Teen Program
Over the course of the 2022-2023 school year, Cottonwood will be working to re-articulate and converse with local teens about our Teen/High School program with the anticipation of a launch in the fall of 2023.
Over the past five years, Cottonwood has supported middle and high schoolers in following their curiosity and pursuing their dreams within a collaborative, caring community. In May of 2022, a strong group of learners graduated from Cottonwood embarking on new journeys as young adults.
This shift in our community gave us the opportunity to rethink, re-examine, and ultimately remodel our program to better support teens thriving and embracing the abundant opportunities available to them.
Co-Learning Space
Our aim has always been to create a space for teens to pursue high school on their own terms. Imagine a space like a co-working space where teens pursuing a specific path for their high school years could go for support and community. Cottonwood will be a physical space to come for connection with peers and to work on projects and assignments. It will offer the flexibility so internships and classes at Helena College or Carroll College are possible. Finally, each teen will receive the support of a mentor and a tutor to help them achieve their goals in all four areas of Cottonwood’s curriculum: Interdependence, Scholarship, Self-Knowledge, and Curiosity.
Does this sound like an incredible experience and opportunity? It will be! If these words resonate with you, we want to meet you.
About Cottonwood
Cottonwood fosters curiosity, play, trust, respect, equity and autonomy in our members. We support a growing community through age-mixing, valuing personal choice and celebrating the individuality of everyone’s learning. The greater mission to build community through self-directed learning is realized through offerings of an agile after-school program, adult and organizational programming, community center events, mission-related space rental and summer camps. We serve and connect two communities: Helena, MT and Brooklyn, NY.
We intentionally located our educational spaces in places where our cultural and natural landscapes are as much a part of our classroom as the interior spaces of our buildings. As a result, Cottonwood learners can be found interacting with their community every day and helping to create meaningful engagement and connections. As often as possible, we extend the classroom to places our learners might otherwise never visit.
The environment that we strive to create at Cottonwood is one that is positive and attentive to the whole human. Keeping our class size small, every day we work to empower individual learners to approach their life with agency and to broaden their horizons in order to identify possibilities based on their unique interests and strengths. Learners and staff alike come to Cottonwood because they seek a place where they can thrive.
Cottonwood ALC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, or ethnic origin in administration, admission, or any associated activities.