Announcements Archives - 91̽��

Big Deal for Little School- On a Team with No Try-Outs or Cuts, 2 Seniors are Top Ranking Players in the League, State and Nation

Rebecca D'Andrea — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:19:12 +0000

Some milestones are about numbers. Others are about the dedication, grit, and community that make them possible.��

This Basketball Season,�� 91̽�� community had the rare privilege of celebrating all of the above.

In a packed gym filled with anticipatory teammates, family, teachers, administrators, and classmates, senior Henry Lottridge reached the coveted milestone of 1,000 career points, marking a moment that was as emotional as it was electrifying. Cheers erupted, teammates rushed the court, and a season 91̽�� ’s worth of hard work crystallized into a single unforgettable play that seemed to occur in slow motion.

The celebration carried even deeper meaning as the school also honored the other half of this dream team,�� senior Cayden Quinn, who reached the same milestone last season — placing him among just 0.5% of high school basketball players nationwide to achieve 1,000 career points so early. Cayden is also the all-time leading scorer in Denver Waldorf School history, a testament to both his talent and consistency, having never missed a single game in his 4 years on the team.

These accomplishments are made even more impressive by the school 91̽�� ’s size. With an enrollment of approximately 50 students, The Denver Waldorf High School competes in Colorado 91̽�� ’s 1A division. Despite this, Cayden ranks #2 in the league, #13 in the state, and #225 nationally, while Henry is currently ranked #6 in the 1A division, #24 statewide, and #359 nationally across all divisions. By comparison, The Denver Waldorf High School as a team is ranked 10th in the league and 129th statewide.

Together, their achievements tell a larger story — one of shared dedication, perseverance, and team culture.

Earlier that day, the school gathered for a school-wide pep rally, closing out the school day to celebrate the entire athletics program — a program rooted in the belief that every athlete has a place on the team. Students, faculty, and staff filled the field with Spartan spirit as Cayden and Henry were recognized not just for their scoring, but for the leadership and commitment that paved the way to these milestones.

Later that evening, the story came full circle. Despite an unexpected broken-shoe mishap mid-game, Henry and his teammates pushed forward — embodying the famous Waldorf resilience in real time. When the milestone point finally happened in the final 4 minutes of the game, the gym erupted in cheers, hugs, cheers, underscoring that no achievement in sports is ever earned alone.��

Congratulations to Cayden Quinn, Henry Lottridge, and all of the Spartans who make moments like these possible.

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Honored as Denver 91̽�� ’s Face of Private Education

Rebecca D'Andrea — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:32:09 +0000

We’re BEYOND honored to be featured as��THE “Face of Private Education”��in Denver by��Faces & Places 2026- a beautiful celebration of the people and institutions shaping our community.

Being included along-side these industry leaders is a testament to the standout work we do every day in education. This recognition fuels our mission to create an educational experience that is not only academically strong, but deeply connected to creativity, community, and humanity. A heartfelt thank you to��Faces & Places��for this honour and to our entire school community- our teachers, administrators, students, families, and supporters- for making this possible.

Read Our Article:��

Founded in 1974 as Colorado 91̽�� ’s first Waldorf school, 91̽�� provides a Pre-K–12 education rooted in both tradition and forward-thinking pedagogy. Located in the heart of the city, DWS offers the rare combination of an urban campus with frequent access to nature—just steps from the 80 acres of fields, trees, and trails at Harvard Gulch Park. This blend allows students to learn in ways that engage both head and hands, whether studying earth science outdoors, composing and illustrating their own textbooks, or exploring literature through performance. Here, the world becomes their classroom, inviting students to observe, perceive, and connect more deeply with their environment.

At DWS, learning is alive. A holistic, arts-integrated curriculum nurtures intellectual curiosity while supporting emotional attunement and confidence. Movement, play, and experiential learning are foundational. Relationship-based teaching is strengthened through looping, where faculty progress with students over multiple years—deepening understanding, trust, and individualized support.

Kindergarteners learn through play, storytelling, and hands-on activities like baking and foraging as a group. In first grade, every child begins handwork through knitting—an exercise in patience, dexterity, and creativity. By eighth grade, students have practiced sewing, embroidery, and other practical crafts that build capability and artistry. All students engage in music, theater, and traditional STEM studies from kindergarten through twelfth grade, endowing them with a well-rounded sense of what it means to be fully human in the world.

