Semester and Year Away Programs

Is your idea of fun studying marine ecology on the coast of Maine? Or learning about community organizing and ecosystems on a tropical island? What about experiencing geology on a fourteen day backpacking trip in the Rockies? Consistent with its belief that learning is a lifelong process that is not necessarily confined to the traditional classroom, the Academy endorses a wide range of “off campus” programs. Ranging in length from a semester to a full year, these programs offer students a chance to experience a different educational style or to immerse themselves in a particular subject matter. All of the programs endorsed by Deerfield Academy maintain the same standard of academic excellence that is expected of students on campus.

Chewonki

Chewonki offers a small number of juniors the chance to live and work on a 400-acre saltwater peninsula with the goal of exploring the interrelationship between people and the environment through courses in natural science, environmental issues, art, history, and literature and writing.

The Island School

The Island School is a semester program for high school sophomores and juniors at Cape Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The major components of The Island School are challenging coursework, the social aspects of community living on an island campus, and interactions with the unique people and environments of Eleuthera.

High Mountain Institute

HMI is an educational non-profit located in the mountains of Colorado. The HMI Semester is a unique opportunity for juniors and some seniors in high school to spend a semester living, traveling, and studying in the mountains of central Colorado and the canyons of southeastern Utah. The school combines some of the best qualities of an academic program at a rigorous boarding school with the adventure of a summer backpacking expedition (text from HMI Semester). HMI offers semester, summer, and short-term programs.

The Mountain School

At the Mountain School, juniors from across the country come together to live and work on the school’s farm in rural Vermont. Academics emphasize culture of collaborative thinking among students and between students and faculty, while farm work encourages innovation while learning about sustainability and biotechnology.