Last Day of Summer Preschool
The last day of summer preschool is Friday, Aug. 8th, 2014.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Local Independent Movie Screening – The Quitters
A local independent movie screening called The Quitters is happening at the Wedge!
Rainbow Community School is committed to supporting local artists. During the making of the movie, the movie crew filmed some of the footage right here at Rainbow!
When: Saturday, July 26
Where: The Wedge
Time: At dark
Come enjoy an evening under the stars!
Geronimo Owen in the Play Henry V
Geronimo, on the right
It’s always exciting to hear about what our alumni are doing.
Geronimo Owen (a ’13 Rainbow graduate) has two roles in Henry V, a play by William Shakespeare. He plays Boy as well as Duke of York.
He was pleasantly surprised when he got these roles, never having acted before.
The play happens from June 6-28, 2014. It begins at 7:30 pm Friday-Sunday at the Hazel Robinson Amphitheater in Asheville.
For more information, head over to Montfordparkplayers.org or call (828)254-5146.
“I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot;
Follow your spirit: and upon this charge,
Cry — God for Harry! England and Saint George!”
― William Shakespeare, Henry V
The Rainbow Warriors
Rainbow Warriors
Students who come to our school become the Rainbow Warriors. They learn about themselves, how to relate to the world, how to live sustainable lives, and how to respect all people. The Warrior is our mascot.
There is a story behind the mascot. Its roots are deep in the Native American Indian tradition.
This story is adapted from Warriors of the Rainbow by Reneé Owen.
Long ago, when various tribes roamed this land, there was an elder named Eyes of Fire, who could foresee the future. She foretold that because of the greed of the people, one day the fish in the streams would begin to die, birds would fall from the air, the oceans and seas would turn black, and the trees would cease to be.
There would come a time when “keepers of the legend, rituals, and myths would be needed to restore us to health.” The keepers of this sacred knowledge and these Ancient Customs would have a name: the Warriors of the Rainbow.
They will be humankind’s key to survival.
The Rainbow Warriors would be many and great. They must be strong of heart for there will be terrifying mountains of ignorance to conquer. They will find willing hearts and minds that will follow them on this road of returning Mother Earth to beauty and plenty once more.
These Warriors would tell how the world today has turned away from the Way of the Great Spirit and that is why the Earth is sick. Thus, the Warriors must teach the Way of the Great Spirit with love that flows like the pristine mountain streams to the oceans of life. They would show that miracles can be accomplished to heal this world and restore Mother Earth to health.
The Warriors of the Rainbow would see that their young were educated with love and wisdom of their surroundings.
They would teach respect for Nature. They would teach the people the ancient practices of Unity, Love, and Understanding. They would teach of Harmony among the people of all four corners of the Earth.
There would come a day of awakening when all the peoples of all the tribes would form a New World of Justice, Peace, Freedom and recognition of the Great Spirit. The sick and needy would be cared for by their brothers and sisters of the Earth.
The children would once again be able to run free and enjoy the treasures of Mother Earth. The rivers would again run clear, and the forest would be abundant and beautiful. The powers of the plants and animals would again be respected, and protection of all that is beautiful would become a way of life.
The day will come, it is not far away. The day that we shall see how the ancient knowledge will be our key to survival, and return us to harmony with Nature and humankind.
Photo credit: Cynthia Calhoun
Kathy Clarke – RCS Alumna – Meets Madeleine Albright
Kathy Clarke, ’08 RCS Alumna
“Rainbow caters to success.”
She also knows what she wants to do with her life: be a writer. And she’s pursuing her dream with gusto.
She’s already doing two internships related to her passion – one in publishing, and the other helping with the publicity for a Macalester professor publishing a book of poetry.
Before she arrived at Macalester, Kathy attended the prestigious Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, where her writing talent earned her the coveted “class orator” title.
This honor led to one of her proudest accomplishments so far: sharing the podium with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who delivered the commencement speech.
“I actually walked away from graduation with six awards, and so I was pretty proud of myself,” Kathy recalls. “But then Madeleine Albright came up to me after graduation and said, ‘You must be a rock star!’ I might get that as a tattoo—‘You must be a rock star!—Madeleine Albright.’ That’s something I never want to forget.”
Kathy’s talent at writing emerged at an early age: even before she could read she had shown a passion for the written word.
“My parents joked and said that I was going to write the Great American Novel before I could read,” she says: “I would scribble on pieces of paper and put them together and then read them to people as if they were words.”
As it happens, one of Kathy’s favorite memories of her time at Rainbow also involves writing.
While she was in the Omega program, her teacher Susan Waddell would sit with Kathy at lunch and let her student write on her computer.
She wasn’t the only teacher who did this, Kathy says: William Harwood would also just let Kathy go and write on his computer. She regards this time as vital to her development. “I experimented with a lot of just writing fiction.”
But Rainbow gave Kathy more than free time: the individualized attention she received helped a motivated student become a self-motivated student.
“I remember one assignment where Susan had us describe a beautiful place and she gave us a list of adjectives we couldn’t use—but then she gave me an extra list of adjectives, and that was really fun.”
Kathy received this sort of personalized challenge again and again. Her teachers, she says, “paid individual attention to me, which made me pay individual attention to me and not just go through the motions of school.”
Rainbow also gave Kathy the freedom to develop—at her own pace—a work ethic and a sense of purpose. “We got a lot of free time. And that really helped me learn to motivate myself.”
More than anything else, though, Kathy now appreciates the difference Rainbow’s emphasis on self-discovery has made in her academic career.
To start with, learning to trust herself allowed her to choose Mercersburg over the other options (some closer to home) that presented themselves. “You need to know yourself first before you make big decisions like that, and then when you do you will make the right one.”
And even at a prestigious private school, knowing herself gave her an edge. “Coming out of Rainbow, I was so much more advanced than even my high school classmates at knowing who I was and knowing what I wanted and what I needed. It was a kind of learning and a kind of growth that caters to success in a way that traditional curriculum doesn’t.”
