What are you going to put in here?
What is Wayfarer House?
Why are you starting a school?
Is this a new idea? It sounds pretty exciting/radical.
Who are you guys, anyway?
Where is all this happening?
When will it start?
What are you doing RIGHT NOW to make this project a reality?
What's your motivation for doing all this?
How can I get involved?
So, why create a blog?
Suzanne:
"Because we are cool people who are interested in the latest in social technology? No, seriously! Actually, we have a group of people who have expressed an interest in our plans, but who don’t necessarily have daily or even weekly contact with each other. The blog will serve as a communication point for this group, as well as giving new people a place to go to find out about the Wayfarer Community School, without us having to program and update a webpage at this point. That’s for the future.
This is also a way for us to sit down ourselves and put into words our hopes and plans for the school. I feel like, once we start writing things down and sharing our thoughts and feelings and plans, we’ll be one big step along the road to making this a reality."
This is also a way for us to sit down ourselves and put into words our hopes and plans for the school. I feel like, once we start writing things down and sharing our thoughts and feelings and plans, we’ll be one big step along the road to making this a reality."
Brian:
“There are many ways to talk to people about what we’re doing, but we just don’t get out as much or as often as we would like. We are so involved in life here that it is difficult to reach out like we would like to our many friends and “chosen family”. The internet is an excellent tool for distributing widely the details of our endeavor, and it allows others to conveniently offer support, feedback and ideas. Blogs, especially, are free and don’t require the special talents of a webmaster (I know only just enough HTML to be dangerous). Someday, perhaps, a formal website will be built, but for now, a blog is more than adequate to our needs.”
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What are you going to put in here?
Suzanne:
"Parts of our business plan, our filings (once we are ready to file for our non-profit status), our grant proposals, our philosophy, our dreams for this community."
Brian:
“Certainly, we want to share with you our journey to start a community and a school. We want people to know the details of the process, and just how people are involved. As we get closer to reality, we want to share the documents and decisions that move us along. This space will, for now, serve as the hub of information about this project, so that people can become informed about what’s going on and offer feedback and insight where people can most easily find it.
I also hope to use this space to impart the flavor of the project, so people can get a sense for truly what we hope to achieve. Idealistic imaginings serve a good purpose, in that they communicate well just how we expect things to look later on. If they strike a chord with you, then you can feel secure that, at least generally, you may have found something you can enjoy contributing to. If it doesn’t, then you won’t feel disappointed to learn that at the beginning.”
I also hope to use this space to impart the flavor of the project, so people can get a sense for truly what we hope to achieve. Idealistic imaginings serve a good purpose, in that they communicate well just how we expect things to look later on. If they strike a chord with you, then you can feel secure that, at least generally, you may have found something you can enjoy contributing to. If it doesn’t, then you won’t feel disappointed to learn that at the beginning.”
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What is Wayfarer House?
Brian:
“Wayfarer House is the name we’ve given to the home we live in now. We think of it as more than just a house, though. It is a shelter and a haven, a place of meeting and fellowship for our local community of “chosen family”, a term we apply to the many people we include in our lives as direct and supportive participants, and in whose lives we share the same privilege. Wayfarer House is about nurturing the concept of a loving, compassionate family, and about the routines, traditions and celebrations of a home in which people take care of one another, teach and learn from one another and work together to create a community where everyone can feel valued.”
Suzanne:
"“Wayfarer House is a community of people who have chosen to connect their lives in meaningful ways. The name rises out of the belief that life is a journey, and that journey is made better, more satisfying and easier by sharing it with people whom we love and respect. The people of Wayfarer House are part of our chosen family. The idea of chosen family will be the subject of a later post.”
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Why are you starting a school?
Suzanne:
"Our goal is to combine a school and home for children who come from the foster care system, or who need a safe and secure place where they can learn and grow. We believe that both home and educational life need to be made safe and secure for a child to have a safe place from which to rise."
Brian:
“It would be tough to overestimate the importance of education for foster children. Most of us, I think, would say that the experience of being in school made at least a few lasting impressions but, for foster children, it can greatly affect the quality of even day-to-day living. While they are in care, foster children are very much in need of calm and constancy, and the routines and rituals of school are an important point of stability in their lives. Schools also have the potential to improve the odds of foster children after they leave care. As adults, foster children have less of the supports that many of us took for granted when we were first out on our own. A strong, individualized educational foundation, therefore, will give them practical tools they will need to support themselves.
Few foster children succeed well in traditional school environments. For one thing, they face challenges that are unique to their experience as foster children, and they go beyond those faced by even their at-risk non-foster peers. For another, the systems responsible for their well-being do a less-than-effective job of promoting education and fostering their success in school. For these reasons, and many others, foster children need a place where they can learn, and where they can be closely supported in that work by a community that values education as an important tool for moderating the effects of lives battered by change.”
