The Mountain School

Location: Vershire, Vermont
Number of Students: 45
Student-Teacher Ratio: 3:1
Grade Levels: Junior, Senior
Focus / Specialty: Farm, Place-Based Academics
Advanced Placement / Honors Courses: Yes

The Mountain School was the first semester program in the country. While there are opportunities for outdoor activities including a solo camping trip, orienteering challenges, hiking and cross-country skiing, the defining feature of the Mountain School is the farm…that produces 100% of the vegetables, meat, eggs and maple syrup that the students eat during their four-month stay. Fall semester students harvest a three-acre vegetable garden, cut down trees to heat our buildings, and help to rotate the cows and sheep from pasture to pasture. Spring students make maple syrup, assist with lambing, gather food from the greenhouses, take care of the barn animals, and plant the garden that a new group of students will harvest in the fall. Many of our graduates say that living the eat what you grow philosophy sparked a life-long awareness of where their food comes from and an appreciation for the value of their own labor.”

https://www.semesterschools.net/school/the-mountain-school