Omega Athletics
…the curriculum in each classroom at Rainbow Community School. Rainbow Warrior Sports Sports are taught formally both in PE classes and through the Hospitality League, a team sports league…
Kaleidoscope: Gratitude, Love In Action, and Much to Celebrate
…and food for families within Rainbow who need a helping hand. Everyone makes sacrifices to send their child to Rainbow, but for some it’s a very different kind of sacrifice…
Rainbow Warriors
Kaleidoscope – May 2020
Time
Time, during isolation, has taken on a new dimension. It seems to have life of its own, sometimes dragging us along on its adventures, other times dragging us down into the abyss.
April lasted for months, and suddenly, now it is time to graduate!
Since the beginning of time, humans have marked its passage with ritual. Ritual helps us to set the rest of our life aside and honor the present moment as the most important time. Although we cannot conduct our beloved graduation rituals together this year, my wish is that your family set time aside during graduation day so your child can feel how important this time in their life is. Every child experienced this time of learning in isolation differently. Some resisted, some suffered, some thrived. Your child, in their own special way, accomplished something challenging during this unique time in history, and they will be recognized.
I, too, am ready to graduate. I have been at Rainbow for 13 years, coincidentally, the same amount of time as a K-12 education. Rainbow has been the best education of my life, and it’s time for me to take what I have learned and serve in a new way: I will be a professor of educational leadership at Southern Oregon University.
While it turned out to be an odd time to transition Rainbow’s leadership, I hope you have found the process to be seamless. During these last two months I have been functioning in a consulting/advising role, while Susie Fahrer guides Rainbow through the complex decisions of our time. I am in awe of her ability to attend to every detail, graciously and patiently caring for everyone’s needs, while never losing sight of the larger picture. Susie’s vision is powerful, her intellect supreme, and her integrity is impeccable. She is my hero. The Spirit of Rainbow celebrates her as the new Head of School.
The Spirit of Rainbow
Our Board President, Stewart Stokes, sometimes makes a reference to “The Spirit of Rainbow.” This could mean the personality of Rainbow, or what is special about Rainbow; but Stewart is referring to an actual living entity, a soul. Rainbow is many things. Rainbow is you and me, the teachers, and all the children. It is a holistic philosophy and curriculum. It has a mission and a purpose. It is a physical place with buildings, gardens, and beauty. It is a community. Rainbow is all these things combined into a magical alchemical mixture that is transformed into so much more than the sum of its parts. The Spirit of Rainbow is a living, loving force.
Rainbow’s Heart Beats Strong
A Rainbow education is truly an education of the heart…and certainly not just for the children, but for each of us. Many times, in my tenure as executive director, I have acknowledged that I was learning at least as much as the children. Lessons of the heart. Part of the beauty of Rainbow as a living force, is the reciprocal nature of learning. The more the adults—teachers, parents, staff—are learning, the more the children are learning. We shine a light on one another (sometimes on the places we don’t want anyone to look). We support one another in allowing our hearts and minds to grow.
Dr. Arrien is an indigenous anthropologist who describes the heart as having four chambers: full, open, clear, and strong. Below I use the four-chambered heart as a metaphor to describe the most important lessons I have learned at Rainbow, and what I believe every child learns when they receive a Rainbow education.
Full-heartedness
This first chamber of the heart concerns “fullness.” When my heart is full, I am giving all of myself to the task at hand. I am present to whomever I am with—fully listening and caring for those who need me. Energetically, I am not holding back, or meting out what I have to give, for there is an abundance, a well-spring of brilliance, labor, and care that flows through me when I give fully. At Rainbow, I learned to recognize when I am being half-hearted, the opposite of full-hearted, a sign that I need to change or refuel until the spirit can freely flow through me again.
Thank you, Rainbow. My heart is full.
Open-heartedness
When I am closed-hearted, either my heart has shrunken, being too focused on the material world and all of its distractions and demands. Or, I am defensive, hoping no one sees my shadow. Thich Nhat Hahn calls it the illusion of separation: when I am closed-hearted I forget that I am intricately interconnected with all of nature and all beings—and what is good for all is also good for me. Rainbow has taught me that when I am most fearful, most striving, most worried about me—that is when I most need to open my heart—to be love and to allow myself to be loved.
Thank you, Rainbow. My heart is open.
Clear-heartedness
Sometimes life is overwhelming and chaotic. When I forget about the magic and magnificence of life, I try to control it. I think I have the power to accomplish all of my goals as if life is a big machine that needs me, its master, to run it. But it goes faster and faster, and soon it becomes impossible to keep up; fear tells me I can’t let go. However, when I listen to my heart, I have faith that when I let go, my true direction will become clear, creative solutions will arise, and I will move forward with ease. When life is uncertain (like these current times) and when I am confused, I have learned to be patient. Dr. Dan Siegel says that “a synonym for uncertainty is possibility.” Therefore, I wait for clear direction.
Thank you, Rainbow. My heart is clear.
Strong-heartedness
The final lesson of the heart is the most important. I believe that each of us is born with the capacity to be in harmony with the world around us. When we are strong-hearted what we are experiencing on the inside—our values, beliefs, thoughts, and emotions—is in alignment with what we say and how we behave on the outside. But from the day we are born, our physical needs and our social conditioning leads us away from our strong heart. When we are weak-hearted, we say one thing, but mean another. We make commitments that we don’t agree with—sometimes taking our life down a path that is further and further from the sacred. But when we are strong-hearted we have the courage to be our authentic selves. We speak Truth. We act with Integrity. The theme of Omega Middle School is, “Know thyself.” Indeed, your courageous, heart-centered Omega adolescents have often shown me what it means to be real.
