Cheers to our Pioneers
Celebrating 10 Years of Mountain Song
Special Education Teacher Cherishes the Community and Acceptance at Mountain Song
Ms. Lauren Artino’s Story
Ten years ago, Lauren Artino was ready for a change.
She was moving from New Mexico to Colorado with her family when her dear friend, Shannon Lang, told her about the Waldorf approach to education and the new school opening in Colorado Springs.
“This sounded like something that would meet the kids I work with a little better,” said Lauren, then a special education teacher with sixteen years under her belt.
When Mountain Song’s doors opened for the first time in 2013, Lauren became the sole special education teacher with the help of just a few service providers. Her oldest child, Emma Rose, joined Miss Melinda's Indian Paintbrush Kindergarten.
“It was amazing, and it was magical, and I wouldn't have had it any other way,” Lauren said of the play-based Kindergarten.
“Mountain Song spoke to her inner creativity. It also helped provide a safe and warm environment for her to figure out who she is. It couldn't have been more perfect for her.”
Emma Rose developed strong relationships with her classmates and an ability to think critically. She was one of the lucky few that had the same teacher from first through eighth grade.
“She was like another mother to her,” Lauren said of Ms. Alisia McCabe.
That bond is still strong today. Even though Emma Rose is now a sophomore at CIVA Charter High School, she often drops by at festivals, assemblies, and in Ms. McCabe’s classroom when she has a day off.
Mountain Song has also had a profound impact on Lauren’s son, Matthew, now a 6th grader in Ms. Ieeda Banach & Mr. Kyle McCabe’s class.
“For a middle school boy to feel confident about himself, I think that's worth gold. He feels like he belongs and he feels confident, and what more can you ask for?”
When asked about her favorite “Mountain Song moment,” it’s not easy for Lauren to pick just one.
“When I think back over the years, I think of these beautiful moments, the lantern walk, the Maypole dances, the Spiral Walk… they’re so beautiful and reverent.”
Of course, few moments bring Lauren as much joy and satisfaction as watching her students graduate from 8th grade. Like other teachers that have built close relationships, she’s still in touch with many former students today.
Her dedication has certainly not gone unnoticed. In 2019, Lauren was named Educator of the Year by the Colorado League of Charter Schools and inducted into their Hall of Fame.
“Lauren pours her warm heart, creative problem-solving, open acceptance, and selfless devotion to meeting the varied needs of exceptional students at Mountain Song Community School,” said Dr. Teresa Woods, the Executive Director of Mountain Song. “She holds students to account while also embracing them with love and acceptance for who they are.”
As the Special Education Department has grown to now 3 more special education teachers, 10 paraprofessionals, and a top notch mental health team, Lauren is ecstatic about the $10.8 million BEST grant, which will, among other things, vastly improve special education and counseling facilities.
“My hope is to provide a place where students are accepted and a place where they can grow in whatever that means for them. Maybe it’s communication or learning how to regulate their emotions, but my hope is that they can come here and feel community.”
Because “community” is exactly what Lauren has felt for the past ten years here at Mountain Song.
Emma Rose discusses her experience at Mountain Song after 8th grade graduation
Founding teacher finds authentic relationships at Mountain Song
Ms. Shannon Lang’s story
Authenticity, depth, magic, sincerity… These are the words Shannon Lang uses to describe the relationships built here at Mountain Song.
Shannon was already a veteran teacher in Woodland Park when she heard about the Waldorf pedagogy from another colleague. She decided to learn more by visiting Shining Mountain Waldorf School.
“I loved the music, the watercolor paintings, and just how much the arts are naturally woven into the students’ days,” said Shannon.
Then, she connected with the group of parents leading the charge to create what would soon become Mountain Song Community School, who invited her to a Lantern Walk.
“I fell in love with the beauty of that festival,” said Shannon. “That’s when I just knew I was meant to be a Waldorf teacher.”
Before joining Mountain Song, Shannon didn't fully comprehend how deep these relationships with her students and their families would become. She couldn't wrap her head around what it would look like to carry a class through their childhood.
Shannon started the 2013-2014 school year as a first grade teacher to the Willow Class and very soon fell in love with that group of children. She fondly remembers park meetups and their rose ceremony. Just as the children invited her into their lives, she invited them into her’s.
She remembers how her young students waved ribbons at her wedding. Then, in a tragic twist of fate, those same students also attended the memorial service of her newborn daughter Nelia, who left this world without ever taking a breath. Her students, their families, and her fellow teachers and friends carried her through that time.
“I cannot express just how much these relationships have meant in my own life,” said Shannon.
A few years after saying goodbye, Shannon gave birth to Merlin. As the Willow class was finishing up 5th grade, everyone understood that teaching full-time was no longer an option for Shannon. She wasn’t willing to miss a moment with Merlin.
The Willow Class gathered for their 5th grade farewell ceremony, which is not traditional of Waldorf schools, but seemed fitting in this case. The students walked through a tunnel of willow branches for one last hug with Mrs. Lang.
“It was a beautiful, but bittersweet day.”
