Guess Who? Meet Kay Higgins!

By: Becky Larson

For many, Kay Higgins is the face of City of Lakes Waldorf School. As Front Desk Coordinator, her warm smile greets everyone who walks in the door, from parents turning in paperwork, to the first grader in need of a band-aid. The admin staff lovingly refer to her as the “mother of the school” and so she is. She brings many skills to her juggling act at the front desk, calling on equal parts organization, customer service skills and tender loving kindness. She and I sat down to talk about why she’s always loved institutions of learning, how Waldorf came into her life, and why her job uses all the skills she’s ever learned.

Kay first heard about Waldorf while pursuing her master’s degree at St. Thomas. She read about the Waldorf approach in a course on reading instruction. Intrigued, she did an online search and discovered City of Lakes Waldorf School. “The tagline on the website was ‘Life-long love of learning’,” she recalls. “That’s exactly why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place!”

All her life, she’s loved school. She has fond memories of playing school with an older girl on her street. She loved being a student from grade school through college, and so learning as a joyful,  lifelong pursuit  has always inspired her.

Kay says a seed was planted in her brain. After completing her master’s degree, she spent a year teaching Kindergarten in an inner city school. When she found she was pregnant, she eagerly began making plans for her baby’s education, including where he might attend school. “My husband was like, ‘He’s not even born yet,'” she remembers. She stayed at home with her son, and four years flew by. They visited City of Lakes Waldorf School for a tour, and both left feeling as though it was a perfect fit for their son and their family.

With her son enrolled, Kay was eager to get involved. She jumped in and managed the school store for two years, as a way to share her retail and management experience and learn Waldorf through osmosis. She’d long been a subscriber of Mothering Magazine, and began reading other Waldorf inspired literature including Simplicity Parenting, which resonated powerfully with her. She loved the practice of being present to her child- to the extent that she didn’t want to listen to music in the car lest she miss his songs and musings!

Working at the school has been a great fit for her. Kay jokes, ” I’m a stay-at-home-mom who takes her son to school, and then just stays there!”  She answers the door buzzer and phones, greets visitors, collects and organizes attendance, coordinates substitute teachers, arranges schedules, school lunches and nurses the occasional sick child or hurt finger.

“To help and be whatever somebody needs- it’s all about what I love,” she says. “It’s a great spot for me and my varied background,” she says. With a psychology degree, a master’s degree in education, and experience in office management, marketing, software licensing  and teaching, this is a woman who isn’t afraid to wear many hats.

“With parents, it’s guest service, trying to make a good experience.  With teachers, it’s supporting and anticipating what might be needed. With students, it’s the connection, and meeting them. I’m always thinking, what do they need? It might not be just a band-aid. It might be, let me talk, let me feel sad, let me show you something. It’s such fun to see them grow and change. I see what parents see, but in multiples, and at a distance. They’re the same person each day, but they’re growing into themselves. It’s such a miracle.”

She looks forward to her interactions with the students as they come in  for snacks or deliver attendance. Sometimes it’s a wiggly tooth or a splinter, or someone who needs to call home. She makes time for each one, and smiles thinking about them. “They are little walking joy sun-shines,” she laughs.