Last week we had  the honor of welcoming a group of high school students from the Emerson Waldorf School, located in North Carolina. A group of 17 students came accompanied by three group leaders and volunteered all week, sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with the whole community of Escuela Caracol.

In addition to teaching daily workshops on juggling, clay modeling, and charcoal drawings, the visiting students taught our students to make their own balls and stilts. The students from Emerson donated many useful materials so that our students can continue with the dynamic practices that began during this visit.

To the delight of all at Escuela Caracol the Emerson students also made a garden of culinary plants for use in our kitchen, built a wall cane area in Kindergarten and repaired and painted the walls of three classrooms.

On their last day they offered a small show for our parents and extended educational community to share the results of their visit. Emerson Waldof School students showed they are experts (some of them are geniuses!) in such diverse areas as chiaroscuro drawing, writing stories, illustration, juggling, singing, skipping (one of the students competes nationally in the United States)… and our children of Escuela Caracol also showed ​​they acquired knowledge and skills from this week. In addition, Kim, the teacher who accompanied this great group, explained in perfect Spanish all the advantages that these activities offer the children and the reasons why these activities are part of the Waldorf pedagogy. Valuable lessons such as overcoming fear through facing it, how knowledge and coordination are acquired through games, and most importantly that we all carry within us everything we need to successfully develop our gifts and natural abilities.

The students and Emerson Waldorf School served as models for our school. They are the representation of the true potential that every human being harbors within himself/herself and that Waldorf education encourages them creatively by promoting their full development. Students, through this rewarding week, learned that they carry a gem inside of them and our educational community will do everything possible to make it shine. Thank you very, very much to each and everyone for your visit, we are immensely grateful for your efforts and dedication. See you next year!