The following is an interview with Rebecca Swing, school administrator at Santa Fe Waldorf School.

Question: What was your previous job and background?

Answer: I started teaching here in 1995, became the high-school administrator in 2001 and the school administrator last year. Before working at Waldorf, I was a farmer and gardener and worked with rural-development nonprofits in the United States and overseas.

Question: What are the top issues you want to address at your school?

Answer: I am excited to be able to lead the school through our current growth phase as we develop a new master plan for campus expansion that may result in several new buildings and additional acreage. I am proud of our commitment and our record to educate students from any background for whom this is the right high-school educational experience, and proud that we can support them to find their right next step after graduation — whether it is Stanford, University of New Mexico, on-the-job training or our fabulous Santa Fe Community College.

Question: How do you connect with the student body?

Answer: My office is located in the middle of the high school and I see every student every day. I work with all incoming students through the enrollment process, and I work with teachers and students on various educational and social concerns. I also teach forestry and farming courses. The best part of my job is interacting with students.

Question: Who is your role model?

Answer: Robert Schiappacasse. He served for many years as a Waldorf School Administrator and now is president of Sunbridge College in New York. He is a role model for me because he is an example of an honest, clear-thinking, strategic good communicator/leader who excels in working in organizational management with warmth and integrity. He also loves singing, writing books and studying astronomy.

Question: What do you think of the No Child Left Behind Act?

Answer: Standards and testing are among the tools for evaluating whether we are successful as educators. The current standardized testing implemented through the No Child Left Behind Act addresses linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences in a written form. Are schools interested in educating the whole child? If so, what would be a method of evaluating our success as educators that addressed all the eight intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and nature intelligence?

Question: What were you like in high school?

Answer: I loved being outdoors and hiking. We had a church youth group that kept the teens engaged and active through working in prisons, riding with police on their rounds, picking up trash, putting on theater productions, wilderness trips, and learning about poverty by meeting families in the Appalachian mountains. It was a great way to steer our adolescent energy in the '60s.

Zerach Wieder, 17, has graduated from Santa Fe Community College. You can reach him at zerock123@hotmail.com.