Alumni

Our students are the heart of our school

We love hearing about how our alumni have applied their education at CLWS to their lives beyond our school, and are thrilled when alumni and parents come back to visit or reach out to share their news. City of Lakes Waldorf School has graduated over 500 students in our 35 year history. Above all, we’re proud of our graduates. Not just what they achieve in high school, university, and beyond, but of how they do it—finding and following their own path, developing their own unique story.

City of Lakes Waldorf School alumni have gone on to a wide variety of professional and personal pursuits. Our graduates are off to successful careers, academic achievements, and adventures in fields that range from finance and filmmaking to entrepreneurship and engineering.

"By the time they reach us at the college and university level, Waldorf students are grounded broadly and deeply and have a remarkable enthusiasm for learning. Such students possess the eye of the discoverer, and the compassionate heart of the reformer which, when joined to a task, can change the planet."

Arthur Zajonc, Ph.D.

Professor of Physics, Amherst College

Alumni Profiles

Maceo Dunn - 2012

Government and Public Services Consultant

“The creative problem-solving and deep relationships I cultivated at Waldorf remain the foundation of who I am today.”

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Sage Fulco - 2010

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Pennsylvania

“I enjoy the arts and humanities as well as the sciences, and that came largely from Waldorf.”

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Yoko Okumura - 2002

Film Writer/Director

“CLWS taught me that creativity and the arts should be integrated into life. I was never afraid to pursue the arts as a profession.”

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Autumn Thorpe - 2007

BS Biology, General and Environmental Science, MS Applied Psychology, MPS Marine Biology and Ecology

“Waldorf absolutely changed me as a learner. It instilled within me a profound sense of wonderment and love for learning.”

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Oliver Utne - 2000

Co-founder, Kara Solar

“I felt safe and free to question. I still feel that way, and I think that those qualities come from my time at Waldorf.”

Read Full Story

Waldorf Graduates in the World

According to a recent study of Waldorf graduates in North America:

  • 94% attended college or university
  • 47% chose arts/humanities as a major
  • 42% chose sciences/math as a major
  • 89% are highly satisfied in their choice of occupation
  • 91% practice and value life-long learning
  • 92% placed a high value on critical thinking
  • 90% highly value tolerance of other viewpoints

This survey––the first of its kind in North America––was conducted by the Research Institute for Waldorf Education. 

Learn more about Waldorf graduates in the world.

CLWS alumni students speak during our annual alumni panel

Colleges and universities attended by CLWS graduates include:

  • Brown University
  • California Institute of the Arts
  • Colorado College
  • Cleveland Institute of Music 
  • Eckerd College
  • Evergreen State College
  • Fordham University
  • Gustavus Adolphus College
  • Hampshire College
  • Harvard University
  • Kent State University
  • Kenyon College
  • Lewis and Clark College
  • Luther College
  • Manhattan School of Music
  • MIT
  • Oberlin Conservatory of Music
  • Occidental College
  • Parsons School of Art and Design
  • Sarah Lawrence College
  • Scripps College
  • Smith College
  • St. John’s University
  • St. Olaf College
  • The Juilliard School
  • Tufts University
  • University of Minnesota
  • University of San Diego
  • University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • University of St. Thomas
  • Wellesley College
  • Wesleyan University

Alumni News and Updates

April 4, 2024

Alumni Spotlight: Elizabeth Omizo (CLWS ‘11)

Alumni
March 7, 2023

Alumni Spotlight: Yoko Okumura (CLWS ’02)

Alumni
May 28, 2022

Alumni Spotlight: Bella Culhane (CLWS ’09)

Alumni

Stay in Touch

Students decorate the front steps of the school with beautiful chalk designs in honor of Diwali

If you graduated from CLWS, we want to hear from you! Please stay in touch or send along an update on what’s happening in your life.

We also welcome alumni to engage with our community online: “Like” us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, or drop us a line at alumni@clws.org.

