ESBR ~ Year IV
ESBR’s mission is to educate students to be intellectually curious, resourceful, and confident in themselves for a life of personal fulfillment and civic engagement. To be able to accomplish this, ESBR’s leadership team believes schools must be designed to allow a student’s community to be their classroom. ESBR’s vision is that cost effective schools and community learning can assist to revitalize local economies and create opportunities for community engagement. ESBR is a third generation Black River education community to serve the Black River Region, following in the rich tradition of Black River Academy and Black River High School.
ESBR is pleased to announce that in June 2023 that Vermont State Board of Education approved our application for State Approval. Why is approved status important? Approved” status is the designation which allows state Education Fund dollars to follow students who wish to attend ESBR from school choice towns. This now allows the school to accept state funding in the form of tuition money for students attending from “Choice towns” like Ludlow and Mt. Holly. The unfortunate timeliness of this decision had an immediate impact on the 2023-24 school year, as both students and staff had to make decisions for the 23-24 school year.
Fortunately, the ESBR Board of Trustees was able to combine the talent and experience of both Judy Pullinen and Board Chair, Gary Blodgett to fill in as interim Head of School and Assistant Head of School respectively as former Head of Kendra Rickerby left for a position at neighboring The Compass School. In addition, ESBR has hired a Math teacher, English teacher, Spanish teacher, to join existing Art, Science and Guidance staff members.
The school is very grateful for the support of the voters of Ludlow who, in March appropriated $75,000.00 in funding to assist the school during our transition from a recognized program to an approved program. Moving forward the school will rely on funding raised through student enrollment, grants, and fundraising.
The community and parents support ESBR’s vision. Unique to our third academic year is the presence of parents & guardians helping to teach subjects ranging from physical science to respectful interactions. Each morning ESBR’s Trailblazers start their day with a Community Huddle. These lessons include social skills such as greeting individuals by name, making eye contact when speaking, and defining what respect is and is not.
Students were asked to write a quote they heard that spoke to the definition of respect. They then crumbled that piece of paper up and threw into the middle of the circle. Once all the quotes were in a pile, someone else picked up a random piece of crumpled paper, and read the quote. One of the students wrote, “Seek respect, not attention, it last longer.”
ESBR is committed to graduating well-rounded and confident young adults who desire to be productive and active members of their communities. What distinguishes ESBR’s culture from that of other schools is that we pride ourselves on teaching the communication skills needed to thrive in any setting. ESBR is equally focused on developing the mind habits needed to embody a productive and healthy work ethic along with honing students’ academic knowledge and skills.
Through the Eyes of ESBR Students reminds us why the work we do is so important. Let’s listen to their insight:
ESBR has a proven model and is experiencing requests to accommodate more students. In order to grow our scope of impact, we are strategizing diversified revenue streams, one of which is this 2022 Giving Tuesday campaign.
By making a financial contribution to the school’s sustainability, your investment supports not only the Trailblazers in this video, but all enrolled students, their families, the community at large along with all future students to come.
Help our Trailblazers to blaze more trails by making a donation today!
In the summer of 2022, ESBR was awarded a VELA Education MicroGrant. As part of the Expeditionary School at Black River’s (ESBR) commitment to integrating place-based historical connections into their expeditionary learning experience, students, teachers, parents, and grandparents visited the von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt. on Monday, Oct. 24. Following the path, the family took on their first tour of the former dairy farm, ESBR’s Trailblazers lived up to their nickname as they hiked up a steep hill to the chapel of Our Lady of Peace, carrying fresh apples from the orchard to the flock of sheep grazing on the other side of the hill. During the 2022-23 school year, ESBR will use this grant to travel to a variety of historical locations across Vermont.
Your gift is truly the light that illuminates our path. Join us today.
As a 501(c)(3) educational institution, The Expeditionary School at Black River relies on the support of friends to achieve its vision for establishing a community-oriented, personalized, flexible, and cost-efficient school system.