Alumni

What former students say about Waldron School...

Rowan Sharp

New Orleans, Louisiana

Class of 2001

I attended the Waldron School from preschool through eighth grade, and I am so grateful for my time there. Some of my favorite memories are of acting twice a year in the school plays; the incredible visiting artists who shared their time with us; the epic field trips we took to the Hoh Rainforest, Monterey Bay, the Southwest, and Costa Rica; and learning to kayak, canoe, and sail on Waterfront Day. I loved the way the Waldron kids really felt at home in the school building and grounds: we even hung out there after hours: tending the garden, playing soccer in the field, making tea in the kitchen, or watching movies, and it felt like we belonged. We had a lot of independence, and also an unusual amount of input into our curriculum, with plenty of opportunities to pursue things that we were individually excited about. For academic subjects we were separated by age, but during art, PE, recess, and many other activities, we benefited from being in a mixed-age classroom. With such a small group of kids and teachers, everything is very personal, and I can't imagine having this experience anywhere else.


Jennie Lorenz

Lusaka, Zambia

Class of 1990

I spent my entire childhood on Waldron from 1976 to 1990. My mother left her career as a professor of medicine to move to Waldron when I was 6 weeks old. She was drawn by the incredibly strong sense of community and the way of life. I’m a sentimental person and tears literally come to my eyes when I think of how grateful I am to have had a Waldron childhood. School was a huge part of my life on the island, it was—and still is—the center of the community. The Waldron School gives an incredibly rich, hands on experience and freedom that I’ve never seen anywhere else in the world. Waldron is a unique magical place and I count anyone who crosses paths with the island to be blessed. Really it’s that kind of place. Waldron School prepares you for anything you want to be. For me that meant attending Wellesley College, getting a Masters Degree in London, and now living overseas with my family where I work for USAID. It can take guts and determination to move to Waldron, but now with the internet so many more professional opportunities are available. In summary I give my highest possible rating to the Waldron School. Anyone looking for an incredible experience for their child should move to Waldron!

Gabriel Smith

Seattle, Washington

Class of 2013

Waldron, the island, community, and school gave me a unique and deeply enriching childhood. I reveled in the unfettered access to nature. Fostered by the community’s dedication to the commons, kids could set out on expeditions into the woods in any direction or circle the island’s traversable beaches, building rafts and exploring sand flats with the reliability of a neighbor's help only a house away. The unparalleled classroom sizes promote individualized learning, allowing someone with learning disabilities, such as myself, to work alongside classmates, as well as laying the groundwork that supported me to graduate as high school valedictorian and continue on to graduate school. Growing up in the tight-knit web of Waldronites has indelibly shaped how I view community, directing how I move in the world and the potentialities I see.


In the past decades, approximately 60% of Waldron School students have gone on to attend four-year colleges and approximately 18% have pursued advanced degrees.  

The colleges attended include: 

For Undergraduate Studies:

Bryn Mawr

Carnegie Mellon

Emerson

Fairhaven College

Goddard College

Institute for Social Ecology

Lewis and Clark College

Linfield

Mount Holyoke

Portland State University

Reed College

Seattle University

Southern Methodist University

St Andrews

St Olaf

The Evergreen State College

Tufts

University of California, San Diego

University of California, Santa Cruz

University of Edinburgh

University of Hawaii

Wellesley

Western Washington University

Whitman

Willamette

For Graduate Studies:

Dominican University of California

London School of Economics

Seattle University

University of California, Davis

University of Oregon

University of Washington

Warren Wilson College

This information is based on data available for students who attended Waldron School for three years or more and graduated 8th grade no earlier than 1990 and may not be all inclusive. 

Tork Rosenvinge

Bellingham, Washington

Class of 2002

I spent my childhood and early adolescent years on Waldron Island. My family moved from Massachusetts to Waldron the summer I turned five, and I lived on Waldron until I left to attend Orcas Island High School for my sophomore year.

I have too many positive memories to recount them all. The consistent feeling of having access to a teacher for 1:1 assistance in small class environments was something I took completely for granted. Being given the license to be yourself and truly encouraged to imbue your personality and character into school projects. Finally, but probably most memorably, the absolutely incredible field trips that we were able to experience with such small classes. When I was eleven I went on a two-week trip to Costa Rica, at twelve spent three weeks road tripping down the Oregon and California coast with classmates and parents, and then finally at thirteen embarked on an epic five-week trip around the Southwest exploring the Grand Canyon and other magnificent parks. I took all these things for granted as a child, but as I have matured I have become more and more grateful for these learning experiences and their profound effects on me.

