This is Coach, a dedicated practitioner of art and sport who thrives off routine. Coach be like practice practice practice. She’s a top-notch gymnast with more bounce than basketball and more twists than Stephen King, and she’s a budding saxophonist with the hair to rival Kenny G. She’s also into color theory and comic book drawing. Her practice schedule is consistent and dedicated; she cuts time clean like a knife. Before school closed Coach was teaching a gymnastics class to two of our youngest students twice a week, and it was a huge success – she was loving teaching and her students were loving it too.
Coach says, “[Hudson Valley Sudbury School] is very cool. I doubt there are many schools like it. You can do the things you want to do, and it’s free, but there’s also rules and a structure to support you.” She really enjoyed serving on our Judicial Committee. She says, “it’s cool to participate in the judicial process. I think it works out better when other kids are deciding outcomes rather than an adult. It’s an easier way to come to it and take care of things.”
Coach, it’s so good having you in this community. You inspire us to get after the things we want, and to create the life we want. And you are sweet and funny and cool. We hope we get to hang again soon ❤️
Opportunities
At Zena Democratic School, we pride ourselves on offering our students endless opportunities; they are free to pursue their interests, dabble in this and that, or to fall head over heels into a subject without interruption – for as long as the interest remains, or to follow it wherever it may lead.
But the most valuable opportunity we offer students is the time and space to discover who they are. Students at ZDS have time to be, to think, to talk, to play, to discover what they enjoy and appreciate and, equally importantly, what they don’t enjoy or appreciate. We offer an opportunity to practice crucial skills such as motivation, persistence, articulation, and humility, to be part of a democratic community, and to experience acceptance, cooperation, recognition, and celebration. This unstructured time is where the real beauty of the ZDS experience lies and where the most important learning usually takes place.
However, many people do love content and instruction, and there is plenty of organized and formal activity at school. Students often organize this on their own, or with the assistance or leadership of a Staff Member, but they may also request the Programming Clerk to facilitate whatever kind of instruction or activity they’d like to have, from basic reading instruction to skateboarding lessons to sex education; every topic under the sun is theoretically available for our students to explore and to receive instruction upon.