by Christine McQuade Hsu | Oct 26, 2021 | Community, Food Justice, High School
by Marina Budrys | HS Faculty
This past Sunday, amid a torrential downpour and high winds, the 11th grade (along with some magical helpers) fed 50 people a seven-course dinner and raised some serious funds for the Food Justice Initiative. What started as a dream and seed project in their tenth grade Research Methods Class is slowly but surely becoming a reality. Food Truck here we come!
The 11th grade had been preparing for this event throughout their Cooking Arts class for six weeks. From ingredient sourcing and menu design to the art of serving and working under pressure, the process of designing and executing the event provided countless learning opportunities for all involved.
On Sunday morning, three students joined me at the Mountain View Farmers Market to pick up all the vegetables (they also enjoyed some warming beverages and pastries at Red Rock Café, a treat to make up for the early wake-up hour.)
The students were joined by the rest of the class at noon to prepare all the food for the meal. They worked hard to get everything prepped (in our VERY makeshift kitchen) and finished everything in under three hours. By 4:20, all the guests were seated and jamming along to the sounds of faculty member Rich Armstrong and his collaborator Kimberlye Gold with special guest (and faculty member) Christopher Otte. They were joined by members of WSP’s own Soul Providers, a parent/faculty/alumni band reunited for the first time since the pandemic.
Overall, the dinner was a success. Students cooked food, plated food, served food and explained the story behind each dish. Many of the ingredients were from Live Earth Farms (the very same farm at which this class worked and stayed in third Grade with Mrs. Budrys Senior!) The hard work, collaboration, and dedication that the students showed the community inspired many attendees to generously support the Food Justice Initiative. A soon-to-exist Chicken Coop and Coffee Trike were fully funded.
by Christine McQuade Hsu | Aug 5, 2021 | Community, Fundraising
Kora Feder | WSP Writer
Did you know that when you shop for yourself and your loved ones, you could be generating donations to WSP—at no cost to you? We encourage you to consider these four easy ways to support the school in a big way, with little effort on your part. It’s community actions like these that give us the added resources to continually enrich our programs. Thank you!
Amazon Smile
We know some of you are moving away from shopping on Amazon. We also know how convenient Amazon can be, and that many members of our community are active users. Amazon will automatically route .5% of your spending to WSP if you shop through Amazon Smile. It’s the same Amazon experience, you’ll just be donating to the school as you shop!
To get started: Make sure you’re logged into your Amazon account and go to smile.amazon.com.
Click ‘Get Started’ and search ‘Waldorf School of the Peninsula,’ add us and you’re done! Bookmark smile.amazon.com and remember to shop at that link
RaiseRight (aka Scrip Gift Cards)
This program has accumulated more names than we can count but it boils down to a very simple concept: gift card fundraising. Buy a gift card to a major brand (Home Depot, Apple, Delta, Gap, Starbucks and more), and then use the cards to shop. The companies give back a percentage of your gift card spending to WSP. Earn 16% of your purchases at LL Bean, 15% at Athleta, for example, and yes, 8% at Krispy Kreme. You can start shopping right away with digital gift cards or have physical cards mailed to you.
To get started: Go to RaiseRight/enroll and enter WSP’s code: C82FAE382474L.
Sports Basement
Locally owned Sports Basement offers 10% of purchases made by its members (Basementeers) to a charity of your choice. You can join the Basementeer membership program for a one-time $25 fee. Make sure you select Waldorf School of the Peninsula as your charity. Once you become a Basementeer, every time you shop at their stores, Sports Basement gives you 10% off and will donate 10% to WSP. If you already have a Basementeer account and want to update your charity beneficiary to WSP, email friends@sportsbasement.com.
Thank you for considering these cost-free ways to contribute to our beloved WSP community. If you have questions about these programs, please contact development@waldorfpeninsula.org.
by Christine McQuade Hsu | May 24, 2021 | Middle School, Student Work
A Group Recollection by WSP 8th Grade Students – Sophia, Bea, Emmery, Rachel, Erin, Leander, Jun, Kyle, Seunghyun, and Muirinn | May 22, 2021
For the longest time, it was unclear whether or not we would get to have an 8th grade trip. COVID-19 caused uncertainty all year and understanding the course we would follow was difficult. Luckily, things worked out in an unexpected way, and as it got closer to the ideal timing of the trip, COVID restrictions loosened as it became safer to travel within the state. The progression of the vaccines also meant that most of us were able to get our first shot before the trip. With lots of help and support from parents, teachers, and others, we were able to plan a lovely week-long camping trip to Catalina Island.
