!
40% off any green stickered book or yarn
10% off all 2016 library book award finalists
25% off ALL other regularly priced yarn & books!
40% off those titles when you donate! We're also collecting monetary donations to send a box of books annually to prisoners in Texas.
Thank you and hope to see you soon, Shelley & Carson
The Messenger Page 5 Back to Table of Contents
Submitted by Robert Miller Art Program Director
The 11th Grade had a great time during the recent trip to Port Aransas to compete in an international sand
sculpture competition. The weather was cooperative and our parents did an excellent job of keeping
sunscreen applied. The students received 1st, 2nd, and 4th place awards. Congratulations Class of 2017
–Mr. Miller
SANDFEST 2016
Third Grade Raised
$502.25
for the Library. Way to Go!
Third Grade Success!
Submitted by
Marian Munkvold-Saunders, Parent
Just a quick note to share the results of our hard work last month!
Helping Hands gratefully accepted 338.45 lbs of donations from our class.
The book sale brought in $502.25, which, according to a third grader quot-
ing Mrs. Burke, "Can buy 55 hardcover books for the library.‖ In addition she
had the chance to look over the books before the book sale and found sev-
eral dozen to add to the student and faculty libraries. All in all, a wonderful
gift from the class to their beloved library.
Wonderful work!
Warmly, Marian
“The cooperative tasks of the
competition, as well as cooking
and cleaning with each other
seemed to greatly benefit our
class cohesion.”
-Ethan Denson , Student
“Seeing the incredible level of care and skill on display in the Masters Category inspired us to put our full effort into our creations.”
-Sophie Laird, Student
“Beyond artistic merits, this trip affords our teens the space to become
closer as a class as they go into the summer prior to their final year of
high school and all that comes with looking to post graduation life.”
-Brett Rodgers, Parent
“It was hard work, but very exciting. I love my class and am so grateful I had this opportunity. I hope future 11th grades have as much fun!” -Colista Nemec, Student
“The magical transformation from our originally labored-over plan, into a sculpture we never could have envisioned, made for an in-credibly rewarding experience.” -Zoe Harrison, Student
As we wrap up another academic year, celebrate graduations, and plan our summer break activities, I would like to share with you some
perspective from the Austin Waldorf Board of Trustees. Led by Leslie Callahan, Board President, we have accomplished the following:
- Created the first five year AWS Strategic Plan; developed a supporting Strategic Financial Plan that mapped out how we
can pay for our objectives
- Designed a search process for a General School Leader; included all stakeholder constituencies in implementing that
search process; and hired Kathy McElveen into the role
- Created a Support and Evaluation Committee at the Board-level to help our GSL be as successful as possible and to provide
a level of professionalism in evaluating her success against defined criteria
- Developed new Board member orientation
- Facilitated our second annual Giving Tree campaign cycle, exceeding our fundraising goals
- Commenced work to connect to City of Austin sewer utilities — a prerequisite to any future site development
- Purchased two much-needed vans for school transportation
At the end of the summer break, we will convene the board to set the agenda for the 2016-17 school year. We will need to revisit the
Strategic Plan, assess what has changed, and extend the timeline by another year. I can anticipate the following themes for the year:
- Work with our new Development Director to enhance our fundraising approach and capabilities
- Facilitate conversations to establish common understanding of the challenges facing the school, and build on that work to design a
beautiful image of how we want AWS to evolve in the coming years
This month, we are losing two valued and tenured Board members whose terms are expiring (Leslie Callahan and Suzanne Karisch).
Although we have gained some stellar new Board members in the last few months, we are in the midst of recruiting potential new Board
members, and we would love to hear suggestions from you if you’re willing to serve, or if there is a parent or community member you
know of who might be a good fit. Here is the kind of person we are looking for…
Please contact Mark Kernan ([email protected], 512-751-0281) or Jonathan D’Souza ([email protected], 425-516-8980) to sug-
gest possible candidates.
Thank you!
Mark Kernan
Incoming President, Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees
Qualities all candidates should possess:
* Well-prepared for meetings
* Positive attitude
* Works well with others
* Clear communicator
* Time to serve
* Integrity
* Compassion
* Empathy
* Commitment to AWS and Board missions
Targeted skills or experiences (not all candidates will pos-
sess all of these, but each candidate should possess at
least some):
- Fundraising
- Networking
- Site development and/or real estate
- Management experience
- Board experience
- Marketing
- Finance
- Corporate or employment law
Page 6 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
AWS BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEWS Submitted by, Mark Kernan, incoming Board President
Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees Executive Members
2016/2017 School Year
Mark Kernan, President
Dawn Harrienger & Janna Cormier, Vice Presidents
Teresa Ravet, Secretary
Mike Sekel, Treasurer
The National German Exam is administered each year to nearly 22,000 high school
students in the first second, third and fourth level of German. The Exam, now in its
56th year, provides individual diagnostic feedback, rewards students through an
extensive prize program, and creates a sense of accomplishment. Exam results
provide a means of comparing students in all regions of the country, as well as pro-
grammatic data provided to help inform curricular decisions.
The Level 1 Exam measures student proficiencies in the Novice range as measured
by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. (https://www.actfl.org) These students un-
derstand some ideas on familiar topics containing phrases, simple sentences, and
frequently used expressions. They can understand the main point and a few details
in short conversations, messages, and announcements.
Each Exam is comprised of 100 questions. Question types include multiple choice,
matching, and true/false. The Exam is comprised of two parts.
The listening and viewing portion is 40 minutes in length and consists of a series of
short audio and video segments with a total of 50 questions and tasks. The reading
portion is 45 minutes in length and consists of a number of print texts, including
graphs and images with a total of 50 questions and tasks. All materials used in the exam
are from authentic resources.
This year five AWS students participated in the exam in (Level 1). Of the students that participated three received an Achievement Award:
Maeve Cannone, Bethany Broesche, Emeline Arnold, Sebastian Gritzka received a Gold Award.
Congratulations to all for their excellent work!
Page 7 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
NATIONAL GERMAN EXAM Submitted by, Patricia Daunt-Grogan, Guidance Counselor
From left to right, Sebastian Gritzka, Emeline Arnold,
Mauve Cannone, Bethany Broesche
AWS CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD FINALIST Submitted by, Linda Burke, Librarian
Read Aloud
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh
Corner; A.A. Milne
Rising 3rd
Detective Gordon: The First Case;
Ulf Nilsson
Ms. Rapscott’s Girls; Elise Primavera
Rising 4th
Adventures with Waffles; Maria Parr
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional
Poultry Farmer; Kelly Jones
Rising 5th
Circus Mirandus; Cassie Beasley
Sign of the Cat; Lynne Jonell
Rising 6th
The Great Good Summer; Liz Garton
Scanlon
Nooks and Crannies; Jessica Lawson
Rising 7th
The Seventh Most Important Thing;
Shelley Pearsall
The Thing About Jellyfish;
Ali Benjamin
Rising 8th
The Marvels; Brian Selznick
The War that Saved My Life;
Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
Dear Parents,
I am please to announce the books
chosen for the Grade School awards program.
Students are asked to read the two for their
grade so they are ready to vote for their favorite
in the fall. We have, once again, chosen a clas-
sic for the Read Aloud award, which is aimed at
the rising First and Second Grades.
There will be more information about
each of these books on the Library page of the
website sometime in the near future.
The library will be open on Wednesday
afternoons from noon to 4:00 beginning June
8th and ending July 20th. I will let you know if I will
open August 10 and 17.
Have a wonderful summer, thank you
for all your support this year, and I hope to see
you some Wednesday this summer.
Linda Burke,
Librarian
Page 8 Messenger Back to Table of Contents
SPRING SPORTS IN REVIEW Submitted by Erik Olson, Athletic Director, Mary Wilson, School Parent and Chad Nemec, School Parent
Track
Emeline Arnold represented us very well
in track ending the season at the State
Championships and breaking our school
record in the 800 meter run. Coming back
from an illness last year and an injury this
year, she ran in one race in early April
before entering our TAPPS District Meet.
In the little town of Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 meter run and 4th in the 400 meter
dash to qualify in both races for the TAPPS South
Regional Meet. Once again in Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 and 3rd in the 400, which allowed
her to qualify for the TAPPS 2A State Track & Field
Championships in Waco.
Held at the beautiful new track at Baylor University
Emeline was joined by over 1,000 other athletes from
all over Texas. She earned a bronze medal by finish-
ing 3rd in the 800. She finished 4th in the 400 miss-
ing the bronze medal by a tenth of a second. During
the season she broke our school record in the 800
with a time of 2:29. Congratulations Emeline!
We were very happy to have
had 30 students from the 6th,
7th, and 8th grades participate
on our MS track and field teams
this year. All our runners im-
proved during the season and
we are proud of all of them.
Our 7/8 girls team won the
AIPL Championship in the final meet by ½
point! They were 1st of 20 schools, many of which
are much bigger than AWS. It is a great accomplish-
ment for AWS!
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF TEAM PUTS WALDORF ON STATE SCOREBOARD
Submitted by Mary Wilson, School Parent
Team members: Seniors: Jeff Wilson and Jack Holland;
Juniors: John and Ben Callahan; Sophomores: Aidan
Cromier, Goodwin Bell, Mac Brenner just finished a short,
but sweet golf season with notable wins at the TAPPS 2A
State Championship in Waco, Texas May 2nd and 3rd. The
team qualified for the State tournament after a dominating
win at District and a comfortable 2nd place finish at Re-
gional. This was the third consecutive year that Waldorf
had competed at the State level.
On the first day of the State tournament, John and Ben
fired off “personal best tournament” scores (96-99) and
Jeff finished one stroke behind three players tied for first
at (77). By the end of the second day, the team had
dropped an impressive 12 strokes with Ben turning in a
new “personal best” (95) and Aidan logging a “personal
best” (96) as well. Jeff knocked 7 strokes off his score-
card finishing with a one under par (71). This steady team
scoring gave the Roadrunners a clean Tapps 2A third place
Sate win while Jeff, with a three stroke lead, finished the
tournament as the 2016 Tapps 2A State Champion – his
third consecutive State Championship!
AWS Mountain Biking Team Submitted by Chad Nemec, School Parent
Keshav Govind and Chili Nemec accomplished their goal of top 10 finalists in
the State of Texas high school league. It was a fantastic experience for all in-
volved. Cheers to all the support from the community!
Please contact coaches Robert Sherlock ([email protected]) or me
Chad Nemec ([email protected]) if your child has an interest in learning
more about this fun and exciting sport.
Austin Waldorf School 8700 South View Road
Austin, TX 78737
Our Mission: “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to give purpose and direction to their lives.” ~Rudolf Steiner
By creating a school environment that balances academic, artistic and practical disciplines, the Austin Waldorf School cultivates a love of learning, creative thinking, a sympathetic interest in the world, self-confidence and an abiding moral purpose.
Celebrating 34 years of educational excellence in Austin.
Messenger Back to Table of Contents Page 9
Main Office: 512-288-5942
Fax: 512-301-8997
High School: 512-301-9550
Fax: 512-439-0143
Kindergarten: 512-288-5120
Aftercare Emergency: 512-767-5707
Juniper Tree : 512-288-5106
www.austinwaldorf.org
To unsubscribe to the Messenger, click here. Questions or comments? Click here.
E-mail:
Awsannounce
@austinwaldorf.org
The Austin Waldorf School is a non-profit educational institution, 501(c)3, that welcomes students of any religion, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin.
SPRING SPORTS REVIEW CONTINUTED Tennis Pictures by Ryo Inoue
In the TAPPS District tournament, held at the
Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio, senior
José Luis Turincio, seeded 9th, started things off
with a gutsy victory over the 8th seed. After
losing the first set 2-6, he played an excellent
second set which he captured 6-4. With the
momentum on his side, he won the tiebreaker
10-5 to advance to the next round. Facing the
#1 seed and last year's State Runner-Up, José
Luis fought valiantly, but his opponent proved
too tough. Thank you José Luis for all your years
of participation in AWS sports!
Not to be outdone by her brother, sophomore
Julieta Turincio took care of her 8th seeded
opponent 6-1, 6-2 in her first match! But her
second match saw her facing the #1 seed, the defending State Champ! Again, it was a great effort,
but a defeat to a worthy opponent. She will have two more chances in the coming years to build on
this performance.
In boys doubles, senior Yuji Inoue and sophomore Connor Horton, paired up to take their first shot
in District. They reached the semifinals after relatively easy wins in their first two matches. But their
semifinal match against the #2 seed proved to be much tougher. They prevailed 6-4 6-2 with great
net play to reach the finals against the #1 seed, yet another defending State Champ! They lost in the
district final but with the Silver medal they qualified for the TAPPS 2A State Tournament in Waco.
In the First Round of the State Tournament Yuji and Connor defeated a doubles team from Longview
Christian by a score of 6-4, 6-4. In the Quarterfinal Round our boys lost an extremely tight contest 4-6,
6-3, 10-7. They played really hard and showed improvement the more they played.
AWS has been represented by one or more students at the TAPPS State Tennis Tourney for three
years in a row and 6 of the last 8 years.
Austin Waldorf School
Faculty and Staff
would like to wish you all
a happy, safe,
and relaxing summer!
Inspire, Experience, Grow, Create
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Year in Review 2
Parent Society Corner 3
Screenagers the Movie 3
Senior Play 2016 4
Juniper Tree News 4
Third Grade Success 5
Sandfest 2016 5
Board of Trustees News 6
National German Exam 7
Book Award Finalist 7
Spring Sports Review 8
Please Join Our School Community, AWS Families, Faculty, and Friends from the 1986's to 2016 at the retirement celebration
for our beloved Betsy Hanelius, Carol Stewart, Chris Eason & Pat Mouton
Austin Waldorf School PAC/Recital Hall
Saturday, June 11, 2016 1-4pm
June 2016
RETIRING FACULTY AND STAFF 2016
THE MESSENGER
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL PICK UP TIME CHANGE
On the last day of school, grades will be dismissed at noon and high
school at 12:15 pm. After the Rose Ceremony, grades students will return to
their classrooms and high school to their end of year assembly. Grades par-
ents may pick up their students from the classroom beginning at 11:30 am.
Students may only be released to parents unless a previous arrangement has
been made with the class teacher. Remaining grades students will go to pick-
up locations at noon.
Wednesday June 1
Last day of Kindergarten
Crossing Over Ceremony
Thursday June 2
High School Theatre Elective
Performances, 2:10 & 2:30
All ages Welcome, PAC Stage
AWS Mom’s night out
7pm, Rusty Mule
Friday June 3
Last day of School, 1st-12th
Grade, Early Dismissal
Rose Ceremony
10:30am., Gym
8th Grade Ceremony
5-7pm, Gym
Saturday June 4
12th Grade Commencement
3-5pm, Gym
Saturday June 11
Honoring our Retiring Faculty
and Staff, 1-4pm
EVENTS
Page 2 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2015-2016 Submitted by, Kathy McElveen, General School Leader
IMAGINING A NEW HIGH SCHOOL AND REDESIGNING THE CAMPUS
The collaboration with the University of Texas, School of Architecture was a semester long project that
culminated in four different versions of a master site plan and two scale models of the campus and vicinity.
