students planting seeds
students farming
students in a timber frame
students feeding pigs
students with raspberries
students raising wood
students on a science hike
students throwing gourds
students at a camp fire

Who we are

What we do

How to apply

Dig in and root down during a Mountain School Semester

A semester at the Mountain School gives 11th grade students the experience of shared work on a farm, courses to explore systems and critical thinking, programs on forestry and natural history, and the opportunity to learn both independence and interdependence in a community of peers.

Farm, Food, Forest, Future

Forest

There are hundreds of acres of forest to explore on the Mountain School’s campus. Through Environmental Studies class, you get your own forest site to study - a place to engage with Field Science and Natural History. Afternoons provide the opportunity for woods crew: splitting logs, trimming limbs, and clearing trees, all while learning about forestry and fuel. Of course, there’s plenty of time to explore as well, and the Outdoor Program provides you with the skills to be comfortable in the woods, from knot-tying to stove use to how to read a compass.

Food

At the Mountain School, you’ll engage with your food at every level: planting, nurturing, harvesting, cooking, and eating. This end-to-end experience with food fosters competence, confidence, and community. As you take Food Systems seminar, you’ll discuss the means of production, the modes of distribution, and consider real solutions to the challenges of feeding this planet. Culinary Studies students will have the chance to learn skills ranging from sauteing to fileting to fermenting. And, three times a day, we will all sit down together to enjoy the food and each other’s company. (And then do dishes.)

Farm

You’ll get your hands dirty as you plant, weed, and harvest crops on Garden Hill. You’ll also get your mind active as you take Farm Seminar and learn about agricultural practices, sustainable farming, and land use protocols. Time on the farm provides an opportunity for the shared work that establishes and sustains our interdependent community.

Future

Understand the systems that shape our world. Engage in critical thinking. Do the labor that creates food and fuel. Discuss with your peers and sharpen your intellect. That’s what you’ll get in a semester at the Mountain School, and it’ll prepare you to find true, meaningful solutions in the real world. You’ll be a problem solver, ready for the future.

The Mountain School is a semester program for high school juniors located on a hilltop farm in Vershire, Vermont.

Each semester, 45 students gather here to live, work, and study with each other and our faculty.

The Mountain School provides students with way of connecting with the land, connecting with others, and connecting with themselves

The Mountain School can take you where you want to go.

Get out of the grind. Put down your phone. Spend some time in nature. Challenge yourself with courses that will remind you why you love to learn. Connect with other students who want to understand the systems around them and become problem solvers. Whether you want to learn to read the forest, farm the land, work in the woods, become an engineer or run a non-profit or write poetry… the Mountain School can take you where you want to go.

Hear from our alumni

  • The Mountain School set me on a different track. I left the semester with greater self-awareness, ability to reflect, and confidence to navigate complex questions. 

    We were extended a very high degree of independence and trust for ourselves and those around us, and everyone treated everyone else like we were all on the same team. I have worked on a lot of teams and for some big brands, and these two things stand out against anywhere I've ever been.

    Now factor in that it was with a group of high school juniors, and there's really nothing like it.

    -Jared Liu S’94, Admissions, Yale University

  • The Mountain School challenged me, engaged me, and allowed me to grow. I learned probably the most important skill of all while there, which is how to live with others. The extent to which I discovered myself at The Mountain School cannot be put into words.

    -Madeline Ford, Fall 2023

  • The Mountain School was easily one of the most transformative experiences I had while in high school. Not only did I get to know a place and the people who make it, but I learned so much about myself and what I need to thrive in an environment in the process. While my time there may have only been a semester, the relationships I built and the lessons I learned will last a lifetime.

    -Elsa Aslanian, Fall 2022

  • The Mountain School was unexpected for me, and all told was the most positive and transformative experience of my high school years. There, I found an engaged, thoughtful, reflective community of warmth and joy, with excited, brilliant faculty and genuine students. I was not someone you’d describe as “outdoorsy,” that’s not why I applied. The community at the Mountain School allowed me to be my true self and they embraced every part of me. I emerged with a clearer sense of what I wanted for my future, having laid the stones for a kinder, warmer life for myself.

    - Katy Nowiszewski '05, Head of College Counseling, Avenues New York

What’re we growing?

Stay in touch to see what’s on tap at TMS