We take the humanities literally. Our students are renaissance thinkers from the moment they arrive. And as Spartans—our mascot in spirit as well as athletics—they practice a robust range of subjects, developing resilience through challenge and versatility of skills. They learn not just information, but how to learn: how to observe, perceive, communicate, and navigate the world with clarity and empathy. These human capacities are increasingly essential in an automated age. With a 100% college acceptance rate, DWS graduates emerge as collaborative teammates, thoughtful innovators, and compassionate leaders.

A key principle of our philosophy is cultivating original thought by minimizing digital distraction in formative years. With a mindful, age-appropriate media and technology policy, students first build imagination, focus, and the capacity to reach their own conclusions by engaging with the depths and layers of the world—later pairing these strengths with technology from a grounded perspective.

More than ever, students need an education that fosters resilience, adaptability, compassion, and confidence. They need the intentional integration of academics, arts, music, and movement to educate the whole human. Welcome to 91̽��.

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2026 Niche Rankings

sarah.h.box@gmail.com — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 20:47:30 +0000

We’re thrilled to share that��91̽�� has been recognized by��as:

#8 of 30 in Best Private K-12 Schools in Colorado
#5 of 14 in Best High Schools for the Arts in Colorado
#12 of 51 in Best Private High Schools in Colorado

This meaningful recognition reflects the depth, care, creativity, and intention that define our Waldorf school community and curriculum. We are incredibly grateful for the continued support of our students, parents, faculty, staff, and alumni. These rankings honor the intentional work we do every day to foster what it is to be human, cultivate lifelong curiosity, and inspire love for the world.

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Sustainability Corner

sarah.h.box@gmail.com — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 18:06:14 +0000

One of the goals of 91̽�� Parent Council for the 2022/2023 school year is to focus on sustainability at DWS. We have started this blog series to let our wonderful parent community know about sustainability efforts under way, spotlights on best practices or student stars who are making a difference, and sharing articles or tried-and-tested, eco-friendly recipes to spice up your meatless Monday.

In the works at DWS…

The parent council is committed to increasing sustainability education, awareness, and engagement among our student population.
Currently, the parent council is brainstorming age-appropriate ideas and projects to implement in the classrooms from ECE through high school.
In addition to these efforts, we have installed a snack wrapper Terracycle bin by the front office to reduce plastic waste from lunches and snacks.

Pin-worthy ideas

This is a great article about more sustainable options for the holidays:

Below is a great, plant-based Earth bread recipe that is a family favorite. I hope you’ll have a chance to test it out and let me know your thoughts.�� Enjoy!!

Do you have an idea, recipe, or article to share? Would you like to bring attention to a Sustainability Student Star?�� Please reach out to Emily Riccio or Jennifer Neeley. We’d love to hear from you!

Nene 91̽�� ’s Earth Bread (Makes 1 Loaf)

Note: I use almond flour to keep the carbs down for our diabetic daughter, but if you prefer a gluten free or traditional flour, omit the oat flour or the bread will be too dry/dense.

1/2 cup oat flour
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup brown sugar or honey
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
1/16 tsp cloves
1 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Set oven to 350.
Mix flours, sugar, salt, baking soda, powder and spices.
In the bowl of your mixer, been the grated veggies and fruits, oil, eggs and vanilla.
Slowly add the flour ingredients to the veggies/fruit ingredients.
Mix until incorporated.
Pour into a well greased or parchment lined bread pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hr or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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Faculty & Staff Appreciation Week

sarah.h.box@gmail.com — Sat, 08 May 2021 03:51:56 +0000

As part of Teacher Appreciation Week this past week, our faculty & staff were showered with a new surprise each day as a token of gratitude from our parent community. Thanks to the generosity and thoughtfulness from our Parent Council Reps, parents, and families, they were treated with Summer Self-Care bags including goodies from Topo Designs, lunch in the courtyard from Cochina Taco, coffee cart & pastries, snack station & succulent plants, and for a grand finale, dinner gift cards and individual hand pies! Along with encouraging notes sprinkled throughout our hallways, there was certainly much warmth and gratitude in the air for all who make our community a beautiful place to learn and thrive.

