Our Story

From the start, the school was defined by the unique location nestled in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

WSRF was founded as the Aspen Waldorf School in 1991 with the opening of a kindergarten and combined first and second grade. From the start, the school was defined by its unique location in the destination resort community of Aspen and by a group of individuals who believed in the power of Waldorf Education.

The modern impulse of the city of Aspen emerged through a bicentennial celebration of the life and work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1949. In the wake of this initial Goethean impulse, Aspen became home to the Aspen Institute, which hosts the renowned Ideas festival each summer, The Aspen Center for Physics, the Aspen Music Festival and School, as well as many other organizations dedicated to thought and innovation.

Culturally the stage was set for an educational institution like a Waldorf school to thrive in this vibrant community. As the school grew, the decision was made to move to a campus in the mid-valley, more central to the population of the community. With the move our school’s name was changed to Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork to best reflect our new location.

In 1997 the school broke ground on the buildings on our 13-acre campus on the Roaring Fork river. Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork worked with an architect in our school community to design a campus plan that took inspiration from Rudolf Steiner’s architectural indications in concert with environmentally sustainable building methods.

Today Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork (WSRF) is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 independent school that serves families throughout the Roaring Fork Valley. Together we are a community of individuals wholeheartedly invested in nurturing students to become compassionate, engaged, global citizens who trust and know themselves at the deepest levels.

We are an accredited member of the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA).