Training Teachers through the Steve Jent Teacher Support Fund

A special friend of our school since 1996 and a teacher since 2000, Steve Jent helped to fill our school to the brim with truth, beauty, and goodness. Throughout his 17 year tenure, he taught every grade at our school, as well as woodworking.

Steve Jent was a true Renaissance Man: as knowledgeable about science and math as he was skilled in playing instruments and carving wood. He easily moved from teaching a class on geography to conducting students in a choral song to fixing the school air conditioner.

Steve loved to create science experiments that often involved explosions, bringing joy and wonder to his students as they learned about chemistry. If you couldn’t identify a weed you were pulling in the garden, Steve had the answer; although, the knowledge he bestowed might leave you unable to remove what you originally thought of as a “weed” once you understood its value.

It seems there was nothing Steve couldn’t fix, including awkward situations with well-timed jokes. He took the long view of the big picture and we never, not once, saw him rush, even when driving his super-old, signature gray van named, “The Grump Mobile.”

Steve brought together experience, wisdom, and a love for teaching that touched us all. No matter how difficult the challenge, how large the task, or how hopeless the outlook, Steve worked tirelessly to teach, guide, and cultivate his students all the while playing an instrumental role with his colleagues in developing and building our Waldorf school. He was unwavering in his commitment to our school. We are better and brighter for having known him and we continue to march forward, just as he would want, in gentle confidence and unshakable trust in the future.