Semester Schools

Alzar School

Alzar School is a semester school for highly motivated high school sophomores and juniors. At Alzar School, you will challenge yourself academically, live alongside peers from across the world at our home campus in Idaho, dive into a new culture during our extended time in Chile, and learn about yourself while exploring wild places.

Throughout your entire semester, you will gain tangible leadership skills and discover how you can use this knowledge to take action to improve your communities.

High Mountain Institute

Website: https://www.hminet.org/

Study in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado for a semester! At HMI, high school juniors (and some seniors) receive a full semester of academic credit while spending a total of 30 days backpacking and skiing through mountains and canyons. Located in Leadville, CO, at elevation 10,000 ft, HMI brings together students from all over the U.S. for seventeen unforgettable weeks. The West is our classroom--no previous outdoor experience required!

The Island School

Website: http://www.islandschool.org/new-page-2

Summer Term: Abbreviated Semester

The Island School Summer Term is an abbreviated, 30-day intensive version of the Fall / Spring semester program. Through a rigorous course of study that includes field work in local ecosystems, explorations of local settlements and the socioeconomic impacts of development, and dynamic interaction with campus' sustainable systems, Summer Term students grapple with how communities – on an island in The Bahamas and beyond – can live most sustainably. The Summer Term curriculum invites students to think about the resources upon which we rely.

Maine Coast Semester

Website: https://mainecoastsemester.chewonki.org/

Maine Coast Semester at Chewonki provides ambitious high school juniors the opportunity to hone their critical thinking through the immersive scientific study of coastal ecology, place-based curriculum, and liberal arts. Our students develop a robust set of outdoor skills that build character and confidence that heightens their appreciation for the natural world.

For over 30 years, Maine Coast Semester students have gone on to achieve success in college and beyond as independent thinkers with broad perspectives enabling them to make an impact through thoughtful collaboration and leadership in our complex world.

The Mountain School

Website: http://www.mountainschool.org/

Each semester 45 motivated high school juniors from all over the country come together to live and work on the school’s farm in rural Vermont. Students and faculty build together a semester based on trust and an appreciation of difference, creating an academic and work-based community in which every voice matters. While living with teachers in small houses, students help to make important decisions concerning how we live together. Courses provide a demanding, integrated learning experience that takes advantage of the school's small size and mountain campus. Balancing intellectual inquiry and experiential learning, the curriculum challenges students to think flexibly, speak their minds and return to their schools equipped for continued academic success. Engagement with the farm and forest on our 418-acre campus sparks an appreciation for their food, their fuel and their labor.

The Outdoor Academy

Website: https://www.enf.org/oa-explore/

Engaging academics, outdoor adventures, and creative arts in a small community setting.

Picture a classroom without walls, a math teacher who paddles whitewater, art class at the blacksmithing forge, and a student body filled with the 27 best friends you could imagine. This is The Outdoor Academy, a semester high school in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains between Brevard and Asheville, North Carolina.

Oxbow

Website: https://www.oxbowschool.org/

Mission — Think, create, and grow. The Oxbow School—an innovative, interdisciplinary program combining visual arts with academics —helps and encourages high school students to learn and develop the skills necessary to succeed in an increasingly complex and interdependent world. Through rigorous studio art practice grounded in creative and intellectual inquiry, the program extends each student’s critical thinking abilities.

SEGL

Website: https://schoolforethics.org/

The School for Ethics and Global Leadership (SEGL) is a selective, semester-long residential program for motivated high school juniors from across the United States. We select students who have shown outstanding character, promise for leadership, and scholastic ability; our students also reflect the racial, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity of the United States.

SEGL provides our students with a unique curriculum emphasizing ethical thinking skills, leadership development, and international affairs. We have locations in Washington, DC, Johannesburg, South Africa, and London, United Kingdom. Our affiliations with noted institutions and individuals ensure our students have access to the best of what these vibrant cities have to offer.

Our students graduate ready to create positive change in our world. They return home equipped with a greater understanding of themselves, an academic experience that will inform their college study, new leadership capabilities, and amazing lifelong friends.

Swiss Semester

Website: https://swisssemester.org/

Swiss Semester is an experiential program for high school sophomores located in Zermatt, Switzerland— an outdoor paradise. The fall program offers adventure, challenge, and a temporary change of routine and setting while maintaining a rigorous academic curriculum.

The Traveling School

Website: https://travelingschool.com/

The Traveling School offers teenage girls ages 15-18 the opportunity to explore the world and learn about themselves through academic, physical, and cultural challenges. Sixteen motivated young women and four inspiring teachers travel to a unique region of the globe. Students earn full credit, immerse in new cultures, develop outdoor skills, and build confidence during this transformational semester.