It was early in the morning, 5:45 am, on May 17th, when we arrived at school. It was still dark outside as we waited in anticipation and excitement for our trip to begin. When everyone arrived, we loaded all of our luggage and camping equipment into the spacious compartment under the bus. We groggily entered, masks on, and settled into our socially distanced seats. During the ride, some people read, some talked and others slept. After about two hours of traveling, placeholder_160.gifwe stopped to have a snack and stretch our cramped legs. Then we reloaded onto the voluminous bus. As the hours passed, we grew more and more exhausted and tired students lay on the floor and across the seats. Seven hours after we left, we found ourselves at a foggy cold harbor. Here we departed our bus to continue our journey on the Catalina Express ferry for a 75-minute ride to the island.
Our campsite was a short hike away and allowed everyone space to set up individual tents, some of them with ocean views. It was a very private and quiet location especially during the week.
On our second day, after a strenuous morning hike to the top of an overlook, we were hot and tired and decided to go for a swim. The water was cold and clear and just what we needed. Our campsite included two paddle boards and many eager students clung on to one trying to fight our way back to shore. Graham lost his paddle at one point but it all worked out. So many students grabbed onto the board in an attempt to have a paddle board experience that it started to sink under the weight. There were some fun attempts to take control of the boards resulting in them flipping over and each of its passengers losing their vessel’s guide.
Each morning a different student group took turns making breakfast. There was a lot of learning involved since the students had to learn how to cook over the campfire stoves. We had to lock up our food at night because the island foxes were very sly and came out at night searching for food. There were pigeons and seagulls stalking our meals but we were lucky that only one seagull flew away with a large piece of cheese from our lunch spread. We had dinner catered in and quesadillas were a favorite meal.
This trip gave us time to chat, swim, relax, walk into town for some ice cream, and explore different parts of the beautiful island. After exploring the busy town of Avalon, everyone was happy to go back to our quiet campground on Two Harbors.
The students are grateful for their chaperones; Ms. Wong, Ms. Lader, Dr. Babinet, and Mr. and Mrs. Welch, and are especially grateful for Julie Stanford, Lexi’s mom, for her amazing camping equipment and shopping organization behind the scenes.
by Christine McQuade Hsu | May 24, 2021 | High School
Melanie Ingler | May 20, 2021
Melinda Yang, WSP senior, was one of just 2500 students out of 16,000 finalists to earn this year’s National Merit Scholarship.
National Merit Scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.
These Scholars were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, who appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects, studied and grades earned; scores from the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay written by the Finalist; and a recommendation written by a high school official.
Congratulations Melinda!
by Christine McQuade Hsu | May 24, 2021 | High School
Kora Feder | May 20, 2021
Ever wondered what it’s like to run a food truck? Ask our high school students next year! We are delighted to announce that The Waldorf Education Foundation (WEF) has granted our high school $7,000 as part of their Myrin Entrepreneurship Award, which gives funding to Waldorf high schools for socially responsible business and financial entrepreneurship programs. As you may have heard from an excited staff member or student around campus, our (now funded) program is called The Food Justice Initiative (FJI) and is focusing on providing healthy food to local community members experiencing food insecurity.
WEF’s investment will go towards Phase 1 of FJI, building infrastructure, partnerships, and knowledge to design, iterate, and scale the program. Our high school students will partner with our neighboring church, St. Athanasius, to boost and participate at every level of their food pantry program, while meeting with local leaders and non-profit professionals to create a larger business plan. In the current vision for Phase 2, students aim to expand the program’s reach to serve more people via a food truck.
FJI will be supported by HS faculty across all grades and programs. The Spanish language students, for instance, will translate menus, the music ensembles will perform on some service days, and the biodynamic garden will provide food, grown and prepared by the students. The program will be the primary case study for the senior economics main lesson, and a regular focal point for the humanities, math, and practical arts departments.
Bonnee Mazjun, our HS pedagogical director, shared her excitement for the program. “We are always looking for ways to integrate what the students learn with real, meaningful experiences that allow the students to develop relationships to the mission of WSP and the Waldorf movement. What’s most exciting to me is that this concept sprung out of the students’ interests and that creatively it connects service, sustainability, and inequity to a variety of topics the students study in high school. I can’t wait to see how it unfolds.”
We are excited to support our faculty and students as they not only deepen our experiential curriculum but make a real difference in our greater community. And, of course, we hope they’ll let us buy and try some of their delicious food, too.
