Faculty Feature: Growth & Spring
For another chance to get to know our dear faculty and staff outside of our classroom roles, we asked them a couple of spring themed questions. Here is some of what they had to say:
How do you mark or celebrate the start of Spring in your life?
“I celebrate the start of spring by cleaning out my garden beds and getting some seeds in the ground.”
“When Spring starts, my work in the yard and in my garden gets into full swing. I love to spend time on my patio and in the yard at this time of the year, before the buggies show up!”
“It may sound silly, but I seem to always be making hot tea in the winter, relishing the time to sit down with a hot mug in the evening. I also still make time for outdoor walks. There are less people out on the trails, so bundling up for a quiet walk is very nourishing.”
“At the turn of each season, I create a collage and pull an oracle card to serve as a guide for the months ahead. For Spring, specifically, I bring yard flowers inside and open windows on a warm day. I also enjoy the symbolic act of sweeping my house and lighting incense as part of an energy cleansing + blessing ritual.”
“Funny as it may sound, the start of Spring in my household is actually marked by the start of the baseball season. Being a mom of three athletic boys, means we’re alway involved in one sport or another, but baseball indicates the turn into longer days and warm sunshine. I’m not one to follow teams or stats, and I’m often juggling days in the garden dirt (my own true love) with days in the dirt field, but it’s come to be something I look forward to every Spring.”
“I’m a spring baby, with a mid-April birthday, so this season always feels like a personal new cycle of life coinciding with the blossoming world around me.”
“I have one tree in our backyard and it blooms bright pink flowers in early spring. When I walk on my deck and I see the bees buzzing around the pink flowers I know spring is here!”
“Spring is marked by stowing away the winter coats, snow pants, and big boots in the back of the closet and exchanging them for flowery dresses, denim shorts, and summer sandals.”
“Spring time is definitely an awakening for me. I begin dreaming about my garden, spending as much time as I can outside doing yard work, bringing in greenery cuttings into our home, sitting on pins and needles waiting to move my indoor plants back outside, and taking my dog on long walks.”
What are some areas of your life that are growing?
“My capacity to let things be as they are (and my garden, of course).”
“In this season of my life, I’m really growing as a father. My daughter is 2 years old, and I really feel like the changes in her have been parallel to changes within me!”
“Coinciding with the expansion and growth of Spring, I have added a new job title here at school! Along with continuing my Administrative Assistant duties, I will also be the School-Community Liaison. This role serves as a point of contact between the school, families and community resources. I’m very excited to be able to support the COFS community in this way!”
“This summer, I’m taking a step away from my big roles at COF and taking the helm of a national early childhood training organization, LifeWays North America. It’s a turn in the path of my life I never imagined I would be taking, but it’s here and it feels like I’ve risen to a mountain top. I think my growth comes in the form of truly ‘owning’ the talents I started with and how they have grown into powerful capabilities.”
“This year, I embarked on a 4-year Handwork Teacher training program. I’ll be upstate New York for one week during the winter and two weeks during the summer for the next four years learning from/alongside the best of the best in Waldorf handwork. It can be hard to make personal investments such as these, especially as a mother, but I’m proud of myself for taking the leap. I’m excited to see how this opportunity shapes and empowers me to bring the therapeutic experiences of handwork to my community.”