Students at the Waldorf Academy put their “wishes” on display before locking them away for another generation of students to discover them. Photo by Samori Bryan

By Samori Brown

On Friday Oct. 12 faculty and students at the Waldorf Academy (250 Madison Avenue) celebrated the school’s 25th anniversary. Far from the single kindergarten class of its inception in 1987, the once small home school has since grown to include three more kindergarten classes and classes from grades one to eight – many of whom were present for the celebrations.

Events at the celebration included a barbeque as well as two very large (and delicious) chocolate and vanilla cakes. Staying in the mood of things, the academy would sing happy birthday with a Waldorf twist – along with verses unique to the school. As the celebration continued, the facilitator, Dean Husseini, had an opportunity to address the student body, after which he would introduce the highlight of the anniversary, the time capsule.

Each grade were given the opportunity to contribute, however instead of putting gifts or trinkets into the time capsule, the students of Waldorf Academy put in “wishes”. One by one, representatives from each grade would come up to leave their wishes in the safekeeping of the time capsule, many of which were unique in design and focus. Some of the wishes were for a library, an indoor swimming pool, and a larger gym.

Toronto councillor Josh Matlow was also in attendance and had his own wish for the school: “…for the Waldorf Academy to grow with the community”. Matlow would go on to commend the students and the school for achieving great success while staying true to their unique methods, principles and values.

Based on the nearly century old teachings of Rudolf Steiner, the faculty of the Waldorf Academy pride themselves in being a part of one of the largest educational movements in the world with over 900 schools in 83 countries and over 2500 Kindergartens.