Julie Mulcahy

In 1998, we moved the school to Carbondale and I cherish the memories of the community building effort, the excitement of moving into our new straw-bale home and the confidence that now the school would grow. And grow it did! Our student population nearly doubled and we added new faculty members. New and old families continued to volunteer, making the campus really special. However, the rapid growth came with challenges, some predictable and some unforeseen. There was the struggle of forming a parent council that blended older school families with families new to the school's philosophy, and there were divisions among faculty members. Only after some time had passed did we come to understand that this struggle was necessary to bring forth the strength and courage needed for the future. My personal life was also under great stress that year, which eventually resulted in a divorce. I wonder now what all of our stars were doing at that time.

With new resolve, I applied to help out in the tiny office of our new school building, not sure if my gifts and mothering experience would fit the needs of the position being offered. But here I've stayed, first as a part-time outreach person, and now as enrollment coordinator. The best part of my job is looking out my office window in this beautiful new community hall building and watching the arrival of the children in the morning, the buzz of parents exchanging ideas, and the engaging creative play on the playground.

We'll soon be enrolled to our maximum capacity and have to look for more land. From its modest beginning in California to our school in Colorado, the experience has been just what I hoped for my children.