The following school year, Shannon had the opportunity to teach part-time and share the Juniper Class with Debbie Ellington through their fourth and fifth grade years, another class she immediately fell in love with.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. Then, after only one year with the Catalpa Class in first grade, Shannon found herself blessed with their newborn son Rhys and became the teacher of the Frontier Online Homeschool Enrichment Program, something Shannon didn’t see coming in a million years.
She once balked at our increasingly online society, even referring to a notebook where she had scribbled, ‘My mission in life is to build authentic relationships over virtual relationships.’ She laughs at how she even discussed that mission in her initial interview at Mountain Song more than a decade ago.
“It’s so ironic. Here I am, loving what I am doing, and feeling SO connected to these students. I love that I was put into my place!”
She reflects on the commitment and depth of her families in the Waldorf-inspired homeschool.
“It’s next-level Waldorf magic.”
Now, Shannon hopes to help grow the Frontier program and, ultimately, she would like to take a group of children all the way through 8th grade.
“How cool would that be?!” said Shannon. “I want to be able to say I carried a group of Frontier children through the grades.”
Ms. Sarah Kreger
Whether you were at Mountain Song Community School back in 2013 or now in 2023, you will without a doubt recognize Ms. Sarah Kreger, our Director of School Performance. Sarah oversees enrollment, assessments, school improvement planning, data submissions and also greets our students at the door with a huge smile each morning. Sarah heard about what would soon become Mountain Song Community School from a friend who invited her to a Meetup group back in 2012. An avid beekeeper and environmentalist from a long line of artists and musicians, Sarah was instantly intrigued.
“I loved the idea that kids would learn how to grow and cook their own food and make their own things,” said Sarah. “I loved that art would be infused in everything we did. I was so enamored with the concept.”
The initial Meetup group met at Old Colorado City Library, listened to lectures about a Waldorf-inspired education, and a steering committee took the necessary steps to make this dream a reality. At that time, Sarah had no aspirations of working at Mountain Song. She just knew in her heart that this school needed to exist here in Colorado Springs. Then, a registrar position became available during the summer of 2013, just two months before the school would open its doors for the first time. Sarah got to work enrolling students and coordinating a small army of dedicated volunteers to transform the former Bijou Alternative High School into a setting fit to call itself the only tuition-free Waldorf-inspired school in the Pikes Peak region.
Sarah was expecting a small “village school,” but to her surprise, 250 students enrolled that first 2013-2014 year, confirming that the dreams she had for children were shared by many. Of course, the fanfare subsided, and the growing pains began. Mountain Song found itself without the founding director, a major hit to our young school, and facing financial difficulties that threatened the school’s very survival. Sarah, along with many founding families and dedicated staff members, refused to give up on what they knew Mountain Song could become.
Sarah’s own kids, now 17 and 19 years old, spent their middle school years at Mountain Song. As you might imagine, they were not thrilled to come to a school where they would see their mom each day, but now they see things differently.
“Waldorf teaches you how to learn, not what to learn,” Dylan, Sarah’s youngest child, reflected recently.
Her son also noted the depth and thoroughness of the lessons taught at Mountain Song.
When asked what has kept Sarah coming back each day for ten years, she doesn't hesitate.
“The kids, always the kids,” she said. “I want to see them graduate 8th grade, and that always keeps me going.”
When asked about her favorite “Mountain Song moment,” Sarah couldn’t pick just one. From musical gatherings, May Faires and Winter Faires, to an infamous questionable science experiment, there were many moments that made her smile and laugh. One event, however, will forever be etched in her heart, and that’s the eighth-grade graduation in May of 2022, that of the first class to go all the way from kindergarten to 8th Grade at Mountain Song. Many of them even had the same teacher, Ms. Alisia McCabe, for eight of their nine years.
“When the kids spoke about their experience, they were so articulate and so heartfelt and there was not a dry eye in the room. I just felt like they were partly my children. That was a really tender moment.”
Now, Sarah looks to the future, to the next ten years, especially now that Mountain Song owns the historic Whittier building. Shortly after the purchase, Mountain Song applied for and secured $10.8M in BEST (Building Excellent Schools Today) grant funding and matching contributions in bond proceeds and other grant funds to renovate the school.
“I want it to have the same character, the same community feel, the same unique spirit we’ve had since the beginning,” said Sarah. “It grows and changes with the people that come here and that's the real magic.”
Are you a MSCS Pioneer?
Share your Mountain Song Memories!
We have experienced and created many rhythms and cycles as we celebrate Mountain Song’s 10 years educating the heads, hearts and hands of children in Southern Colorado.
We have punctuated our days, weeks, seasons and years with these rhythms and cycles. Some are subtle as greeting our students each morning by looking them in the eyes and shaking their hands. Others are big like May Faire and Winter Faire and all the exciting moments that come along with these traditions!
This year, we celebrate them all and pay tribute to the Mountain Song Pioneers who made this beautiful school possible. Read on to learn about the pioneers who helped bring Mountain Song Community School to Southern Colorado.
Check back soon as we chat with MSCS pioneer Ms. Shannon Lang!
“It grows and changes with the people that come here and that's the real magic.”
~Ms. Sarah Kreger