The Farm | Senior Internships

All High School classes make group expeditions, the studets bonding as they experience time together away from both home and school. The other classes venture out also, in trips that add companionable social activities to expansion of the curriculum. Or in the case of the seniors, just for the joy of it.

Overlook Farm—9th Grade: Freshmen travel to Overlook Farm in Massechusetts, where they intensify their study of Environmental Studies in a global context. Overlook is a 270-acre that introduces visitors to the care of livestock, fowl and organic crops. Students also learn first hand the exigencies of life among the many peoples who do not benefit from the current worls distributions of wealth. Lessons are especially compelling at the farm's associated Heifer Ranch, an educational center which promotes sustainable solutions to the world's widespread problems of hunger, poverty, illness and environmental degradation. The Ranch's five-acre Global Village installation, a renound work-study site, replicates the housing, agricultural techniques and husbandry of small-scale farming in Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. Discussions in this evocative setting challange students to examine their own habits, consumption patterns, and beliefs about becoming more responsible global citizens.

Hawthorn Valley Farm—10th Grade: The curriculum is enhanced by the school's close association with the Hawthorne Valley Farm, a biodynamic and organic dairy and vegetable farm located in Columbia County, New York. During the tenth-grade week long visit to the Farm, the ecological implications of farming are examined through guest lectures and visits to other farms.

The time on the Farm is also an opportunity for students to experience a lifestyle with a close connection to nature. Students adjust to the Farm schedule, waking before dawn to feed animals, eating a large meal at noon and a smaller one in the evening, and getting ready for bed early. Throughout the day, they are involved in a variety of farm tasks including preparing the greenhouse for planting, helping with maintenance and landscaping, preparing food to be sold in the Farm Store, and cooking meals for the group. Through the Farm program, students develop a new understanding of their relationship to the natural world and to each other.

The Farm trip helps bring the curriculum into a new realm of experience. It also provides a marvelous setting for students to get to know each other better. Projects and games, hikes and outings, evenings of singing and stories around a fire-these bring a class closer and build lasting memories.

College Visits—11th Grade: A full-class trip to geographical clusters of colleges is a dry run lesson on how best to evaluate pluses and minuses when subsequently visiting preferred potential alma maters. Trip locations vary from year to year.

Camphill Village—11th Grade: The second junior class venture is a weeklong trip to Camphill Village in Pennsylvania. This agriculturally-oriented residential community is one of many Camphill establishments, all of which bring together developmentally disabled persons, caregivers and volunteers in supportive, life-sharing situations. Camphill's websire notes that the organization's programs are inspired y Rudolf Steiner's philosophy concerning huan beings and the cosmos, which recognized the spiritual nature and wholeness of individuals, regardless of disability.

Senior Class Trip—12th Grade: In late spring, after completing their three-week public service internships, Twelfth Graders take a seven-day jaunt to a celebratory destination they have collectively chosen. The goal is relaxation and enjoyment, but the trip also consolidates friendships, memories, and further recognition of how life at Steiner has changed and prepared the soon-to-be graduates. Past classes have savored time in Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, among other alluring locales.

Community Service—9th, 10th and 11th Grade: Students in grades nine through eleven are required to serve twenty hours of community service each year. The mission of the community service program can be summed up by the motto, "He who serves is best served." The student is asked to ponder, what did I give, and what did I learn? These are questions that impact the heart and the mind. Volunteerism presents students with a bigger picture of life outside of his/her home or school community.

Students may fulfill the community service requirement near their homes or near the school. In the past students have served at tutoring programs, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, hospitals, nursing homes, and parks.

Senior Internships: During the late spring of senior year, students participate in a three-week internship program. For a minimum of six hours a day, students will serve as interns in a professional work environment. This is seen as the culminating experience of high school, transitioning students into the larger and more challenging environment of the professional world. Internship placements are done in conjunction with students' interests and sometimes lead to employment during summer months or even after college.

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