Cascade Mountain School is a residential STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) program for middle and high school students located in the Columbia River Gorge (an hour drive from Portland, Oregon) dedicated to:
- cultivating individual responsibility and personal growth;
- fostering creation of community and understanding of the natural world; and
- excelling in scientific inquiry, systems thinking, and sustainability studies.
The Need:
Across the globe, natural and human systems are showing signs of declining health and compromised resilience. Our oceans, rivers, land, and atmosphere provide abundant natural capital for human sustainability, although finding the right balance for use remains a serious challenge. Similarly, communities and individuals face economic recession and declining health. The challenge of our time is to learn how to see natural and human systems in their complexity and understand that our solutions must be both local and global with a broad understanding of the whole picture. Young people are in search of authentic experiences with the natural world and each other. Experiential immersion programs offer guidance and excitement during a time when students are questioning who they are and how they want to live.
The Experience:
Students will participate in academically rigorous summer STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) programming while camping, hiking, and experiencing the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The Columbia River Gorge offers a rich classroom for students to learn about energy production, food systems, fisheries, tribal issues, and community studies. Most importantly, students will learn how to think from a systems perspective on ecological and human issues while using the landscape as their teacher. Students will take traditional classes integrated in and supported by the surrounding landscape and camping experience.