The students, parents, and teachers who had the opportunity to review the projects and meet the
UT students were inspired by the possibilities of how the school can grow and develop in the future.
The next step will be to create a final master site plan and then identify the first priorities for new buildings
and redesign.
NEW WEBSITE! https://austinwaldorf.org/
We launched a brand new website this spring that better represents our vibrant school and community. A Waldorf alumnus from the
Garden City Waldorf School called and left a message recently to see if he could visit the AWS campus later this month. One of the
things he said was ―Your website is awesome!‖ There is still a lot of content to revise and that will be ongoing. We’ll also be uploading
more ―useful documents‖ to the BigSIS Parent Portal instead of to the website. Let us know if there is a ―useful document‖ that
you’re missing and would like to see.
COMMUNICATIONS IN GENERAL—NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
The new website is a much needed step in the right direction, but the question of how best to communicate about the school is
ongoing. We still haven’t found a new database and communications manager, but have begun conversations with Parent Society
leaders and others about improving overall communication within the community. This is a front burner topic.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
There was a lot of behind the scenes work this year as the school continued to implement the results of last
year’s safety/security audit. Faculty and staff have received training in suicide prevention, sexual misconduct
prevention, and lock-down protocols. We held a first-ever ―secure the building‖ drill last week. Parking lot and
playground safety are high on the list for continued improvement. The Parent Society led a first-ever
Parking Lot Safety Week and another is planned for the fall. Parent leaders have been meeting with administrators and
teachers to improve some aspects of playground safety and supervision.
ANNUAL GIVING, THE GALA, AND DEVELOPMENT
Board Chair Leslie Callahan and parent Shir Shoham led the way in ensuring the school met its fundraising
goals this year. Leslie spearheaded the Giving Tree Annual Fund campaign in the fall and met our goal.
Shir Shoham organized a team to put on the spring gala, A Night in Old Havana, and netted $33,000 for the
school, $23,000 to the general operating fund and $10,000 for the music department. We have a new Development
Director, Catherine Herzog Ashton, starting July 1 to build and strengthen the school’s development program.
STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS!
First time ever! Won through hard work and determination by the coaches and players and
lots of love and support from the AWS community.
“Slow Down,
Look Around”
FOR THE MICHAEL AGE
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes towards Man out of the future
And we must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future
We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come
And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely to live out of pure trust without any security in existence.
Trust in that ever present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
And we must seek this awakening within ourselves every morning and every evening.
–Rudolf Steiner
The Messenger Page 3 Back to Table of Contents
PARENT SOCIETY CORNER
Greetings from the Parent Society!
A longtime Dallas/Fort Worth-area sports scribe used to include a seg-ment called “Scattershooting”, in which he’d deliver short, quick-hitting thoughts. In honor of our own, home-grown AWS Roadrunners sports cor-respondent Corey Horton, we’ll do the same here.
Scattershooting... ...while wondering how many volun-teer hours Hani Talebi and Susan Henson have given this school over the past couple of years in their roles as President and Vice President of the Parent Society. I imagine if they were paid an hourly rate they would have earned enough to pay for at least one or two tuitions...
...Parking Lot Safety Week was a great success in the moment. Great example of the Parent Society working with the administration to determine a need, create a plan and volunteers making it happen. The real key is for drivers and kids to remember to keep it slow the rest of the year as well…
...my favorite parts of Parking Lot Safety Week- greeters who served one day showing up unannounced the next because they saw so much value in it...
…great year for the Parent Society overall. Healthy attendance at each of our Parent Society meetings. Inspiring small group discussions and an outstanding array of Slice of Life components.…
...not sure what my favorite Slice of Life was- interview of adults who had graduated from Waldorf schools? Our recent Q&A session with the graduat-ing seniors? Woodworking and Art with Mr. Smith and Mr. Miller? Games class with Coach Olson and Ms. Mo-ran? Tough to choose just one …
...another new Parent Society initiative this year, the Welcome Wagon, seemed to be a success. The inaugu-ral Welcome Wagon Picnic had over 80 folks in attendance. Already in touch with the incoming families for the fall. Couldn’t have done it without those amazing volunteers!
...in case you missed them, PS Pod-casts (including our most recent one) are available here. Just another ex-ample of our Communications Circle trying to meet parents in a variety of ways…
As always, many thanks and see you soon, Your Parent Society Leadership Council Jeff Roberts, Shir Shoham, Michelle Lemberger, Rene Crosby, Suzanne Tejada, Jill Powell and Monica Erb
SCREENAGERS THE MOVIE COMING AUGUST 2016
Submitted by Jeff Roberts, Parent Society Leadership Council Secretary
All School Parent Morning—Screenagers Screening
August 26 & 27: Please save the date and look for announcements over the summer for several view-
ing times for this important documentary. ABOUT THE FILM In her award-winning documentaries on
mental health, physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she
probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social me-
dia, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories,
along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals
how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower children to
best navigate the digital world and find balance.
This film will be a springboard for the AWS community to engage in meaningful dialogue throughout the
year on enhancing family life and consciousness in a digital world. Contact Carol Toole with questions.
[email protected]. The Trailer can be viewed at screenagersthemovie.com
Submitted by Carol Toole, Student Support
The Messenger Back to Table of Contents
Page 4
This year’s play was an adaptation
of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Wom-
an of Setzuan, sometimes known as
a “parable in 10 scenes.” The play
was originally produced in 1943
and published in 1953 as Der gute
Mensch von Sezuan. The title has
many English-language variants,
including The Good Person of Sze-
chwan and The Good Soul of
Szechuan.
Our version of the play is set in
New Orleans in the early 1960s.
The title character, Chantal Bon-
net, is a poor but warmhearted
young woman. Because she alone
was willing to shelter three gods in
search of a good person on earth,
they reward her with a gift of mon-
ey. She purchases a tobacco shop
but finds that her former landlords,
and others are trying to take ad-
vantage of her kindness.
To save her business, Chantal
adopts an alter ego-Claude Bouvet;
dressing as a man and acting the
role of her tough, practical cousin,
she is able to help her shop stay
afloat. She is loved and admired by
several of her neighbors who give
her the title "Angel of the Slums".
The gods watch over her through
their liaison, the water seller, Ril-
leaux.
Submitted by Morgan Vierheller, High School Humanities. Pictures by Ryo Inoue
SENIOR PLAY 2016
Bravi Class of 2016
Juniper Tree News:
HUGE end of school year sale! ALL Books and Yarn are on sale at the Juniper Tree
until school is out! Check out our graduation gifts, Father's Day gifts & cards too!
40% off any green stickered book or yarn
10% off all 2016 library book award finalists
25% off ALL other regularly priced yarn & books!
40% off those titles when you donate! We're also collecting monetary donations to send a box of books annually to prisoners in Texas.
Thank you and hope to see you soon, Shelley & Carson
The Messenger Page 5 Back to Table of Contents
Submitted by Robert Miller Art Program Director
The 11th Grade had a great time during the recent trip to Port Aransas to compete in an international sand
sculpture competition. The weather was cooperative and our parents did an excellent job of keeping
sunscreen applied. The students received 1st, 2nd, and 4th place awards. Congratulations Class of 2017
–Mr. Miller
SANDFEST 2016
Third Grade Raised
$502.25
for the Library. Way to Go!
Third Grade Success!
Submitted by
Marian Munkvold-Saunders, Parent
Just a quick note to share the results of our hard work last month!
Helping Hands gratefully accepted 338.45 lbs of donations from our class.
The book sale brought in $502.25, which, according to a third grader quot-
ing Mrs. Burke, "Can buy 55 hardcover books for the library.‖ In addition she
had the chance to look over the books before the book sale and found sev-
eral dozen to add to the student and faculty libraries. All in all, a wonderful
gift from the class to their beloved library.
Wonderful work!
Warmly, Marian
“The cooperative tasks of the
competition, as well as cooking
and cleaning with each other
seemed to greatly benefit our
class cohesion.”
-Ethan Denson , Student
“Seeing the incredible level of care and skill on display in the Masters Category inspired us to put our full effort into our creations.”
-Sophie Laird, Student
“Beyond artistic merits, this trip affords our teens the space to become
closer as a class as they go into the summer prior to their final year of
high school and all that comes with looking to post graduation life.”
-Brett Rodgers, Parent
“It was hard work, but very exciting. I love my class and am so grateful I had this opportunity. I hope future 11th grades have as much fun!” -Colista Nemec, Student
“The magical transformation from our originally labored-over plan, into a sculpture we never could have envisioned, made for an in-credibly rewarding experience.” -Zoe Harrison, Student
As we wrap up another academic year, celebrate graduations, and plan our summer break activities, I would like to share with you some
perspective from the Austin Waldorf Board of Trustees. Led by Leslie Callahan, Board President, we have accomplished the following:
- Created the first five year AWS Strategic Plan; developed a supporting Strategic Financial Plan that mapped out how we
can pay for our objectives
- Designed a search process for a General School Leader; included all stakeholder constituencies in implementing that
search process; and hired Kathy McElveen into the role
- Created a Support and Evaluation Committee at the Board-level to help our GSL be as successful as possible and to provide
a level of professionalism in evaluating her success against defined criteria
- Developed new Board member orientation
- Facilitated our second annual Giving Tree campaign cycle, exceeding our fundraising goals
- Commenced work to connect to City of Austin sewer utilities — a prerequisite to any future site development
- Purchased two much-needed vans for school transportation
At the end of the summer break, we will convene the board to set the agenda for the 2016-17 school year. We will need to revisit the
Strategic Plan, assess what has changed, and extend the timeline by another year. I can anticipate the following themes for the year:
- Work with our new Development Director to enhance our fundraising approach and capabilities
- Facilitate conversations to establish common understanding of the challenges facing the school, and build on that work to design a
beautiful image of how we want AWS to evolve in the coming years
This month, we are losing two valued and tenured Board members whose terms are expiring (Leslie Callahan and Suzanne Karisch).
Although we have gained some stellar new Board members in the last few months, we are in the midst of recruiting potential new Board
members, and we would love to hear suggestions from you if you’re willing to serve, or if there is a parent or community member you
know of who might be a good fit. Here is the kind of person we are looking for…
Please contact Mark Kernan ([email protected], 512-751-0281) or Jonathan D’Souza ([email protected], 425-516-8980) to sug-
gest possible candidates.
Thank you!
Mark Kernan
Incoming President, Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees
Qualities all candidates should possess:
* Well-prepared for meetings
* Positive attitude
* Works well with others
* Clear communicator
* Time to serve
* Integrity
* Compassion
* Empathy
* Commitment to AWS and Board missions
Targeted skills or experiences (not all candidates will pos-
sess all of these, but each candidate should possess at
least some):
- Fundraising
- Networking
- Site development and/or real estate
- Management experience
- Board experience
- Marketing
- Finance
- Corporate or employment law
Page 6 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
AWS BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEWS Submitted by, Mark Kernan, incoming Board President
Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees Executive Members
2016/2017 School Year
Mark Kernan, President
Dawn Harrienger & Janna Cormier, Vice Presidents
Teresa Ravet, Secretary
Mike Sekel, Treasurer
The National German Exam is administered each year to nearly 22,000 high school
students in the first second, third and fourth level of German. The Exam, now in its
56th year, provides individual diagnostic feedback, rewards students through an
extensive prize program, and creates a sense of accomplishment. Exam results
provide a means of comparing students in all regions of the country, as well as pro-
grammatic data provided to help inform curricular decisions.
The Level 1 Exam measures student proficiencies in the Novice range as measured
by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. (https://www.actfl.org) These students un-
derstand some ideas on familiar topics containing phrases, simple sentences, and
frequently used expressions. They can understand the main point and a few details
in short conversations, messages, and announcements.
Each Exam is comprised of 100 questions. Question types include multiple choice,
matching, and true/false. The Exam is comprised of two parts.
The listening and viewing portion is 40 minutes in length and consists of a series of
short audio and video segments with a total of 50 questions and tasks. The reading
portion is 45 minutes in length and consists of a number of print texts, including
graphs and images with a total of 50 questions and tasks. All materials used in the exam
are from authentic resources.
This year five AWS students participated in the exam in (Level 1). Of the students that participated three received an Achievement Award:
Maeve Cannone, Bethany Broesche, Emeline Arnold, Sebastian Gritzka received a Gold Award.
Congratulations to all for their excellent work!
Page 7 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
NATIONAL GERMAN EXAM Submitted by, Patricia Daunt-Grogan, Guidance Counselor
From left to right, Sebastian Gritzka, Emeline Arnold,
Mauve Cannone, Bethany Broesche
AWS CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD FINALIST Submitted by, Linda Burke, Librarian
Read Aloud
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh
Corner; A.A. Milne
Rising 3rd
Detective Gordon: The First Case;
Ulf Nilsson
Ms. Rapscott’s Girls; Elise Primavera
Rising 4th
Adventures with Waffles; Maria Parr
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional
Poultry Farmer; Kelly Jones
Rising 5th
Circus Mirandus; Cassie Beasley
Sign of the Cat; Lynne Jonell
Rising 6th
The Great Good Summer; Liz Garton
Scanlon
Nooks and Crannies; Jessica Lawson
Rising 7th
The Seventh Most Important Thing;
Shelley Pearsall
The Thing About Jellyfish;
Ali Benjamin
Rising 8th
The Marvels; Brian Selznick
The War that Saved My Life;
Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
Dear Parents,
I am please to announce the books
chosen for the Grade School awards program.
Students are asked to read the two for their
grade so they are ready to vote for their favorite
in the fall. We have, once again, chosen a clas-
sic for the Read Aloud award, which is aimed at
the rising First and Second Grades.
There will be more information about
each of these books on the Library page of the
website sometime in the near future.
The library will be open on Wednesday
afternoons from noon to 4:00 beginning June
8th and ending July 20th. I will let you know if I will
open August 10 and 17.
Have a wonderful summer, thank you
for all your support this year, and I hope to see
you some Wednesday this summer.
Linda Burke,
Librarian
Page 8 Messenger Back to Table of Contents
SPRING SPORTS IN REVIEW Submitted by Erik Olson, Athletic Director, Mary Wilson, School Parent and Chad Nemec, School Parent
Track
Emeline Arnold represented us very well
in track ending the season at the State
Championships and breaking our school
record in the 800 meter run. Coming back
from an illness last year and an injury this
year, she ran in one race in early April
before entering our TAPPS District Meet.
In the little town of Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 meter run and 4th in the 400 meter
dash to qualify in both races for the TAPPS South
Regional Meet. Once again in Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 and 3rd in the 400, which allowed
her to qualify for the TAPPS 2A State Track & Field
Championships in Waco.
Held at the beautiful new track at Baylor University
Emeline was joined by over 1,000 other athletes from
all over Texas. She earned a bronze medal by finish-
ing 3rd in the 800. She finished 4th in the 400 miss-
ing the bronze medal by a tenth of a second. During
the season she broke our school record in the 800
with a time of 2:29. Congratulations Emeline!
We were very happy to have
had 30 students from the 6th,
7th, and 8th grades participate
on our MS track and field teams
this year. All our runners im-
proved during the season and
we are proud of all of them.
Our 7/8 girls team won the
AIPL Championship in the final meet by ½
point! They were 1st of 20 schools, many of which
are much bigger than AWS. It is a great accomplish-
ment for AWS!
