FAMILIAR FACES (2nd edition)



^{Hello DWS Alumni from the 70's and 80's! Welcome to our second edition of Familiar Faces. With DWS alumni spanning the globe, we thought it would be fun for you to see what everyone is up to and to have the opportunity to re-connect with your DWS community.}

^{*Note: class years listed are for graduation of the 8th grade and the names following the year are the class teacher at the time of graduation.}

Paul Gierlach

Class Teacher/High School Teacher 1979-1996

I was at York University in Toronto, teaching undergrads and trying to finish up an uninspiring doctoral thesis, when I first heard about Waldorf education and realized that was the pedagogical paradigm for me. I studied under Werner and Barbara Glas, Rosemary and Hans Gebert, and Ralph Marinelli in 1978 and began my teaching at DWS that or the following year.

In the seventeen years I stayed at DWS - my golden years - I spent a lot of time in the upper grades and the high school, taking only one class, my last one, from grade 3 to 8. As I tell my colleagues, I value the first teaching years at DWS above all others, for I learned so very much from my fellow teachers, the parents and mostly the students.

Fiona Glas

Class of 1982-83 | Paul Gierlach

It is a beautiful day in San Francisco, it smells fresh after the rain, and I sit looking out the window from my desk in the Mission District on the last day of 2021. I promised Claudia Valsi (my childhood best friend) that I would write this. My 10-year-old son is at his other mother’s house. We are no longer together but co-parent, so at present I have time to reflect.

I attended DWS from Kindergarten through 8th grade. My father, Werner Glas, founded the Waldorf Institute with Hans Gebert. My mother, Barbara, taught painting there. The Institute trained Waldorf teachers for DWS and other Waldorf schools across the country. During my time at DWS I remember fondly the art classes I had with Frances Altwies and the plays we performed with Paul Gierlach. Those experiences among others at the school positively impacted my sense of self as someone with vision who is part of a community.

Following 8th grade, I went to High School at Green Meadow Waldorf School in New York, coming back briefly to Michigan to attend Roper for 11th grade. I went on to Tufts and The Museum School of Fine Art in Boston. I then briefly taught an art class at Framingham Women’s Prison, before driving across country and landing in San Francisco where I reside now.

I enjoyed much of the 90’s creating giant puppets used in processional street theater and in performances connected to social justice. I also taught social justice organizations how to create and print their own posters using a silk screen process, as part of the San Francisco Print Collective. Along the way I painted several community murals. In 1998 I traveled with 14 women in a school bus to Chiapas Mexico as part of a group called Circo De Manos. We created a giant puppet circus for children in Zapitista autonomous communities. I have included a picture of the jaguar costumes I made and a monkey mask I made for that project. On my return to San Francisco I applied to graduate school and got a Masters of Social Work from San Francisco State University.

I currently work at a community mental health clinic as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I direct the Social Work intern training program there, I supervise therapists, and I provide therapy for adults. The well-rounded education I received at the Detroit Waldorf School provided a strong foundation for the work I do now. It has been a lot of fun reconnecting with alumni over the last year.

David Rudolph

Class of 1980-81 | Paul Gierlach

I live in Detroit with my wife Contessa and my daughter Rielly (15) – the youngest resident to be awarded the Spirit of Detroit Award for her community service project “Rielly’s No Carve Pumpkin Creations.” I am founder and senior managing partner of D. Ericson & Associates Public Relations, a full-service public relations and marketing firm that specializes in providing creative, innovative and professional public and media relation services to clients in Detroit.

Previously I worked in the community relations department for Palace Sports & Entertainment and the Piston-Palace Foundation. While at the Detroit Pistons, I initiated programs such as the P.A.R.K. Program – Partnership to Adopt and Renovate Parks for Kids - an $8 million project to renovate selected public parks in the City of Detroit, coordinated various Detroit Pistons’ player programs and community outreach initiatives.

I have a Master of Science degree in International Relations from Florida State University and a Bachelors of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University. I also studied abroad attending Cambridge University in England, and the University of New South Whales in Sydney Australia studying comparative law. I currently serve as a board of director to Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO), Michigan Associations of Charter School Academies (MAPSA), Detroit Enterprise Academy, Scarab Club, and am a member of the National Black Public Relations Society and National Association of Black Journalists.

