If a tiny child has been able in his play to give up his whole living being to the world around him, he will be able, in the serious tasks of later life, to devote himself with confidence and power to the service of the world. – Rudolph Steiner
Education is a journey, with knowledge at every waypost. Each of us has our own pace on the journey: some travel slowly, some travel fast, but once we acquire each gem of knowledge, we find that learning is like riding a bicycle… we never forget it. – Teacher Njeri
Our School
Founded in 2007, Njeri’s Morning Glory School and Art Center has been bringing Waldorf Education and a variety of Art Programs to children and adults in the San Jose area. We are currently offering full-time studies through 2nd grade in 2009/10 and plan to expand by one grade per year to create a comprehensive elementary school through 5th grade. Our Art Programs serve children (ages 3-15) and adults after-school, weekends, over holiday breaks and during the summer months.
Our Teachers
Ms. Njeri McGillicuddy
Ms. Njeri McGillicuddy travelled from her home in Kenya to Scotland at age 15 to study education. She became a Waldorf Teacher at Winston Rudolf Steiner School in England. Over the years Njeri has come to be recognized as one of the leading lights in the world of Waldorf Education for her creative work as a kindergarten and art teacher. She has been a kindergarten teacher in Vancouver, and most recently at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula for eleven years. Njeri has studied special needs education intensively at Camphill Rudolf Steiner College in Aberdeen, Scotland. She studied art in Canada and the United States and is a ceramic artist. Njeri’s greatest passion is her art. She has taught art to children for over twenty years and is the founder of our school.
Kikumi Kida
Ms. Kikumi Kida is our Kindergarten teacher. She was born in Japan and moved to the United States in 1999. Kikumi is a graduate of the Waldorf Teacher Training Program at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA. She worked at Waldorf School of the Peninsula as a nursery and kindergarten assistant for three years and as the assistant kindergarten teacher at Njeri’s this past year. Kikumi also has experience in assisting children in Gardening class. She loves cooking and spinning yarn.
Eva Wang
Ms. Eva Wang is our first grade teacher. She graduated from the Waldorf Teacher Training Program at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA. Eva has a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and has worked as an environmental consultant for 8 years. For the past 10 years, she has been bringing her enthusiasm for nature and environmental awareness to her work with children. Prior to joining our school, Eva was a substitute teacher at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. She also worked with various home schooling groups to develop and teach Waldorf-inspired classes, including art and handwork classes. She is currently working with a home schooling group in the North Bay, offering a weekly outdoor Waldorf class with a focus on art in nature. Eva has one son attending 6th Grade at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula.
Randy Salim
Mr. Randy Salim is our Second Grade teacher. He is a graduate of the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training in Marin County, CA and The University of Michigan where he received his BA in economics and finance. He has worked as a successful international executive in the media and Internet worlds and has lived in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Hawaii. Prior to teaching first grade he was a substitute teacher at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. Randy has two daughters, one in First Grade and one in 5th Grade at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula. He is an avid traveler, outdoors-man, and striving artist.
Wendy Wong
Wendy Wong is our handwork teacher. She was born in Willoughby, Ohio and raised in Ft Myers, Florida. Wendy received her Waldorf training at The Waldorf Institute of Southern California inNorthridge, CA and at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA. She has her BFA from Florida Atlantic University and has worked both in advertising and travel. She has two young children and has a special interest in handwork.
Carmina Luce
Ms. Carmina Luce is our Spanish teacher. She has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish Literature and Education. She has been a teacher for 34 years between her homeland, Bolivia, and the United States. In 1983, Carmina became one of the founding teachers of the Waldorf School of the Peninsula where she taught Spanish for sixteen years. She retired in 2000 and served as a mentor for the next three Spanish teachers at the school. As part of her university training, she performed various Lain American short plays. Besides teaching, she loves flamenco and Latin dances, singing and gardening. For more than ten years, Carmina performed with a Peruvian folklore dance group and a Bolivian dance group.
Margaret More
Ms. Margaret More is our music teacher. Margaret shares her incredible enthusiasm and love of music with the children in an engaging and developmentally appropriate way. She is an ORFF certified music teacher, acclaimed storyteller, Scottish dance teacher, and professional recorder player and teacher with numerous years experience in child education. She is currently teaching at three schools in the Bay Area and is the storyteller in residence at Hickelbees in San Jose.
Anna Rainville
Ms. Rainville is our school mentor who brings singing games to the children on a regular basis and supports our school with her many talents. She has been singing, dancing and teaching all of her life. Her life’s mission has been to promote and teach the values and philosophy of Waldorf education, a task she has been engaged in since receiving her Master’s Degree in Waldorf Education from Adelphi University in 1979. Anna has taught movement and singing games for teachers for several years at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, CA. She recently graduated a class, which she taught from grade one through grade eight at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula in Los Altos, CA. In recognition of her excellence as a teacher and her dedication to early childhood education, the California Kindergarten Association presented her with the Audrey Sanchez Teacher Enhancement Award in 2002. In 1989 she was named Teacher of the Year by the Lakeside Joint Elementary School District in Los Gatos, CA. She is a co-founder and co-director of the Kindergarten Forum and is on the Board of the National Kindergarten Alliance. In her view of the world, every moment is a chance to sing and to dance.
Our Values and Mission
Our community of teachers and families represent a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, which we embrace in our educational values. We honor our international and multi-cultural community through the interconnected world-view of the Waldorf philosophy and pedagogy.
Our work as teachers is to nurture the physical development of the young child, while cultivating the positive human values of compassion, reverence for life, respect, love of nature and other people, a social conscience, as well as developing cognitive, artistic and practical skills. The physical body is supported and the soul life of the child is affirmed and nourished as the ground for healthy, active thinking.
We view both Waldorf Education and the Arts as healing forces in the world as they allow children and adults alike to find their greater sense of connection and purpose in the world.
We continue to strive to make Waldorf Education and Art Programs available to all regardless of their economic situation.