Apprentices 2010-11

Summary of 2010-11

In the first year of the Center, 2010-11, the apprentices worked on a huge variety of projects.  Some touched on their personal, inner processes; others reflected their community lives together; and still others left a lasting mark on the nature that makes up both Westminster Woods and San Francisco Theological Seminary.  There is at least an acre less invasive and non-native plants called Scotch, French, and Spanish Broom across the hills of the seminary campus, thanks to nearly two weeks of pulling hearty roots from the ground.  Balancing that effort at restoration of nature, the Center’s apprentices partnered with Westminster Woods naturalists and participants to build a beautiful Outdoor Cooking Classroom and Kitchen Garden.  The Ping Foundation granted us $8,000 for the permaculture-designed garden, which allows the food triangle of compost/soil to garden to kitchen/table to come alive in the teaching of children and adults alike.  With the vegetables and herbs a few steps away from the preparation tables and cob oven, the link between what we grow and what we eat became real this summer.  Complete with kneading blessings into the bread baked in the cob oven, the theology of nature that shapes Christian care for the earth and care for humans communicated the abundance of grace in our daily lives.  Read the link here to learn more about how the garden was created through the four seasons of the Center’s first year.

Sam Yates–Edge-ucator

The Center created a new position that supports the apprentices in community formation and permaculture projects in nature.  I now have the privilege of stepping into this role.  As such I will facilitate, contemplative prayer practices, time management meetings, and a weekly community check-in using Nonviolent Communication to share affirmations and navigate conflict resolution within the apprentice community.  In the nature projects we will “work at the edge of Christian Spirituality and Nature to collaborate with the Spirit in creating, transforming, and sustaining life.”  I am delighted to participate in the continuation of this program, which feels like a clear invitation to step into God’s call for my life.  The apprenticeship was richly life-giving for me, and now I am grateful to have the opportunity to share it with others.

Jessie Alexander

In July 2011, I found out that I had been accepted into the Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree program at Chapman University in Orange, California.  Since finishing the program at the Center and moving away from Westminster Woods, I have moved down to Sothern California. My days are now full of studying anatomy and learning how to evaluate patients. I have found the Nonviolent Communication we learned at the Center and what I learned about grounding myself essential in this new endeavor.

Lisa Carlson

While wrapping up our year at the Center, I was joyfully surprised by a proposal from my boyfriend, Daren. So, I have been very busy working with him at planning our wedding. We will be getting married in January! I also accepted a job as a teacher/naturalist at Mount Hermon Outdoor Science School in the Santa Cruz mountains. I am part of an amazing staff, teaching science camp to middle school students. Our curriculum includes experiential teaching on ecosystems, producers/consumers/decomposers, watersheds, mammals/birds/reptiles, plus night hikes and a climbing wall/challenge course. We are also a Christian spiritual community and practice weekly prayer discernment of call and vocation, and join together for weekly meals. As we are also living in community, I have been able to share with the staff what I learned at the Center about Nonviolent Communication. The intentions we developed together at the Center continue!

Elizabeth Henry

Using the discernment processes practiced at the Center, I heard a call to return to my native Arkansas to pursue my dreams among family, friends, and a culture that is truly home.