Woolman Semester: Progressive, Experiential Education
The Woolman Semester is a progressive academic school for young people who want to make a difference in the world. Students in their junior, senior, or gap year come to take charge of their education and study the issues that matter most to them. Students take an active role in their learning experience through community work, organic gardening and cooking, permaculture, art, wilderness exploration, service work, and by doing advocacy and activism work with real issues of peace, justice and sustainability in the world.
The academic foundation of the semester school consists of three core classes: Peace Studies, Environmental Science, and Global Issues. These subject areas are the lenses through which local and global issues are examined. Other course offerings include Gardening, Art, Nonvionent Communication, Math and Spanish.
Four times a semester, Woolman learning goes on the road. Our backpacking trip along the wild and scenic Yuba River orients students to the natural world that is Woolman’s backyard. During the Food Intensive, students and teachers travel to the San Francisco Bay area and California’s Central Valley for a week-long exploration of food systems as part of the Environmental Science curriculum. The Service Trips, which coordinate with our Peace Studies course, take students in small groups to offer their skills to communities in need while they examine root causes of poverty, food scarcity, and homelessness. The Global Issues Mexico trip integrates peace with social and environmental justice by traveling to the Mexico/US Border to research globalization, experience the border fence and security, interview migrants and border patrol agents, and volunteer at a Migrant Resource Center.
The Woolman experience is about finding your place within the context of our educational community, natural community, and local communities. Students at Woolman live and learn with their classmates and teachers exploring our 230 acres and the nearby Yuba River. They connect with environmental and peace organizations in the local communities of Grass Valley and Nevada City. Through their experience at Woolman, students become a part of a community of advocates and change-makers that engage issues of peace, social justice, and sustainability locally and globally
As a Friends school, the Woolman Semester school is part of a long tradition of groundbreaking education. With their commitment to bringing out the best in each individual, Quaker schools are among the best in the world. Learn more about Quaker education.