Below is a letter from our school director, Kelly Church:

Dear Parents and Parent Council Reps,
The support you have shown to all of us here at the school this year has been amazing! Throughout the year, each time you have recognized our efforts it has put a new spring in step and a swagger in our walk! Your acknowledgement of our work in this challenging year has made a huge difference. We so love being with your children and we are honored to spend our days with each of them. Thank you for taking the time to share and show your appreciation, we feel truly loved.

With gratitude for you all,
Kelly

There were many, many words of appreciation shared amongst our faculty & staff, including:

“Yummy, Yuuuuumy, Yummmmy! This is the best week ever!” – Christa Gustafson
“Thanks to Parent Council for all of your work on all of this” – Mike McHenry
“Many thanks to parent council for the goodies. I feel the love!” – Sarah Meyer
“The coffee lady had everything I wanted & more! I’m even trying something I’ve never had before, which is saying something because coffee is my religion!” – Brie Kaiser
“Thank you so much for all the surprises this week. They have really been helping me.” – Sarah Boyer
“This is the best thing that’s ever been done! The Topo bags are so cute and I need to get some for all my girlfriends! Amazing.” – Brie Kaiser
“The abundance is so striking. I’m speechless.” – Deb Wolf
“It sort of feels squishy, like being hugged by parent council!” – Dawn Archer
“Thank you, I feel so loved – this year has been so hard.” – (through tears) Milandra Pfister
“Your little gifts throughout the year were wonderful and greatly appreciated. Your support means a lot. Thank you.” – Faustina Pfister
“I feel so supported and seen. There was such thoughtfulness behind each surprise” – Jessie Cartwright
“With our hearts, hands, and bellies full, we feel so much love from this incredible community. Thank you!” – Jen Lamboy

This would not have been possible without Carrie Tentori & Nicole Reinan spearheading the efforts, Parent Council Reps collecting sentiments about all of our faculty & staff, and of course our caring parents & families for donating so generously.

We would also like to thank the wonderful businesses in our greater Denver community for helping make this week a success, including , , , , , , , and also the following businesses from months past including Snarf’s Sandwiches, Phia Alchemy, Santiago’s, Tokyo Joe’s, Crock Spot, and Steam!

Thanks to all for the care, commitment, and intention that is shared within our wonderful community each and every day.

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Parent Council Meeting: April 2021

jenlamboy — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 20:07:32 +0000

For our last meeting of the school year, the DWS Parent Council was joined by Student Support Coordinator Dr. Sarah Boyer and Health and Safety Manager Christa Gustafson. Please enjoy the recording, minutes, and student support resources below.

We also came across this article you might find valuable from The Atlantic titled .

Meeting Minutes

Click the button below to download the minutes from the April, 2021 Parent Council meeting.

Recorded PC Meeting and Student Support Presentation

Student Support Resources from Dr. Sarah Boyer

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Read-a-Thon T-Shirt Order Form

jenlamboy — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 20:47:51 +0000

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Parent Council Meeting: January 2021

jenlamboy — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 04:47:57 +0000

For our first meeting of the new year, the DWS Parent Council was joined by School Counselor Jenny Thompson to discuss mental health through Covid-19 for both students and parents. Her presentation covered:

Mental health trends she’s seeing related to how COVID is affecting children
Tips to parents about how we can be one step ahead of these problems
Ways parents might engage in self care.

Following the mental health presentation and live Q&A, parents broke out into smaller groups by their children’s ages. Scroll down to watch the recorded meeting and presentation. Or visit Jenny’s Corner to access tips for parents and students, mental health resources, and more!

Resources for Talking About Racism

We also want to share some resources from the for talking with kids about race, racism, and racialized violence.

Meeting Minutes

Click the button below to download the minutes from the January 2021 Parent Council meeting.

Recorded PC Meeting and Mental Health Presentation

Accreditation Discussion with School Director Kelly Church

We would also like to share a discussion on independent school accreditation with Kelly Church from a Parent Council meeting held last Spring.

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The Bacon is Served!

jenlamboy — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 19:01:00 +0000

A very special thank you to all our Holiday Hams, Colorado Gives Day donors, and all who attended our virtual event! This year we raised $116,500 in donations and could not be more proud of the outpouring of support from our community and beyond.

Want to make further contributions to 91̽��? You can donate on our Colorado Gives Day page any day of the year!

