The Mountain School of Milton Academy - Review #1

The Mountain School was, by not a small margin, the most developmentally significant semester of my life. The months I was there were also four of the best I've ever had. When you first arrive and have to surrender your cell phone, it is impossible to understand just how much your life will change. Because the entire experience of the Mountain School is limited to just one semester, all of your teachers and classmates understand that you have to work together to build a community as quickly as possible. There is no better place to have this experience than the campus they have created in Vershire, VT. You will make life-long friends and learn how to harvest potatoes.

I think that the Mountain School made me into a better person, and my parents and siblings often say that I changed significantly from when I was dropped off in Vershire to when I returned home. You will make friends for life, get very comfortable being outdoors, and learn what it means to take ownership of a very small community. The best thing that happened to me there was the whole thing -- I really cannot recommend it enough. If you have the option to go, please do yourself a favor and go.

I'm not sure I can speak to traditional four-year boarding school experiences, but my advice for those attending the Mountain School would be to embrace things as quickly as you can, because it goes by fast!

I most liked how specific, thoughtful choices made by the faculty and the student body create a depth of community that you wouldn't think possible in just four short months.

If they're ever bringing in a variety of apples, make sure to try a Roxbury Russet. Those things are crazy.

The academics at the Mountain School were of a far higher quality than the high school I was coming from. The classes were small and lots of individualized attention was given to each student. The English, Math, and Physics instruction I found particularly exceptional, but what truly sets apart the Mountain School's academics is the Environmental Science curriculum. Interactions with the outside world permeate the other disciplines (I particularly remember a teacher reciting a series of Robert Frost poems to us from memory in the middle of the woods), and many of the ESci classes take place outside, where you'll be learning to identify the New England trees, read topographical maps, and deduce the geographic history of different parts of the woods.

There are not formal athletics at the Mountain School (or, at least, there weren't when I was there) but a lot of us who were offseason athletes would run the trails together.

When I attended the Mountain School there were no official Music or Theatre programs, but many of the students were very musical and we would often grab guitars and sit around the baby grand piano in the dining hall. For me, coming from the classical piano lessons I had taken at home from a very young age, I found this recreational, collaborative playing to be, like many other elements of the Mountain School, important in its distance from the rigid musical education I had been receiving.

Extracurriculars at the Mountain School are extremely collaborative and place focused -- there is a lot of hiking and cross country skiing, and I remember a Young Pomologist's society my semester that would gather various apples together for other students in the semester to sample. But most of the extracurriculars are done together as mentioned before: the gardening, the wood splitting, etc.

Dorm life at the Mountain School is an amazing thing. My favorite aspect of it was the dorm parents, who did a great job of infusing dorm check-ins & other events with their own personalities while also making sure that the dorms had enough time and freedom to develop their own vibe. For being on a campus set in the middle of the woods, I found the housing very comfortable. There is a good chance you'll be hanging out with some of the kids from your dorm years after you leave the school.

Much of the food eaten at the Mountain School is grown and processed right there on campus. The chefs are amazing, and you will get very good at working in a kitchen by the end of the semester. The food is bountiful and you feel incredible after eating it.

The school is sort of in the middle of nowhere by design, but ESci field trips to waterfalls, short van rides to the general store, and a couple days spent at the local fair definitely add to the overall experience.

Social life at the Mountain School is fantastic, because none of you have your phones and you are consciously working on a very abbreviated timeframe. I attended the Mountain School in the fall semester, and by that Thanksgiving break groups of us were meeting up in Boston, NYC, etc. because the bonds you've formed by that point are already quite strong. I am nine years out and I still see friends from the Mountain School.