Rohnert Park's Credo High Welcomes Inaugural Freshman Class

[The following article originally appeared in the Rohnert Park Patch.  Reprinted with permission.]

Credo High, Sonoma County's first public charter high school with a Waldorf-inspired curriculum, opened to a freshman class of 43 on Aug. 22 at the former El Camino High in Rohnert Park.

While most Waldorf schools are private, expensive and selective, the new public high school's executive director, Chip Romer, said Credo High is open to all income levels. Also, prospective students aren't required to have an elementary Waldorf education.

Credo High will give all youths the possibility to acquire the education to ascend to a higher level of culture — not just the affluent, Romer said.

Parents and students throughout Sonoma County said it was the hands-on arts-and-science-based curriculum that drew them to Credo.

"All students learn differently," said Andrea Bossio, a Sonoma resident whose daughter, Jourdyn Bossio, is in the inaugural freshman class. "The teachers are amazing — they teach rigorous academic college prep, but they also see who she is — not just a girl who wears black makeup and dark clothing."

Antonio Foggetti, a Sebastopol resident whose son Sol is also an incoming freshman, said it is the arts-based curriculum that attracted him to Credo.

"This is our first Waldorf school, but I think it'll be better for him because he's more artistic," Foggetti said. "I think it's going to be a great opportunity."

Credo's curriculum is demanding, Romer said. Incoming freshmen are all required to take four sciences including earth science, chemistry, biology and physics. And, he said, each student will be required to take a language and a music class the first year — either Mandarin or Spanish; and either choir, orchestra or American music.

Some other nontraditional classes include history of theater, number theory, history through economics, world revolutions, printmaking, blacksmithing and farming and gardening.

"We teach them practical skills too," Romer said. "One student may do an apprenticeship with our maintenance department and make a picnic table, for example. And all students will get CPR and first aid training."

Check out more about Credo High's curriculum here, and stay tuned to Rohnert Park Patch for an in-depth look at Credo's curriculum in the coming weeks.

While dozens of parents and teachers filled the former El Camino campus Monday morning, it was the students who were the most excited.

"I'm really excited," said Miranda Mayer, 13, of Sonoma. "I was really confused about high school and I didn't know which one to go to. I like the idea of a community at school, and I'm excited about there being less people in classes."

Violet Smyth, 15, of Sebastopol, said she's familiar with Waldorf-inspired schools; she attended them in her elementary years.

"I love that it's really focused on the arts," Smyth said. "And it's really cool that you get to grow closer relationships with your friends, because you're with the same class all four years."

Smyth is most excited to learn about ancient history at Credo High.

Spencer Waters, 14, of Petaluma, said he's looking forward to a more accepting school.

"No one here has been mean," Waters said. "I'm really excited about the music program. They said we can be ourselves — maybe that means they'll let me play death metal."