Few foster children succeed well in traditional school environments. For one thing, they face challenges that are unique to their experience as foster children, and they go beyond those faced by even their at-risk non-foster peers. For another, the systems responsible for their well-being do a less-than-effective job of promoting education and fostering their success in school. For these reasons, and many others, foster children need a place where they can learn, and where they can be closely supported in that work by a community that values education as an important tool for moderating the effects of lives battered by change.”
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Is this a new idea? It sounds pretty exciting/radical.
Brian:
“We’ve looked around quite a bit and, while there is a fair number of comparable residential educational programs and an incredibly diverse collection of community models for us to draw from, there is no single program that we know of that puts the two components of our project together in the way we intend. If you should find one, please let us know.
The thing is, it makes sense that the two should go together. We’ve all heard the saying, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.' Well, we involved with this project recognize the wonderful truth implicit in that statement: That all of us have the ability to contribute positively to the growth and well-being of each other and, when everyone is working together, amazing things can happen.
Have you ever thought about how great it would be if your “work” life and your “other” life could somehow be the same? You could pursue your passions and, at the same time, be able to be around people whom you truly connect with. Everyone wants to feel like they’ve got something special and worthwhile to offer, and all of us love it when we can contribute to something great. The idea behind forming the community for this project is to demonstrate that ordinary people can bring these ideas together, to create a world for people young and old that is vivid, relevant, and so energizing that everyone would choose to be there doing, learning, sharing, and wanting more.
The truly unique idea in this project is to move beyond creating just a community. We’re seeking to fully integrate a school into an empowering group of regular people who are trained as educators, and who are committed to helping children in need. This community will provide an important service to the students of the school by surrounding them with attention, support and encouragement, and challenging them to heal and to stretch the bounds of their potential as life-long learners in ways that mentors can, but teachers cannot. The ultimate goal for the school is to help students develop a sense of confidence, establish a direction for their lives, and provide them the skills they to succeed as adults, whether in college or beyond.
Now, these are just generalities, but you get the sense for why this idea is so unusual, and just what potential there is in looking at community and education as mutually inclusive, not exclusive.”
The thing is, it makes sense that the two should go together. We’ve all heard the saying, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.' Well, we involved with this project recognize the wonderful truth implicit in that statement: That all of us have the ability to contribute positively to the growth and well-being of each other and, when everyone is working together, amazing things can happen.
Have you ever thought about how great it would be if your “work” life and your “other” life could somehow be the same? You could pursue your passions and, at the same time, be able to be around people whom you truly connect with. Everyone wants to feel like they’ve got something special and worthwhile to offer, and all of us love it when we can contribute to something great. The idea behind forming the community for this project is to demonstrate that ordinary people can bring these ideas together, to create a world for people young and old that is vivid, relevant, and so energizing that everyone would choose to be there doing, learning, sharing, and wanting more.
The truly unique idea in this project is to move beyond creating just a community. We’re seeking to fully integrate a school into an empowering group of regular people who are trained as educators, and who are committed to helping children in need. This community will provide an important service to the students of the school by surrounding them with attention, support and encouragement, and challenging them to heal and to stretch the bounds of their potential as life-long learners in ways that mentors can, but teachers cannot. The ultimate goal for the school is to help students develop a sense of confidence, establish a direction for their lives, and provide them the skills they to succeed as adults, whether in college or beyond.
Now, these are just generalities, but you get the sense for why this idea is so unusual, and just what potential there is in looking at community and education as mutually inclusive, not exclusive.”
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Who are you guys, anyway?
Suzanne:
"We are just regular people who believe that traveling together makes the journey more meaningful. Brian has been committed to the idea of creating a school since he was a teenager. I’ll let him speak to his early experience. He recently received his Masters in Education with a focus on Alternative Education. His Masters Thesis was a study of three residential educational programs for at-risk teenagers.
I received my Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of New Hampshire. I spent 5 years working in Human Resources in Las Vegas, before relocating to Western Massachusetts. I have worked for 10 years as the Research Coordinator for a company that makes audiovisual exhibits for museums. I recently began the process to become a high school history teacher. I believe that my love of history in all its forms can help inspire students, not just to learn history, but to become excited about learning and the world around us. I am mom to two amazing children who have in many ways become teachers for me. More on that in a later post."
I received my Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of New Hampshire. I spent 5 years working in Human Resources in Las Vegas, before relocating to Western Massachusetts. I have worked for 10 years as the Research Coordinator for a company that makes audiovisual exhibits for museums. I recently began the process to become a high school history teacher. I believe that my love of history in all its forms can help inspire students, not just to learn history, but to become excited about learning and the world around us. I am mom to two amazing children who have in many ways become teachers for me. More on that in a later post."