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF TEAM PUTS WALDORF ON STATE SCOREBOARD
Submitted by Mary Wilson, School Parent
Team members: Seniors: Jeff Wilson and Jack Holland;
Juniors: John and Ben Callahan; Sophomores: Aidan
Cromier, Goodwin Bell, Mac Brenner just finished a short,
but sweet golf season with notable wins at the TAPPS 2A
State Championship in Waco, Texas May 2nd and 3rd. The
team qualified for the State tournament after a dominating
win at District and a comfortable 2nd place finish at Re-
gional. This was the third consecutive year that Waldorf
had competed at the State level.
On the first day of the State tournament, John and Ben
fired off “personal best tournament” scores (96-99) and
Jeff finished one stroke behind three players tied for first
at (77). By the end of the second day, the team had
dropped an impressive 12 strokes with Ben turning in a
new “personal best” (95) and Aidan logging a “personal
best” (96) as well. Jeff knocked 7 strokes off his score-
card finishing with a one under par (71). This steady team
scoring gave the Roadrunners a clean Tapps 2A third place
Sate win while Jeff, with a three stroke lead, finished the
tournament as the 2016 Tapps 2A State Champion – his
third consecutive State Championship!
AWS Mountain Biking Team Submitted by Chad Nemec, School Parent
Keshav Govind and Chili Nemec accomplished their goal of top 10 finalists in
the State of Texas high school league. It was a fantastic experience for all in-
volved. Cheers to all the support from the community!
Please contact coaches Robert Sherlock ([email protected]) or me
Chad Nemec ([email protected]) if your child has an interest in learning
more about this fun and exciting sport.
Austin Waldorf School 8700 South View Road
Austin, TX 78737
Our Mission: “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to give purpose and direction to their lives.” ~Rudolf Steiner
By creating a school environment that balances academic, artistic and practical disciplines, the Austin Waldorf School cultivates a love of learning, creative thinking, a sympathetic interest in the world, self-confidence and an abiding moral purpose.
Celebrating 34 years of educational excellence in Austin.
Messenger Back to Table of Contents Page 9
Main Office: 512-288-5942
Fax: 512-301-8997
High School: 512-301-9550
Fax: 512-439-0143
Kindergarten: 512-288-5120
Aftercare Emergency: 512-767-5707
Juniper Tree : 512-288-5106
www.austinwaldorf.org
To unsubscribe to the Messenger, click here. Questions or comments? Click here.
E-mail:
Awsannounce
@austinwaldorf.org
The Austin Waldorf School is a non-profit educational institution, 501(c)3, that welcomes students of any religion, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin.
SPRING SPORTS REVIEW CONTINUTED Tennis Pictures by Ryo Inoue
In the TAPPS District tournament, held at the
Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio, senior
José Luis Turincio, seeded 9th, started things off
with a gutsy victory over the 8th seed. After
losing the first set 2-6, he played an excellent
second set which he captured 6-4. With the
momentum on his side, he won the tiebreaker
10-5 to advance to the next round. Facing the
#1 seed and last year's State Runner-Up, José
Luis fought valiantly, but his opponent proved
too tough. Thank you José Luis for all your years
of participation in AWS sports!
Not to be outdone by her brother, sophomore
Julieta Turincio took care of her 8th seeded
opponent 6-1, 6-2 in her first match! But her
second match saw her facing the #1 seed, the defending State Champ! Again, it was a great effort,
but a defeat to a worthy opponent. She will have two more chances in the coming years to build on
this performance.
In boys doubles, senior Yuji Inoue and sophomore Connor Horton, paired up to take their first shot
in District. They reached the semifinals after relatively easy wins in their first two matches. But their
semifinal match against the #2 seed proved to be much tougher. They prevailed 6-4 6-2 with great
net play to reach the finals against the #1 seed, yet another defending State Champ! They lost in the
district final but with the Silver medal they qualified for the TAPPS 2A State Tournament in Waco.
In the First Round of the State Tournament Yuji and Connor defeated a doubles team from Longview
Christian by a score of 6-4, 6-4. In the Quarterfinal Round our boys lost an extremely tight contest 4-6,
6-3, 10-7. They played really hard and showed improvement the more they played.
AWS has been represented by one or more students at the TAPPS State Tennis Tourney for three
years in a row and 6 of the last 8 years.
Austin Waldorf School
Faculty and Staff
would like to wish you all
a happy, safe,
and relaxing summer!
Inspire, Experience, Grow, Create
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Year in Review 2
Parent Society Corner 3
Screenagers the Movie 3
Senior Play 2016 4
Juniper Tree News 4
Third Grade Success 5
Sandfest 2016 5
Board of Trustees News 6
National German Exam 7
Book Award Finalist 7
Spring Sports Review 8
Please Join Our School Community, AWS Families, Faculty, and Friends from the 1986's to 2016 at the retirement celebration
for our beloved Betsy Hanelius, Carol Stewart, Chris Eason & Pat Mouton
Austin Waldorf School PAC/Recital Hall
Saturday, June 11, 2016 1-4pm
June 2016
RETIRING FACULTY AND STAFF 2016
THE MESSENGER
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL PICK UP TIME CHANGE
On the last day of school, grades will be dismissed at noon and high
school at 12:15 pm. After the Rose Ceremony, grades students will return to
their classrooms and high school to their end of year assembly. Grades par-
ents may pick up their students from the classroom beginning at 11:30 am.
Students may only be released to parents unless a previous arrangement has
been made with the class teacher. Remaining grades students will go to pick-
up locations at noon.
Wednesday June 1
Last day of Kindergarten
Crossing Over Ceremony
Thursday June 2
High School Theatre Elective
Performances, 2:10 & 2:30
All ages Welcome, PAC Stage
AWS Mom’s night out
7pm, Rusty Mule
Friday June 3
Last day of School, 1st-12th
Grade, Early Dismissal
Rose Ceremony
10:30am., Gym
8th Grade Ceremony
5-7pm, Gym
Saturday June 4
12th Grade Commencement
3-5pm, Gym
Saturday June 11
Honoring our Retiring Faculty
and Staff, 1-4pm
EVENTS
Page 2 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2015-2016 Submitted by, Kathy McElveen, General School Leader
IMAGINING A NEW HIGH SCHOOL AND REDESIGNING THE CAMPUS
The collaboration with the University of Texas, School of Architecture was a semester long project that
culminated in four different versions of a master site plan and two scale models of the campus and vicinity.
The students, parents, and teachers who had the opportunity to review the projects and meet the
UT students were inspired by the possibilities of how the school can grow and develop in the future.
The next step will be to create a final master site plan and then identify the first priorities for new buildings
and redesign.
NEW WEBSITE! https://austinwaldorf.org/
We launched a brand new website this spring that better represents our vibrant school and community. A Waldorf alumnus from the
Garden City Waldorf School called and left a message recently to see if he could visit the AWS campus later this month. One of the
things he said was ―Your website is awesome!‖ There is still a lot of content to revise and that will be ongoing. We’ll also be uploading
more ―useful documents‖ to the BigSIS Parent Portal instead of to the website. Let us know if there is a ―useful document‖ that
you’re missing and would like to see.
COMMUNICATIONS IN GENERAL—NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
The new website is a much needed step in the right direction, but the question of how best to communicate about the school is
ongoing. We still haven’t found a new database and communications manager, but have begun conversations with Parent Society
leaders and others about improving overall communication within the community. This is a front burner topic.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
There was a lot of behind the scenes work this year as the school continued to implement the results of last
year’s safety/security audit. Faculty and staff have received training in suicide prevention, sexual misconduct
prevention, and lock-down protocols. We held a first-ever ―secure the building‖ drill last week. Parking lot and
playground safety are high on the list for continued improvement. The Parent Society led a first-ever
Parking Lot Safety Week and another is planned for the fall. Parent leaders have been meeting with administrators and
teachers to improve some aspects of playground safety and supervision.
ANNUAL GIVING, THE GALA, AND DEVELOPMENT
Board Chair Leslie Callahan and parent Shir Shoham led the way in ensuring the school met its fundraising
goals this year. Leslie spearheaded the Giving Tree Annual Fund campaign in the fall and met our goal.
Shir Shoham organized a team to put on the spring gala, A Night in Old Havana, and netted $33,000 for the
school, $23,000 to the general operating fund and $10,000 for the music department. We have a new Development
Director, Catherine Herzog Ashton, starting July 1 to build and strengthen the school’s development program.
STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS!
First time ever! Won through hard work and determination by the coaches and players and
lots of love and support from the AWS community.
“Slow Down,
Look Around”
FOR THE MICHAEL AGE
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes towards Man out of the future
And we must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future
We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come
And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely to live out of pure trust without any security in existence.
Trust in that ever present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
And we must seek this awakening within ourselves every morning and every evening.
–Rudolf Steiner
The Messenger Page 3 Back to Table of Contents
PARENT SOCIETY CORNER
Greetings from the Parent Society!
A longtime Dallas/Fort Worth-area sports scribe used to include a seg-ment called “Scattershooting”, in which he’d deliver short, quick-hitting thoughts. In honor of our own, home-grown AWS Roadrunners sports cor-respondent Corey Horton, we’ll do the same here.
Scattershooting... ...while wondering how many volun-teer hours Hani Talebi and Susan Henson have given this school over the past couple of years in their roles as President and Vice President of the Parent Society. I imagine if they were paid an hourly rate they would have earned enough to pay for at least one or two tuitions...
...Parking Lot Safety Week was a great success in the moment. Great example of the Parent Society working with the administration to determine a need, create a plan and volunteers making it happen. The real key is for drivers and kids to remember to keep it slow the rest of the year as well…
...my favorite parts of Parking Lot Safety Week- greeters who served one day showing up unannounced the next because they saw so much value in it...
…great year for the Parent Society overall. Healthy attendance at each of our Parent Society meetings. Inspiring small group discussions and an outstanding array of Slice of Life components.…
...not sure what my favorite Slice of Life was- interview of adults who had graduated from Waldorf schools? Our recent Q&A session with the graduat-ing seniors? Woodworking and Art with Mr. Smith and Mr. Miller? Games class with Coach Olson and Ms. Mo-ran? Tough to choose just one …
...another new Parent Society initiative this year, the Welcome Wagon, seemed to be a success. The inaugu-ral Welcome Wagon Picnic had over 80 folks in attendance. Already in touch with the incoming families for the fall. Couldn’t have done it without those amazing volunteers!
...in case you missed them, PS Pod-casts (including our most recent one) are available here. Just another ex-ample of our Communications Circle trying to meet parents in a variety of ways…
As always, many thanks and see you soon, Your Parent Society Leadership Council Jeff Roberts, Shir Shoham, Michelle Lemberger, Rene Crosby, Suzanne Tejada, Jill Powell and Monica Erb
SCREENAGERS THE MOVIE COMING AUGUST 2016
Submitted by Jeff Roberts, Parent Society Leadership Council Secretary
All School Parent Morning—Screenagers Screening
August 26 & 27: Please save the date and look for announcements over the summer for several view-
ing times for this important documentary. ABOUT THE FILM In her award-winning documentaries on
mental health, physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she
probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social me-
dia, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories,
along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals
how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower children to
best navigate the digital world and find balance.
This film will be a springboard for the AWS community to engage in meaningful dialogue throughout the
year on enhancing family life and consciousness in a digital world. Contact Carol Toole with questions.
[email protected]. The Trailer can be viewed at screenagersthemovie.com
Submitted by Carol Toole, Student Support
The Messenger Back to Table of Contents
Page 4
This year’s play was an adaptation
of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Wom-
an of Setzuan, sometimes known as
a “parable in 10 scenes.” The play
was originally produced in 1943
and published in 1953 as Der gute
Mensch von Sezuan. The title has
many English-language variants,
including The Good Person of Sze-
chwan and The Good Soul of
Szechuan.
Our version of the play is set in
New Orleans in the early 1960s.
The title character, Chantal Bon-
net, is a poor but warmhearted
young woman. Because she alone
was willing to shelter three gods in
search of a good person on earth,
they reward her with a gift of mon-
ey. She purchases a tobacco shop
but finds that her former landlords,
and others are trying to take ad-
vantage of her kindness.
To save her business, Chantal
adopts an alter ego-Claude Bouvet;
dressing as a man and acting the
role of her tough, practical cousin,
she is able to help her shop stay
afloat. She is loved and admired by
several of her neighbors who give
her the title "Angel of the Slums".
The gods watch over her through
their liaison, the water seller, Ril-
leaux.
Submitted by Morgan Vierheller, High School Humanities. Pictures by Ryo Inoue
SENIOR PLAY 2016
Bravi Class of 2016
Juniper Tree News:
HUGE end of school year sale! ALL Books and Yarn are on sale at the Juniper Tree
until school is out! Check out our graduation gifts, Father's Day gifts & cards too!
40% off any green stickered book or yarn
10% off all 2016 library book award finalists
25% off ALL other regularly priced yarn & books!
40% off those titles when you donate! We're also collecting monetary donations to send a box of books annually to prisoners in Texas.
Thank you and hope to see you soon, Shelley & Carson
The Messenger Page 5 Back to Table of Contents
Submitted by Robert Miller Art Program Director
The 11th Grade had a great time during the recent trip to Port Aransas to compete in an international sand
sculpture competition. The weather was cooperative and our parents did an excellent job of keeping
sunscreen applied. The students received 1st, 2nd, and 4th place awards. Congratulations Class of 2017
–Mr. Miller
SANDFEST 2016
Third Grade Raised
$502.25
for the Library. Way to Go!
Third Grade Success!
Submitted by
Marian Munkvold-Saunders, Parent
Just a quick note to share the results of our hard work last month!
Helping Hands gratefully accepted 338.45 lbs of donations from our class.
The book sale brought in $502.25, which, according to a third grader quot-
ing Mrs. Burke, "Can buy 55 hardcover books for the library.‖ In addition she
had the chance to look over the books before the book sale and found sev-
eral dozen to add to the student and faculty libraries. All in all, a wonderful
gift from the class to their beloved library.
Wonderful work!
Warmly, Marian
“The cooperative tasks of the
competition, as well as cooking
and cleaning with each other
seemed to greatly benefit our
class cohesion.”
-Ethan Denson , Student
“Seeing the incredible level of care and skill on display in the Masters Category inspired us to put our full effort into our creations.”
-Sophie Laird, Student
“Beyond artistic merits, this trip affords our teens the space to become
closer as a class as they go into the summer prior to their final year of
high school and all that comes with looking to post graduation life.”
