• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

It Takes a Village ANNUAL REPORT 2013 / 2014 Photos courtesy of : Marc Bryan-Brown Shavkat Hoshimov Tom Pepe TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 IT’S A WAY OF LIFE 6 FOR THE SAKE OF AN IDEA 7 LIKE FAMILY TO ME 9 THEY WILL KNOW LIFE 11 A CLASS COMMUNITY IS FORMED 16 VITALIZING OUR VILLAGE 20 A TRULY REMARKABLE REALM 22 HOW TO IMBUE LIFE WITH WHOLENESS 23 A CHILDREN’S VILLAGE THE SIZE OF A CONTINENT 24 CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF THE CHILDREN’S VILLAGE 26 A VILLAGE OF FRIENDS MAKE A RACQUET AND HAVE A BALL 30 IT TAKES THREE VILLAGES TO HOST A BIKE RIDE 31 VOLUNTEERS ARE . 32 ANNUAL REPORT FINANCIALS 34 OUR VILLAGE 41 THE PIETZNER LEGACY SOCIETY 2 CAMPHILL SPECIAL SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT 2013 / 2014 CAMPHILLSPECIALSCHOOL.ORG 3 It’s a Way of Life BY GREG AMBROSE, PRESIDENT, BOARD OF DIRECTORS “ IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD.” This saying, which is believed to have originated from an African proverb, is one we’ve all heard countless times. It refers to how children are educated, and the fact that the work of raising a child shouldn’t be done alone, but rather through the efforts of an entire community. At Camphill, “it takes a village” isn’t just an expression; it’s a way of life. Students, coworkers, and staff live together, work together, and learn together, forming an actual village right here in Glenmoore. It’s not something they just talk about. It’s not just a concept. The Children’s Village is real. Camphill’s Children’s Village is strong and loving, and it encompasses all aspects of the children’s lives. The classroom is only one of the places that education happens at Camphill. Learning to contribute to the greater community and being nurtured by peers and friends helps each child blossom from the inside out. My son, Joey, came to Camphill seven years ago and graduated from Beaver Run this past spring. He and his classmates considered Camphill their home, not just their school. Joey matured and developed exponentially during this time. He learned new skills and developed a level of confidence that I couldn’t have imagined seven years ago. And, in my opinion, no school could have accomplished what the synergy of the village life has achieved. It’s truly magical to witness the small miracles that the village routinely produces. It takes a village to raise a child, and the Camphill Children’s Village is a living, breathing, and joyous example of how meaningful and successful this type of learning environment can be. 4 CAMPHILL SPECIAL SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT 2013 / 2014 CAMPHILLSPECIALSCHOOL.ORG 5 For the Sake Like Family to Me BY GUY ALMA, FACULTY If someone is very dear to us we unfold as individuals. We feel safe, Children’s Village their own, of an Idea often say, “She is like family to me.” so we can take risks knowing that raising their families or building In doing so we encompass something if we fail someone will be there to long-lasting house teams together, EXCERPTS FROM “AN ADDRESS TO THE COMMUNITY” about a person we love and about the pick us up and help us learn. We feel our community becomes an PRESENTED BY CARLO PIETZNER AT RAINBOW HALL quality of our mutual relationship. unconditional permission to become extension of our students’ own ON NOVEMBER 30, 1977 We are saying that we care about this who we are; we don’t have to pretend families. They have two homes person, whether they succeed or fail, to be something we are not for the and two sets of parents. whether they can give help or need to benefit of others. Thus, we grow into We knew we were of one mind when that he was almost not daring even surrounded by many other activities receive it, and that they care about us authentic human beings with a depth The Children’s Village is a place we decided … to move together, to hope. [Dr. Koenig] saw, as I had, in the vicinity that would all in the same way. Such a relationship of individual character, at home where people are real neighbors. to unite in Beaver Run—to do that that it would become a village for together help to form the Children’s is filled with empathy. We feel the both in ourselves and in our social We celebrate birthdays and marriages for the sake of an idea. This idea many people, not all of which would Village. It was not to be a Children’s other’s pain in our own heart; we community. together. We drop in to borrow a jug was the Children’s Village. It was a be working with and for children. Village for the handicapped children are filled with joy when something of milk or to chat about the latest concept that no one had used before But all of which would want to only. It was to be a village for the wonderful happens to them. The Children’s Village has always news. We help our neighbors when in Camphill. I will never forget, dear live in the vicinity of one another child, for the purposes necessary been a place where the notion of help is needed. Our students are a friends, how it was when I talked to because of The Child, and because to give space to the child. It was to When someone is “family” they are family has lived as a guiding ideal. part of all this, learning to navigate Dr. Koenig about it. of each other. It was not to be a be, most certainly, an island in the embraced by us. We will be there Our residential houses are real social life in a place where everyone residential school. It was not meant world, with the world, and for the for one another, day or night, rain homes where no shifts ever change knows them. They can grow into [Karl Koenig] expected that the to be a therapeutic community; world; an island for the sake of the or shine. The real human warmth and where consistency and love who they are, and every step they concept of the Children’s Village although all of this would be child … the child both physically as that is created by such an embrace are ever present. Because Camphill make along the way is celebrated. could perhaps convey something incorporated as well. It would be well as within us. brings support that allows us to coworkers make the houses in our It does take a village to raise a child. 6 CAMPHILL SPECIAL SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT 2013 / 2014 CAMPHILLSPECIALSCHOOL.ORG 7 They Will Know Life BY TOBIAS ADAMS, FACULTY On any given day a young child can sits outside her apartment, quietly for he is sleeping. In the distance, walk through our Children’s Village contemplating, while others are the lawn mower has started up and and see life unfolding before their quickly walking to the office or begins cutting the grass on St. John’s very eyes. As these children set off running to the store in an apron, field. The children run off to watch on their life’s journey, greeting each collecting eggs for the lunch that it briefly before walking behind day with enthusiasm for the simplest they are preparing. The UPS delivery Rainbow Hall, to the playground of things, what they experience, man arrives and carries big parcels there. who they experience, will weave a into the office. A little farther up the fabric so rich that when they reach hill, a green tractor is parked. On Here they enter into another world. adulthood they will not only be the ground lay tools: spades, shovels, Here the hubbub of village life can observers of life, but contributors. rakes, wheelbarrows. Directions are take pause; the village of the natural They will know life. called out to a group of high school world soothes and calms them as students, preparing them for the task they climb the stairs to the yellow A simple walk through our village ahead. Outside Rock Crystal, a car is playground. In the playground, all can reveal so much to the young being cleaned. Coming down the hill that has surrounded the children child. As they pull on their coats, is a blue baby carriage. With a rush can become transformed into play. boots, and hats they are prepared of excitement the children are off to And in play they discover even more and ready. As they open the door, see the newborn baby. They know of the world around them, and the the geese walk past, also making instinctively, from the warm smile of world within them. their way out on the sunny morning. the mother, that they can come and An older member of the community see the baby, but they must be quiet 8 CAMPHILL SPECIAL SCHOOL ANNUAL REPORT 2013 / 2014 CAMPHILLSPECIALSCHOOL.ORG 9 A Class Community Is Formed BY GINNY THIMME, FACULTY Each morning in third grade, “feelings” cards are laid on the floor and the children pick one to express how they feel (i.e., happy, sad, anxious, excited, tired, scared). This daily activity not only helps the teacher gauge how everyone is feeling, it also helps the children build empathy for each other. One morning a student chose the “scared” card because she had had nightmares. Before the teacher could respond, another child jumped off her chair and gave her friend a hug.

Load more

  23

Copy Link