Gillian Bell attended Meadowbrook from Kindergarten through grade 4 in the class of 2003. She recently updated us on what she has been up to ever since:
1st day of kindergarten
After fourth grade I split off from my Waldorf friends (who are, to this day, my best-of-the-best friends) and entered fifth grade at Chariho Middle School. I spent four years there, navigating what seemed like a huge school to me, bouncing from one color-coded hallway to the next, and learning generally valuable things like how to touch-type and the pledge of allegiance. My Waldorf background came in handy many times- most notably whenever I attempted to restrain myself from accompanying my times tables with Mrs. Merner’s signature “Macarena.” By the time I hit high school I was ready for something different. My parents obliged and we explored many different schools before finally settling on The MET School- a small, alternative, RI public school in Providence. At the MET I had the luxury of studying with one teacher for four years, much like at Waldorf. I completed dozens of independent projects and interned at a graphic design studio and the Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theater. I felt more at home doing the kinds of hands-on learning I had always been used to, ever since my very first beeswax gnome. In 11th grade I followed my friends to the Ecole d’ Humanité in the Swiss Alps- a school that many Waldorf folks are familiar with now.
After finishing up my final year of high school back at The MET, I started college at the University of Rhode Island in the Fall of 2007. I was very lucky to be able to study abroad in my junior year, in Fiji. I lived in the capital Suva for 4.5 months, studying Multiculturalism and Social Change at the University of the South Pacific with the World Learning School for International Training program (SIT). I lived with a caring host family there who helped me to truly understand what it means to live and learn in the Fiji Islands. It was definitely one of the most exciting experiences in my life so far - and well worth 3 years at home in Richmond saving up!
graduation day at uri
This Spring I graduated from URI with a degree in Anthropology and a minor in Nonviolence & Peace Studies. As I write this I am working on my application to graduate school. I’m applying for a masters program in Intercultural Leadership, Service, and Management at SIT’s graduate institute in Brattleboro, Vermont. For the past two years I have been delighted to serve on the new Meadowbrook Waldorf School Alumni Association, and to help with the planning of the Alumni & Friends Art Shows. I can’t imagine separating who I am today from my wonderful years at Waldorf, surrounded by friends and colored silks with wooden clips, wearing felted crowns and beeswax beads. Because once you can make your own cutting board, what can’t you do?! Thanks, Meadowbrook!
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