The Three Musketeers

From Swashbuckling Students to Enterprising Entrepreneurs

The Reily Brothers might be superheroes. At least, that’s how I saw them when I was younger. Big, tall, and strapping, older than me and cooler than I’d ever be, there wasn’t a task they couldn’t accomplish, a challenge they couldn’t conquer, a foe they couldn’t vanquish. Oft discussed but rarely seen, they were near-mythical, a trio of legends rivaling the likes of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.

My first sighting was in 5th grade. Banished to the side room for being too chatty, it was a typical handwork class for me. With no distractions or classmates within earshot, my head was bent diligently over my work...when the door swung open and there before me stood a musketeer. I blinked at Will Reily, and he at me, and then he said,

“Can you hop like a frog?” 

Without waiting for my answer (and believe me, I had nothing prepared for such a pointed query), Will squatted down and proceeded to hop like a frog around the little room before flipping upside down into a perfect—and very un-frog-like—headstand. Righting himself, he gave a short laugh and left the room as suddenly as he’d entered.

Will Reily, building his senior project

I mean....that’s a lot for a 5th grader to process. The famous Will Reily—at that point a senior in high school—in the same room as me? And hopping like a frog? It’s a good thing I was in solitary, else I would have talked the ears off my classmates. As it was, my brush with fame was the topic of discussion for weeks. The whole encounter only further cemented the Reily Brothers’ superhero status in my mind, and of course, my friends and I immediately set about practicing our headstands (unsuccessful) and our frog-hops (successful).

After graduating from Emerson in 2008, Will hopped all the way to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies. In pursuit of Cajun seasoning and a law degree, he then tracked southward to The Big Easy, where he earned his Juris Doctorate from Tulane University Law School in 2016. I like to imagine Will won over juries in Mock Trial with his animal impressions, but I suspect he curtailed such impulses. After serving as a law clerk in New York for two years and working in bankruptcy law, Will and his fiancée moved out of the Big Apple and down to the Big Peach (Atlanta) where he is an associate at King & Spalding LLP in their Financial Restructuring Group. Will also serves as a Director on the Board of the Emerson Waldorf School.

Paul Reily

Paul, the middle brother, has eyes that twinkle with mischief and mirth. I didn’t meet him properly until he was my basketball coach in 10th grade. Soft-spoken and genteel off the court, sharp-elbows and old-school moves on the court, his mannerisms and play-style betray a wisdom and savvy beyond his years. After graduating from Emerson in 2006, he attended Appalachian State University and in 2012 graduated with an FAA degree in Appropriate Technologies and a minor in Sustainable Development, Paul operated an organic vegetable farm in Walland, TN, and recently married his longtime girlfriend and EWS classmate, Kundalata Christopher.

Colin is the eldest of the three Reily Brothers, and although I’ve never seen him hop, headstand, or play basketball, he is surely possessed with his own niche superpower. Colin graduated from St. Olaf College in 2006—two years before Will matriculated—with a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology, and earned his Ph.D. in Bioenergetics and Free Radical Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2012. He is currently an assistant professor at the University of Alabama, where he runs an NIH-funded research lab at the Birmingham School of Medicine. He further owns and operates Dynamic BioSciences, a startup research organization founded in 2014. Colin lives in Birmingham with his wife and one-year-old son, and serves on the Board of the Alabama Waldorf School.

If you’ve been counting, that’s two brothers on Waldorf school boards... and the third coached the EWS basketball team. It is clear how important early education was to the Reily Brothers, but lest you think Colin, Paul, and Will came to Waldorf on their own, think again. Their mother, Katie, is a founding member of the Atlanta Waldorf School (indeed, the school began as a Waldorf-inspired kindergarten out of baby Colin’s bedroom) and worked for several years at EWS where she helped establish the Parent Organization, worked in Educational Support, and raised her remarkable children. Now, her kids have all breached the 30-year-old plateau, but she still thinks back fondly on those earlier years.

“I value how Waldorf helped me become a better mother in terms of slowing down childhood,” Katie told me. “Nourishing early stages of development—that’s how we prepare our children for the world.”

Paul, Will, Colin, and Kathleen

And then there’s Kathleen, Musketeer number four, daughter number one, who just like her older brothers started EWS in kindergarten and graduated from 12th Grade (Class of 2009)—except for Colin, who graduated 8th Grade several years before the High School was formed. Kathleen, who shares her brothers’ entrepreneurial spirit and runs a business of her own, credits Waldorf for a number of her successes.

“I loved my education there,” she told me, laying heavy stress on the verb. “I attribute my imagination and creativity to Waldorf. We were never handed the information; we were asked to think outside the box.”

The Reily boys, displaying similar levels of introspection and self-analysis, acknowledge the vital role EWS played in their origin stories, too. According to the brothers, curiosity and passion are two key factors separating Waldorf education from conventional curricula and the driving forces behind their respective careers.

“In a world where critical thinkers are fewer and fewer, EWS nurtures inquisitive and creative minds,” Will told me in an email. “This school and community shaped me into the person I am today.”

Colin added his thoughts to the chain: “Education lasts a lifetime, and the ecosystem that fosters activity early in life pays dividends long after a student leaves.”

The boys are reaping the rewards now. Following a desire to bring plant-based solutions to chronic health disease, our Three Musketeers have banded together on a multi-year research and development project to create a new solution for purifying high impact phytochemicals. Based on their research, they have spun out two companies, Frontier CBD Science, and their customer-facing brand Natural Dos. Creating something new on strong foundations takes dedication and a willingness to fail; without the fires of passion and curiosity stoked early on at EWS, the inspiration to build—and fortitude to build through challenges—would have been missing.

Each brother lends his own unique expertise to the company: Colin’s background in molecular biology synergizes perfectly with Paul’s experience in sustainable farming and agriculture. Meanwhile, Will brings his legal prowess to the team, handling contracts and licensing. Although they probably don’t need it, we wish this potent trio—and their burgeoning business—great success in the coming years.

***

When I asked Colin why he joined the Alabama Waldorf School board more than a decade after leaving Waldorf education, he spoke about his experience post-EWS and what he wanted for his children.

Colin Reily

“I come from a highly technical background,” Colin said. It’s true; his resume practically oozes STEM. “I eventually found out that what people call education is actually just training—technical training. The conventional education systems are overly reliant on this training and do not foster curiosity or contrarian viewpoints. The Waldorf education is not training in this sense, but a community of free expression, thought, and action that allows children to develop their own curiosity and self. I wanted to make sure my children had access to that.”

Colin’s thoughts made me think about the foundation of a house—strong, stable, imperative to the integrity of the structure, and a necessity for whatever is built on top. In a similar vein, Waldorf education provided for the Reilys a base so sturdy and adaptable that they felt well-equipped to pursue their dreams.

Of course, being superheroes helps in such pursuits, but perhaps they draw some of their powers from a certain wooded campus in northern Chapel Hill.

Kaylen Alexis, Class of 2015