Waldorf News

Waldorf Taught Me How to Learn: Reflections from an Alumna

By Sarah Cornelius, Waldorf School of Philadelphia Alumna

When most people think of spring break they don’t imagine high school seniors going back to their k-8 school, but that is exactly what I did.

I was offered the opportunity to intern with Allison Budschalow in the Development office, and it has been such a great time. It always feels a bit like coming home when I return to The Waldorf School of Philadelphia, seeing the familiar faces and spaces, but this time I got to see the school through a much different lens than the one I have known most of my life.

The world around me has changed a lot since I left Waldorf.  I felt a little rebellious traipsing into the building with my laptop in tow, headphones dangling out of my bag.

I spend most of my time at boarding school, in a world where iPhones are essentially a sixth finger and email-checking-addiction should have its own rehab. I spend hours every day on my computer writing papers and doing research.

My math class has come a long way from clapping out times tables in circles; now it starts every day with a quiz on my smart phone before diving in calculus curves.

The days of main lesson books and practicing recorder seem like distant memories (although I do keep knitting in my dorm room for the rare moments of free time).  It seems that no matter how much Waldorf makes a technology-free world of learning work, the rest of the world demands it.

But I never found the adjustment uncomfortable. In fact, I had a much easier time picking up Excel when it was introduced in my freshman year Biology class than most of my “tech savvy” classmates. Making PowerPoints and Prezis has never been a source of anxiety, but something that was easy to navigate and understand.

I can’t say for sure how much that is a product of the way that Waldorf teaches students to explore and think for themselves, but it definitely played a role.  I think a lot of this comes down to how I describe my years at WSP to people now: Waldorf taught me how to learn.

I was so excited to be able to put these skills to use with the Development office, helping out with the Spring auction and researching for grants.  As I folded papers to mail out, I was brought back to the mornings spent folding wax paper stars—if only I had a bone folder, I thought.

Thanks to WSP for inviting me back, hopefully I will be back in the summer to continue helping the office in structuring an alumni network.

Class of 2010 WSP alumna and currently a senior at Phillips Academy, Andover, Sarah has been accepted to Reed College and intends to pursue linguistics, anthropology and computer science.

Sarah’s reflections originally appeared on the Waldorf School of Philadelphia blog. To read the article on the lovinglearning.org/blog, just click here.