deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.

                                And see if I could not learn what it had to teach and

                                not, when I came to die, discover that I had not

                                lived.”

 

The Walden Project is a public alternative education program supported by the Willowell Foundation. Willowell is committed to the support of local, state, national, and international initiatives that show a unique intersection with the arts, education, and the environment.  

 

Because of the Walden Project’s unique commitment to this interlocking triad, Willowell provides supplemental funding and serves as an umbrella for public and private grants.  The Walden Project meets two days a week on the Willowell Land throughout the school year, benefits from Willowell’s garden management program, makes connections with Willowell’s other programs, and has received support from Willowell AmeriCorps VISTA members.

 

The Walden Project is run through the Addison Northwest Supervisory Union and is proud of its connection to the public school system and the people of the Vergennes area.

 

 

 

 

There is an old Indian story of seven blind men who are asked to describe an elephant.  Their responses all vary according to their experiences.  The first blind man, who touched the elephant’s trunk, describes the elephant, “like a snake.”  The second blind man, who touched the elephant’s leg describes the elephant, “like a tree trunk.”  And so on.  Each is convinced that they are right, based upon the part of the elephant’s anatomy that they have touched.  They remain angry and isolated in their self-righteous indignation until a passerby tells them that they are all right and manages to integrate the pieces of their individual experiences.

 

This story has struck us as being directly applicable to the world of high school students.  Like the blind men in the story, many teachers offer their view of the world through the lens of their academic discipline.  The student, like the passerby, is asked to distill this information and create a cohesive picture of the world.  While it is undoubtedly true that many students have achieved success with this model, it is also clear that this model does not work for everyone.  Creating a sense of one’s place in the world, through education, is a highly individualized affair.  To that end, it is important that we offer students a variety of ways to wrestle with the important questions of learning, where there is a natural thematic connection linking the fields of study.  There is a historical precedence for this type of interdisciplinary education.

 

On the following pages, you will read about The Walden Project, which is a model based upon this idea.  As you will note, each academic discipline is discussed and its relationship to the Vermont Framework of Standards is detailed.  It is important, however, to note that the program itself is designed so these distinctions are blurred.  While students will undoubtedly gain the skills in each academic discipline, these skills will be developed as part of a broader mode of inquiry.

 

The program is inspired by the writings of the great American philosopher Henry David Thoreau.  Thoreau went into the woods to “live deliberately.”  During his sojourn there, he meditated upon his life and the relationship between himself and his society.  While he did not spend his entire life in the woods, this period was important for him in articulating his own writing and philosophy, which has inspired millions of others, including Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, and Martin Luther King Jr.  It also furthered his own attempts to reconcile the notions of self-sufficiency and social responsibility.

 

We will be asking students to look closely at the present day world and to discover how they can be contributors from a developed sense of social, environmental, and personal awareness.  To help the students understand a community perspective, a broad cross-section of scientists, writers, artists, business people, trades people, and other community members will supplement their personal course of study.

 

 

          Youth Programs:

        The Walden Project