Haleakala Waldorf School to Add High School at Hui

By Mark Harbison

When you choose a place to live, and you are concerned about the education of your children, it is important to investigate all the possibilities. For this, you should check out our Maui information page and peruse the school section. On that note, here is some news on an interesting new development. A surprising partnership has emerged on Maui, between the Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center and Haleakala Waldorf School. Next year, Waldorf will add a high school program on the grounds of the Hui.

It might not come as a surprise to some, but the teaming up of groups like these isn't the kind of thing you see every day, and in this case, it sounds brilliant.

Haleakala Waldorf School is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, with 260 students in a program that ends with the 8th grade. Its new plan will include the admission of 25 new students in 9th and 10th grade before adding 11th grade the following year and 12th the year after. There will be a presentation on the Waldorf high school curriculum at the Kula campus on October 20th at 1pm.

According to Jocelyn Romero, the school's administrative chairwoman, what really helped to make this expansion possible was the hiring of Mikko and Antje Bojarksy, who have 45 years of high school experience, and train Waldorf teachers in the summer at Rudolf Steiner College. According to Romero, they provided an excellent quality faculty with regard to Waldorf high school curriculum. The staff is being assembled now.

Romero said that they thought the Hui would make a fabulous location for a school, being a beautiful and historic site. Also, because the arts are emphasized in Waldorf more than the average school, it was ideal for the students to be close to an art center that will give them access to printmaking, jewelry, ceramic and painting studios.

Caroline Killhour, the executive director of the Hui considers this development a wonderful thing, stating, "It's kind of perfect." It is good for the students and good for the Hui financially. The studios are mostly used on nights and weekends, and the youth day programs run during summer break, so the time during school hours has left them mostly vacant, and now that is going to change.

Students from all over the island will apply, and although Makawao is quite a drive if you're coming from a South Maui home, to certain families, the decision is worth it. Tuition will be $14,500 per year, and financial aid is available, but there are only 25 slots. The deadline to apply is February 16th. For more information, call Paula Berdal at 878-2511 or go to www.waldorfmaui.org.