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HS girl art room wire sculpture

HS Boys play guitar on stage

HS performance quad love

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Specialists

HS girl art room wire sculpture
HS Boys play guitar on stage
HS performance quad love

At the high school level, students may special­ize in an area or explore a differ­ent art form each year. Elec­tives offered include: drama, creative writing, art, music ensem­ble, and film­mak­ing. In addi­tion, human devel­op­ment is built into the weekly sched­ule, and trips to the farm occur with science classes for special study.

Faculty Blackwell Garrett

Garrett Black­well

Garrett is the middle and high school music teacher. He received his B.A. from Colorado College, where his focuses included music theory and ethno­mu­si­col­ogy. He also played in the college’s blue­grass ensem­ble, through which he enjoyed oppor­tu­ni­ties to perform around the country, and he is excited to bring a blue­grass program to Waverly for the very first time! For the past several years, Garrett served as the Music Direc­tor at School of Rock Pasadena, where he deter­mined the school’s musical curricu­lum and worked with students of all ages and ability levels on a variety of instru­ments. In addi­tion to helping students explore their artis­tic inter­ests and achieve musical profi­ciency, Garrett focuses on helping his students become cultur­ally compe­tent, compas­sion­ate crit­i­cal thinkers, and he is excited to be a part of a commu­nity that also nour­ishes those traits.

Kevin Farm Bio

Kevin Murawski

Kevin is Waverly’s envi­ron­men­tal studies and outdoor educa­tion teacher. Kevin grad­u­ated from Otis Art Insti­tute of Parsons School of Design with a degree in fine arts and worked profes­sion­ally as an artist for over 20 years. While illus­trat­ing 14 books for young readers and working as a designer on many children’s programs, Kevin began to find his passion for connect­ing with kids. A life­long learner and self-proclaimed natu­ral­ist, Kevin has always had a deep appre­ci­a­tion for our envi­ron­ment and under­stand­ing our connec­tion to it. With count­less excur­sions into the field with students and dozens of overnight school camping trips over the years, Kevin brings a wealth of expe­ri­ence and knowl­edge to our program. After 13 years of teach­ing in the class­room, Kevin is thrilled to be working outside with students getting dirty, observ­ing closely, looking deeply, reflect­ing, wonder­ing, having fun, and contin­u­ally growing. (Email)

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Beatriz Valls Rodriguez

Beatriz teaches art in the middle and high schools.

Faculty Walsh Sydney

Sydney Walsh

Sydney teaches drama in the middle and high schools. Syd grad­u­ated from Williams College with a B.A. in theatre and English. An expe­ri­enced actor, direc­tor, and educa­tor, Syd says, ​“I am constantly inspired by the group work ethic I see and feel in every class at Waverly. Students are inter­ested in creativ­ity and kind­ness, and they work from a place of loving support for each other’s creative processes.” Syd’s son, Harry ​‘19, grad­u­ated from Waverly. (Email)

Faculty Sophie Zanders 22 23

Sophie Zanders

Sophie is the middle and high school coun­selor and teaches human devel­op­ment to our middle and high school students. Sophie earned her Bach­e­lor’s degree from UCLA and her Master’s in Dispute Reso­lu­tion from Pepper­dine Univer­sity School of Law. She recently earned a second Master’s degree in School Coun­sel­ing from USC. Prior to coming to Waverly, Sophie most recently served as the Dean of Students and Human Devel­op­ment Chair at Tree Academy as well as served as a dispute reso­lu­tion consul­tant and learn­ing special­ist. (Email)