-Brett Rodgers, Parent
“It was hard work, but very exciting. I love my class and am so grateful I had this opportunity. I hope future 11th grades have as much fun!” -Colista Nemec, Student
“The magical transformation from our originally labored-over plan, into a sculpture we never could have envisioned, made for an in-credibly rewarding experience.” -Zoe Harrison, Student
As we wrap up another academic year, celebrate graduations, and plan our summer break activities, I would like to share with you some
perspective from the Austin Waldorf Board of Trustees. Led by Leslie Callahan, Board President, we have accomplished the following:
- Created the first five year AWS Strategic Plan; developed a supporting Strategic Financial Plan that mapped out how we
can pay for our objectives
- Designed a search process for a General School Leader; included all stakeholder constituencies in implementing that
search process; and hired Kathy McElveen into the role
- Created a Support and Evaluation Committee at the Board-level to help our GSL be as successful as possible and to provide
a level of professionalism in evaluating her success against defined criteria
- Developed new Board member orientation
- Facilitated our second annual Giving Tree campaign cycle, exceeding our fundraising goals
- Commenced work to connect to City of Austin sewer utilities — a prerequisite to any future site development
- Purchased two much-needed vans for school transportation
At the end of the summer break, we will convene the board to set the agenda for the 2016-17 school year. We will need to revisit the
Strategic Plan, assess what has changed, and extend the timeline by another year. I can anticipate the following themes for the year:
- Work with our new Development Director to enhance our fundraising approach and capabilities
- Facilitate conversations to establish common understanding of the challenges facing the school, and build on that work to design a
beautiful image of how we want AWS to evolve in the coming years
This month, we are losing two valued and tenured Board members whose terms are expiring (Leslie Callahan and Suzanne Karisch).
Although we have gained some stellar new Board members in the last few months, we are in the midst of recruiting potential new Board
members, and we would love to hear suggestions from you if you’re willing to serve, or if there is a parent or community member you
know of who might be a good fit. Here is the kind of person we are looking for…
Please contact Mark Kernan ([email protected], 512-751-0281) or Jonathan D’Souza ([email protected], 425-516-8980) to sug-
gest possible candidates.
Thank you!
Mark Kernan
Incoming President, Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees
Qualities all candidates should possess:
* Well-prepared for meetings
* Positive attitude
* Works well with others
* Clear communicator
* Time to serve
* Integrity
* Compassion
* Empathy
* Commitment to AWS and Board missions
Targeted skills or experiences (not all candidates will pos-
sess all of these, but each candidate should possess at
least some):
- Fundraising
- Networking
- Site development and/or real estate
- Management experience
- Board experience
- Marketing
- Finance
- Corporate or employment law
Page 6 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
AWS BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEWS Submitted by, Mark Kernan, incoming Board President
Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees Executive Members
2016/2017 School Year
Mark Kernan, President
Dawn Harrienger & Janna Cormier, Vice Presidents
Teresa Ravet, Secretary
Mike Sekel, Treasurer
The National German Exam is administered each year to nearly 22,000 high school
students in the first second, third and fourth level of German. The Exam, now in its
56th year, provides individual diagnostic feedback, rewards students through an
extensive prize program, and creates a sense of accomplishment. Exam results
provide a means of comparing students in all regions of the country, as well as pro-
grammatic data provided to help inform curricular decisions.
The Level 1 Exam measures student proficiencies in the Novice range as measured
by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. (https://www.actfl.org) These students un-
derstand some ideas on familiar topics containing phrases, simple sentences, and
frequently used expressions. They can understand the main point and a few details
in short conversations, messages, and announcements.
Each Exam is comprised of 100 questions. Question types include multiple choice,
matching, and true/false. The Exam is comprised of two parts.
The listening and viewing portion is 40 minutes in length and consists of a series of
short audio and video segments with a total of 50 questions and tasks. The reading
portion is 45 minutes in length and consists of a number of print texts, including
graphs and images with a total of 50 questions and tasks. All materials used in the exam
are from authentic resources.
This year five AWS students participated in the exam in (Level 1). Of the students that participated three received an Achievement Award:
Maeve Cannone, Bethany Broesche, Emeline Arnold, Sebastian Gritzka received a Gold Award.
Congratulations to all for their excellent work!
Page 7 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
NATIONAL GERMAN EXAM Submitted by, Patricia Daunt-Grogan, Guidance Counselor
From left to right, Sebastian Gritzka, Emeline Arnold,
Mauve Cannone, Bethany Broesche
AWS CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD FINALIST Submitted by, Linda Burke, Librarian
Read Aloud
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh
Corner; A.A. Milne
Rising 3rd
Detective Gordon: The First Case;
Ulf Nilsson
Ms. Rapscott’s Girls; Elise Primavera
Rising 4th
Adventures with Waffles; Maria Parr
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional
Poultry Farmer; Kelly Jones
Rising 5th
Circus Mirandus; Cassie Beasley
Sign of the Cat; Lynne Jonell
Rising 6th
The Great Good Summer; Liz Garton
Scanlon
Nooks and Crannies; Jessica Lawson
Rising 7th
The Seventh Most Important Thing;
Shelley Pearsall
The Thing About Jellyfish;
Ali Benjamin
Rising 8th
The Marvels; Brian Selznick
The War that Saved My Life;
Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
Dear Parents,
I am please to announce the books
chosen for the Grade School awards program.
Students are asked to read the two for their
grade so they are ready to vote for their favorite
in the fall. We have, once again, chosen a clas-
sic for the Read Aloud award, which is aimed at
the rising First and Second Grades.
There will be more information about
each of these books on the Library page of the
website sometime in the near future.
The library will be open on Wednesday
afternoons from noon to 4:00 beginning June
8th and ending July 20th. I will let you know if I will
open August 10 and 17.
Have a wonderful summer, thank you
for all your support this year, and I hope to see
you some Wednesday this summer.
Linda Burke,
Librarian
Page 8 Messenger Back to Table of Contents
SPRING SPORTS IN REVIEW Submitted by Erik Olson, Athletic Director, Mary Wilson, School Parent and Chad Nemec, School Parent
Track
Emeline Arnold represented us very well
in track ending the season at the State
Championships and breaking our school
record in the 800 meter run. Coming back
from an illness last year and an injury this
year, she ran in one race in early April
before entering our TAPPS District Meet.
In the little town of Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 meter run and 4th in the 400 meter
dash to qualify in both races for the TAPPS South
Regional Meet. Once again in Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 and 3rd in the 400, which allowed
her to qualify for the TAPPS 2A State Track & Field
Championships in Waco.
Held at the beautiful new track at Baylor University
Emeline was joined by over 1,000 other athletes from
all over Texas. She earned a bronze medal by finish-
ing 3rd in the 800. She finished 4th in the 400 miss-
ing the bronze medal by a tenth of a second. During
the season she broke our school record in the 800
with a time of 2:29. Congratulations Emeline!
We were very happy to have
had 30 students from the 6th,
7th, and 8th grades participate
on our MS track and field teams
this year. All our runners im-
proved during the season and
we are proud of all of them.
Our 7/8 girls team won the
AIPL Championship in the final meet by ½
point! They were 1st of 20 schools, many of which
are much bigger than AWS. It is a great accomplish-
ment for AWS!
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF TEAM PUTS WALDORF ON STATE SCOREBOARD
Submitted by Mary Wilson, School Parent
Team members: Seniors: Jeff Wilson and Jack Holland;
Juniors: John and Ben Callahan; Sophomores: Aidan
Cromier, Goodwin Bell, Mac Brenner just finished a short,
but sweet golf season with notable wins at the TAPPS 2A
State Championship in Waco, Texas May 2nd and 3rd. The
team qualified for the State tournament after a dominating
win at District and a comfortable 2nd place finish at Re-
gional. This was the third consecutive year that Waldorf
had competed at the State level.
On the first day of the State tournament, John and Ben
fired off “personal best tournament” scores (96-99) and
Jeff finished one stroke behind three players tied for first
at (77). By the end of the second day, the team had
dropped an impressive 12 strokes with Ben turning in a
new “personal best” (95) and Aidan logging a “personal
best” (96) as well. Jeff knocked 7 strokes off his score-
card finishing with a one under par (71). This steady team
scoring gave the Roadrunners a clean Tapps 2A third place
Sate win while Jeff, with a three stroke lead, finished the
tournament as the 2016 Tapps 2A State Champion – his
third consecutive State Championship!
AWS Mountain Biking Team Submitted by Chad Nemec, School Parent
Keshav Govind and Chili Nemec accomplished their goal of top 10 finalists in
the State of Texas high school league. It was a fantastic experience for all in-
volved. Cheers to all the support from the community!
Please contact coaches Robert Sherlock ([email protected]) or me
Chad Nemec ([email protected]) if your child has an interest in learning
more about this fun and exciting sport.
Austin Waldorf School 8700 South View Road
Austin, TX 78737
Our Mission: “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to give purpose and direction to their lives.” ~Rudolf Steiner
By creating a school environment that balances academic, artistic and practical disciplines, the Austin Waldorf School cultivates a love of learning, creative thinking, a sympathetic interest in the world, self-confidence and an abiding moral purpose.
Celebrating 34 years of educational excellence in Austin.
Messenger Back to Table of Contents Page 9
Main Office: 512-288-5942
Fax: 512-301-8997
High School: 512-301-9550
Fax: 512-439-0143
Kindergarten: 512-288-5120
Aftercare Emergency: 512-767-5707
Juniper Tree : 512-288-5106
www.austinwaldorf.org
To unsubscribe to the Messenger, click here. Questions or comments? Click here.
E-mail:
Awsannounce
@austinwaldorf.org
The Austin Waldorf School is a non-profit educational institution, 501(c)3, that welcomes students of any religion, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin.
SPRING SPORTS REVIEW CONTINUTED Tennis Pictures by Ryo Inoue
In the TAPPS District tournament, held at the
Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio, senior
José Luis Turincio, seeded 9th, started things off
with a gutsy victory over the 8th seed. After
losing the first set 2-6, he played an excellent
second set which he captured 6-4. With the
momentum on his side, he won the tiebreaker
10-5 to advance to the next round. Facing the
#1 seed and last year's State Runner-Up, José
Luis fought valiantly, but his opponent proved
too tough. Thank you José Luis for all your years
of participation in AWS sports!
Not to be outdone by her brother, sophomore
Julieta Turincio took care of her 8th seeded
opponent 6-1, 6-2 in her first match! But her
second match saw her facing the #1 seed, the defending State Champ! Again, it was a great effort,
but a defeat to a worthy opponent. She will have two more chances in the coming years to build on
this performance.
In boys doubles, senior Yuji Inoue and sophomore Connor Horton, paired up to take their first shot
in District. They reached the semifinals after relatively easy wins in their first two matches. But their
semifinal match against the #2 seed proved to be much tougher. They prevailed 6-4 6-2 with great
net play to reach the finals against the #1 seed, yet another defending State Champ! They lost in the
district final but with the Silver medal they qualified for the TAPPS 2A State Tournament in Waco.
In the First Round of the State Tournament Yuji and Connor defeated a doubles team from Longview
Christian by a score of 6-4, 6-4. In the Quarterfinal Round our boys lost an extremely tight contest 4-6,
6-3, 10-7. They played really hard and showed improvement the more they played.
AWS has been represented by one or more students at the TAPPS State Tennis Tourney for three
years in a row and 6 of the last 8 years.
Austin Waldorf School
Faculty and Staff
would like to wish you all
a happy, safe,
and relaxing summer!
Inspire, Experience, Grow, Create
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Year in Review 2
Parent Society Corner 3
Screenagers the Movie 3
Senior Play 2016 4
Juniper Tree News 4
Third Grade Success 5
Sandfest 2016 5
Board of Trustees News 6
National German Exam 7
Book Award Finalist 7
Spring Sports Review 8
Please Join Our School Community, AWS Families, Faculty, and Friends from the 1986's to 2016 at the retirement celebration
for our beloved Betsy Hanelius, Carol Stewart, Chris Eason & Pat Mouton
Austin Waldorf School PAC/Recital Hall
Saturday, June 11, 2016 1-4pm
June 2016
RETIRING FACULTY AND STAFF 2016
THE MESSENGER
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL PICK UP TIME CHANGE
On the last day of school, grades will be dismissed at noon and high
school at 12:15 pm. After the Rose Ceremony, grades students will return to
their classrooms and high school to their end of year assembly. Grades par-
ents may pick up their students from the classroom beginning at 11:30 am.
Students may only be released to parents unless a previous arrangement has
been made with the class teacher. Remaining grades students will go to pick-
up locations at noon.
Wednesday June 1
Last day of Kindergarten
Crossing Over Ceremony
Thursday June 2
High School Theatre Elective
Performances, 2:10 & 2:30
All ages Welcome, PAC Stage
AWS Mom’s night out
7pm, Rusty Mule
Friday June 3
Last day of School, 1st-12th
Grade, Early Dismissal
Rose Ceremony
10:30am., Gym
8th Grade Ceremony
5-7pm, Gym
Saturday June 4
12th Grade Commencement
3-5pm, Gym
Saturday June 11
Honoring our Retiring Faculty
and Staff, 1-4pm
EVENTS
Page 2 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2015-2016 Submitted by, Kathy McElveen, General School Leader
IMAGINING A NEW HIGH SCHOOL AND REDESIGNING THE CAMPUS
The collaboration with the University of Texas, School of Architecture was a semester long project that
culminated in four different versions of a master site plan and two scale models of the campus and vicinity.
The students, parents, and teachers who had the opportunity to review the projects and meet the
UT students were inspired by the possibilities of how the school can grow and develop in the future.
The next step will be to create a final master site plan and then identify the first priorities for new buildings
and redesign.
NEW WEBSITE! https://austinwaldorf.org/
We launched a brand new website this spring that better represents our vibrant school and community. A Waldorf alumnus from the
Garden City Waldorf School called and left a message recently to see if he could visit the AWS campus later this month. One of the
things he said was ―Your website is awesome!‖ There is still a lot of content to revise and that will be ongoing. We’ll also be uploading
more ―useful documents‖ to the BigSIS Parent Portal instead of to the website. Let us know if there is a ―useful document‖ that
you’re missing and would like to see.
COMMUNICATIONS IN GENERAL—NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
The new website is a much needed step in the right direction, but the question of how best to communicate about the school is
ongoing. We still haven’t found a new database and communications manager, but have begun conversations with Parent Society
leaders and others about improving overall communication within the community. This is a front burner topic.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
There was a lot of behind the scenes work this year as the school continued to implement the results of last
year’s safety/security audit. Faculty and staff have received training in suicide prevention, sexual misconduct
prevention, and lock-down protocols. We held a first-ever ―secure the building‖ drill last week. Parking lot and
playground safety are high on the list for continued improvement. The Parent Society led a first-ever
Parking Lot Safety Week and another is planned for the fall. Parent leaders have been meeting with administrators and
teachers to improve some aspects of playground safety and supervision.
ANNUAL GIVING, THE GALA, AND DEVELOPMENT
Board Chair Leslie Callahan and parent Shir Shoham led the way in ensuring the school met its fundraising
goals this year. Leslie spearheaded the Giving Tree Annual Fund campaign in the fall and met our goal.
Shir Shoham organized a team to put on the spring gala, A Night in Old Havana, and netted $33,000 for the
school, $23,000 to the general operating fund and $10,000 for the music department. We have a new Development
Director, Catherine Herzog Ashton, starting July 1 to build and strengthen the school’s development program.
STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS!
First time ever! Won through hard work and determination by the coaches and players and
lots of love and support from the AWS community.
“Slow Down,
Look Around”
FOR THE MICHAEL AGE
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes towards Man out of the future
And we must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future
We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come
And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely to live out of pure trust without any security in existence.
Trust in that ever present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
And we must seek this awakening within ourselves every morning and every evening.
–Rudolf Steiner
The Messenger Page 3 Back to Table of Contents
PARENT SOCIETY CORNER
Greetings from the Parent Society!
