Established 2001 Grades 11-12 Athletics None Staff 13 | Head of school Gray Horwitz Number of students max of 24/semester Phone +1 530-273-3183 Founded 2001 | |
Affiliation College Park Friends Educational Association Motto Peace, justice, and sustainability. Similar Camp Augusta, Walton's Grizzly Lodge Su, Nevada Union Adult Edu, Nu Tech, Bitney Prep High School Profiles | ||
The woolman semester school
The Woolman Semester is a semester school focused on the intersections of peace, social justice, and sustainability. Students come from all over the country to attend Woolman for a single semester during their high school junior, senior, or gap year. Students spend a semester deeply immersed in contemporary topics and exploring issues first hand as well as working with each other and the staff and interns to run the daily operations of the school, including cooking meals, chopping firewood, and growing and harvesting the food eaten at the school.
Contents
The classes of the program are Global Thinking, Peace Studies, Environmental Science, Non-violent Communication, Ceramics, and Farm to Table. Woolman is the only Quaker (Friends) semester school in the country, and in accordance with the philosophy of Quaker Education the Woolman Semester curriculum centers around collaboration, activism, and open inquiry into local and global issues.
The woolman semester school
General information
The campus is nestled in the Sierra foothills on 236 acres of field and forest. The nearest towns are Grass Valley and Nevada City, California.
The Woolman Semester began in spring of 2004, after a two-year restructuring period. Previously, the campus had been home to the John Woolman School, a four year high school that served the community from 1963 to 2001.
The mission of the school is to weave together peace, sustainability, and social action into an intensely rigorous academic experience.
Academics
Woolman Semester enriches a typical high school curriculum with college-level, seminar-style course work and experiential opportunities that promote lifelong learning, personal growth and intellectual commitment.
The core classes of the program: Environmental Science, Global Issues, and Peace Studies yield Environmental Science credit, Economics and Government credit, and English credit. Additional classes provide art credit and elective credits. Woolman is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
Students and staff spend much of the day in small, rigorous academic classes, with substantial time devoted to the hands-on work of the community: the garden and orchard, the kitchen, and the forest. Teaching and learning is part of a collaborative community process that includes classroom work, independent projects, and off-campus trips.