Beyond The Classroom

Foreign Exchange

Hawthorne Valley High School has an active student exchange program. Since the high school began more than 20 years ago, many tenth and eleventh graders have elected to experience Waldorf education—for periods from three months to one year—in other countries, including Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, and Peru. By participating in this program, Hawthorne Valley students not only develop fluency in another language but also gain a direct experience of another culture.

In addition, our students, their families—in fact, our entire school community—have been enriched by having our foreign exchange students attend Hawthorne Valley School.

Fundamental to Hawthorne Valley high school education is our belief in practical application of conceptual skills. One avenue is through extracurricular activites, such as community service and clubs. But the curriculum itself integrates this practical experience through the Practicum in Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh grade, and the Senior Project in grade 12.

Practica

Each Hawthorne Valley Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh grader participates in a one-week practicum that further grounds his or her educational experience:

- Ninth graders spend a week living and working on the land, involved in the agricultural and ecological activities of Hawthorne Valley Farm. In some ways, the Ninth Grade practicum is a reprise of their Third Grade experience on the Farm, except that now they are not only able to do so much more physical work than they were as children, but are also aware of what they are experiencing in a new, adult way.

- As part of their Trigonometry block, Tenth graders travel for a week to Block Island, off the Rhode Island coast. There they use their newly-acquired knowledge and time-honored methods and tools to practice the skill of surveying. Students work in teams, using transits to measure the earth. As a culmination of their work, the teams use their new skills to draw a detailed, accurate map. Below are pictures from a recent Tenth grade trip to Block Island, Rhode Island for the surveying practicum.

- Eleventh graders have more individual tasks for their practica. Each student spends a week shadowing and working with a mentor in a field that is of particular interest to that student. Each Eleventh grader keeps a journal of the experience and presents a report to the entire high school about the week’s events and his/her reaction to them.

Senior Projects

Each Twelfth grader starts planning a Senior Project in Eleventh grade, often as a result of the Eleventh grade practicum experience. The senior is responsible for writing a research paper on the project topic and for carrying out a practical/artistic undertaking. Each senior makes a public presentation of her or his project in May, after months of researching, planning, and hands-on work. Many Twelfth graders spend more than 100 hours on their Senior Projects, and more than a few report that their projects lead them into new educational and career decisions.