Meet the alumni of awakening seed school
Sami Hopkins
Age: 21 | Location: Boston, MA
After graduating from Arizona School for the Arts I started studying French and Spanish at Middlebury College until transferring to Berklee College of Music, where I’m now studying music production and engineering and jazz composition. Right now everything I do is centered around music, my relationships with other artists in the area, and creating a family for myself in this new space! Every time I meet someone new I find myself sharing an anecdote from the times at the Seed. Anyone who knows me well knows of my history there and it’s been incredible to look at how, through those relationships, the Seed has become an extension of their stories, too. I think I’m still coming to realize how instrumental those experiences were/are in my choice to transfer, in my attitude towards friendship, and in seeking out opportunities to learn and experiment. I haven’t been in a better place in my life and I owe it entirely to what I was taught at Awakening Seed. Though it’s difficult to fully express, I couldn’t be more grateful to have such a meaningful reminder of the things that make me happy every day!
Sarah (Spaulding) Balluff
Age: 48 | Location: Mesa, AZ
I’ve been a part of Awakening Seed from its inception. My mother, Mary Glover, started the school in our home garage and it quickly grew. Almost forty years later, I am still a part of the Seed. I taught at the school for eleven years and have been working in the office for the past three years. There were so many meaningful experiences I had as a student. I learned to write stories and turn them into bound books. Because we were able to participate in hands-on learning, our experiences were meaningful and that sparked our creativity for storytelling. Some of my best memories are the time we took the city bus to downtown Phoenix and went to the top of the Hyatt Regency, the time we learned about, built, and set off a volcano (with real gun powder and no one got hurt!), and the time we taped 5 X 7 note cards covered with Vaseline onto the curbs in the neighborhood to investigate the pollution that cars emit when driving down the streets. These lessons sparked an interest in travel, nature, and environmental awareness. Because of this experience, I have continued to enjoy learning.
Shannon Robb
Age: 32 | Santa Monica, CA
I live and work in Santa Monica, working in Advertising Sales at Google. I attended Awakening Seed during my most impressionable years (Kindergarten – 3rd grade) and I credit the Seed for so many of my successes in life. The Seed inspired me to dream big, to be curious, and to treat everyone equally. These three traits enabled me to go away to college at The University of Texas – Austin, travel the world (visited over twenty countries across five continents), live in New York City for 6+ years, and get hired at reputable companies like NBC, Microsoft, and now Google. Even though it has been over twenty years since I walked the halls of the Awakening Seed, I think often of the amazing teachers/mentors, the peace pole, the hikes up A-Mountain, Halloween, and so many wonderful memories I made there. It brings a huge smile to my face.