The Denver Waldorf School has created a Diversity Scholarship with the intent of making the student body more racially, ethnically and culturally diverse.
The school has obtained $25,000 from two foundations to fund the scholarship for the upcoming school year. By next summer, the school must match that sum and feels confident it can easily do so to sustain the scholarship in future years.
The resulting funds should enable multiple qualifying students to receive Diversity Scholarship assistance in any one school year.
Steven Hill has been very involved in bringing the Diversity Scholarship to fruition. He has a daughter in the fourth grade at Waldorf and is a member of the school's board of trustees. He also serves on both the board’s diversity and development committees and is a lawyer and African-American.
“If we truly believe that we are bringing education to each student, and that's part of our model, then the reality of what we're preparing our children for in this world is diversity,” Hill said. “Our children have to understand no matter what race they are, you are going to work with people of different races and ethnicities on a daily basis by your side the way that the landscape of America is changing in such a rapid manner.
“And for you to be that whole person that we're trying to educate from the Waldorf standpoint, you need to be empathetic not only to individuals that look like you but individuals that do not look like you.”
Enrollment at Waldorf, which is located at 2100 S. Pennsylvania Street, was 356 students from pre-K through grade 12 at the end of the 2015-2016 school year, including 72 students in the high school. Development director Craig Bond said about one-third of the students receive some financial assistance.
A more diverse student body has long been a goal and an ongoing topic of internal discussion at the school, which was founded in 1974. Kelly Church, Waldorf's Administrative Director, said, “We've always had a few scholarships that have gone toward diversity but not to the extent that we really want.”
Seeking grants and donations from foundations to fund a Diversity Scholarship has been an area of emphasis for Bond, who became Waldorf's development director in July 2015.
He said the school had received a $5,000 grant from the Anschutz Family Foundation for the upcoming school year to increase diversity in Waldorf's early childhood program. The Denver Foundation has made a five-year commitment to donate $20,000 annually, and scholarship funds are earmarked to foster diversity among students from early childhood through the eighth grade.
A Diversity Scholarship application can be found in the admissions area of the school's website, denverwaldorf.org. Applications for new Waldorf students are due Aug. 15 for the 2016-2017 school year.
“We're also taking applications throughout the school year for students who are interested in transferring to Waldorf,” Bond said.
Tuition for the upcoming school year is $13,500 for early childhood, $13,800 for grades one through five, $14,300 for grades six through eight and $14,800 for high school.
By July 31, 2017, Bond said Waldorf must match the $25,000 received from the two foundations to sustain their participation. Bond said Waldorf's annual giving program would be a major component of the matching fund-raising—donors can specify their gift be put towards diversity and inclusivity—as well as other foundations.
“We easily forsee that we will reach $50,000 worth of scholarship [funds] this year and then continue that year after year,” Bond said. “My goal would be a great scholarship fund from foundations that care about diversity in particular. So we're just getting started.”
Applicants must apply annually for a Diversity Scholarship, but previous recipients will be given priority.
Church said Bond has been instrumental in leveraging funding from different organizations and the Waldorf community so as to be able to provide Diversity Scholarships to qualifying families and assure such assistance will not just be for one or two years of education at the school.
“Our mission is to create these young people in the world who bring relevant contributions to others,” Church said. “Bringing relevant contributions means you understand how you fit in in the broader world. To make contributions to the world, it's important our students show an interest in all people and diverse perspectives.”