A longtime Dallas/Fort Worth-area sports scribe used to include a seg-ment called “Scattershooting”, in which he’d deliver short, quick-hitting thoughts. In honor of our own, home-grown AWS Roadrunners sports cor-respondent Corey Horton, we’ll do the same here.
Scattershooting... ...while wondering how many volun-teer hours Hani Talebi and Susan Henson have given this school over the past couple of years in their roles as President and Vice President of the Parent Society. I imagine if they were paid an hourly rate they would have earned enough to pay for at least one or two tuitions...
...Parking Lot Safety Week was a great success in the moment. Great example of the Parent Society working with the administration to determine a need, create a plan and volunteers making it happen. The real key is for drivers and kids to remember to keep it slow the rest of the year as well…
...my favorite parts of Parking Lot Safety Week- greeters who served one day showing up unannounced the next because they saw so much value in it...
…great year for the Parent Society overall. Healthy attendance at each of our Parent Society meetings. Inspiring small group discussions and an outstanding array of Slice of Life components.…
...not sure what my favorite Slice of Life was- interview of adults who had graduated from Waldorf schools? Our recent Q&A session with the graduat-ing seniors? Woodworking and Art with Mr. Smith and Mr. Miller? Games class with Coach Olson and Ms. Mo-ran? Tough to choose just one …
...another new Parent Society initiative this year, the Welcome Wagon, seemed to be a success. The inaugu-ral Welcome Wagon Picnic had over 80 folks in attendance. Already in touch with the incoming families for the fall. Couldn’t have done it without those amazing volunteers!
...in case you missed them, PS Pod-casts (including our most recent one) are available here. Just another ex-ample of our Communications Circle trying to meet parents in a variety of ways…
As always, many thanks and see you soon, Your Parent Society Leadership Council Jeff Roberts, Shir Shoham, Michelle Lemberger, Rene Crosby, Suzanne Tejada, Jill Powell and Monica Erb
SCREENAGERS THE MOVIE COMING AUGUST 2016
Submitted by Jeff Roberts, Parent Society Leadership Council Secretary
All School Parent Morning—Screenagers Screening
August 26 & 27: Please save the date and look for announcements over the summer for several view-
ing times for this important documentary. ABOUT THE FILM In her award-winning documentaries on
mental health, physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she
probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social me-
dia, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories,
along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals
how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower children to
best navigate the digital world and find balance.
This film will be a springboard for the AWS community to engage in meaningful dialogue throughout the
year on enhancing family life and consciousness in a digital world. Contact Carol Toole with questions.
[email protected]. The Trailer can be viewed at screenagersthemovie.com
Submitted by Carol Toole, Student Support
The Messenger Back to Table of Contents
Page 4
This year’s play was an adaptation
of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Wom-
an of Setzuan, sometimes known as
a “parable in 10 scenes.” The play
was originally produced in 1943
and published in 1953 as Der gute
Mensch von Sezuan. The title has
many English-language variants,
including The Good Person of Sze-
chwan and The Good Soul of
Szechuan.
Our version of the play is set in
New Orleans in the early 1960s.
The title character, Chantal Bon-
net, is a poor but warmhearted
young woman. Because she alone
was willing to shelter three gods in
search of a good person on earth,
they reward her with a gift of mon-
ey. She purchases a tobacco shop
but finds that her former landlords,
and others are trying to take ad-
vantage of her kindness.
To save her business, Chantal
adopts an alter ego-Claude Bouvet;
dressing as a man and acting the
role of her tough, practical cousin,
she is able to help her shop stay
afloat. She is loved and admired by
several of her neighbors who give
her the title "Angel of the Slums".
The gods watch over her through
their liaison, the water seller, Ril-
leaux.
Submitted by Morgan Vierheller, High School Humanities. Pictures by Ryo Inoue
SENIOR PLAY 2016
Bravi Class of 2016
Juniper Tree News:
HUGE end of school year sale! ALL Books and Yarn are on sale at the Juniper Tree
until school is out! Check out our graduation gifts, Father's Day gifts & cards too!
40% off any green stickered book or yarn
10% off all 2016 library book award finalists
25% off ALL other regularly priced yarn & books!
40% off those titles when you donate! We're also collecting monetary donations to send a box of books annually to prisoners in Texas.
Thank you and hope to see you soon, Shelley & Carson
The Messenger Page 5 Back to Table of Contents
Submitted by Robert Miller Art Program Director
The 11th Grade had a great time during the recent trip to Port Aransas to compete in an international sand
sculpture competition. The weather was cooperative and our parents did an excellent job of keeping
sunscreen applied. The students received 1st, 2nd, and 4th place awards. Congratulations Class of 2017
–Mr. Miller
SANDFEST 2016
Third Grade Raised
$502.25
for the Library. Way to Go!
Third Grade Success!
Submitted by
Marian Munkvold-Saunders, Parent
Just a quick note to share the results of our hard work last month!
Helping Hands gratefully accepted 338.45 lbs of donations from our class.
The book sale brought in $502.25, which, according to a third grader quot-
ing Mrs. Burke, "Can buy 55 hardcover books for the library.‖ In addition she
had the chance to look over the books before the book sale and found sev-
eral dozen to add to the student and faculty libraries. All in all, a wonderful
gift from the class to their beloved library.
Wonderful work!
Warmly, Marian
“The cooperative tasks of the
competition, as well as cooking
and cleaning with each other
seemed to greatly benefit our
class cohesion.”
-Ethan Denson , Student
“Seeing the incredible level of care and skill on display in the Masters Category inspired us to put our full effort into our creations.”
-Sophie Laird, Student
“Beyond artistic merits, this trip affords our teens the space to become
closer as a class as they go into the summer prior to their final year of
high school and all that comes with looking to post graduation life.”
-Brett Rodgers, Parent
“It was hard work, but very exciting. I love my class and am so grateful I had this opportunity. I hope future 11th grades have as much fun!” -Colista Nemec, Student
“The magical transformation from our originally labored-over plan, into a sculpture we never could have envisioned, made for an in-credibly rewarding experience.” -Zoe Harrison, Student
As we wrap up another academic year, celebrate graduations, and plan our summer break activities, I would like to share with you some
perspective from the Austin Waldorf Board of Trustees. Led by Leslie Callahan, Board President, we have accomplished the following:
- Created the first five year AWS Strategic Plan; developed a supporting Strategic Financial Plan that mapped out how we
can pay for our objectives
- Designed a search process for a General School Leader; included all stakeholder constituencies in implementing that
search process; and hired Kathy McElveen into the role
- Created a Support and Evaluation Committee at the Board-level to help our GSL be as successful as possible and to provide
a level of professionalism in evaluating her success against defined criteria
- Developed new Board member orientation
- Facilitated our second annual Giving Tree campaign cycle, exceeding our fundraising goals
- Commenced work to connect to City of Austin sewer utilities — a prerequisite to any future site development
- Purchased two much-needed vans for school transportation
At the end of the summer break, we will convene the board to set the agenda for the 2016-17 school year. We will need to revisit the
Strategic Plan, assess what has changed, and extend the timeline by another year. I can anticipate the following themes for the year:
- Work with our new Development Director to enhance our fundraising approach and capabilities
- Facilitate conversations to establish common understanding of the challenges facing the school, and build on that work to design a
beautiful image of how we want AWS to evolve in the coming years
This month, we are losing two valued and tenured Board members whose terms are expiring (Leslie Callahan and Suzanne Karisch).
Although we have gained some stellar new Board members in the last few months, we are in the midst of recruiting potential new Board
members, and we would love to hear suggestions from you if you’re willing to serve, or if there is a parent or community member you
know of who might be a good fit. Here is the kind of person we are looking for…
Please contact Mark Kernan ([email protected], 512-751-0281) or Jonathan D’Souza ([email protected], 425-516-8980) to sug-
gest possible candidates.
Thank you!
Mark Kernan
Incoming President, Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees
Qualities all candidates should possess:
* Well-prepared for meetings
* Positive attitude
* Works well with others
* Clear communicator
* Time to serve
* Integrity
* Compassion
* Empathy
* Commitment to AWS and Board missions
Targeted skills or experiences (not all candidates will pos-
sess all of these, but each candidate should possess at
least some):
- Fundraising
- Networking
- Site development and/or real estate
- Management experience
- Board experience
- Marketing
- Finance
- Corporate or employment law
Page 6 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
AWS BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEWS Submitted by, Mark Kernan, incoming Board President
Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees Executive Members
2016/2017 School Year
Mark Kernan, President
Dawn Harrienger & Janna Cormier, Vice Presidents
Teresa Ravet, Secretary
Mike Sekel, Treasurer
The National German Exam is administered each year to nearly 22,000 high school
students in the first second, third and fourth level of German. The Exam, now in its
56th year, provides individual diagnostic feedback, rewards students through an
extensive prize program, and creates a sense of accomplishment. Exam results
provide a means of comparing students in all regions of the country, as well as pro-
grammatic data provided to help inform curricular decisions.
The Level 1 Exam measures student proficiencies in the Novice range as measured
by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. (https://www.actfl.org) These students un-
derstand some ideas on familiar topics containing phrases, simple sentences, and
frequently used expressions. They can understand the main point and a few details
in short conversations, messages, and announcements.
Each Exam is comprised of 100 questions. Question types include multiple choice,
matching, and true/false. The Exam is comprised of two parts.
The listening and viewing portion is 40 minutes in length and consists of a series of
short audio and video segments with a total of 50 questions and tasks. The reading
portion is 45 minutes in length and consists of a number of print texts, including
graphs and images with a total of 50 questions and tasks. All materials used in the exam
are from authentic resources.
This year five AWS students participated in the exam in (Level 1). Of the students that participated three received an Achievement Award:
Maeve Cannone, Bethany Broesche, Emeline Arnold, Sebastian Gritzka received a Gold Award.
Congratulations to all for their excellent work!
Page 7 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
NATIONAL GERMAN EXAM Submitted by, Patricia Daunt-Grogan, Guidance Counselor
From left to right, Sebastian Gritzka, Emeline Arnold,
Mauve Cannone, Bethany Broesche
AWS CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD FINALIST Submitted by, Linda Burke, Librarian
Read Aloud
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh
Corner; A.A. Milne
Rising 3rd
Detective Gordon: The First Case;
Ulf Nilsson
Ms. Rapscott’s Girls; Elise Primavera
Rising 4th
Adventures with Waffles; Maria Parr
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional
Poultry Farmer; Kelly Jones
Rising 5th
Circus Mirandus; Cassie Beasley
Sign of the Cat; Lynne Jonell
Rising 6th
The Great Good Summer; Liz Garton
Scanlon
Nooks and Crannies; Jessica Lawson
Rising 7th
The Seventh Most Important Thing;
Shelley Pearsall
The Thing About Jellyfish;
Ali Benjamin
Rising 8th
The Marvels; Brian Selznick
The War that Saved My Life;
Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
Dear Parents,
I am please to announce the books
chosen for the Grade School awards program.
Students are asked to read the two for their
grade so they are ready to vote for their favorite
in the fall. We have, once again, chosen a clas-
sic for the Read Aloud award, which is aimed at
the rising First and Second Grades.
There will be more information about
each of these books on the Library page of the
website sometime in the near future.
The library will be open on Wednesday
afternoons from noon to 4:00 beginning June
8th and ending July 20th. I will let you know if I will
open August 10 and 17.
Have a wonderful summer, thank you
for all your support this year, and I hope to see
you some Wednesday this summer.
Linda Burke,
Librarian
Page 8 Messenger Back to Table of Contents
SPRING SPORTS IN REVIEW Submitted by Erik Olson, Athletic Director, Mary Wilson, School Parent and Chad Nemec, School Parent
Track
Emeline Arnold represented us very well
in track ending the season at the State
Championships and breaking our school
record in the 800 meter run. Coming back
from an illness last year and an injury this
year, she ran in one race in early April
before entering our TAPPS District Meet.
In the little town of Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 meter run and 4th in the 400 meter
dash to qualify in both races for the TAPPS South
Regional Meet. Once again in Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 and 3rd in the 400, which allowed
her to qualify for the TAPPS 2A State Track & Field
Championships in Waco.
Held at the beautiful new track at Baylor University
Emeline was joined by over 1,000 other athletes from
all over Texas. She earned a bronze medal by finish-
ing 3rd in the 800. She finished 4th in the 400 miss-
ing the bronze medal by a tenth of a second. During
the season she broke our school record in the 800
with a time of 2:29. Congratulations Emeline!
We were very happy to have
had 30 students from the 6th,
7th, and 8th grades participate
on our MS track and field teams
this year. All our runners im-
proved during the season and
we are proud of all of them.
Our 7/8 girls team won the
AIPL Championship in the final meet by ½
point! They were 1st of 20 schools, many of which
are much bigger than AWS. It is a great accomplish-
ment for AWS!
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF TEAM PUTS WALDORF ON STATE SCOREBOARD
Submitted by Mary Wilson, School Parent
Team members: Seniors: Jeff Wilson and Jack Holland;
Juniors: John and Ben Callahan; Sophomores: Aidan
Cromier, Goodwin Bell, Mac Brenner just finished a short,
but sweet golf season with notable wins at the TAPPS 2A
State Championship in Waco, Texas May 2nd and 3rd. The
team qualified for the State tournament after a dominating
win at District and a comfortable 2nd place finish at Re-
gional. This was the third consecutive year that Waldorf
had competed at the State level.
On the first day of the State tournament, John and Ben
fired off “personal best tournament” scores (96-99) and
Jeff finished one stroke behind three players tied for first
at (77). By the end of the second day, the team had
dropped an impressive 12 strokes with Ben turning in a
new “personal best” (95) and Aidan logging a “personal
best” (96) as well. Jeff knocked 7 strokes off his score-
card finishing with a one under par (71). This steady team
scoring gave the Roadrunners a clean Tapps 2A third place
Sate win while Jeff, with a three stroke lead, finished the
tournament as the 2016 Tapps 2A State Champion – his
third consecutive State Championship!
AWS Mountain Biking Team Submitted by Chad Nemec, School Parent
Keshav Govind and Chili Nemec accomplished their goal of top 10 finalists in
the State of Texas high school league. It was a fantastic experience for all in-
volved. Cheers to all the support from the community!
Please contact coaches Robert Sherlock ([email protected]) or me
Chad Nemec ([email protected]) if your child has an interest in learning
more about this fun and exciting sport.
Austin Waldorf School 8700 South View Road
Austin, TX 78737
Our Mission: “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to give purpose and direction to their lives.” ~Rudolf Steiner
By creating a school environment that balances academic, artistic and practical disciplines, the Austin Waldorf School cultivates a love of learning, creative thinking, a sympathetic interest in the world, self-confidence and an abiding moral purpose.
Celebrating 34 years of educational excellence in Austin.
Messenger Back to Table of Contents Page 9
Main Office: 512-288-5942
Fax: 512-301-8997
High School: 512-301-9550
Fax: 512-439-0143
Kindergarten: 512-288-5120
Aftercare Emergency: 512-767-5707
Juniper Tree : 512-288-5106
www.austinwaldorf.org
To unsubscribe to the Messenger, click here. Questions or comments? Click here.
