Prairie Moon Waldorf School
Our Story - Building a Waldorf School in Lawrence, Kansas
In the 1990's, Rick Mitchell moved back to Lawrence, KS, after having been an integral part of the Princeton Waldorf School, in Princeton, NJ. He had a vision to create a Waldorf school in Lawrence, KS. He was involved in helping to bring several anthroposophical events to the Lawrence community.
Fast forward to 2001.....
Marty and Juliana Haught moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Lawrence, Kansas. With their then 2 year old daughter in mind, they chose to live close to family at the sacrifice of Waldorf education, which had been just 10 minutes from their home in South Minneapolis. After a few months of pondering the situation, Marty decided he would be willing to start a dialog with the community of Lawrence to see if there was interest in starting a Waldorf school. After two months of planning and asking some assistance from Alexander Cameron of the Arcturus Rudolf Steiner Program, the community of Lawrence responded.
From the earth and the heavens
It is difficult to determine the beginning of the story behind the start of Lawrence's first Waldorf school.
You can read about Marty Haught's journey to this process and how many from the surrounding area came together to help build the Waldorf Association of Lawrence here. But on this page we will talk more tangible about how Prairie Moon School came to be.
So it all started with the name. Prairie Moon came to Marty Haught back in August 2001 after the Summerfest festival. Spending a full day out on the farm with perfect weather set the mood for the land that would eventually spring up a Waldorf school. Marty felt that prairie should be part of the name due to the farm's rolling hills and open pasture but Prairie Waldorf School didn't seem complete. He did think about Prairie Fire but that was already used in a local restaurant and didn't seem to truly reflect the nature of the school. Moon however came to mind and instantly stuck. It seemed perfect combining the earthiness of prairie with the heavenly beauty and mystery of the moon. What better way to name that combining the two elements that make human beings unique - the blending of the earth and heavens. The children come from above and slowly grow into their bodies and become solidly planted on the ground.
