All juniors have the opportunity to leave Masters for a semester and enroll in a semester school.

The school supports three semester schools, the High Mountain Institute (HMI), Oxbow School and City Term, and School Year Abroad, which allows students to go to Italy, China, or Spain for a full school year.

Each semester school is different. HMI is located in Leadville CO and is focused on community b
uilding and student’s interaction with nature. Oxbow is in Napa, CA and urges students to think critiqully and creatively with a focus on the visual arts. Cityterm is located on campus and uses New York City as its playground.

However, there are students who don’t fit into these spheres, or want to explore a different way of living. These students should have the opportunity to attend semester schools that specialize in their passions.

For farmers, there’s The Mountain School in VT, which produces and sells its own food. For girls interested in the ocean, there’s Coastal Studies for Girls, which urges girls to combine science and leadership. For those more accustomed to island time, there’s The Island School in the Bahamas. For the future political leaders of the world, The School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, DC focuses on shaping students into ethical leaders.

The list goes on, and each school provides a unique, once in a lifetime experience that can never be replicated. Every student should be urged to pursue attending a school as unique as they are.

Leaving the comfort of school—where students have already made friends, joined clubs, or played sports, can be terrifying. It is also empowering. Abandoning the womb and recreating themselves at a semester school gives students otherwise unattainable access to independence and self-reliance.

A quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson goes, “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” Students who leave their home schools bring the beauty and ability they gained back to their sending schools, enr
iching the entire community.

This past spring, I had the privilege of attending a semester school myself. At HMI, I learned how to ski, how to pack a backpack, and how to cook on the trail. I learned about Western expansion, the amazing insulative abilities of a snowpack, and how to find a parabola. I learned a lot last semester, but the most important lessons came from the incredible people I met there. They taught me how to work and live with people effectively, that everyone is worth getting to know, and that adversity is complimented best by laughter. These are the lessons I value the most.

I have brought a small piece of every person I met while away back to my sending school, and that has made me a better person.