Curriculum Detail

Mountain Campus Semester

The Mountain Campus Semester program is an educational opportunity unlike any other at Burr and Burton. Each term, a small group of motivated students comes together on Burr and Burton’s Mountain Campus to engage in a semester-long study of the surrounding landscape and community—its past, present, and potential for the future. Classes are supplemented and blended with extensive fieldwork, local resources, and professionals to enhance the learning experience. Students take on significant leadership roles during the semester, and reflect often on their learning process, consequently coming to understand as much about themselves as they do the science, history, and literature of Vermont. The multidisciplinary curriculum is designed to be challenging and invigorating for college or career-bound students with a range of skills and experiences. 
Students examine a central question: “how do we live well in this place?” through investigations into:

• the social, political, economic and environmental issues affecting our local area and their relevance in the national and global context;
• how artists and writers have been inspired by these issues and how they have addressed these issues in their work;
• the different forest communities that exist on and around the campus and the ecological factors that influence them;
• uses of land in the area and the resulting impact on wildlife, the forest, and the community;
• how to effectively prepare for and lead outdoor expeditions, how to achieve group cohesion and trust, how to build self-awareness and self-reliance;
• ways people can care for a community and affect positive change.
All students write extensively in journals, utilize digital media for selected projects, and regularly engage with working professionals ranging from research scientists to farmers.  Students read central texts and at least two other books from a selection of options.  Students also analyze short stories and poetry relevant to our place, experiences, and season; utilize field guides and other reference materials to answer questions they unearth about the natural world; access historical documents and maps in order to learn how our place has changed over time, and conduct numerous interviews and answer questions posed by visitors and experts who come to campus.  Students complete the semester by designing and implementing a major independent project that builds on their new knowledge of place, modeling ways to sustain and improve it for the future.
Central texts include: Wonder and Other Survival Stories; a compilation of essays published by the Orion Society; Reading the Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England; Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness; The Trees in My Forest; Winter World; Wild Delicate Seconds: 29 Wildlife Encounters; The Man Who Planted Trees, and Food Rules. Additional texts include (all students read at least one of the following): Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; A Walk in the Woods; Into the Wild; Desert Solitaire; The Nine Mile Wolves; The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
Students who attend the Mountain Campus earn a total of four required credits: 1 in social studies, 1 in science, 1 in English, and 1 in physical education. These four credits are accepted in lieu of required courses in each curricular area on the main campus.
In addition to receiving four academic credits, students also complete ¼ of their service-learning graduation requirement.  
Students interested in attending the Mountain Campus Semester in sophomore, junior, or senior year are strongly encouraged to visit the Mountain Campus, to look through the mountain campus website, and to talk with their school counselor to discuss how it will best fit into their schedule.  
Advanced Placement Courses: Accommodations are possible to allow students to continue AP courses while enrolled at the Mountain Campus. 

Arts and Athletics: Fall semester students can participate in winter and spring sports and the spring theater production. Spring semester students can participate in fall and winter sports and the fall theater production.

  • MCS CP Conservation Biology and Environmental Literacy: Principles and Practices

    How do we best preserve and provide access to nature? What are the ethics of conservation? In this course, students jump into the role of a conservation biologist, learning the fundamental principles of biology while exploring humanity's impact on the world through scientific research, field studies, and literary analysis. By bringing writing and science together, students engage in both ecological inquiry and personal reflection, understanding how storytelling shapes environmental attitudes and actions. Students complete unit capstones that blend scientific research with narrative storytelling, journalism, and/or poetry. Students also have the opportunity to extend their learning through travel with the science department to locations such as Yellowstone, Costa Rica, Bermuda, or Belize in the spring or summer. This class takes place at the Burr and Burton Mountain Campus. Students who wish to pursue advanced reading assignments and writing/research projects may take this course for honors credit. PREREQUISITE: Successful completion of CP English 2 and a chemistry class.

  • MCS CP/Honors Literature, Leadership, and Learning in the Outdoors

    In this course, students explore what it means to "live well in this place" by learning with, from, and alongside one another in the outdoors. Through a blend of hiking, hands-on projects, storytelling, reading, writing, and reflection, students develop both leadership skills and a deeper relationship to the land and community around them. Students practice place-based observation and inquiry through an investigation of Vermont's ecology and land history -- through hikes to local cellar holes, interpretive walks, maps, land records, and readings such as Tom Wessels's Reading the Forested Landscape. Students read and discuss adventure, survival, and nature writing (including Indian Creek Chronicles, selections from the Orion essay collection Wonder and Other Survival Skills, and excerpts from Emerson, Thoreau, and Joseph Bruchac). Fire-building and campfires, Harkness and shared storytelling serve as both practical skills and community-building rituals. Each week includes outdoor adventures on and around the Mountain Campus and nearby National Forest lands. Students are encouraged to step outside their comfort zones while helping create a brave, inclusive learning community. This class takes place at the Burr and Burton Mountain Campus. Students who wish to pursue advanced reading and writing or research projects may take the course for honors credit. Prerequisite: Successful completion of CP Humanities 1 (sophomores) or CP English 2 (juniors).

  • MCS Vermont: A Study of Place

    This course is designed for students who love the outdoors, working and playing within a strong community setting, and have a curiosity about learning and themselves. It offers a true interdisciplinary experience. Rather than focusing on a specific subject area, this course offers students the opportunity to experience the full spectrum of what the Mountain Campus has to offer. This includes maple sugaring, wilderness first aid, Vermont ecology, woodworking, gardening, guitar, storytelling, leadership development, local homestead discovery and history, firewood processing, hiking, and other outdoor adventures. Students have the opportunity to design their own learning experiences based on their interests.

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Burr and Burton Academy does not discriminate against any person or group on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), ancestry, national origin, place of birth, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, political affiliation or marital status in admission or access to, or treatment or employment in, its programs and activities. Any person having inquiries concerning the school's compliance with the regulations implementing Title VI, Title IX, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or other federal or state nondiscrimination laws or regulations is directed to The Headmaster's Office, Burr and Burton Academy, Manchester, VT 05254. Burr and Burton complies with all applicable state and federal nondiscrimination statutes, including the Vermont Public Accommodations Act (9 V.S.A. Chapter 139), the Vermont Fair Employment Practices Act (21 V.S.A. Chapter 5, Subchapter 6) and Vermont State Board of Education rules 2226.6 and 2229.1.