Vision and Purpose Statement

Study

Purpose of YIHS

"Our highest endeavor must be to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives." — Rudolf Steiner

"Only a virtuous people may be free" — Ben Franklin

"The responsibility for tolerance lies with those who have the broader vision" — George Eliot

The Youth Initiative High School exists to provide holistic Waldorf-inspired education for grades 9-12. We work with the Steiner model of the "three-fold human being" consisting of body soul and spirit and strive to integrate "head, heart and hands" (thinking, feeling and willing) into the fabric of school life. Parents, students and faculty cooperatively weave this fabric. We will create an environment, which encourages and assists students in becoming free thinkers, and in maturing, into active response able, empowered participants in the greater society. The school, its students, families and faculty will be of service to the larger community.

Vision of YIHS

Our vision is to become a vibrant, empowering "Free Waldorf" high school. We find the Steiner view of the developing adolescent useful; this model sees ages 14-18 as a time when young people ideally move from outwardly imposed authority towards individual freedom and personal responsibility. We will create and maintain a vessel, a community where this growth can occur in an organic way while providing students with the experiences and tools (academic, artistic and practical) to find their way to meaningful work and relationships, both social and vocational.

Faculty, students and families are partners in learning; exhibiting mutual respect, shared joy in learning, cooperation and caring. We facilitate individual student talents and personal growth, their imagination and passion and their love of the arts. Our rich and challenging course of study integrates academics, the arts, physical and practical life skills. Our small school community encourages students to become all their individual destinies call them to be.

The Youth Initiative High School will not discriminate based on race, creed, gender, sexual orientation or age. Youth Initiative High School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

Guiding Principles of the School

  1. Mutual Respect: Students agree to respect and honor other students and their teachers by staying alert, offering respectful challenges and arguments, asking thoughtful questions, listening well and playing their part in the learning community. Teachers agree to honor each student's individuality, listening well to student concerns and questions, seeking to enrich each student's learning experience. Whenever possible, students will be given the opportunity to meet prospective teachers and have input into their hiring. Students and faculty both agree that we are all representatives of our school and our behavior reflects on our reputation. We will be good stewards of the resources available to us including the Landmark Center and PRWS.

  2. Self Knowing: Our school is founded on the assumption that each being has the right and responsibility to strive for freedom, full self-awareness and self-actualization. We encourage each person to come forth in a full expression of their authenticity combined with a strong respect for the rights of the whole. Students need to be aware of their responsibility to the school community, as well as their inherent rights within it. Our curriculum provides the prerequisites for achieving this state of individual freedom.

  3. Wholeness and Interconnectedness: Our school fosters an awareness of the interconnectedness of all life, a curriculum that relates all subjects to each other and to the human being. Academic courses are taught with as much practical application as possible. Art, Music and Movement maximize intellectual development while engendering sensitivity and a rich feeling life, helping to develop the capacity to discern the good, the beautiful and the true. Foreign Languages provide a context for the exercise of memory, a point of entry into different cultures and an opportunity to view reality from different points of view. Through practical application of manual skills we support and help to develop the diversity and sustainability of our local rural culture.

  4. Independent Waldorf School: We strive to use the principles of Steiner's work with spiritual science and the Waldorf School indications in such a way as to personally own them. We are not interested in becoming wedded to an ideology that doesn't live in us. All our decisions are made from a point of deep consideration, honoring each person's integrity and personal experience. We seek to maintain an entity, which is an independent cultural institution-, "free" from outside control. We seek to make this education available for every student and family who desires it.

  5. Student Enrollment and Dismissal: The faculty will make recommendations to the Board of Trustees concerning student enrollment and dismissal. Denial of admittance or expulsion must have the approval of the Board of Trustees.

  6. Faculty/Staff Hiring and Dismissal: The Faculty will form a Hiring Committee who will be responsible for faculty hiring and firing. The Hiring Committee is responsible for evaluations of faculty members. The Faculty will seek evaluations of faculty members on a regular basis from parents and students. The Student Body will name a student member to the Hiring Committee. Because of the sensitive nature of personnel discussions Faculty members may ask the Board of Trustees to remove the student member and ask that another one be named. FACULTY MEMBERS MAY REQUIRE THAT STUDENT MEMBERS BE STUDENTS IN GOOD STANDING IE, TUITION PAID AND NO FAILS RECORDED. FACULTY MEMBERS MAY ASK THAT MORE THAN ONE STUDENT BE NAMED TO THE COMMITTEE.

  7. Mentors and Liaisons: Each student shall choose an adult mentor who will be available to the student to help in class subjects, interpersonal issues, and other areas for which the mentor is qualified and willing to help. EACH STUDENT SHALL FORM A CARE GROUP THAT CONSISTS OF THE STUDENT, THE PARENTS, FACULTY ADVISOR AND CLASS SPONSOR. THE FACULTY WILL NAME FACULTY ADVISORS AND CLASS SPONSORS. THE PURPOSE OF THE CARE GROUP IS TO HELP THE STUDENT MAKE THE MOST OF THIER YIHS YEARS AND TO HELP HIM/HER PLAN FOR THEIR FUTURE. THE CARE GROUP WILL BE TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THE DISCIPLINE PROCESS IF THAT SHOULD BE-COME NECESSARY. Teachers who have or may be developing in issue/problem with a student are encouraged to seek a liaison from the student body for guidance and suggestions.

  8. Student/Faculty Mentoring of Each Other: Students and Faculty will actively foster an environment where all are encouraged to seek and offer help to other students and faculty members.

  9. Academics: All students agree to attend and participate fully in class, and complete all homework and any other requirements for each course. Students agree to exhibit personal responsibility and integrity in their school work.

  10. Financial Co-Responsibility: Students and families are responsible for participating in the funding activities of the school by designing and implementing various fund-raising projects, (e.g. concerts) or by working to offset costs. Students agree to perform 6 hours of service per month. Families agree to assume their fair share of the financial responsibility for the school through a combination of tuition payments, cash gifts and gifts of time and effort.