In conjunction with the 100-year celebration of Waldorf education, on September 19th, 2019, the North American Waldorf Alum Networking Platform made its debut. Intended to serve and support the ever-growing Waldorf alum population, this platform will provide a space for alums to advance themselves professionally, creatively, and personally. The platform, supported by AWNSA member schools, provides alums the opportunity to post and search for jobs and internships, provide mentorship to others or seek out a mentor for oneself.

School-specific alum events can and will be shared continentally, inviting in the larger Waldorf alum network to connect with a local Waldorf school wherever they may be living. Over the next year, regional alum events will be held throughout North America, bringing together alums from various Waldorf schools across the continent to meet, mingle and more.

When Waldorf alums connect, there is an incredible resonance and recognition of the other. The enlivened curriculum and experiences shared by Waldorf alums provides a unique foundation from which relationships often immediately blossom. Additionally, the typical Waldorf grad’s strong critical thinking skills combined with an adaptive and flexible creative capacity makes him/her/them a highly desired employee, business partner or creative peer. Unfortunately prior to now, there has been no way to locate fellow Waldorf alums for such opportunities, but with the launch of the North American Alum Networking Platform, this possibility is now a reality.

The decision to title the platform Alum Networking Platform (rather than Alumni) rose out of the firm commitment from Waldorf communities continentally to be open and inclusive. Rather than use the masculine plural form of alumni, the firm choice was made to use the gender neutral term “alum”. In this way, we launch an alum community platform that is for everyone.

In the years ahead, this network will likely expand to welcome Waldorf high school seniors as well, giving them the opportunity to connect with older alums who may have gone to colleges which they are interested in, or connect with peers who have taken on careers of interest to them. With an estimated 60,000 and growing Waldorf alums in North America, the possibilities for connection and networking are endless.

We invite you to spread the word far and wide across North America for alums of AWSNA-member Waldorf schools to join. They need not have gone through 8th or 12th grade; if they consider themselves to be an alum—we welcome them! You can visit the newly launched North American Waldorf Alum Networking Platform at https://alums.waldorfeducation.org.