Brian:
“You’ll be able to view our individual qualifications in more detail soon on this blog. Suzanne’s given you the significant bits of my recent education, but it’s probably most important right now for me to say that I’m a person who feels really strongly about the importance of community, the wonderful and positive impact of friends and mentors (and the fact that we all have the capacity to serve in these roles in some way) and the belief that these things can be part of an amazing educational experience.”
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Where is all this happening?
Brian:
“Currently, we’re doing all our planning and research for this project at Wayfarer House, which is located in western Massachusetts. We haven’t decided on a site for the school, although we’re giving consideration to possible sites in the local area. You’ll hear more about the specific kinds of sites we’re considering later, in a more extensive post.”
Suzanne:
"I am committed to seeing this project happen here in Western Massachusetts. This is a place where we have chosen to raise our family and we feel that this would be an ideal place for other children for the same reasons. This area has so much to offer students and young people, both in its proximity to the urban centers of Boston and New York, but also in its remoteness. This area offers so much natural beauty alongside rich cultural offerings, it is an ideal place to raise our family, as well as to work to provide a nurturing, stimulating environment for young people.
Because this project will require a certain amount of infrastructure, we are not certain exactly where it will take place. There is a large school campus located just north of our current home, recently vacated by a 100+ year old school that was consolidating two campuses. It is a large campus, with likely far more space than we would need (and a $10 million price tag). But there is a possibility we could lease space from them, perhaps even work out some kind of cooperative arrangement. They are a pretty conservative lot, but you never know. There are also several other prep schools in the area that might be interested if we decided to attempt some kind of cooperative arrangement. Or we could just start from scratch, though that seems rather daunting."
Because this project will require a certain amount of infrastructure, we are not certain exactly where it will take place. There is a large school campus located just north of our current home, recently vacated by a 100+ year old school that was consolidating two campuses. It is a large campus, with likely far more space than we would need (and a $10 million price tag). But there is a possibility we could lease space from them, perhaps even work out some kind of cooperative arrangement. They are a pretty conservative lot, but you never know. There are also several other prep schools in the area that might be interested if we decided to attempt some kind of cooperative arrangement. Or we could just start from scratch, though that seems rather daunting."
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When will it start?
Brian:
“I’m working on the vision statements and other formative documents now, but a timeline for the opening of the school is still in development. As Suzanne has said, it’s a bit tricky. One of the things we’ve been trying to make clear to people is that, while this project is very important, we (like so many people) have lives we are already leading. This endeavor would not succeed well were it to abruptly supplant the things we are doing now.
We’ll share it with you once it’s ready.”
We’ll share it with you once it’s ready.”
Suzanne:
"That’s another tricky question. Brian and I have two young daughters, just now entering school, and we believe it is important to give them a good grounding. I know that Brian is anxious to get started doing his own thing, but I have a ways to go before I will be able to get my feet wet teaching. So that is the first step (at least as far as I am concerned). I would love to be teaching by Fall 2008, but I think a more realistic goal would be Fall 2009.
We also have a few other things to get going – we need to get the Foundation up and running as a non-profit (which takes some cash), and in order for us to approach anyone (for money or a cooperative agreement) we need to get a good, strong business plan in place. Both of those things take time, my best guess is 1-2 years."
We also have a few other things to get going – we need to get the Foundation up and running as a non-profit (which takes some cash), and in order for us to approach anyone (for money or a cooperative agreement) we need to get a good, strong business plan in place. Both of those things take time, my best guess is 1-2 years."
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What are you doing RIGHT NOW to make this project a reality?
Brian:
“I’m reading Creating a Life Together (Christian, 2003) to help me to lay out the organizational foundation of the community part of the project. I’m specifically focused on writing drafts of the community’s vision documents. They will appear here when they are ready for review. I’ve also submitted an application to become a volunteer case reviewer for the Department of Social Services, in an effort to understand what foster care really looks like as best I can without being able to be a foster parent. My prior experiences with foster care have not involved government. When my parents took children in when I was living at home, it was done as a family matter. When Suzanne and I took Holly into our home so she could finish high school, we contacted DSS to inform them that Holly was with us (she was already in their system) and, in the interest of full disclosure and support, kept them up-to-date on how she was doing.”
Suzanne:
"For my part, I have a couple of things going. I am working to get a job teaching History (both for the school and for myself). I am also responsible for heading up the 501c3 filing, since I worked with one of our school brothers to file the paperwork for the Lohan School in Las Vegas (details on that in a later post). Because filing for tax-exempt status costs money, we aren’t in a rush to get filed, but I would like to get the framework completed (writing by-laws, and assembling a board of directors – any volunteers?)
