I recently had the pleasure of joining the Golden Bridges community and Tiya at Hawk Creek Farm for a gratitude gathering, where I was invited to share some reflections on the taproot that keeps me connected to my work at Golden Bridges. I’m taking a moment here to share a version of those thoughts with you in written form, with the hope that they can live on the page as they did on the farm that evening.
When we have opportunities to gather as adults, it might be easy to say that we come together around a common interest: the children at the center of our work. But I would like to invite us to consider the broader canopy under which we all gather, the one that drew us together in the first place.
Our shared values create that canopy. Even without knowing one another intimately, we can know that we each found our way to Golden Bridges because we wanted to create something together. One of the values at the heart of that work is a conviction in the fundamental necessity of our connection through our shared humanity, and an understanding that somehow, that connection can be easier to find when we seek it in nature.
It brings me comfort to know that each of the adults in our community carries this shared value out into the world in some way. Some of you contribute directly to humanitarian efforts. Some work toward technological advancements that hold promise for a healthier, cooler future. For others, the connection may be more abstract or metaphorical, and not immediately apparent.
I feel that my colleagues and I have found a particularly powerful way to extend the reach of our own contributions by working with children. In a sense, our impact includes everything our students will go on to do with their lives, and everything they will build for a future that extends far beyond our own lifetimes.
Those contributions will come, in part, from a strong conviction in their own individual sense of purpose. This is an essential aspect of bringing the Waldorf curriculum through a current, local perspective. Our students learn about the world in a way that also invites them to discover their place within it.
And this capacity in our children is essential if we are to approach our own work with the appropriate humility. Our work will remain unfinished. Our children will inherit an imperfect world. There will be work yet to do.
Each Golden Bridges graduate takes with them the tools to know themselves, to understand the world around them, and to discover their own place within it so that they can carry forward the work of the future.
I believe my work is vitally important because of who my students will grow up to be. And the work you are doing now, as our adult community, carrying our shared values out into the world, sustains us and helps make their future possible.
I feel grateful to do what I do now. I feel grateful for all that you do now. And I feel grateful for everything the graduates of Golden Bridges will one day do for the future.
In gratitude,
Lyssa Beshears (7th/8th grade class teacher, 2026-2027)
