Watershed School

I had the privilege to end my teaching career at Watershed last May. I carry the best memories from this community where students and staff are and feel connected like a family, sharing the joy of learning and becoming better humans inside our local and global communities. I appreciate the freedom for the staff to teach what we are passionate about and to support students in their own style and pace of learning and level of curiosity. Watershed provides unique experiences of connection and immersion in different cultures around the world, building emotional resilience, relational capacity, and critical thinking in a way I have no experience in any other school before. I recommend this school to anyone looking for a place where your students wake up excited to come every day of the week or the majority of them! I became a much richer and grateful person during all the years of teaching and learning from my students and colleagues at Watershed.

We're parents of two students at Watershed School and they're truly thriving. While our kids did fine in traditional schools, the process felt transactional to them. In contrast, our kids say that Watershed's progressive, project-based teaching approach feels meaningful, challenging, and supportive. The fieldwork and expedition courses provide rich context and help our kids understand interconnections. At Watershed, they've become engaged learners who are much more aware of their community and the world around them. They've taken ownership of their learning and don't need to be reminded to do their homework. The teachers are skilled and empathetic educators who seem to understand and appreciate our kids. We are confident that Watershed is preparing our kids for success in future educational endeavors and life. Watershed's process might not work for everyone, but if your student is ready to lean into what Watershed has to offer, we highly recommend you try it!

Watershed offers the most unique learning experiences I've ever come across. Their immersive work "in the field" allows for students to experience real-world applications to what they learn, while developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The student-teacher relationships are truly a two-way exchange (not just teachers imparting their wisdom on students). Watershed teachers know each student and work to support their individual needs and interests. The trips-whether one-day or 3 weeks-offer once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and there are several each year! Watershed's method of teaching ignites a love of learning in their students that will likely last a lifetime. They have been so generous over the years to ensure that my daughter can attend, despite financial obstacles. I am so grateful for the opportunities Watershed has given my daughter.

There are not enough words to express the transformative, character-building, mind-expanding, soul-nourishing, and affirming experience our boys have had at Watershed for the past EIGHT years! We are about to celebrate the graduation of our youngest with joy and gratitude and yet SO sad that our time there is coming to an end. We wish we had more kids to send! Watershed picked up the somewhat broken pieces our kids came in with as 7th graders and put them together to form incredible humans! Yes, the education and educators are phenomenal and inspire these kids to be authentically interested, involved, and motivated. But the emotional intelligence, connections, and solid meaningful relationships Watershed fosters among EVERYONE (teachers, staff, and students alike) will take them farther in life than any academics possibly could. When relationships and community are at the forefront, one simply cannot fall through the cracks, hide, or get lost and that`s exactly where my kids started. They were able to figure out pretty quickly that they could show up as themselves and that they were held, respected, and safe (pretty unusual for middle school especially!) Thanks to this type of `schooling` (or rather, `human-ing`) and incredible teachers and admin, they have blossomed into their full unique selves and I couldn`t be more impressed with them and grateful to this school! I`ve seen enough Watershed graduates to know this school develops kids who are secure in who they are and what they have to offer. They value themselves and their relationships and are excited to share that knowledge and confidence for the benefit of their community as well as the big wide world they`ve come to experience and know through the school. I can`t think of anything more important no matter what path they choose! Thank you Watershed for helping us shape and develop a couple of well-rounded, well-balanced, kind, and motivated humans to send out into the world!!

Watershed embodies the best of the progressive tradition of education. I love that Watershed takes my son where he is at emotionally, socially, and academically and then pushes him as a learner beyond what he thought was possible. Recently my son did a 24 hours solo in the Indian Peaks Wilderness and he returned home full of confidence, and ready to apply the lessons he learned outdoors to his academics.

Watershed School brilliantly honors its mission, to prepare students to take on the World's Greatest Challenges. From personalized assignments, 9-day backpacking trips, and teachers that foster character growth, I developed leadership, social, and communication skills that are responsible for my successes today. The focus on real-world learning, connections, and life skills prepared me for an Ivy League education and to solve the Restaurant Industry's greatest challenges.

My son graduated from the Watershed School in 2016 and from Lewis Clark College in 2020. Having watched the arc of his education I see what an amazing contribution Watershed made to his intellectual education and equally his development as a wonderful human and contributing member of society. I cannot thank the educators enough for their commitment to the students at this school. The educational model commits to the whole child and prepares them as thoughtful, critical thinking adults, prepared for the real world. They also have a lot of fun! Engaged in the classroom and out in the field, I found it to be an extraordinary education.

This is my second year as a parent of a middle schooler at Watershed. I feel so lucky that my child attends Watershed because his teachers know him and appreciate him for the awesome kid that he is! They have brought out intellectual growth, help him engage with real world issues, and push him to improve in areas that are right for him. This is all done in a loving and warm environment. My opinion is that the mark of a truly great education is not in the "pedigree cultivation," the test scores of the kids getting in, or the price tag; it is in how the kids grow in their time there. That is the true purpose of education: to ignite interest and passions in our kids, to nurture them and help them grow, to help them learn from challenges, to meet them where they are, and guide them on their own paths. We have found all of this at Watershed and are so proud of the work we see our son doing.