Education & Faculty

High School

The Waldorf high school offers a rigorous academic curriculum, which is balanced with a thorough cultivation of artistic skills and practical work. Learning to think is emphasized over what to think. Students are encouraged to recognize that what they learn in the classroom is relevant to their everyday lives and prepares them to create their own futures.

The high school faculty members are experts in their own fields; they have also taken a Waldorf Teacher Training, which is a rigorous course in transformation towards a new art of teaching. In addition to their teaching, faculty members serve as personal advisors, working one-on-one with individual students; the advisor assists the student with understanding his work and responsibilities, and plays a key role in communications with the family.
 
While the enrollment in the high school averages 15 in each class, the students have many opportunities to mix with all the other students: language classes are mixed groups, orchestra and music classes are mixed, chorus is required for all high school students, lunch times and break times are informal, and there is a weekly forum in which all the students participate. In addition, there is a week-long elective block when the students may choose from a variety of activities, and in which the classes are made up of a mix of students from each grade.

Students in the high school continue to create their own illustrated texts (main lesson books), but are increasingly turning to texts which support their main lesson work. Computers are adjuncts to the main focus of the students' efforts.

Community service is expected from every high school student. The choices are quite wide and are arranged in agreement with the faculty advisor. The community service requirement appears on the student's final transcript.
 
In eleventh grade, students take up career and personal exploration. They choose an area of interest, research issues, interview professionals and work with mentors and business partners. Students journal, meet with life coaches and business professionals, participate in workshops, learn time management skills. They spend a week on site participating in a business during regular business hours. Upon returning to school, students make a presentation to the entire student body about their experiences, write a summary of their work and participate in an assessment process with the business partner and internship team member.

In the twelfth grade comes the "Senior Project." Each student must choose a project that deeply interests him or her, and that will take most of the year to complete. Public presentations are done in May. Past Senior Projects have included building a barn; building a computer and software; making a wooden rowing skull; climbing the 46 high peaks of the Adirondacks; writing a concerto; and completing internships at the New York City Opera, the District Attorney's Office, and a Kindergarten in the Bronx.
 
Curriculum
Curriculum may vary from year to year.

Ninth Grade
Ecology
Geometry
Comedy and Tragedy
Thermodynamics
History of Art
Organic Chemistry
Moby DickGeology
Modern History
Physiology

Tenth Grade
Acids and Bases
Hydrology
Ancient History
Bible as Literature
Trigonometry
Mechanics
Drama
Embryology
Iliad and Odyssey
History of Poetry

Eleventh Grade
Shakespeare
Atomic Chemistry
Projective Geometry
American History
Electricity and Magnetism
Parzival
History of Music
Romantic Poetry
Meteorology
Botany
Dante

Twelfth Grade
Calculus
Transcendentalists
Zoology
Astronomy
History of Architecture
Drama
World Culture
Biochemistry
Faust
Physics of Vision

SPECIALTY SUBJECTS
Chorus
Eurythmy
Fine Arts
Foreign Language
Orchestra
Physical Education
Practical Arts

Graduates have been accepted to the following colleges and universities: Antioch College, Amherst College, American University, Arcadia University, Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Art Institute of Miami, Bard College, Bennington College, Berea College, Boston University, Brown University, Bryn Mawr College, Bucknell University, Cazenovia College, Clark College, Clarkson University, Clemson University, Cleveland Institute of Music, College of Saint Rose, College of the Atlantic, College of Santa Fe, Colgate University, Colorado College, Colorado University, Cornell University, Crane School of Music, CW Post, Drexel University, Earlham College, Eastman School of Music, Emerson, Eugene Lang College, Florida International University, Friends World University, Genesee Community College, Green Mountain College, Guilford College, Hampshire College, Hartwick College, Hendrix College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Ithaca College, Johnson State, Kansas State University, Lafayette College, La Salle University, Lewis & Clark College, Maine College of Art, Manhattanville College, Marlboro, Marist College, Marymount, Massachusetts College of Art, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, Middlebury College, Mills College, Mt. Holyoke, New England Conservatory, New York University, Northeastern University, Oberlin College, Paul Smiths, Pennsylvania State University, Potsdam, Pratt Art Institute, Pratt at Munson Williams, Rhode Island College, Ringling College of Art & Design, Rutgers University, Sage College of Albany, Saint Rose College, Sarah Lawrence College, Savannah College of Art, Skidmore, Smith College, Southern Methodist University, St. Johns University, St. Lawrence University, SUNY (Adirondack, Albany, Binghamton, Cobleskill, Geneseo, New Paltz, Oneonta, Plattsburgh, Purchase, Potsdam Crane School of Music, Stonybrook), Syracuse University, Trinity College, Tufts University, Union College, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Connecticut, University of Georgia, University of Maine, University of Massachusetts (Amherst), University of New Hampshire, University of Rochester, University of San Francisco, University of Vermont, University of Miami, Vassar College, Warren Wilson College, Wells College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Wesleyan University, Western New England University, Wheaton, Whitman College.
 
 
Waldorf schools generally turn out young people who get into colleges of their choice, but more importantly are well prepared for life. I hope this form of education becomes the basis for public school curriculum thoughout the United States. And I hope it happens soon.”

– Eric Utne, founder of, publisher, and former editor-in-chief of Utne Reader (described by The New York Times as "one of the most distinctive voices in magazine journalism"), former Waldorf Teacher