E-mail:
Awsannounce
@austinwaldorf.org
The Austin Waldorf School is a non-profit educational institution, 501(c)3, that welcomes students of any religion, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin.
SPRING SPORTS REVIEW CONTINUTED Tennis Pictures by Ryo Inoue
In the TAPPS District tournament, held at the
Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio, senior
José Luis Turincio, seeded 9th, started things off
with a gutsy victory over the 8th seed. After
losing the first set 2-6, he played an excellent
second set which he captured 6-4. With the
momentum on his side, he won the tiebreaker
10-5 to advance to the next round. Facing the
#1 seed and last year's State Runner-Up, José
Luis fought valiantly, but his opponent proved
too tough. Thank you José Luis for all your years
of participation in AWS sports!
Not to be outdone by her brother, sophomore
Julieta Turincio took care of her 8th seeded
opponent 6-1, 6-2 in her first match! But her
second match saw her facing the #1 seed, the defending State Champ! Again, it was a great effort,
but a defeat to a worthy opponent. She will have two more chances in the coming years to build on
this performance.
In boys doubles, senior Yuji Inoue and sophomore Connor Horton, paired up to take their first shot
in District. They reached the semifinals after relatively easy wins in their first two matches. But their
semifinal match against the #2 seed proved to be much tougher. They prevailed 6-4 6-2 with great
net play to reach the finals against the #1 seed, yet another defending State Champ! They lost in the
district final but with the Silver medal they qualified for the TAPPS 2A State Tournament in Waco.
In the First Round of the State Tournament Yuji and Connor defeated a doubles team from Longview
Christian by a score of 6-4, 6-4. In the Quarterfinal Round our boys lost an extremely tight contest 4-6,
6-3, 10-7. They played really hard and showed improvement the more they played.
AWS has been represented by one or more students at the TAPPS State Tennis Tourney for three
years in a row and 6 of the last 8 years.
Austin Waldorf School
Faculty and Staff
would like to wish you all
a happy, safe,
and relaxing summer!
Inspire, Experience, Grow, Create
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Year in Review 2
Parent Society Corner 3
Screenagers the Movie 3
Senior Play 2016 4
Juniper Tree News 4
Third Grade Success 5
Sandfest 2016 5
Board of Trustees News 6
National German Exam 7
Book Award Finalist 7
Spring Sports Review 8
Please Join Our School Community, AWS Families, Faculty, and Friends from the 1986's to 2016 at the retirement celebration
for our beloved Betsy Hanelius, Carol Stewart, Chris Eason & Pat Mouton
Austin Waldorf School PAC/Recital Hall
Saturday, June 11, 2016 1-4pm
June 2016
RETIRING FACULTY AND STAFF 2016
THE MESSENGER
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL PICK UP TIME CHANGE
On the last day of school, grades will be dismissed at noon and high
school at 12:15 pm. After the Rose Ceremony, grades students will return to
their classrooms and high school to their end of year assembly. Grades par-
ents may pick up their students from the classroom beginning at 11:30 am.
Students may only be released to parents unless a previous arrangement has
been made with the class teacher. Remaining grades students will go to pick-
up locations at noon.
Wednesday June 1
Last day of Kindergarten
Crossing Over Ceremony
Thursday June 2
High School Theatre Elective
Performances, 2:10 & 2:30
All ages Welcome, PAC Stage
AWS Mom’s night out
7pm, Rusty Mule
Friday June 3
Last day of School, 1st-12th
Grade, Early Dismissal
Rose Ceremony
10:30am., Gym
8th Grade Ceremony
5-7pm, Gym
Saturday June 4
12th Grade Commencement
3-5pm, Gym
Saturday June 11
Honoring our Retiring Faculty
and Staff, 1-4pm
EVENTS
Page 2 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2015-2016 Submitted by, Kathy McElveen, General School Leader
IMAGINING A NEW HIGH SCHOOL AND REDESIGNING THE CAMPUS
The collaboration with the University of Texas, School of Architecture was a semester long project that
culminated in four different versions of a master site plan and two scale models of the campus and vicinity.
The students, parents, and teachers who had the opportunity to review the projects and meet the
UT students were inspired by the possibilities of how the school can grow and develop in the future.
The next step will be to create a final master site plan and then identify the first priorities for new buildings
and redesign.
NEW WEBSITE! https://austinwaldorf.org/
We launched a brand new website this spring that better represents our vibrant school and community. A Waldorf alumnus from the
Garden City Waldorf School called and left a message recently to see if he could visit the AWS campus later this month. One of the
things he said was ―Your website is awesome!‖ There is still a lot of content to revise and that will be ongoing. We’ll also be uploading
more ―useful documents‖ to the BigSIS Parent Portal instead of to the website. Let us know if there is a ―useful document‖ that
you’re missing and would like to see.
COMMUNICATIONS IN GENERAL—NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
The new website is a much needed step in the right direction, but the question of how best to communicate about the school is
ongoing. We still haven’t found a new database and communications manager, but have begun conversations with Parent Society
leaders and others about improving overall communication within the community. This is a front burner topic.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
There was a lot of behind the scenes work this year as the school continued to implement the results of last
year’s safety/security audit. Faculty and staff have received training in suicide prevention, sexual misconduct
prevention, and lock-down protocols. We held a first-ever ―secure the building‖ drill last week. Parking lot and
playground safety are high on the list for continued improvement. The Parent Society led a first-ever
Parking Lot Safety Week and another is planned for the fall. Parent leaders have been meeting with administrators and
teachers to improve some aspects of playground safety and supervision.
ANNUAL GIVING, THE GALA, AND DEVELOPMENT
Board Chair Leslie Callahan and parent Shir Shoham led the way in ensuring the school met its fundraising
goals this year. Leslie spearheaded the Giving Tree Annual Fund campaign in the fall and met our goal.
Shir Shoham organized a team to put on the spring gala, A Night in Old Havana, and netted $33,000 for the
school, $23,000 to the general operating fund and $10,000 for the music department. We have a new Development
Director, Catherine Herzog Ashton, starting July 1 to build and strengthen the school’s development program.
STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS!
First time ever! Won through hard work and determination by the coaches and players and
lots of love and support from the AWS community.
“Slow Down,
Look Around”
FOR THE MICHAEL AGE
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes towards Man out of the future
And we must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future
We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come
And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely to live out of pure trust without any security in existence.
Trust in that ever present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
And we must seek this awakening within ourselves every morning and every evening.
–Rudolf Steiner
The Messenger Page 3 Back to Table of Contents
PARENT SOCIETY CORNER
Greetings from the Parent Society!
A longtime Dallas/Fort Worth-area sports scribe used to include a seg-ment called “Scattershooting”, in which he’d deliver short, quick-hitting thoughts. In honor of our own, home-grown AWS Roadrunners sports cor-respondent Corey Horton, we’ll do the same here.
Scattershooting... ...while wondering how many volun-teer hours Hani Talebi and Susan Henson have given this school over the past couple of years in their roles as President and Vice President of the Parent Society. I imagine if they were paid an hourly rate they would have earned enough to pay for at least one or two tuitions...
...Parking Lot Safety Week was a great success in the moment. Great example of the Parent Society working with the administration to determine a need, create a plan and volunteers making it happen. The real key is for drivers and kids to remember to keep it slow the rest of the year as well…
...my favorite parts of Parking Lot Safety Week- greeters who served one day showing up unannounced the next because they saw so much value in it...
…great year for the Parent Society overall. Healthy attendance at each of our Parent Society meetings. Inspiring small group discussions and an outstanding array of Slice of Life components.…
...not sure what my favorite Slice of Life was- interview of adults who had graduated from Waldorf schools? Our recent Q&A session with the graduat-ing seniors? Woodworking and Art with Mr. Smith and Mr. Miller? Games class with Coach Olson and Ms. Mo-ran? Tough to choose just one …
...another new Parent Society initiative this year, the Welcome Wagon, seemed to be a success. The inaugu-ral Welcome Wagon Picnic had over 80 folks in attendance. Already in touch with the incoming families for the fall. Couldn’t have done it without those amazing volunteers!
...in case you missed them, PS Pod-casts (including our most recent one) are available here. Just another ex-ample of our Communications Circle trying to meet parents in a variety of ways…
As always, many thanks and see you soon, Your Parent Society Leadership Council Jeff Roberts, Shir Shoham, Michelle Lemberger, Rene Crosby, Suzanne Tejada, Jill Powell and Monica Erb
SCREENAGERS THE MOVIE COMING AUGUST 2016
Submitted by Jeff Roberts, Parent Society Leadership Council Secretary
All School Parent Morning—Screenagers Screening
August 26 & 27: Please save the date and look for announcements over the summer for several view-
ing times for this important documentary. ABOUT THE FILM In her award-winning documentaries on
mental health, physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she
probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social me-
dia, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories,
along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals
how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower children to
best navigate the digital world and find balance.
This film will be a springboard for the AWS community to engage in meaningful dialogue throughout the
year on enhancing family life and consciousness in a digital world. Contact Carol Toole with questions.
[email protected]. The Trailer can be viewed at screenagersthemovie.com
Submitted by Carol Toole, Student Support
The Messenger Back to Table of Contents
Page 4
This year’s play was an adaptation
of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Wom-
an of Setzuan, sometimes known as
a “parable in 10 scenes.” The play
was originally produced in 1943
and published in 1953 as Der gute
Mensch von Sezuan. The title has
many English-language variants,
including The Good Person of Sze-
chwan and The Good Soul of
Szechuan.
Our version of the play is set in
New Orleans in the early 1960s.
The title character, Chantal Bon-
net, is a poor but warmhearted
young woman. Because she alone
was willing to shelter three gods in
search of a good person on earth,
they reward her with a gift of mon-
ey. She purchases a tobacco shop
but finds that her former landlords,
and others are trying to take ad-
vantage of her kindness.
To save her business, Chantal
adopts an alter ego-Claude Bouvet;
dressing as a man and acting the
role of her tough, practical cousin,
she is able to help her shop stay
afloat. She is loved and admired by
several of her neighbors who give
her the title "Angel of the Slums".
The gods watch over her through
their liaison, the water seller, Ril-
leaux.
Submitted by Morgan Vierheller, High School Humanities. Pictures by Ryo Inoue
SENIOR PLAY 2016
Bravi Class of 2016
Juniper Tree News:
HUGE end of school year sale! ALL Books and Yarn are on sale at the Juniper Tree
until school is out! Check out our graduation gifts, Father's Day gifts & cards too!
40% off any green stickered book or yarn
10% off all 2016 library book award finalists
25% off ALL other regularly priced yarn & books!
40% off those titles when you donate! We're also collecting monetary donations to send a box of books annually to prisoners in Texas.
Thank you and hope to see you soon, Shelley & Carson
The Messenger Page 5 Back to Table of Contents
Submitted by Robert Miller Art Program Director
The 11th Grade had a great time during the recent trip to Port Aransas to compete in an international sand
sculpture competition. The weather was cooperative and our parents did an excellent job of keeping
sunscreen applied. The students received 1st, 2nd, and 4th place awards. Congratulations Class of 2017
–Mr. Miller
SANDFEST 2016
Third Grade Raised
$502.25
for the Library. Way to Go!
Third Grade Success!
Submitted by
Marian Munkvold-Saunders, Parent
Just a quick note to share the results of our hard work last month!
Helping Hands gratefully accepted 338.45 lbs of donations from our class.
The book sale brought in $502.25, which, according to a third grader quot-
ing Mrs. Burke, "Can buy 55 hardcover books for the library.‖ In addition she
had the chance to look over the books before the book sale and found sev-
eral dozen to add to the student and faculty libraries. All in all, a wonderful
gift from the class to their beloved library.
Wonderful work!
Warmly, Marian
“The cooperative tasks of the
competition, as well as cooking
and cleaning with each other
seemed to greatly benefit our
class cohesion.”
-Ethan Denson , Student
“Seeing the incredible level of care and skill on display in the Masters Category inspired us to put our full effort into our creations.”
-Sophie Laird, Student
“Beyond artistic merits, this trip affords our teens the space to become
closer as a class as they go into the summer prior to their final year of
high school and all that comes with looking to post graduation life.”
-Brett Rodgers, Parent
“It was hard work, but very exciting. I love my class and am so grateful I had this opportunity. I hope future 11th grades have as much fun!” -Colista Nemec, Student
“The magical transformation from our originally labored-over plan, into a sculpture we never could have envisioned, made for an in-credibly rewarding experience.” -Zoe Harrison, Student
As we wrap up another academic year, celebrate graduations, and plan our summer break activities, I would like to share with you some
perspective from the Austin Waldorf Board of Trustees. Led by Leslie Callahan, Board President, we have accomplished the following:
- Created the first five year AWS Strategic Plan; developed a supporting Strategic Financial Plan that mapped out how we
can pay for our objectives
- Designed a search process for a General School Leader; included all stakeholder constituencies in implementing that
search process; and hired Kathy McElveen into the role
- Created a Support and Evaluation Committee at the Board-level to help our GSL be as successful as possible and to provide
a level of professionalism in evaluating her success against defined criteria
- Developed new Board member orientation
- Facilitated our second annual Giving Tree campaign cycle, exceeding our fundraising goals
- Commenced work to connect to City of Austin sewer utilities — a prerequisite to any future site development
- Purchased two much-needed vans for school transportation
At the end of the summer break, we will convene the board to set the agenda for the 2016-17 school year. We will need to revisit the
Strategic Plan, assess what has changed, and extend the timeline by another year. I can anticipate the following themes for the year:
- Work with our new Development Director to enhance our fundraising approach and capabilities
- Facilitate conversations to establish common understanding of the challenges facing the school, and build on that work to design a
beautiful image of how we want AWS to evolve in the coming years
This month, we are losing two valued and tenured Board members whose terms are expiring (Leslie Callahan and Suzanne Karisch).
Although we have gained some stellar new Board members in the last few months, we are in the midst of recruiting potential new Board
members, and we would love to hear suggestions from you if you’re willing to serve, or if there is a parent or community member you
know of who might be a good fit. Here is the kind of person we are looking for…
Please contact Mark Kernan ([email protected], 512-751-0281) or Jonathan D’Souza ([email protected], 425-516-8980) to sug-
gest possible candidates.
Thank you!
Mark Kernan
Incoming President, Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees
Qualities all candidates should possess:
* Well-prepared for meetings
* Positive attitude
* Works well with others
* Clear communicator
* Time to serve
* Integrity
* Compassion
* Empathy
* Commitment to AWS and Board missions
Targeted skills or experiences (not all candidates will pos-
sess all of these, but each candidate should possess at
least some):
- Fundraising
- Networking
- Site development and/or real estate
- Management experience
- Board experience
- Marketing
- Finance
- Corporate or employment law
Page 6 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
AWS BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEWS Submitted by, Mark Kernan, incoming Board President
Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees Executive Members
2016/2017 School Year
Mark Kernan, President
Dawn Harrienger & Janna Cormier, Vice Presidents
Teresa Ravet, Secretary
Mike Sekel, Treasurer
The National German Exam is administered each year to nearly 22,000 high school
students in the first second, third and fourth level of German. The Exam, now in its
56th year, provides individual diagnostic feedback, rewards students through an
extensive prize program, and creates a sense of accomplishment. Exam results
provide a means of comparing students in all regions of the country, as well as pro-
grammatic data provided to help inform curricular decisions.