Our doors are always open, and we offer many opportunities to return home:

  • Annual Bike-a-thon at the Lake Harriet Bandshell (October)
  • Alumni volunteer hours at the Craft Fair (December)
  • Annual Alumni Panel (January)
  • Annual Circus (April)
  • Winter, Spring, and Summer Festivals
  • Volunteering and internship opportunities
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Maceo Dunn

Government and Public Services Consultant

Graduating Class:

2012

Current City:

Washington, DC

Colleges:

Tufts University

High Schools:

The Blake School

Maceo Dunn

Government and Public Services Consultant

Yes, Waldorf graduates do grow up to become businesspeople. And Maceo Dunn (CLWS ’12) is living proof of that.

Dunn, currently a Government and Public Services Consultant at Deloitte​ in Washington DC, leads product development for tech teams across the DHS and DOS. Although he concedes that he didn’t develop his interest in business and finance while a City of Lakes grade schooler, he says “my love of learning about those topics and passion for the pursuit of knowledge was certainly fostered at Waldorf.”

A graduate of Tufts University, Dunn majored in economics and Spanish literature, with minors in finance and entrepreneurial leadership. While at Tufts, he served as an analyst at the student-run Tufts Financial Group and the grant-making chair for the Tisch Council for Philanthropic Leadership. The former standout high-school soccer player was part of intramural soccer and basketball teams at Tufts, and studied abroad in Madrid.

Nowadays, Maceo is often on the move due to his love of travel, golf, and staying connected with friends, including his classmates from the CLWS Class of 2012! Working hard, staying physically active, experiencing new places across the globe, and enjoying face to face relationships are key contributors to his happiness.

When he looks back on his nine years at City of Lakes, says Dunn, “Waldorf taught me that learning isn’t confined to textbooks – it’s about juggling circus acts, knitting scarves, and sleeping under the stars with your classmates. That spirit of curiosity and connection has guided every adventure since, from last-minute flights to Waldorf friends’ weddings, to pushing software development teams to set bold targets and build solutions that ‘wow’ our clients. The creative problem-solving and deep relationships I cultivated at Waldorf remain the foundation of who I am today.”

Sage Fulco

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Pennsylvania

Graduating Class:

2010

Current City:

Philadelphia, PA

Graduate Schools:

PhD, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Colleges:

St. Olaf College

High Schools:

Benilde-St. Margaret’s

Sage Fulco

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Pennsylvania

If Waldorf students are known for their love of learning, Sage Fulco (CLWS ’10) embodies that spirit fully. Now a postdoctoral researcher and part-time lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania, Sage recently earned his PhD from the same institution.

His path—from graduating early with a physics degree from St. Olaf College, to working as an engineering designer for a tech firm, to teaching and researching at the university level—has been shaped by a lifelong appreciation for both the sciences and the humanities.

“People in the arts look down on math and science, and vice versa,” says Sage. “But you absolutely can do both.” As an undergraduate, he not only accelerated through his major in physics, but also played violin and viola, practiced woodworking, and co-founded a student humanities group—“Beyond the Con”—which tackled the Bible, all of Shakespeare’s plays, major works by Plato, and Russian literature, all in their free time.

Even in highly technical environments, Sage continues to draw on the communication and critical thinking skills he began developing at CLWS. “Many tech folks can’t communicate,” he once explained, recalling how he stepped in to bridge the gap between engineers and sales teams by creating visual presentations, videos, and brochures.
“I enjoy the arts and humanities as well as the sciences,” Sage says. “And that came largely from Waldorf, where we learned to appreciate all those things as well as mastering how to learn, solve problems, and think critically—which is what you really need in life.”

Yoko Okumura

Film Writer/Director

Graduating Class:

2002

Current City:

Highland Park, CA

Graduate Schools:

American Film Institute Conservatory

Colleges:

California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)

High Schools:

Watershed and Perpich Center for the Arts

Yoko Okumura

Film Writer/Director

“Waldorf school taught me that creativity and the arts should be integrated into life,” says filmmaker Yoko Okumura (CLWS ’02). “I was never afraid to pursue the arts as a profession.”

Okumura has been fixed on film since her grade school days at City of Lakes, when she was, as she laughingly puts it, “that kid who was always holding the taboo video recorder—I recorded all of our school plays!”

She stuck with it through an arts high school and BFA and MFA programs in film, ultimately gravitating toward directing.

Although directing is her passion, any neophyte filmmaker also has to write and produce her own work, which Okumura has done. Her film short Kimi Kabuki, an MFA project, earned her the Jury Award at the 2015 Austin Film Festival, among many other accolades. “That film got me a manager, an agent, and a lot of good meetings,” Okumura says. “It was a big step into the industry.”