Get a Taste of the Hams Who Made Our Event a Success

In case you missed our Holiday Ham-a-Thon or just can’t get enough of the awesomeness that ensued during the event, we’ve brought you a second helping below. Enjoy!

Act 1 — Mahdyeh Nowkhandan 91̽�� ’s Persian Dance

Act 2 — Spicy Interview with Leo Bond and Kelly Church

Act 3 — Jenny Thompson 91̽�� ’s Family Musical Performance

Act 4 (and Winner!) — Alexa Krakauskas 91̽�� ’s juggling

Act 5 — War of the Worlds Radio Play with 2019/2020 High School Seniors and David Johnson

Act 6 — Mahdyeh Nowkhanden’s Bellydance

Act 7 — Carla Abate Performing John Prine’s Angel from Montgomery

Act 8 — Zoombombing of Spacial Dynamics with Charlie Orphanides

Act 9 — Ian Shirkey Performing Celtic Tunes

Act 10 — Sarah Box’s Video Accompanied by The High School Performing John Lennon’s Imagine

Act 11 — Mahdyeh Nowkhandan’s Fusion Dance

Act 11 — Vernon Dewey & Tom Clark Performing Zoomed and Confused

Act 13 — Bedtime Story (Vasalisa, the Beautiful) Told by Dawn Archer

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DWS Commitment to Anti-Racism

sarah.h.box@gmail.com — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 15:41:41 +0000

Artwork created with love by our high school art teacher, Kimberly Martin, along with her two daughters (and DWS alumnae) Bella and Tallulah

We at 91̽�� continue to be deeply saddened and outraged at the tragic and violent death of George Floyd. As a school founded on principles of love and humanity, these actions of��brutality strike against our very mission. We recognize that if we do not stand up against systemic racism that faces the Black community, then we too are complicit in oppression.

It is our responsibility to bear witness to what is happening in the world, to elevate the��voices of marginalized people, to change the course of inequities, and to break down��structural prejudice in all forms where it exists, particularly in our own school
community.

We have much more work to do and here are some examples of steps we are taking and have taken toward greater diversity and inclusion at DWS.

We have worked to grow 91̽�� 91̽�� ’s diverse student body during the past five years from 16% identifying as people of color to 25%. Our next goal is to grow classrooms whose diversity invites many perspectives from several backgrounds, minimizing the risk of tokenization. We do this by continuing to grow our Diversity Scholarship, broadening our outreach efforts, and working to ensure that DWS is a welcoming, safe space.

91̽�� 91̽�� ’s inherently multicultural curriculum has broadened and deepened to be ever more inclusive of diverse stories and perspectives. We have brought diverse community members in and together through our festivals and celebrations we are working to make our festival life even more inclusive, honoring all people. These same efforts are being taken up on a national level for the greater Waldorf education movement, in particular teacher training institutes. We strive to grow increasingly welcoming and affirming and we, as individuals involved with the school, are working to deepen our personal understanding and be better witnesses of the experiences of people from different backgrounds than our own.

As staff and teachers, we participate in trainings on cultural competence, examining privilege and dismantling oppression. We also strive to help our students recognize and counter white supremacy and oppression, developing positive identities through conversations with their teachers as well as with guests, most recently the Flobots.

Our Diversity and Inclusivity Committee helps shepherd this work throughout the school. Together we reflect, envision, and act to shape 91̽�� as a place where families, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds feel welcomed and valued. Part of our work as a committee is studying together. This year we read Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum. This book helped us better understand racial identity development as it unfolds in Black children, children of color, and White children and our role as parents and educators.

This summer, Diversity and Inclusivity member Vernon Dewey invites all DWS community members who are interested to join him in reading and discussing White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, a book previously read by the committee. This book is particularly helpful for White people in understanding White privilege in order to better engage in social change. You may email him at vernondewey@denverwaldorf.org. Magally Luna will also be leading a Healing Justice Circle for any DWS People of Color wanting support during this time. You may email her at magallyluna@denverwaldorf.org.

We also recommend the following:

: resources for teachers, parents and guardians

: a compilation of resources for white people and parents to deepen our work in anti-racism

: Started by Ava DuVernay, director of Now They See Us, this is a compilation of African American independent films – an array of stories and voices.

: Teaching about race, racism, and police violence

: Curated by Medium and updated regularly.

Thank you to our community for joining us in elevating our commitment to social justice and renewal.

In Solidarity,

91̽��

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