Outdoor

As part of the school’s mission to shape ecologically-minded students, Vermont Commons School strives to incorporate the outdoors into all aspects of its curriculum and school life. During the first week of school, each class goes on a hike up one of the Green Mountain peaks, allowing each student, as well as the class as a whole, to reflect on their goals for the coming year.

Our Encounter Week program offers students the opportunity to spend time in the backcountry three times a year. On trips led by members of the faculty, students learn appropriate outdoor skills and experience backpacking, cross country skiing, canoeing and hiking. The programs are challenging, but students do not need to have previous backcountry experience to participate in our Encounter Week program.

The science department frequently brings students on field trips to study the local geology, botany and the local watershed to investigate the surrounding area’s ecology.

The school has an active Outing Club, formed several years ago, initiated by interested students, and the group organizes weekend hikes, snowshoe and cross-country ski adventures for members of the Vermont Commons community.