A few alumni with founding teacher, Marga vanTuijl - winter 2009
Where are they now?
Sula Willson - Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR.
Alex Ulmer - Eastern Washington University
Hank Schuler - Montana State University
Sophie Willson - Senior at Telluride High School, Colorado
Marga VanTuijl - Commercial fisherwoman extraordinaire!
Waco Budiselich - Gonzaga University
Founding teacher, Marga, with alum Casey Kutz....now skiing for Montana State University, Bozeman, MT.
A reflection on the MVCS experience by Casey Kutz:
My name is Casey and I am in the second semester of my junior year of college, so I've been through a good chunk of schooling in my life, so far. When I look back at my experiences and think of all that I have learned, not a whole lot stands out....the lecture, study, test routine leaves me, two semesters later, with almost no recollection of any of the scientific names of Montana's native plants, or even what their common names are, for example. But, to my surprise, when going through a buffet line two months ago I was the only member of my ski team to know the answer to a trivia question regarding European explorers.
Not only did I know the answer was Amerigo Vespucci, I remembered his role in history and I rememberd that he was the explorer my classmate, Amelia Hanron, had doner her project on when we were studying European explorers at the Community School!
Thinking back to all the interactive projects that I did in my three years at MVCS, I am flooded with memories of how much fun it was, but I'm also surprised by how much knowledge I'm still carrying around with me. If someone were to ask me what kinds of things I focused on in high school, I wouldn't even be able to remember any projects off the top of my head, but if you asked me about my experiences in the Community School, I could tell you that we did journals on pioneers, studied the Inuits, went across the Oregon Trail. I did a project on the pillars of Islam, we studied European explorers.....and the list goes on and on! I don't just remember what projects we did, I could definitely tell you a thing or two about what I learned.
I know that I remember all of this because of the style of teaching. The learning that I did while at MVCS was so personal, hands on, and interactive that it has stuck with me and I still think about it ten years later. If things I've learned in fifth grade have stuck around for so long, I think it safe to say I'll remember these things for the rest of my life. I'm not so sure if I can say the same for the 400 level art history class I am in this semester. I hope with all my heart that I can remember everything the professor lectures and tests us on, but I know if he doesn't spice it up, quickly, a lot of what he is teaching me is not going to hold a permanent residents in my brain. I think he could learn a thing or two from my Community School teachers!
A reflection on the MVCS experience by Amelia Hanron:
There was a time in my childhood when I cursed my parents for sending me to a little private school, in the third grade, after two years of pleasant home schooling; hanging out with friends every other day, learning math in my living room and playing school district provided computer games. I didn't want to go back to school!
Looking back over the four years I attended the MVCS, I realize now that it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. With only ten students in its first year, and two teachers, it was the close-knit and family-oriented feeling of home schooling, with the structure and time that many of our parents couldn't give. All grade levels learned together and we worked at our own paces. We had lessons in reading, writing and 'rithmatic, but we also learned Dutch from our teacher who grew up in Holland, we created a cafe; named, organized, cooked and served by the students. We had classes in job interviews, we had a "random acts of kindness" board, where we wrote down the date and for whom we did a kindness. Instead of the Pledge of Allegiance, in the mornings we said our Contract for Learning:
"We come together as a group of learners. We recognize our feelings, we recognize our differences. We celebrate our work and the work of others.".
We had sharing circles. It was safe and it felt like home.
The MVCS grew a little with each passing year, with four more students in its second year, 23 in the third and so on. No matter the number of students enrolled, however, it still kept its ideals and principles close to heart. Marga and Deirdre were the best mentors I could have asked for, and I maintained contact with them for a long time after I had graduated to public junior high school.
When I did finally outgrow the MVCS it was definitely a transition to the public system. When I had an exciting piece of news, I would raise my hand and stand up in front of my first period class to share; I didn't understand why people laughed and made fun of me behind my back. I was eager to help people with assignments, but was shockd when they asked for my answers. "I can't give you the answers," I would gasp, indignantly, "but I will help you find your own." Life wasn't that fun for me those first few months of junior high school.
In April of seventh grade, I was moved up to eighth grade, where all of my old MVCS friends were. After that things improved. I had a support group that had made the same transition, and an overall more academically ambitious class. I adapted to public school, quite well I think, through all the years of desks and assigned seats and binders, tests and due dates. Through it all, I've managed to hold on to those ideas from the MVCS: I've gone through school with an open mind, a heart full of compassion, and a love for adventure.
2008 is an exciting one for the school founders and teachers. The original batch of kids are donning their graduation caps and gowns and getting ready to face the world, armed with high school diplomas, and the valuable lessons that we were taught in those two rooms of our local community center, lessons, that some may argue, were more useful than anything we learned there after.