Thank you, Rainbow. My heart is strong.
To our parents:
In a world that has gone wrong in so many ways, your children are blessed to be in a learning community where the lessons of the heart are taught—where love is the central component of their education, where they learn to pay attention to what their heart is saying so they “know themselves” before going out into the world. My parting advice is to do everything you can to make sure they complete that journey. As I often point out, heart, whole, and to heal all have the same root meaning. An education of the heart makes the human whole. It is an education of wellbeing. Teach your children well. Give them an education of the heart.
June 5 is my last day as Executive Director at Rainbow Community School, but my connection to the Spirit of Rainbow, like all things of the heart, is timeless and beyond the limitations of physical space. I believe that any spark I have added to Rainbow will continue to be kindled and kept alive after I am gone. Reciprocally, Rainbow, and the lessons I have learned here, will live on in my heart.
I love you.
A New Era
Asheville’s oldest alternative school enters a time of renewal. We are transitioning our name to Rainbow Community School, but, to avoid confusion and ensure continuity we will continue to also use the name Rainbow Mountain Children’s School for a number of years. Founded as “Rainbow Mountain Children’s School” in 1977, we have a long legacy of serving families who share a vision for “developing accomplished, creative, and confident learners who are prepared to be leaders in developing a more compassionate and environmentally sustainable future.” Affectionately known as simply “Rainbow,” the school has a wide reputation for being an incredibly nurturing and magical place for children ages three through eighth grade. What some didn’t know is that the quality of the academic curriculum at Rainbow has evolved into the rigorous, top-quality program it is today – in our opinion, the most sophisticated curriculum in the southeastern region of the country. Few schools are able to strike such a poised balance between honoring the true nature of children and their natural development, while also consistently challenging them to become advanced scholars; and all the while developing them into moral, mindful humans.
This level of sophistication was the vision of the Rainbow Board when they hired Renee Owen as executive director in 2007. For the majority of the last decade Renee has been cultivating the Rainbow faculty into the brilliant team they are today – almost all with masters degrees, many with degrees or special programming from schools such as Emory, Cornell, Harvard, Brown, Duke, Elon, and NYU. What truly makes this group of individuals special, however, is their character, creativity, and passion – they are well-loved by their students and parents. With this talent, Rainbow has created the unique and high quality program it is today. With our dream team (as Renee calls it) hired and the educational program in place, the Rainbow team has entered the next phase of our renewal: vast campus renovation and expansion that includes the recent purchase of more property, an additional building, and a new, fantastical playground designed by Max Mraz, called the Gnome Village. From Haywood Road, one would never guess how large and beautiful the campus is. However, with the dramatic increase in enrollment, we are embarking on doubling the size of the campus –adding a performance hall, athletic field, and extensive green space for permaculture projects. We have already purchased the adjacent property and buildings at 60 State Street (formerly West Asheville Church of God) — making our campus 5 acres, and now we beginning fundraising and renovating to fill the new space.
So why the name conversion? During strategic planning, some parents pointed out that our name, “Rainbow Mountain Children’s School” sounded like a preschool, and didn’t indicate that we serve children through middle school. Plus, while the name captured the heart of the school, they were concerned that it didn’t properly convey what a highly credible academic institution it is. We considered changing the name completely, but after extensive research and consideration it became clear that “Rainbow” is our identity and legacy. After all, as a holistic school, our philosophy is to educate children in the Seven Domains: Spiritual, Mental, Creative, Emotional, Social, Natural, and Physical – each representing a color of the Rainbow. Plus, after 37 years, as one person said, “Your name is your name!”
While “Rainbow” describes the philosophy and spirit of the school, “Community” captures the culture of the school. Over and over children and parents cite the caring, compassionate relationships as the reason the school is such a wonderful place for children to grow up. It’s the community that makes the magic happen. Plus, the new vision for Rainbow is to integrate more with the larger community of Asheville, specifically West Asheville. Therefore, Rainbow Community School/Rainbow Mountain Children’s School now adopts a local nonprofit each year. Last year we worked with Children First/Communities in Schools. It was deeply gratifying to donate a portion of our fall and winter fundraising events proceeds to them, and all the classes did service projects with them too – everything from preschoolers conducting a mitten drive to the middle school students tutoring for after school programs in public housing programs. With Rainbow’s new facility goals, we envision further serving the community by offering various classes for Asheville families, and a performance hall and office/studio spaces available to local non-profits and artists. The vision is very exciting, and the new name captures the intent and evolution of Rainbow. As one parents said, “I feel like the best of our history is being reborn into a new school, and the new name and brand represent that!”
The team at Rainbow is grateful to Elly Wells Marketing and Mark Wilson for the energetic and visionary work they did in creating our new logo. Just like our school, the new logo does something no other logo we know of can do: It changes. Rainbow Community School embraces innovative design thinking, or a systems approach, in which adaptability is valued. Therefore, our new logo is adaptable. It is made of up tiles that can change color and can move around into different patterns, yet still be recognizable as “Rainbow Community School.” That is how we approach the education of children – each child is a unique individual, making up every color of the Rainbow, and together, we make a community. No matter which name you prefer to call us by — our legal name “Rainbow Mountain Children’s School” or “Rainbow Community School,” we are the same holistic school.