Thanks in part to the success of Kimi Kabuki, Okumura today fully supports herself as a filmmaker. Along with working on feature films, she produces documentaries, including a recent one about her father, Soto Zen Buddhist priest Shohaku Okumura.

Her feature films currently in development are “pretty much all about Asian American women,” she says. “I want to tell more nuanced stories about minorities in this country.”

And although film is her primary creative outlet, it is by no means the only one, says Okumura, who also continues to draw, act, do improv and standup comedy, and perform in the circus arts. That last interest, she laughs, is “definitely something I got from Waldorf.”

“I’m blessed I got to do all these arts for eight years at City of Lakes,” says Okumura. “I gained a confidence in myself and in my creativity that my conventionally schooled friends have struggled for.”

Autumn Thorpe

BS Biology, General and Environmental Science, MS Applied Psychology, MPS Marine Biology and Ecology

Graduating Class:

2007

Current City:

Minneapolis

Graduate Schools:

Lynn University, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science

Colleges:

Lynn University

High Schools:

St. Paul Academy

Autumn Thorpe

BS Biology, General and Environmental Science, MS Applied Psychology, MPS Marine Biology and Ecology

It wasn’t easy to track down Autumn Thorpe (CLWS ’07) for an interview. At one point she was camping in a remote area of Northern Greece; later she spent two weeks scuba diving off the coast of Thailand.

Today, Autumn holds a Master of Professional Science (M.P.S.) in Marine Biology and Ecology – Marine Mammal Science from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. She recently served as a Marine Mammal Intern at Archipelagos, Institute of Marine Conservation, continuing her hands-on work in the field of marine biology and conservation.

Her journey has taken her across the globe—from the rainforests of Sierra Leone to the waters of the Aegean Sea. Previously, she earned both a bachelor’s degree in biology and environmental science and a master’s degree in psychology from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Her academic and research pursuits have spanned marine and terrestrial ecosystems, united by one common thread: a deep respect for the natural world.

“Field assistantships and research have required me to spend months collecting primate behavioral data in remote tropical rainforests,” Autumn shared. In Sierra Leone, she dedicated several summers to studying wild chimpanzee behavior in the hopes of “better informing conservation methods for mitigating human-chimpanzee conflict.”

Her abiding passion for the study of non-human primates now intersects with broader marine and ecological conservation work. And at the heart of it all lies a Waldorf foundation. “The Waldorf curriculum’s emphasis on nature greatly impacted my adult interests and career ambitions,” she says. “The natural world is precious to me and it is my ambition to preserve and conserve it.”

Thorpe says she has “thousands of beloved and magical CLWS memories, from field trips to morning lessons, beeswax sculpture to science experiments,” but what stands out is the ways in which creativity and imagination were fostered in every aspect of work and play.

“Waldorf absolutely changed me as a learner,” says Thorpe. “It instilled within me a profound sense of wonderment and love for learning. CLWS faculty always presented education as a mode for exploration and a tool for growth. These values will forever inspire my academic pursuits.”

Oliver Utne

Co-founder, Kara Solar

Graduating Class:

2000

Current City:

Quito, Ecuador

Colleges:

Wesleyan University

High Schools:

The Blake School

Oliver Utne

Co-founder, Kara Solar

Because his mother was among the school’s founders, Oliver Utne (CLWS ’00) grew up immersed in all things City of Lakes Waldorf. But if you’d guess that caused him to rebel against a childhood of fairies and felting, you’d be quite wrong.

Instead, knowing the passion his parents held for the school “helped me feel at home there,” says Oliver. “That community was an extended family, knit together through circles, songs, and events.”

Today, Oliver lives far from Minneapolis, where he co-founded Kara Solar, a groundbreaking solar-powered transportation project in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The initiative, created in partnership with the Achuar people and the Latin American Association for Alternative Development (ALDEA), provides river transport using solar-powered boats. The system helps Indigenous communities travel between villages, schools, health centers, and markets while maintaining autonomy and environmental stewardship.

Oliver credits his confidence and drive in part to having grown up in a community where he “felt safe and free to question. I still feel that way, and I think that those qualities come from my time at Waldorf.”