A Year Worth Celebrating
When I stood on campus after the last day of school for the year, I could not believe how much had happened in nine short months.
What defined this year was not the construction timeline or the enrollment numbers. It was the quality of presence our educators brought to each child, the warmth extended to each family, and the integrity with which this community held itself. We made a promise to bring a world-class school inspired by Waldorf education to this valley. We kept it.
We have watched our students grow into more embodied individuals, laying the early groundwork to become deeper thinkers, more confident creators, and more grounded human beings. These are the metrics that really matter to us.
On September 2, 2025, Hundred Hills welcomed its first students in the Santa Ynez Valley Botanic Garden with a handful of families and eight children who believed the school that existed only in their dreams could, in fact, become a reality. Our faculty brought the fullness of a Waldorf-inspired education and a beautiful food program to that setting. For six months, while children learned and grew in the garden, construction was happening on campus.
We broke ground on September 16, 2025. I will never forget the day the first classroom went vertical and Caleb, our carpenter, stood there with hammer in hand and said: "This project makes me optimistic for our country." On April 15, 2026, the gates swung open, and our inaugural families walked in with their children to drop off on campus for the first time. Today, our school community has a campus to call home. The future we envisioned is no longer ahead of us. It is something we are building together.
We believe that children deserve an education that opens them to the fullness of life. This school is not just focused on what a child will know next year, instead we are focused on who they could become at 25, at 40, at 70. For me, the question of how to give my children an education that will offer them the gift of maximum optionality led to an education that is Waldorf inspired. Curiosity became conviction. Conviction became vision. Vision became an intention that I had to see through. Today, our school community has a campus to call home.
A Year of Milestones
What unfolded between September 2025 and April 2026 was nothing short of remarkable. On July 24, 2025, the Land Use Agreement was approved by the Buellton City Council, a vote of confidence from our community that set everything in motion. Six weeks later, our first students arrived.
Through the fall, the physical school took shape step by step, while just down the road, children were already immersed in our Waldorf-inspired program.
December was remarkable because the weather held. January, because we hosted our first public performance, and the room overflowed with families from around the valley. February brought extraordinary momentum as future students pressed their handprints into the final concrete pour on campus and our first parent evening gathered families by candlelight. When the PG&E truck pulled up late on a Friday afternoon in March to connect our power, we knew we were very close. Then on April 15, 2026, we held our first day on campus, and the school that had existed in our imaginations was now fully, beautifully real.
What Comes Next
This is only the beginning.
This summer is full of momentum and energy. Next week, we will announce a series of workshops for parents and children on campus. We also look forward to raising the bar for dialogue around education in the valley and sharing those conversations with our broader community.
We invite you to tour our campus and hear about the amazing education we offer.
We look forward to seeing you on campus this summer.
— Whitney Chanana