Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen Paul-Hus.
Colleen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born and raised in Ohio with my four siblings. I grew up on a farm in Blanchester until I was 7. Those were the happiest days of my life. We had so much freedom to roam. I loved being connected to nature. I was genuinely intrigued by the natural world. Perhaps this is why I love gardening. I particularly enjoy biodynamic gardening which is a holistic, ecological, and ethical approach to farming, food, and nutrition. This approach to gardening requires a personal connection to the land. It’s a system that delivers a more vibrant ecology overall by maintaining and enhancing ecological harmony.
Eventually we moved closer to Cincinnati. I graduated from a public high school and began to study psychology and criminology at the University of Cincinnati. I worked full-time at Baker Concrete Construction to pay for my tuition so I had a very different college life than most of my peers.
Later I was relocated to Miami for a business development position so I transferred my studies to the University of Miami. My husband and I met at the Associated Builders and Contractors Award night on stage. We both received an award and 9 months later we were married. Five years after that, we were blessed with 4 children. We had new challenges ahead of us, mainly parenting and educating our children.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have many roles. But no matter how many hats I wear, the crown of motherhood is one I never take off. Women, we represent so much within us and have so many aspects to us that we’re not just one thing. I am a mother to four children. I’m Vice Chairman of the Sea Star Waldorf School Board and I also teach 4th and 5th grade gardening. I garden at home and keep bees. My biggest struggle is to manage my time properly and efficiently and making sure I tackle everything that’s on my calendar. I know obstacles always appear, but if you’re mentally and physically balanced you can manage. I write in a journal at night and meditate using the Transcendental Meditation technique. This helps a lot! Oh, my husband and I are learning to dance at Fred Astaire Dance Studio and we also love to cook together. It is important for me to have a strong marriage… otherwise, what’s the point of your achievements and happiness if you can’t share them with those you love.
A few months ago, after summer break, our garden at Sea Star Waldorf School was run over by weeds and it was super messy. Jamie Hawk, the other gardening teacher and I didn’t think of it as a struggle but rather as a challenge or an opportunity to make it more beautiful than before. Together with our students, we really made it beautiful. The only way to do great work is to love what you do and this is exactly what we all did together – great work. Our garden is blossoming with great work and love!
Sea Star Waldorf School – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am inspired by our children’s future. Imagine a school where children are introduced to lessons through music, visual arts, dance, writing and myth. A school that allows them the time and space they need to learn in an unhurried, unstandardized environment. A school that cultivates each child’s unique gift to the world while emphasizing the role of imagination in learning. Imagine a holistic approach to education where teachers strive to educate the heart, the mind and hands thus helping children become freethinking, morally responsible, integrated human beings. This is what drives me. I believe Waldorf Education is the best for my children. I came to this realization after reading the book Magical Child and The Crack in the Cosmic Egg both by Joseph Chilton Pearce where he states that “play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold,” and that “we are shaped by each other. We adjust not to the reality of a world, but to the reality of other thinkers.”
My children have been attending Sea Star Waldorf School full-time since 2015. I joined the board in February of 2016. Waldorf schools are not run like other schools. For example, we don’t have a principal. The school is directed by a collective made up of parents, teachers and staff who decide on various issues, normally on the basis of consensus. I wanted to be part of this drive and be involved in making our children’s school better every day.
In March of 2017, I led the board in hiring consultants to help us spread the Waldorf message to our community and increase enrollment. We’ve since then hired a counsel for capacity building, hired a marketing and outreach consultant and created various committees that handle specific, short and long term goals. We began capacity building, completed a feasibility study, and are planning our capital campaign with the goal to raise significant funds to buy land and build a permanent home for our school. I’m most proud of leading this endeavor and completing the 6 month process along with Chairman of the Board, Dane Dougall.
Today, we are the only certified Waldorf School in South Florida from early childhood to 8th grade. After perseverance and hard team work Sea Star obtained accreditation from AWSNA (Association of Waldorf Schools of North America) last May and we couldn’t be happier. Being a part of the AWSNA offers Sea Star additional support in many areas of school development. It takes a village to raise a child and in our case it couldn’t be closer to the truth. It has taken leadership, collaboration, communication perseverance and belief in ourselves and in our children to get to where we are today.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Honestly, the proudest moment of my career is still a work in process. I don’t necessarily have a proudest moment but rather I’m proud of various aspects of my life. I’d say I am most proud of my work ethic and my perseverance. I started working when I was old enough to get a workers permit – at age 14. I paid for my first car, paid for my college tuition, paid for my apartment, paid for my clothes since I was 16, etc. In my early 20’s I worked full time and attended night classes at UM. When we married, we had 4 children in 5 years and this was by far the most challenging and simultaneously rewarding experience I had and probably will ever have. I really hope someday I can give back to young mothers and share with them my own trials and triumphs. I had so many questions during this time and not much guidance. People would constantly stop me and say, “You look so young. You really have your hands full.” I would get so upset and offended because, honestly, what I had was in my heart was pure love, so much love for my family… if only I could explain to a stranger in 30 seconds all the love and inspiration that I felt then I could have replied with confidence.
A project I’m very proud of is the school garden, which is like no other community or school garden I’ve experienced. It’s a food forest using biodynamic techniques for sustainability. It’s currently on a tiny lot on the side of the grades or elementary school building, but we have packed it full of goodness. There are 7 fruit trees; Mango, Starfruit, Peanut butter fruit, Jamaican Cherry, and bananas trees (but banana plants are really an herb) There are 7 layers in our garden representing a forest. Whereas garden beds do not maximize output, a forest does, because all of the plants are working together in perfect harmony.
But I guess my proudest moment is still in process and yet to come. This could mean securing 5-10 acres of land in or close to East Boca for the school. I’d like to mimic successful Waldorf schools such as Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, or Green Meadow in NY or Waldorf School of Cincinnati by having land for an integrated farming/agriculture curriculum. Currently I’m taking a course in classroom management in Sunbridge Institute in New York to enhance my teaching process and to discover ideal elements of a healthy learning environment. I know that children love plants and animals. They love to grow stuff and enjoy eating from garden to table. They take delight in a learning environment with animals. I brought my chickens to school once during gardening and the children begged me every week to bring them again. I would also love to have an energy efficient school and teach the children that this is our future and how to actually do it.
My proudest moment may be when I teach all of these wonderful things and awaken my students’ interest in the world and spark their joy for learning. Healthy child development flourishes when learning happens in an atmosphere of loving guidance that promotes joy and wonder. At Sea Star, we all strive to create conscious, collaborative communities around our students as part of a worldwide impulse. The intention is for the child to naturally learn through goodness, beauty, and truth from adults who merit being authorities. My proudest moment might be when Waldorf education contributes to the evolution of the whole, meaning family, community, nation, and humankind.
Pricing:
- We are a 501 (c) 3 and accept donations. We are currently accepting donations for our future campus.
- Our tuition is between $8K and $12K/year, depending on the grade.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.seastarwaldorfschool.com
- Phone: (561) 394-7674
- Email: info@seastarwaldorfschool.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/seastarwaldorfschool/
Image Credit:
Photos by Gaby de Vega, Outreach, Sea Star Waldorf School. www.gabydevega.com
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