A highlight of 2021 was co-founding Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen for Food, an initiative that provided over 15,000 meals to Detroit homeless shelters during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

My fondest DWS memories are the creative moments from making clay pottery to learning how to knit while learning the principles of geometry through geographical design. What I did not understand at the time is DWS was cultivating my mind for having a love of the art of learning. What I know now as the Rudolph Steiner way of learning is the principle that there is a developmental time and place for when young minds learn best. By the time I was in the 6th grade I was working on quadratic equations, but I was also learning the graceful performance art form that is Eurythmy. I was learning mind and body control while tapping into my inner spirit. I learned how to speak French and German, how to plant a garden, and value the concept of field-to-fork. Everyday was Earth Day at DWS. My time at DWS taught me how to appreciate and embrace cultural differences, dream and visit far away lands, and I still love beeswax crayons.  

Detroit Waldorf School gave me so much then that lives in me today. It's a part of my DNA that I’ve tried to pass along to my daughter, and to those who come into my world.

Our 8th grade play, The Challenges of Elizabeth, written for us by Paul Gierlach, May 1981.

Melanie White

Class of 1980-81 | Paul Gierlach

Somewhere in the Grace Church Class of 2020, I counseled my 1,000th student through the college search and application process.

I myself went to college - or at least the specific college I chose - because of my experience at DWS. I even wrote my college essay about lighting the Advent candles every year and how important I found the rituals of my school (the morning verse!) to be. I'm more than certain that Paul Gierlach and Francis Altweis wrote the letters of recommendation required for my applications. It's probably no coincidence that I studied Art History in my freshman year (alongside Theater and Medieval History). The teachers at DWS provided me a way of seeing the world and were role models as to how to live a discerning and appreciative life.

I came to Grace in 2012 as one of the founding administrators to open the high school. Grace Church School had been a K-8 Episcopal school for over 100 years but the high school was new (in a building formerly occupied by The Village Voice) - located directly across the street from Cooper Union's Foundation Building, which opened in 1858. Having worked as a college counselor and in college admissions for over 20 years at the time, the opportunity to start a program from scratch in NYC was thrilling. Working closely with the students at Grace (and at the other four institutions where I have worked) through the decision-making and burgeoning independence that the college process requires has been extraordinarily meaningful to me. I like helping people think through choices - students and parents - and, in the process of doing so, understand themselves better. 

When I needed to add additional staff in our college office at Grace, one of the women we hired graduated from a Waldorf school in CA and I've worked with students who joined Grace for high school from the Brooklyn Waldorf School. We joke that we recognize each other by our affinity for felt. 

My son, Eamonn, set off for Davidson College outside of Charlotte, NC this fall (my daughter, Adele, is a freshman in high school at a public school in NYC) so I have finally lived through the same milestone with which I have helped parents for the past 20+ years.

Click here to see an article Melanie wrote for the prestigious Parents League of New York.

Timur Kocak

Class of 1978-79 | Jerry Altwies

I am an actor now living and working New York City, but in the 1970’s, I attended DWS grades 1-6. After studying history at the University of Michigan, I went to London for theater training and there I got my first professional experience. Over the past year, my work has mostly been in television but I’m eager for the return of my most recent theater projects: Shotspeare and my one-man adaptation of A Christmas Carol (pictured).

Though the pandemic has made live performances difficult at best, it has given me the chance to feed and nurture my sourdough starter (I believe it could now lift a taxi cab!) and bake loads of bread with it. Our kitchen has become a hub of fermentation of all kinds. I just finished a batch of sauerkraut this morning and am preparing to brew more beer.



Among my fondest memories of DWS are heaps of wonderful wood chips and the wooden seats of our beautiful auditorium. Three performances in that august venue are etched in my memory: Reggie Jenkins as Thor, dispatching the giants with a gentle thump on the head with his paper and masking tape Mjölnir. I don’t remember who was Loki in that production, but his opening speech is still in my head.  

Here is my read. Let strength prevail. 

Let Thor put on the bridal veil!

A woman’s mantle to his knees,

And at his waist, a bunch of keys...

This comes up for me quite often now as the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the object of my kids’ obsession. Sadly missing is the strength and menace of Thrym and the beauty of Freyja, alas. There was Veronica Webb’s lithe and mercurial Jacques too, and of course, Jerry Altwies’ pole-vaulting shepherd. Unforgettable!

I feel very fortunate to remain friends with many of my classmates and teachers from DWS. How lucky we are that the internet is here to keep us all connected!

Photo: Alums David Rudolph and Kristine Altwies catching up in Detroit, December 2017.

Do you know other alums who might like to join this group?

Can we feature you in an upcoming edition? 

Contact: Claudia Valsi, DWS Alumni Outreach Volunteer Coordinator