As those of you who know me might expect, I am also doing research, finding places that are likely to support our endeavors (both financially and in terms of moral and informational support. "
As those of you who know me might expect, I am also doing research, finding places that are likely to support our endeavors (both financially and in terms of moral and informational support. "
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What's your motivation for doing all this?
Brian:
“Part of this project, for me, is the further completion of a dream I’ve had for a long, long time. Since I was in high school, I knew I needed to be a teacher. I cannot tell you truly why, but I was as sure of my destiny in this respect as I have been of anything. I did not know initially that this dream would involve starting my own school; that piece evolved over time, as did the desire to live in community. In the beginning, I just knew I needed to be a teacher, and what better way to be one than in a school I could help to build.
Another part, which didn’t become clear to me until recently, is the realization that there is an incredible need to provide foster children with stable, nurturing homes to live in and educational opportunities that meet their particular needs. I was truly amazed to discover just how inadequately state run foster care services are, and how poorly mainstream education serves these children. I believe that the program we are developing here at Wayfarer House can do better on both fronts. At worst, it can only help a problem is larger, and more desperate, than most people can handle knowing.”
Another part, which didn’t become clear to me until recently, is the realization that there is an incredible need to provide foster children with stable, nurturing homes to live in and educational opportunities that meet their particular needs. I was truly amazed to discover just how inadequately state run foster care services are, and how poorly mainstream education serves these children. I believe that the program we are developing here at Wayfarer House can do better on both fronts. At worst, it can only help a problem is larger, and more desperate, than most people can handle knowing.”
Suzanne:
"Because it needs to happen. There are so many teenagers who don’t have the loving and supportive environment they need to be successful in school and in life. The system as it exists is not giving kids in Foster Care what they need. To my mind, it’s the combination of supportive familial and educational environment that is key to this whole thing. The community we envision will give all those involved a chance to be involved in something special, to give students and families a place where they can connect and succeed."
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How can I get involved?
Suzanne:
How are you at creating a business plan? This one will be a doozy. It must include a plan for running the actual Foundation, as well as separate components for the residential and educational components.
We are looking for people who are committed to some basic values of responsibility for ourselves and our environment; the idea that it takes a village to raise a child, and to create a community; and that a community can succeed in creating a cooperative environment that can give students the supportive home environment that will allow them to succeed academically and in the future.
We are looking for people in the following roles:
Foster parents**
Educators – particularly the sciences, but English as well
Financial people
People who can raise funds
People with skills in art, music, performance arts and sports
People who are willing to commit themselves to the lives of children and to the community.
**Ideally, all the people who are foster parents will have a dual role in the community. In the case of a couple, it would be great to both involved in the community in some way, whether full- or part-time.
We are looking for people who are committed to some basic values of responsibility for ourselves and our environment; the idea that it takes a village to raise a child, and to create a community; and that a community can succeed in creating a cooperative environment that can give students the supportive home environment that will allow them to succeed academically and in the future.
We are looking for people in the following roles:
Foster parents**
Educators – particularly the sciences, but English as well
Financial people
People who can raise funds
People with skills in art, music, performance arts and sports
People who are willing to commit themselves to the lives of children and to the community.
**Ideally, all the people who are foster parents will have a dual role in the community. In the case of a couple, it would be great to both involved in the community in some way, whether full- or part-time.
Brian:
“We’d love to have people involved in this project! Are you able to lend a hand? You don’t have to obligate your lives to the project to be a part of what’s going on. You just have to have a sincere interest in helping out and enough responsibility to follow through on what you commit to.
The thing about this is that we all are busy living lives. Many of us have full-time jobs, families, obligations. We may want to live in community, and we may want to be foster parents or work with kids in need or do charity work, but these things all need to exist in harmony together if they’re going to work. This project is no different. Suzanne and I have chosen to make this a priority, but even we are only able to do what we can, when we can. We expect no different from anyone else.
If this seems like something you can do, contact us at Wayfarer House and we’d be very happy to talk to you about what we’re doing and incorporate your unique talents into the mix.”
The thing about this is that we all are busy living lives. Many of us have full-time jobs, families, obligations. We may want to live in community, and we may want to be foster parents or work with kids in need or do charity work, but these things all need to exist in harmony together if they’re going to work. This project is no different. Suzanne and I have chosen to make this a priority, but even we are only able to do what we can, when we can. We expect no different from anyone else.
If this seems like something you can do, contact us at Wayfarer House and we’d be very happy to talk to you about what we’re doing and incorporate your unique talents into the mix.”
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