Educational Pillars
The Expeditionary School at Black River’s mission is to educate students to be intellectually curious, resourceful, and confident in themselves for a life of personal fulfillment and civic engagement.
The Expeditionary School at Black River is committed to graduating young adults who are financially literate, embody strong habits of work, and are capable of solving real-world problems. Our culture of learning is anchored by these educational pillars: a global perspective, civic responsibility, community engagement, and environmental stewardship.
A Global Perspective
ESBR students are exposed to a broad sense of the world, through a curriculum and school governance structure that celebrate a diversity of ideas and perspectives. The school will incorporate members of the greater community as educators. Curriculum will focus on a wide variety of cultures, religions, languages and the challenges of socioeconomic diversity. Students will see themselves both as rooted inhabitants of Vermont, and as global citizens with a responsibility to be creative problem solvers for current and future generations.
WHAT THAT MEANS TO US:
• Students will appreciate what it means to be rooted in Vermont and, in particular, in a small community that values diversity, inclusion, equity, cooperation, and resourcefulness.
• Students also will benefit from the community’s unique resources (Fletcher Farm, Vail/Okemo, Okemo Valley T.V., Black River Good Neighbors Food Pantry, Black River Academy Museum, Calvin Coolidge historic sites, local artisans, farmers and tradespeople).
• Expeditionary School at Black River will open doors for and connect students to the bigger world through the curriculum, world languages, continuation of the Rotary Student Exchange program, Model UN, and Round Square Conference school partnerships.
WHAT THAT MEANS FOR STUDENTS:
• We want our students to emerge from high school as global citizens of the world, and to feel fully capable and empowered to take their Black River education anywhere.
• Through engagement with other schools nationwide, travel programs, and contemporary and constantly changing curriculum content, our students will gain exposure to and appreciate diverse cultures and perspectives at the national and global levels.
• Meanwhile, through internships, apprenticeships, and community education programs, they will emerge with a realistic grasp of the meaning of socioeconomic diversity in Vermont.
• Expeditionary School graduates will not feel isolated in a small mountain town but connected to the world that they are a part of and ready to take responsibility for it.
Civic Responsibility
Active participation in democracy is essential to Expeditionary School at Black River, where students will partner with adults in the community to shape school policy and curriculum. They will exercise their voices and values, through opportunities for Personal Action, participation in student and community government, town hall-style school meetings, and more.
WHAT THAT MEANS TO US:
• Expeditionary School at Black River will hold Town Hall meetings and expose students to local, state, federal and global laws and regulatory processes.
• The school will encourage student engagement in school and local government, teaching them about regulatory and procedural processes, such as Robert’s Rules.
• With regard to discipline, responsibility and accountability, the school will teach students how to be active and compassionate participants in the judicial system.
WHAT THAT MEANS FOR STUDENTS:
• Our students will practice both leadership and democratic participation during their time at Black River Independent School, they will emerge not only with an academic understanding of American history and government but with a living experience of meaningful democratic participation.
• Students’ decisions will count in our school and this community; their input will be not just window dressing or practice, but will affect real and systematic change and will uphold our values and mission.
Community Engagement
A person living within a community considers every opportunity, in all aspects of everyday life, to provide for the needs of others and to take action in society. They seek to ensure that their impact, and the difference they make in the world, are positive. Socially-responsible decision-making infuses every area of their life from employment and business to personal, financial and domestic decisions.
ESBR develops in students the qualities of service work and compassion. Through engagement and service, they will learn about and make connections with those in need in local communities. Students will make a significant commitment of time during their school career in service to the School and to the wider community, and these experiences will be integrated into the academic curriculum.
WHAT THAT MEANS TO US:
• Expeditionary School at Black River graduates will not only have spent six years serving their own personal advancement. Middle and high school is a time when one’s place in the community and relationships to others become intensely important and formative.
• Our graduates will emerge from this time as young adults who have already practiced genuine community engagement on every level, from their individual classrooms, through the school and town to the greater region and world.
• Through expansive apprenticeship and personalized learning programs, we will integrate community members as educators, working alongside our faculty.
WHAT THAT MEANS FOR STUDENTS:
• Students will make a significant commitment of time during their school career in service to the school and the wider community, and these experiences will be integrated into the academic curriculum.
• Genuine engagement will come from real participation in actual, productive work including service-learning projects and town meetings.
Environmental Stewardship
Students will connect to wild places and will gain an understanding and respect for the natural world through the curriculum and practicum. Students will be able to: Explore the natural world through observation and application of ecological concepts, and develop a sense of place built in relationship to experiencing wilderness. Students will be able to articulate an environmental ethic and understand land management and environmental issues. They will learn about minimizing their impact on the environment, and learn the difference between avoidable impact and unavoidable impact.
WHAT THAT MEANS TO US:
• Ecological education is not a minor academic focus, but, like democracy or leadership, a core value that we seek to integrate throughout our students’ experience.
• A core belief is that we all should leave a place better than we found it, which relates to land, buildings, community, relationships. o Recycling a building vs rebuilding or remodeling, for example, is less impactful.
• Expeditionary School at Black River will teach students ecological concepts and how to care for their environment and expose them to local agricultural and environmental issues, opportunities and concerns (farm to table, Green Up Day).
• The school will teach students about Environmental Impact Statements - teaching them how to read, understand and be able to develop their own.
WHAT THAT MEANS FOR STUDENTS:
• Students may do Research Analyses regarding environmental and ecological concerns.
• In addition to academic preparation regarding ecological systems and environmental politics, students will practice environmental stewardship as a part of their daily lives at school (recycling, composting).
• They will learn about their roots in the land through food production and preparation, will meet farmers, loggers, and planners, and through regular outdoor trips in the local area and region, and will emerge with a real attachment to place and a visual, physical understanding of where they live.