by Julie Henderson
Julie Henderson was one of the early founders of Orchard Valley Waldorf School and had such a passionate vision for the land and what could be made manifest for the children of our community. We are so blessed to have her presence still resonating in our school community even though her children have long since graduated. Her sharp intellect and commitment to the school are both inspiring and deeply comforting. We invited Julie to share her story and journey with Waldorf Education and Orchard Valley.
My introduction to Waldorf education came at a talk given at the Child's Garden by a former kindergarten teacher. What I heard that autumn evening changed, in an instant, how I thought about my three-year-old daughter’s developing mind, about parenting, about school. Through the many years that followed, my commitment to Waldorf education never wavered. Even when it was delivered imperfectly, I held fast to my understanding of Waldorf principles: that this form of education strives to meet the child where they are, developmentally; that it values each child for the gifts they bring and helps the other children see and appreciate these; that a child is a being not just of mind, but of soul and spirit; and that they have capacities for thinking, feeling and willing, that can be nurtured and cultivated at the right time and in the right way. I came to recognize that the teachers were acting with intentionality, borne of an understanding of the true human being. Every lesson, every activity, arose out of this shared perception. The purpose? To educate children with love, that they might go forth, in freedom, to meet their particular destiny in their full potential.
Pictured above: my daughter, Piper French, was in the first graduating class of Orchard Valley in 2008. She went on to Lake Champlain Waldorf High School and then Brown University. My son Eli French graduated Orchard Valley in 2012 and went to U32 and then Colby College.
My daughter first attended Morning Garden, then two years of mixed-age kindergarten. At the time there was no Waldorf grades school in central Vermont. The nearest option was the Green Mountain Waldorf School, in Wolcott – a 45-minute bus ride away. Many previous parents had utilized this option, but for a small group of us, we could not imagine taking that step.
The Child’s Garden had a single classroom of twenty children and did not have the capacity to start a grades school. Our parent group forged ahead on its own, advertising – the old-fashioned, pre-internet way – with posters that read: "Seeking A Waldorf Teacher, Interested Families, and A Space." This impulse had surfaced a few times previously in the central Vermont community, with no success, and I was told later that some thought our poster naïve, even audacious!
But the cosmos aligned, the time was right, and the year was 2000 – a time for many new beginnings. The wonderful Miss Jacqueline Gabe appeared to teach a first grade with seven students, in a rented house on land in Berlin. So much excitement for this first class! Parents contributed incredible amounts of energy and resources to bring this dream to fruition; it was a time of awe, gratitude, great fun, and goodwill.
Three Rivers School co-existed peacefully with the Child’s Garden for several years, only adding another first grade three years later. There was both interest, and resistance, in uniting the schools. Each school was growing and needed more space, and it became clear that the best way to bring the two together would be to find a property with room for both. A third entity took up this effort, looking for properties and financial support. After an intense, brief fundraising effort, the group successfully purchased the amazing Grace Farm campus at auction in August 2003. These were heady times, both exhilarating and exhausting, as renovations were made to the farmhouse and the former dairy barn. Countless hours were spent in meetings and workdays, with parents and community members working so hard to create this new school. Nine months after beginning co-habitation, the Child’s Garden and Three Rivers School merged, and The Orchard Valley Waldorf School was born. Those of us present experienced the profound privilege of being part of a truly creative act.
Still, there were more years ahead of monumental effort at continuing renovations as well as developing the school’s infrastructure. Support continued to flow from the spiritual worlds in manifest ways - how else could seven families and one teacher have started a school that grew, at one point, to 120 grades students? I learned that this support is ever-present if only we seek it.
Over the years, I have seen the number of students and families expand and contract. I am continually grateful for - and delighted by - those who find their way to this education, this community, this place. I am in awe of the sacrifices families make that their children might be here. I know they must understand, or at least sense, what is being offered to their children. So much more than academics! The artistic and practical activities foster strong soul forces in the growing child. Love and reverence for the world and each other develops strong social intelligence. There is much at work in the world against our higher human impulses, and helping the child develop their whole being enables them to meet these obstacles and distractions. I continue to support Orchard Valley because it is so important to me that children – all children – have the opportunity for this education.
I have witnessed the school’s transitions and challenges, the arrivals and departures. It is not the same school we started twenty years ago. It is being re-created, over and over, by new groups of parents, teachers and staff. It is an evolving, living entity grown from seeds planted decades earlier. I always understood that Three Rivers, and then Orchard Valley, stood on the foundation laid by the Child’s Garden. But only after years in the grade school did I come to deeply appreciate that Orchard Valley would not have come fully into being without the Green Mountain Waldorf School having gone before. After it closed, teachers and families flowed to Orchard Valley, strengthening the faculty and expanding the base of committed Waldorf families. I began to recognize that there is, indeed, a time for all things, and what we do today will bear fruit in the future, even if at present we cannot imagine what form that will take. The school today is a moment in this flow, evolving to meet the needs of the times. My hope is that the impulse at the heart remains, while the vessel of the school forms and reforms through time.
I knew nothing about Rudolf Steiner, or anthroposophy, (the foundation for Waldorf pedagogy) when our family began its 15-year journey with Waldorf education. I only knew that what I heard at that very first parent talk I attended was true. Those truths were augmented and reinforced over the years through the wise guidance of teachers and the thoughtful reflection of other parents. I have witnessed our two children grow into caring, responsible, confident and capable young adults. I am forever grateful for what they received through Waldorf education, and for the way it shaped our family’s life.”