I had a number of teachers throughout my years in the Waldron School, including the fantastic part-time instructor, Brett McFarland.  Brett had an especially large impact on my interest in the sciences and physics in particular, and was always devising hands-on, practical applications for concepts and theories that imprinted them effectively in my brain. I remember taking high school Physics 101 and feeling like it was a refresher course for large chunks of the semester as so many of the concepts were not new to me due to Brett’s passionate and creative instruction.

Waldron is inherently rustic, puts you closer to the elements, and by virtue of this forces one to be present. This was before technology had made inroads to our collective attentions to the extent it has today, and before this became a topic d’jour and a vogue thing to strive for. Growing up there as a child, I remember times of elation and joy in nature and at times I truly felt like a mini swashbuckling adventurer setting off into the woods at random angles to intentionally try and get lost (it’s actually hard to do when you eventually just run into a road or the beach). I also remember times of profound boredom sitting with my thoughts, watching an anthill for hours, or climbing tree after tree trying to find the tallest one. I read voraciously, formed bonds beyond friendship and bordering on kinship with the other children on-island, and all in all had a dirty, boisterous, amazing childhood. 10/10 recommend.

Naomi Bensel

Portland, Oregon

Class of 2001

l spent my entire childhood on Waldron and attended the Waldron school from 1992 to 2001. Today I am a mom of two living in Portland Oregon. I often hope that I can give my children many of the experiences I had growing up on Waldron. 

School was the center of our lives as kids and the island is a special place. Life revolved around playing outdoors, special activities, such as the twice yearly school play and daily school routines.

At school we were encouraged to follow our own interests and get involved in in-depth projects. Learning was often connected to experiences outside the classroom including a few week long field trips each year. This, along with visiting artist teachers who came for a week at a time to teach about their culture, started my love of travel and learning about different places and people. One of my most vivid memories is learning how to sail in small boats with just myself and a classmate in the boat around age ten. All these experiences made me a more independent and adventurous person throughout my life. Learning about and appreciating the natural environment around us was also an important part of the curriculum that made a lasting impact. 

Kristi Magraw

Toronto, Canada

Class of 1965

I went to the Waldron school for all 8 primary grades. My main teacher was Mary Weaver but I also was taught by Lizanne Magraw, Annette Rees, Ms Tipton and Ms Schul.  This was from 1957 to 1965 (approx) It was a wonderful learning and community experience. Through the school workbees and school plays (two a year) I got to know many people in the community that I wouldn’t have otherwise. I super enjoyed the plays— they were high points of my childhood. 

Because of the small class size I got a lot of individual attention and this led me to interesting projects such as the history of making paper. It helped ease my progress in math which was hard for me. We also had reading aloud time which introduced me to many excellent books and was a bonding experience with other students. Being able to go outside and play on the swings and bars was fun and invigorating as well as walking to and from school. It gave me a strong body. I feel the Waldron school prepared me to be resourceful (I saw the adults around me living that way) and kept my curiosity alive. It also really nurtured my creative side. I would highly recommend it as a place for children to learn. 

Tillie Scruton

Waldron, Washington

Class of 1992

I had a Waldron childhood, and one of its enduring effects has been a deep sense of place. As our children approached school-age, we prioritized a move back to Waldron. We wanted our kids to grow up close to the reality of the physical natural world. We wanted them to know all their neighbors, human and otherwise. We wanted them to experience the independence and freedom of exploring an island that is safe and accessible to a kid on a bike or on foot. We wanted to offer them a place full of natural interest instead of advertising. We wanted to let them be kids as long as possible.

For the most part, these goals have worked out. Covid threw a wrench in things, so they haven’t gotten to do as many cool school field trips as I remembered from my youth, but we’re getting back into the swing of it: this spring the middle school is going to WA DC with the Shaw island eighth-graders; there’s a Seattle trip in the offing; the middle school spent five days doing creative stuff at Centrum in Port Townsend; and the last couple of years the kids have started the school year with a night on Canoe Island, where they got to mingle with the Shaw school, doing a lovely program French Camp people run there. This year the school has done more on-island exploration as well — in addition to beach days for crab carapace data collection (science) and waterfront (learning to kayak and sail), kids have done “personal projects” with community members — our daughter sewed a dress with a local mentor, and now both our kids are working with another local mentor to create tiles, which we intend to install as we build our house.

As is common among the Waldron set, ours can split wood or handle a small boat, but quickly get exhausted shopping. They can name common birds and plants, but would recognize few brands in a mall. Lately my daughter has been walking to school instead of biking, “to take a minute in the sunshine on the way to school.” In the absence of a culture of distraction, they learn to cope with their own minds.


Where you play, others have. Where you learn, others will.

Waldron Island School -- Established 1897