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Amy Hamilton, 8th Grade Class of ’90, earned her BA in English and Women's Studies in 1998 from Pomona College and her PhD in American Literature in 2008 from the University of Arizona. She is currently working as an Assistant Professor of English at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. She primarily teaches courses in Native American literature.
She sees the influence of Waldorf in her life all the time. Right now, as a mother, she is thinking carefully about her son's education and wishing there was a Waldorf school up there! In thinking about what she values in education, “I definitely see the influence of Waldorf philosophies and values.”
 Sylvie Neal, 12th Grade Class of ‘08, is currently attending St. John’s College in Santa Fe. She is a sophomore this year, studying Mathematics, Music Theory, Ancient Greek and the great books of the Western tradition from The Bible to the works of Shakespeare. The project that her mathematics class is currently working on is recreating the way in which Ptolemy understood the movement of the planet Venus. In Ancient Greek she is currently translating Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King.
She believes her Waldorf education gave her the flexibility of thinking to undertake the education she is now working through. Throughout her Waldorf education she was always encouraged to explore new ways of viewing everything from her personal assumptions to societal assumptions, and look at the world through as many different lenses as possible. Sylvie believes this curiosity and flexibility has allowed her to submerge herself in her current education while enjoying each new discovery.
One project she especially enjoyed was writing an essay on Homer’s Odyssey. Writing that essay employed several ideas from her Waldorf education as well as her personal ideas, which had been developing over her life. Overall she feels that her Waldorf education has dovetailed well with her current college work. She learned many things from her Waldorf education and the ideas which began to develop through that education are being continually revisited as her education continues.
 Karles Saucedo-McQuade, 8th Grade Class of ’97, spent nine years at Waldorf, from Kindergarten through Eighth Grade. After finishing high school, Karles earned a B.A. in physics at Oberlin College. He is currently at the University of New Mexico, earning dual Bachelors of Music degrees in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy. Karles has carried with him many interests from Waldorf, including his study of physics, love of teaching, proficiency on the recorder and even research into eurythmy. He plans to make a career of teaching violin.
Hari Rai Khalsa, 12th Grade Class of ‘06, is currently a junior at Stanford University where she is majoring in Anthropology with a Creative Writing minor. She is not sure yet what exactly lies in store for her after graduation, but she feels that two years is plenty of time to figure it out. Maybe Hari Rai will move on to graduate school, maybe she’ll write the next Harry Potter and retire by the age of 25, who knows?
While she no longer sees the world “through Steiner’s eyes” to the extent that she used to, she definitely feels that Waldorf has had a strong impact on the way she approaches nearly everything she undertakes. She is never satisfied with simply working for the grade, doing a job just well enough, or memorizing until the test is over and then forgetting it all again. Waldorf taught her that if she is going to do something, she might as well do it right. Otherwise why do it at all?
At the beginning of freshman year she immediately joined Stanford Taiko, which she thinks she can say with fairly strong confidence has been the coolest thing she has ever been a part of. Taiko is the art of Japanese drumming, an amazing art form that combines visual and aural aesthetics, great friends, handy management skills, a can-do attitude, a great workout, lots of delicious food outings, and an outlet for the childish urge to hit things as hard as you possibly can all into one extracurricular activity. As drumbuilding coordinator for the group, Hari Rai typically spends her Saturdays carving wine barrels into drum bodies and soaking cow hides in an inflatable kiddie pool. What more could she possibly ask for? Next fall she plans to do a semester-long study abroad program in Kyoto, Japan, where in addition to spending four months struggling to improve her Japanese, she hopes to have the chance to study Taiko in depth with one of the masters there.
Frances Milliken, 8th Grade Class of ‘01, graduated from Bowdoin College in May. In August she moved to Italy to live on a farm with a Tuscan family. She hopes that when she returns to the U.S. in April she will be fluent in Italian and have a draft for a collection of short stories.
Waldorf has stayed with Frances in a number of ways. It figures as a novelty in conversation and is one that she greatly enjoys explaining: the morning verses, the musical instruments, the main lesson books. Being allowed so much creativity when she was young, encouraged Frances to develop these aspects. She minored in Visual Arts and is pursuing her love for creative writing. Also, her exposure to foreign languages as early as first grade established an interest in different cultures and a desire to learn a second language.
Frances is very much looking forward to the harvest of Italian grapes and olives this fall. She is enjoying a rest from school and is eager to partake of life not confined to a classroom or campus.
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