The Level 1 Exam measures student proficiencies in the Novice range as measured
by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. (https://www.actfl.org) These students un-
derstand some ideas on familiar topics containing phrases, simple sentences, and
frequently used expressions. They can understand the main point and a few details
in short conversations, messages, and announcements.
Each Exam is comprised of 100 questions. Question types include multiple choice,
matching, and true/false. The Exam is comprised of two parts.
The listening and viewing portion is 40 minutes in length and consists of a series of
short audio and video segments with a total of 50 questions and tasks. The reading
portion is 45 minutes in length and consists of a number of print texts, including
graphs and images with a total of 50 questions and tasks. All materials used in the exam
are from authentic resources.
This year five AWS students participated in the exam in (Level 1). Of the students that participated three received an Achievement Award:
Maeve Cannone, Bethany Broesche, Emeline Arnold, Sebastian Gritzka received a Gold Award.
Congratulations to all for their excellent work!
Page 7 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
NATIONAL GERMAN EXAM Submitted by, Patricia Daunt-Grogan, Guidance Counselor
From left to right, Sebastian Gritzka, Emeline Arnold,
Mauve Cannone, Bethany Broesche
AWS CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD FINALIST Submitted by, Linda Burke, Librarian
Read Aloud
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh
Corner; A.A. Milne
Rising 3rd
Detective Gordon: The First Case;
Ulf Nilsson
Ms. Rapscott’s Girls; Elise Primavera
Rising 4th
Adventures with Waffles; Maria Parr
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional
Poultry Farmer; Kelly Jones
Rising 5th
Circus Mirandus; Cassie Beasley
Sign of the Cat; Lynne Jonell
Rising 6th
The Great Good Summer; Liz Garton
Scanlon
Nooks and Crannies; Jessica Lawson
Rising 7th
The Seventh Most Important Thing;
Shelley Pearsall
The Thing About Jellyfish;
Ali Benjamin
Rising 8th
The Marvels; Brian Selznick
The War that Saved My Life;
Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
Dear Parents,
I am please to announce the books
chosen for the Grade School awards program.
Students are asked to read the two for their
grade so they are ready to vote for their favorite
in the fall. We have, once again, chosen a clas-
sic for the Read Aloud award, which is aimed at
the rising First and Second Grades.
There will be more information about
each of these books on the Library page of the
website sometime in the near future.
The library will be open on Wednesday
afternoons from noon to 4:00 beginning June
8th and ending July 20th. I will let you know if I will
open August 10 and 17.
Have a wonderful summer, thank you
for all your support this year, and I hope to see
you some Wednesday this summer.
Linda Burke,
Librarian
Page 8 Messenger Back to Table of Contents
SPRING SPORTS IN REVIEW Submitted by Erik Olson, Athletic Director, Mary Wilson, School Parent and Chad Nemec, School Parent
Track
Emeline Arnold represented us very well
in track ending the season at the State
Championships and breaking our school
record in the 800 meter run. Coming back
from an illness last year and an injury this
year, she ran in one race in early April
before entering our TAPPS District Meet.
In the little town of Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 meter run and 4th in the 400 meter
dash to qualify in both races for the TAPPS South
Regional Meet. Once again in Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 and 3rd in the 400, which allowed
her to qualify for the TAPPS 2A State Track & Field
Championships in Waco.
Held at the beautiful new track at Baylor University
Emeline was joined by over 1,000 other athletes from
all over Texas. She earned a bronze medal by finish-
ing 3rd in the 800. She finished 4th in the 400 miss-
ing the bronze medal by a tenth of a second. During
the season she broke our school record in the 800
with a time of 2:29. Congratulations Emeline!
We were very happy to have
had 30 students from the 6th,
7th, and 8th grades participate
on our MS track and field teams
this year. All our runners im-
proved during the season and
we are proud of all of them.
Our 7/8 girls team won the
AIPL Championship in the final meet by ½
point! They were 1st of 20 schools, many of which
are much bigger than AWS. It is a great accomplish-
ment for AWS!
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF TEAM PUTS WALDORF ON STATE SCOREBOARD
Submitted by Mary Wilson, School Parent
Team members: Seniors: Jeff Wilson and Jack Holland;
Juniors: John and Ben Callahan; Sophomores: Aidan
Cromier, Goodwin Bell, Mac Brenner just finished a short,
but sweet golf season with notable wins at the TAPPS 2A
State Championship in Waco, Texas May 2nd and 3rd. The
team qualified for the State tournament after a dominating
win at District and a comfortable 2nd place finish at Re-
gional. This was the third consecutive year that Waldorf
had competed at the State level.
On the first day of the State tournament, John and Ben
fired off “personal best tournament” scores (96-99) and
Jeff finished one stroke behind three players tied for first
at (77). By the end of the second day, the team had
dropped an impressive 12 strokes with Ben turning in a
new “personal best” (95) and Aidan logging a “personal
best” (96) as well. Jeff knocked 7 strokes off his score-
card finishing with a one under par (71). This steady team
scoring gave the Roadrunners a clean Tapps 2A third place
Sate win while Jeff, with a three stroke lead, finished the
tournament as the 2016 Tapps 2A State Champion – his
third consecutive State Championship!
AWS Mountain Biking Team Submitted by Chad Nemec, School Parent
Keshav Govind and Chili Nemec accomplished their goal of top 10 finalists in
the State of Texas high school league. It was a fantastic experience for all in-
volved. Cheers to all the support from the community!
Please contact coaches Robert Sherlock ([email protected]) or me
Chad Nemec ([email protected]) if your child has an interest in learning
more about this fun and exciting sport.
Austin Waldorf School 8700 South View Road
Austin, TX 78737
Our Mission: “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to give purpose and direction to their lives.” ~Rudolf Steiner
By creating a school environment that balances academic, artistic and practical disciplines, the Austin Waldorf School cultivates a love of learning, creative thinking, a sympathetic interest in the world, self-confidence and an abiding moral purpose.
Celebrating 34 years of educational excellence in Austin.
Messenger Back to Table of Contents Page 9
Main Office: 512-288-5942
Fax: 512-301-8997
High School: 512-301-9550
Fax: 512-439-0143
Kindergarten: 512-288-5120
Aftercare Emergency: 512-767-5707
Juniper Tree : 512-288-5106
www.austinwaldorf.org
To unsubscribe to the Messenger, click here. Questions or comments? Click here.
E-mail:
Awsannounce
@austinwaldorf.org
The Austin Waldorf School is a non-profit educational institution, 501(c)3, that welcomes students of any religion, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin.
SPRING SPORTS REVIEW CONTINUTED Tennis Pictures by Ryo Inoue
In the TAPPS District tournament, held at the
Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio, senior
José Luis Turincio, seeded 9th, started things off
with a gutsy victory over the 8th seed. After
losing the first set 2-6, he played an excellent
second set which he captured 6-4. With the
momentum on his side, he won the tiebreaker
10-5 to advance to the next round. Facing the
#1 seed and last year's State Runner-Up, José
Luis fought valiantly, but his opponent proved
too tough. Thank you José Luis for all your years
of participation in AWS sports!
Not to be outdone by her brother, sophomore
Julieta Turincio took care of her 8th seeded
opponent 6-1, 6-2 in her first match! But her
second match saw her facing the #1 seed, the defending State Champ! Again, it was a great effort,
but a defeat to a worthy opponent. She will have two more chances in the coming years to build on
this performance.
In boys doubles, senior Yuji Inoue and sophomore Connor Horton, paired up to take their first shot
in District. They reached the semifinals after relatively easy wins in their first two matches. But their
semifinal match against the #2 seed proved to be much tougher. They prevailed 6-4 6-2 with great
net play to reach the finals against the #1 seed, yet another defending State Champ! They lost in the
district final but with the Silver medal they qualified for the TAPPS 2A State Tournament in Waco.
In the First Round of the State Tournament Yuji and Connor defeated a doubles team from Longview
Christian by a score of 6-4, 6-4. In the Quarterfinal Round our boys lost an extremely tight contest 4-6,
6-3, 10-7. They played really hard and showed improvement the more they played.
AWS has been represented by one or more students at the TAPPS State Tennis Tourney for three
years in a row and 6 of the last 8 years.
Austin Waldorf School
Faculty and Staff
would like to wish you all
a happy, safe,
and relaxing summer!
Inspire, Experience, Grow, Create
I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :
Year in Review 2
Parent Society Corner 3
Screenagers the Movie 3
Senior Play 2016 4
Juniper Tree News 4
Third Grade Success 5
Sandfest 2016 5
Board of Trustees News 6
National German Exam 7
Book Award Finalist 7
Spring Sports Review 8
Please Join Our School Community, AWS Families, Faculty, and Friends from the 1986's to 2016 at the retirement celebration
for our beloved Betsy Hanelius, Carol Stewart, Chris Eason & Pat Mouton
Austin Waldorf School PAC/Recital Hall
Saturday, June 11, 2016 1-4pm
June 2016
RETIRING FACULTY AND STAFF 2016
THE MESSENGER
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL PICK UP TIME CHANGE
On the last day of school, grades will be dismissed at noon and high
school at 12:15 pm. After the Rose Ceremony, grades students will return to
their classrooms and high school to their end of year assembly. Grades par-
ents may pick up their students from the classroom beginning at 11:30 am.
Students may only be released to parents unless a previous arrangement has
been made with the class teacher. Remaining grades students will go to pick-
up locations at noon.
Wednesday June 1
Last day of Kindergarten
Crossing Over Ceremony
Thursday June 2
High School Theatre Elective
Performances, 2:10 & 2:30
All ages Welcome, PAC Stage
AWS Mom’s night out
7pm, Rusty Mule
Friday June 3
Last day of School, 1st-12th
Grade, Early Dismissal
Rose Ceremony
10:30am., Gym
8th Grade Ceremony
5-7pm, Gym
Saturday June 4
12th Grade Commencement
3-5pm, Gym
Saturday June 11
Honoring our Retiring Faculty
and Staff, 1-4pm
EVENTS
Page 2 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2015-2016 Submitted by, Kathy McElveen, General School Leader
IMAGINING A NEW HIGH SCHOOL AND REDESIGNING THE CAMPUS
The collaboration with the University of Texas, School of Architecture was a semester long project that
culminated in four different versions of a master site plan and two scale models of the campus and vicinity.
The students, parents, and teachers who had the opportunity to review the projects and meet the
UT students were inspired by the possibilities of how the school can grow and develop in the future.
The next step will be to create a final master site plan and then identify the first priorities for new buildings
and redesign.
NEW WEBSITE! https://austinwaldorf.org/
We launched a brand new website this spring that better represents our vibrant school and community. A Waldorf alumnus from the
Garden City Waldorf School called and left a message recently to see if he could visit the AWS campus later this month. One of the
things he said was ―Your website is awesome!‖ There is still a lot of content to revise and that will be ongoing. We’ll also be uploading
more ―useful documents‖ to the BigSIS Parent Portal instead of to the website. Let us know if there is a ―useful document‖ that
you’re missing and would like to see.
COMMUNICATIONS IN GENERAL—NEEDS IMPROVEMENT
The new website is a much needed step in the right direction, but the question of how best to communicate about the school is
ongoing. We still haven’t found a new database and communications manager, but have begun conversations with Parent Society
leaders and others about improving overall communication within the community. This is a front burner topic.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
There was a lot of behind the scenes work this year as the school continued to implement the results of last
year’s safety/security audit. Faculty and staff have received training in suicide prevention, sexual misconduct
prevention, and lock-down protocols. We held a first-ever ―secure the building‖ drill last week. Parking lot and
playground safety are high on the list for continued improvement. The Parent Society led a first-ever
Parking Lot Safety Week and another is planned for the fall. Parent leaders have been meeting with administrators and
teachers to improve some aspects of playground safety and supervision.
ANNUAL GIVING, THE GALA, AND DEVELOPMENT
Board Chair Leslie Callahan and parent Shir Shoham led the way in ensuring the school met its fundraising
goals this year. Leslie spearheaded the Giving Tree Annual Fund campaign in the fall and met our goal.
Shir Shoham organized a team to put on the spring gala, A Night in Old Havana, and netted $33,000 for the
school, $23,000 to the general operating fund and $10,000 for the music department. We have a new Development
Director, Catherine Herzog Ashton, starting July 1 to build and strengthen the school’s development program.
STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS!
First time ever! Won through hard work and determination by the coaches and players and
lots of love and support from the AWS community.
“Slow Down,
Look Around”
FOR THE MICHAEL AGE
We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes towards Man out of the future
And we must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future
We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come
And we must think only that whatever comes is given to us by a world directive full of wisdom
It is part of what we must learn in this age, namely to live out of pure trust without any security in existence.
Trust in that ever present help of the spiritual world. Truly, nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us.
And we must seek this awakening within ourselves every morning and every evening.
–Rudolf Steiner
The Messenger Page 3 Back to Table of Contents
PARENT SOCIETY CORNER
Greetings from the Parent Society!
A longtime Dallas/Fort Worth-area sports scribe used to include a seg-ment called “Scattershooting”, in which he’d deliver short, quick-hitting thoughts. In honor of our own, home-grown AWS Roadrunners sports cor-respondent Corey Horton, we’ll do the same here.
Scattershooting... ...while wondering how many volun-teer hours Hani Talebi and Susan Henson have given this school over the past couple of years in their roles as President and Vice President of the Parent Society. I imagine if they were paid an hourly rate they would have earned enough to pay for at least one or two tuitions...
...Parking Lot Safety Week was a great success in the moment. Great example of the Parent Society working with the administration to determine a need, create a plan and volunteers making it happen. The real key is for drivers and kids to remember to keep it slow the rest of the year as well…
...my favorite parts of Parking Lot Safety Week- greeters who served one day showing up unannounced the next because they saw so much value in it...
…great year for the Parent Society overall. Healthy attendance at each of our Parent Society meetings. Inspiring small group discussions and an outstanding array of Slice of Life components.…
...not sure what my favorite Slice of Life was- interview of adults who had graduated from Waldorf schools? Our recent Q&A session with the graduat-ing seniors? Woodworking and Art with Mr. Smith and Mr. Miller? Games class with Coach Olson and Ms. Mo-ran? Tough to choose just one …
...another new Parent Society initiative this year, the Welcome Wagon, seemed to be a success. The inaugu-ral Welcome Wagon Picnic had over 80 folks in attendance. Already in touch with the incoming families for the fall. Couldn’t have done it without those amazing volunteers!
...in case you missed them, PS Pod-casts (including our most recent one) are available here. Just another ex-ample of our Communications Circle trying to meet parents in a variety of ways…
As always, many thanks and see you soon, Your Parent Society Leadership Council Jeff Roberts, Shir Shoham, Michelle Lemberger, Rene Crosby, Suzanne Tejada, Jill Powell and Monica Erb
SCREENAGERS THE MOVIE COMING AUGUST 2016
Submitted by Jeff Roberts, Parent Society Leadership Council Secretary
All School Parent Morning—Screenagers Screening
August 26 & 27: Please save the date and look for announcements over the summer for several view-
ing times for this important documentary. ABOUT THE FILM In her award-winning documentaries on
mental health, physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston takes a deeply personal approach as she
probes into the vulnerable corners of family life, including her own, to explore struggles over social me-
dia, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant, and unexpectedly funny stories,
along with surprising insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals
how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower children to
best navigate the digital world and find balance.
