Help one of Detroit’s Jewels Win $25K and Continue to Anchor a Great Community. The Detroit Waldorf School (DWS) has been selected by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of 100 “places that matter” in the United States, putting the school in the running for a $25,000 award for historic preservation and community engagement. Voting for the “This Place Matters” Community Challenge takes place on-line through June 30, 2011.
The Detroit Waldorf School, located in historic Indian Village, is a “place that matters” because the school is committed to using its historic building as a gathering place to bring people of all different backgrounds and ages together to learn, play, and revitalize the community.
You can help the Detroit Waldorf School reach its potential when you vote for the school as a “place that matters.” Go to the Detroit Waldorf School home page at www.detroitwaldorf.org and click the link to vote on the “This Place Matters” site.
“Many people are pleasantly surprised to find our magnificent campus in the historic Indian Village area,” said DWS Board President, Diane Linn. “They are equally impressed by the excellence of our educational program, our diverse student body, and our community engagement – by all the ways we work to be a positive force in Detroit. The Detroit Waldorf School is truly a ‘place that matters.’”
From serving as a site for neighborhood recycling to presenting events such as film festivals and workshops focused on sustainable living in a tough economy, DWS is a major contributor to the area’s quality of life. In the past year, the school’s outreach program has engaged more than 700 adult and youth participants from across Metro Detroit in activities that support lifelong learning and a sense of community, including hands-on workshops, lectures, parent-child classes, and community service activities.
In 2013, the Detroit Waldorf School will celebrate its building’s centennial. Preserving this historic building is essential in order for DWS to continue to deliver the unique benefits a Waldorf education, and to serve as an educational and cultural anchor in a city with far too many neglected buildings and properties. The Detroit Waldorf School is a “place that matters” because it connects our school and neighborhood to its history and generates optimism for the future among the broader Detroit community.
With a few clicks of the mouse, you could help put the Detroit Waldorf School at the top of the competition and help preserve one Detroit’s unique educational and architectural treasures. What’s more, you’ll be supporting an educational community that supports Detroit.
About the Detroit Waldorf School historic building
The Detroit Waldorf School was designed by the internationally renowned architect, Albert Kahn, and constructed in two phases between 1913 and 1923. It has operated continuously as a school since that time. The Arts and Crafts style building originally housed the Eastern Liggett School, educating the daughters of the city’s early auto barons and most prestigious families. Today, the Detroit Waldorf School is recognized nationally as a model urban Waldorf school with unparalleled student diversity and is one of only two independent schools in the city.
Detroit Waldorf School has cared for and maintained our building since its acquisition in 1965, retaining many of the qualities which distinguish it as a representative example of Kahn’s design aesthetic. While Albert Kahn enjoyed a tremendously prolific career, the school is the only extant example out of two that he designed.
About the Detroit Waldorf School
The Detroit Waldorf School (DWS) is an independent, non-sectarian school located at 2555 Burns in Detroit’s Indian Village Historic District. Our pre-K through 8th Grade school currently serves 125 students with a rigorous academic program that is thoroughly integrated with music, foreign languages, fine and practical arts, and physical education and movement. Since our founding in 1965, we have maintained a strong commitment to cultivating bonds between people of different backgrounds and to serving as a cultural and educational anchor for Detroit’s East Village neighborhoods. DWS provides tuition assistance to 60% of our students and serves the broader metropolitan community with a range of engaging public programs.
Click here to be introduced to the Detroit Waldorf School
Source: Detroit Waldorf School
