This is Litchkie, a hair-tossing, hard-talking, people-loving HVSS veteran, always ready with a smile and a kind word. At school she’s usually on the move – we catch glimpses of her gliding by windows, or in and out of doors, all day long, always with a friend, always chatting excitedly, or listening carefully, or getting something off her chest. She’s got younger friends, older friends, friends like her, friends not so much like her at all. Litchkie’s also got enough talent to make your head spin – she plays piano like Schumann, belts it out like Adele, and throws roundhouses like Jean Claude Van Damme; she’ll make your head spin right off the side of the planet! What’s even more impressive to us, though, are her powers of contemplation, reflection, and insight. She’s a brick house on suspension committees, offering good listening, wisdom, and tough love, she’s knowledgeable and involved in the school’s democratic processes, and when I asked her what she’s been working on at school lately, she said, “I’ve been trying to take things less literally and personally, trying to think things thru, understand other’s perspective. I’m making a conscious effort to talk to some students I wouldn’t normally talk to, and see if I can still be me. I’m just being a person. I feel like I have that opportunity here, I don’t have to limit myself. And I don’t have to be afraid of making mistakes. People are people and mistakes are natural. Anywhere else, if you make a mistake it’s a terrible thing, but here it’s part of what you’re supposed to do…so I’ve been writing, talking, and listening to others more.” Wow, Litchkie, we need to redouble our own efforts so we can keep up with you. THANK YOU for being such a good friend, and such a reliable person, and so generous and receptive and empathetic. We’ll walk-and-talk with you anytime, anywhere.
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.