This film will be a springboard for the AWS community to engage in meaningful dialogue throughout the
year on enhancing family life and consciousness in a digital world. Contact Carol Toole with questions.
[email protected]. The Trailer can be viewed at screenagersthemovie.com
Submitted by Carol Toole, Student Support
The Messenger Back to Table of Contents
Page 4
This year’s play was an adaptation
of Bertolt Brecht's The Good Wom-
an of Setzuan, sometimes known as
a “parable in 10 scenes.” The play
was originally produced in 1943
and published in 1953 as Der gute
Mensch von Sezuan. The title has
many English-language variants,
including The Good Person of Sze-
chwan and The Good Soul of
Szechuan.
Our version of the play is set in
New Orleans in the early 1960s.
The title character, Chantal Bon-
net, is a poor but warmhearted
young woman. Because she alone
was willing to shelter three gods in
search of a good person on earth,
they reward her with a gift of mon-
ey. She purchases a tobacco shop
but finds that her former landlords,
and others are trying to take ad-
vantage of her kindness.
To save her business, Chantal
adopts an alter ego-Claude Bouvet;
dressing as a man and acting the
role of her tough, practical cousin,
she is able to help her shop stay
afloat. She is loved and admired by
several of her neighbors who give
her the title "Angel of the Slums".
The gods watch over her through
their liaison, the water seller, Ril-
leaux.
Submitted by Morgan Vierheller, High School Humanities. Pictures by Ryo Inoue
SENIOR PLAY 2016
Bravi Class of 2016
Juniper Tree News:
HUGE end of school year sale! ALL Books and Yarn are on sale at the Juniper Tree
until school is out! Check out our graduation gifts, Father's Day gifts & cards too!
40% off any green stickered book or yarn
10% off all 2016 library book award finalists
25% off ALL other regularly priced yarn & books!
40% off those titles when you donate! We're also collecting monetary donations to send a box of books annually to prisoners in Texas.
Thank you and hope to see you soon, Shelley & Carson
The Messenger Page 5 Back to Table of Contents
Submitted by Robert Miller Art Program Director
The 11th Grade had a great time during the recent trip to Port Aransas to compete in an international sand
sculpture competition. The weather was cooperative and our parents did an excellent job of keeping
sunscreen applied. The students received 1st, 2nd, and 4th place awards. Congratulations Class of 2017
–Mr. Miller
SANDFEST 2016
Third Grade Raised
$502.25
for the Library. Way to Go!
Third Grade Success!
Submitted by
Marian Munkvold-Saunders, Parent
Just a quick note to share the results of our hard work last month!
Helping Hands gratefully accepted 338.45 lbs of donations from our class.
The book sale brought in $502.25, which, according to a third grader quot-
ing Mrs. Burke, "Can buy 55 hardcover books for the library.‖ In addition she
had the chance to look over the books before the book sale and found sev-
eral dozen to add to the student and faculty libraries. All in all, a wonderful
gift from the class to their beloved library.
Wonderful work!
Warmly, Marian
“The cooperative tasks of the
competition, as well as cooking
and cleaning with each other
seemed to greatly benefit our
class cohesion.”
-Ethan Denson , Student
“Seeing the incredible level of care and skill on display in the Masters Category inspired us to put our full effort into our creations.”
-Sophie Laird, Student
“Beyond artistic merits, this trip affords our teens the space to become
closer as a class as they go into the summer prior to their final year of
high school and all that comes with looking to post graduation life.”
-Brett Rodgers, Parent
“It was hard work, but very exciting. I love my class and am so grateful I had this opportunity. I hope future 11th grades have as much fun!” -Colista Nemec, Student
“The magical transformation from our originally labored-over plan, into a sculpture we never could have envisioned, made for an in-credibly rewarding experience.” -Zoe Harrison, Student
As we wrap up another academic year, celebrate graduations, and plan our summer break activities, I would like to share with you some
perspective from the Austin Waldorf Board of Trustees. Led by Leslie Callahan, Board President, we have accomplished the following:
- Created the first five year AWS Strategic Plan; developed a supporting Strategic Financial Plan that mapped out how we
can pay for our objectives
- Designed a search process for a General School Leader; included all stakeholder constituencies in implementing that
search process; and hired Kathy McElveen into the role
- Created a Support and Evaluation Committee at the Board-level to help our GSL be as successful as possible and to provide
a level of professionalism in evaluating her success against defined criteria
- Developed new Board member orientation
- Facilitated our second annual Giving Tree campaign cycle, exceeding our fundraising goals
- Commenced work to connect to City of Austin sewer utilities — a prerequisite to any future site development
- Purchased two much-needed vans for school transportation
At the end of the summer break, we will convene the board to set the agenda for the 2016-17 school year. We will need to revisit the
Strategic Plan, assess what has changed, and extend the timeline by another year. I can anticipate the following themes for the year:
- Work with our new Development Director to enhance our fundraising approach and capabilities
- Facilitate conversations to establish common understanding of the challenges facing the school, and build on that work to design a
beautiful image of how we want AWS to evolve in the coming years
This month, we are losing two valued and tenured Board members whose terms are expiring (Leslie Callahan and Suzanne Karisch).
Although we have gained some stellar new Board members in the last few months, we are in the midst of recruiting potential new Board
members, and we would love to hear suggestions from you if you’re willing to serve, or if there is a parent or community member you
know of who might be a good fit. Here is the kind of person we are looking for…
Please contact Mark Kernan ([email protected], 512-751-0281) or Jonathan D’Souza ([email protected], 425-516-8980) to sug-
gest possible candidates.
Thank you!
Mark Kernan
Incoming President, Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees
Qualities all candidates should possess:
* Well-prepared for meetings
* Positive attitude
* Works well with others
* Clear communicator
* Time to serve
* Integrity
* Compassion
* Empathy
* Commitment to AWS and Board missions
Targeted skills or experiences (not all candidates will pos-
sess all of these, but each candidate should possess at
least some):
- Fundraising
- Networking
- Site development and/or real estate
- Management experience
- Board experience
- Marketing
- Finance
- Corporate or employment law
Page 6 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
AWS BOARD OF TRUSTEES NEWS Submitted by, Mark Kernan, incoming Board President
Austin Waldorf School Board of Trustees Executive Members
2016/2017 School Year
Mark Kernan, President
Dawn Harrienger & Janna Cormier, Vice Presidents
Teresa Ravet, Secretary
Mike Sekel, Treasurer
The National German Exam is administered each year to nearly 22,000 high school
students in the first second, third and fourth level of German. The Exam, now in its
56th year, provides individual diagnostic feedback, rewards students through an
extensive prize program, and creates a sense of accomplishment. Exam results
provide a means of comparing students in all regions of the country, as well as pro-
grammatic data provided to help inform curricular decisions.
The Level 1 Exam measures student proficiencies in the Novice range as measured
by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. (https://www.actfl.org) These students un-
derstand some ideas on familiar topics containing phrases, simple sentences, and
frequently used expressions. They can understand the main point and a few details
in short conversations, messages, and announcements.
Each Exam is comprised of 100 questions. Question types include multiple choice,
matching, and true/false. The Exam is comprised of two parts.
The listening and viewing portion is 40 minutes in length and consists of a series of
short audio and video segments with a total of 50 questions and tasks. The reading
portion is 45 minutes in length and consists of a number of print texts, including
graphs and images with a total of 50 questions and tasks. All materials used in the exam
are from authentic resources.
This year five AWS students participated in the exam in (Level 1). Of the students that participated three received an Achievement Award:
Maeve Cannone, Bethany Broesche, Emeline Arnold, Sebastian Gritzka received a Gold Award.
Congratulations to all for their excellent work!
Page 7 Back to Table of Contents The Messenger
NATIONAL GERMAN EXAM Submitted by, Patricia Daunt-Grogan, Guidance Counselor
From left to right, Sebastian Gritzka, Emeline Arnold,
Mauve Cannone, Bethany Broesche
AWS CHILDREN’S CHOICE AWARD FINALIST Submitted by, Linda Burke, Librarian
Read Aloud
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh
Corner; A.A. Milne
Rising 3rd
Detective Gordon: The First Case;
Ulf Nilsson
Ms. Rapscott’s Girls; Elise Primavera
Rising 4th
Adventures with Waffles; Maria Parr
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional
Poultry Farmer; Kelly Jones
Rising 5th
Circus Mirandus; Cassie Beasley
Sign of the Cat; Lynne Jonell
Rising 6th
The Great Good Summer; Liz Garton
Scanlon
Nooks and Crannies; Jessica Lawson
Rising 7th
The Seventh Most Important Thing;
Shelley Pearsall
The Thing About Jellyfish;
Ali Benjamin
Rising 8th
The Marvels; Brian Selznick
The War that Saved My Life;
Kimberley Brubaker Bradley
Dear Parents,
I am please to announce the books
chosen for the Grade School awards program.
Students are asked to read the two for their
grade so they are ready to vote for their favorite
in the fall. We have, once again, chosen a clas-
sic for the Read Aloud award, which is aimed at
the rising First and Second Grades.
There will be more information about
each of these books on the Library page of the
website sometime in the near future.
The library will be open on Wednesday
afternoons from noon to 4:00 beginning June
8th and ending July 20th. I will let you know if I will
open August 10 and 17.
Have a wonderful summer, thank you
for all your support this year, and I hope to see
you some Wednesday this summer.
Linda Burke,
Librarian
Page 8 Messenger Back to Table of Contents
SPRING SPORTS IN REVIEW Submitted by Erik Olson, Athletic Director, Mary Wilson, School Parent and Chad Nemec, School Parent
Track
Emeline Arnold represented us very well
in track ending the season at the State
Championships and breaking our school
record in the 800 meter run. Coming back
from an illness last year and an injury this
year, she ran in one race in early April
before entering our TAPPS District Meet.
In the little town of Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 meter run and 4th in the 400 meter
dash to qualify in both races for the TAPPS South
Regional Meet. Once again in Hallettsville she fin-
ished 2nd in the 800 and 3rd in the 400, which allowed
her to qualify for the TAPPS 2A State Track & Field
Championships in Waco.
Held at the beautiful new track at Baylor University
Emeline was joined by over 1,000 other athletes from
all over Texas. She earned a bronze medal by finish-
ing 3rd in the 800. She finished 4th in the 400 miss-
ing the bronze medal by a tenth of a second. During
the season she broke our school record in the 800
with a time of 2:29. Congratulations Emeline!
We were very happy to have
had 30 students from the 6th,
7th, and 8th grades participate
on our MS track and field teams
this year. All our runners im-
proved during the season and
we are proud of all of them.
Our 7/8 girls team won the
AIPL Championship in the final meet by ½
point! They were 1st of 20 schools, many of which
are much bigger than AWS. It is a great accomplish-
ment for AWS!
HIGH SCHOOL GOLF TEAM PUTS WALDORF ON STATE SCOREBOARD
Submitted by Mary Wilson, School Parent
Team members: Seniors: Jeff Wilson and Jack Holland;
Juniors: John and Ben Callahan; Sophomores: Aidan
Cromier, Goodwin Bell, Mac Brenner just finished a short,
but sweet golf season with notable wins at the TAPPS 2A
State Championship in Waco, Texas May 2nd and 3rd. The
team qualified for the State tournament after a dominating
win at District and a comfortable 2nd place finish at Re-
gional. This was the third consecutive year that Waldorf
had competed at the State level.
On the first day of the State tournament, John and Ben
fired off “personal best tournament” scores (96-99) and
Jeff finished one stroke behind three players tied for first
at (77). By the end of the second day, the team had
dropped an impressive 12 strokes with Ben turning in a
new “personal best” (95) and Aidan logging a “personal
best” (96) as well. Jeff knocked 7 strokes off his score-
card finishing with a one under par (71). This steady team
scoring gave the Roadrunners a clean Tapps 2A third place
Sate win while Jeff, with a three stroke lead, finished the
tournament as the 2016 Tapps 2A State Champion – his
third consecutive State Championship!
AWS Mountain Biking Team Submitted by Chad Nemec, School Parent
Keshav Govind and Chili Nemec accomplished their goal of top 10 finalists in
the State of Texas high school league. It was a fantastic experience for all in-
volved. Cheers to all the support from the community!
Please contact coaches Robert Sherlock ([email protected]) or me
Chad Nemec ([email protected]) if your child has an interest in learning
more about this fun and exciting sport.
Austin Waldorf School 8700 South View Road
Austin, TX 78737
Our Mission: “Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who, of themselves, are able to give purpose and direction to their lives.” ~Rudolf Steiner
By creating a school environment that balances academic, artistic and practical disciplines, the Austin Waldorf School cultivates a love of learning, creative thinking, a sympathetic interest in the world, self-confidence and an abiding moral purpose.
Celebrating 34 years of educational excellence in Austin.
Messenger Back to Table of Contents Page 9
Main Office: 512-288-5942
Fax: 512-301-8997
High School: 512-301-9550
Fax: 512-439-0143
Kindergarten: 512-288-5120
Aftercare Emergency: 512-767-5707
Juniper Tree : 512-288-5106
www.austinwaldorf.org
To unsubscribe to the Messenger, click here. Questions or comments? Click here.
E-mail:
Awsannounce
@austinwaldorf.org
The Austin Waldorf School is a non-profit educational institution, 501(c)3, that welcomes students of any religion, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin.
SPRING SPORTS REVIEW CONTINUTED Tennis Pictures by Ryo Inoue
In the TAPPS District tournament, held at the
Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio, senior
José Luis Turincio, seeded 9th, started things off
with a gutsy victory over the 8th seed. After
losing the first set 2-6, he played an excellent
second set which he captured 6-4. With the
momentum on his side, he won the tiebreaker
10-5 to advance to the next round. Facing the
#1 seed and last year's State Runner-Up, José
Luis fought valiantly, but his opponent proved
too tough. Thank you José Luis for all your years
of participation in AWS sports!
Not to be outdone by her brother, sophomore
Julieta Turincio took care of her 8th seeded
opponent 6-1, 6-2 in her first match! But her
second match saw her facing the #1 seed, the defending State Champ! Again, it was a great effort,
but a defeat to a worthy opponent. She will have two more chances in the coming years to build on
this performance.
In boys doubles, senior Yuji Inoue and sophomore Connor Horton, paired up to take their first shot
in District. They reached the semifinals after relatively easy wins in their first two matches. But their
semifinal match against the #2 seed proved to be much tougher. They prevailed 6-4 6-2 with great
net play to reach the finals against the #1 seed, yet another defending State Champ! They lost in the
district final but with the Silver medal they qualified for the TAPPS 2A State Tournament in Waco.
In the First Round of the State Tournament Yuji and Connor defeated a doubles team from Longview
Christian by a score of 6-4, 6-4. In the Quarterfinal Round our boys lost an extremely tight contest 4-6,
6-3, 10-7. They played really hard and showed improvement the more they played.
AWS has been represented by one or more students at the TAPPS State Tennis Tourney for three
years in a row and 6 of the last 8 years.
Austin Waldorf School
Faculty and Staff
would like to wish you all
a happy, safe,
and relaxing summer!