This is WAM. I’m not sure why he goes by that nickname, although there was the time he chipped his tooth on the kitchen floor. Oh, and and the time he ran headlong into Cheeseburger and ended up sprawled out in the field. And…well, a few other times. He’s definitely on the go a lot, bouncing offa things; I guess “Wam” makes a lot of sense after all. Wam is a fanatic nerf warrior, a three-time JC Clerk, a builder of root cellars, and a D&D journeyman. He’s not afraid to speak his mind, and he cares deeply about justice. Elusive in an interview (he’s 100% silly), he says, “I’m a symptom of the community’s collective nightmares,” and, “I’m not nine,” a reference to his abbreviated stature. He’s known for being articulate, but he’ll only use his powers for purposes of his own choosing. Interviewing his sister, however, reveals the complexity of this artful character. She says, “he presents himself as nutty, but he’s passionate about cleanliness” (NB our facilities manager confirmed his exceptional cleaning abilities). He loves legos, or perhaps he *used* to love legos, but either way, he’s way into building, and plans to do it professionally. He’s making a deliberate decision to transfer to public school next year. We’ll miss him a lot, and wish him so, so well, and we hope he’ll visit us often. In the meantime, we’re happy to pay for anything that he Wams into on his jolly way.
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.