I have long been a lover of garden and sustainability based schooling.  In my dream school plan I am applying for, this is a big component breathed by years of working In Early Childhood, TK and Kindergarten classrooms, and the last few years into older elementary and Middle School mixed age choice classes.  Outdoor learning promises a connection to real life, engagement beyond walls, regulation of feelings in the abundance of nature,  and purposeful work that yields product which matters and serves everyone.

My youngest daughter and I had the opportunity to be hosted by Midland School up in Los Olivos, CA for a visit showing who they are and how they function. Midland is a High School nature boarding school and has been In existence since 1939!  It is the first boarding school that I have visited and the only reason my interest peaked was that my dear and respected friends have loved this school as their daughter went there for all of her High School years.  In Education View's write up on Midland they explain that "Boarding schools create an immersive and supportive environment that promotes personal, academic, and social growth."  Additionally, "The school's signature programs involve the 10-acre organic farm and garden, natural horsemanship program, and outdoor leadership opportunities. In addition to these, students are involved in competitive sports (cross country, volleyball, basketball, and soccer) through the Condor League and also can participate in non-competitive sports such as surfing and hiking."

Midland School won the  Most Prestigious Boarding School Award in 2023 and was featured in Education View's magazine in June 2023.  It states, "Midland has always strived to be an alternative to the "regular thing" of modern education while still preparing students for collegiate studies.  The founding mission and values of the school have guided the community through econmic recessions, the recent global pandemic, cultural shifts and more."  They go on to say, "The school's rustic setting provides the opportunity for students to learn resilience and the value of work while also allowing for genuine leadership and collaborative skills to develop.  Students live simply in the midst of a stunning natural setting. The school's portrait of a graduate prioritizes these values: 

• Connection to place and environment

• Diversity, equity, inclusion and justice

• Being of use

• Craftsmanship

• Literacy and voice

• Critical thinking and analysis

• Problem-solving

Midland showed us that what students do matters. We saw large solar panels out on the land that were installed by students to power whole sections of the school. We observed students and faculty working together to the extent of faculty opening their homes on campus for students to come and learn and grow in community within an authentic context with staff families. We observed the incredibly small classroom feel, which as a teacher in a small school in a large district, Connect Academy,  I can attest to smallness bringing largeness.  We also observed an incredible giant art room with high end equipment as well as a wood shop that was creating furniture for the program, at every turn producing work that is meaningful. 

Midland enjoys a 2, 860 acre spanse of land which offers "a vibrant and challenging exploration of place, spanning environment, history and culture." as you will find well stated in their field guide.  Students explore, research and build. As one student, Isaiah, states, "We are doing what everybody else is learning about in the classroom." Saturdays provide experiential programming which tap into the passions of faculty and students. 

More explicitly, the school tauts a question that they seek to answer: How to develop a love of learning?

1. Learn with faculty.  Midland extends beyond the classroom to the outdoors. All adults are teachers and guides.

2. Think critically. Not only do Midland students think, they also identify problems that need solving and they act, using appropriate and available resources. 

3. Never settle.  While students work through multiple drafts and iterations in their research, every student is known, valued and needed.

4. Stay curious. The schedule offers dedicated weekly blocks that expose students to activities, places, perspectives, voices, and modalities that open new frames of experience, both on and off campus. 

One of the most brilliant aspects of Midland is that students run the program.  As their Field Guide states, "Daily duties contribute not only to the operations of the school, but to students' sense of belonging and ownership of their community." Their prefect system of having upperclassmen supervise younger classmen is a sure way to provide student advocacy and leadership training for career Iife beyond.

Midland's unplug and connect policy fosters depth of relationships that may be best found in a boarding school setting where students are coming home every 6 weeks for intense time with their families, and then equally focused time at school with their peers in the context of openness and relationships. Their field guide states, "At it's core, Midland's intentional technology fosters a tight-knit educational community based on face-to-face relationships. We find that those relationships develop best without a cell phone glued to our hands, so we ask our students to leave them at home when coming to school." Students have wifi connected laptops inside and outside the classroom, they have access to diving deeply into coding, GIS mapping, computer creating and electric car building. They use technology to delve deep into learning and to let go of technology to spend time together as a community.  This is absolutely brilliant and well thought out to me! 

A statement I love that I heard over and over and see written in their field book is " What brings us together is a love for the land". Flora and Fauna forever.  Midland has the largest school garden I've ever heard of, showcasing a 10-acre organic garden and orchard producing 35-40 varieties of fruits and vegetables..50% of what they eat, they grow on campus.  I had the absolute pleasure of eating lunch on campus and the food was unbelivably fresh, locally sourced, and student made and served.  It may have been the best chicken noodle soup of my life!  Including homemade cornbread with cranberry jam, and the most fresh, organic happy salad of my life.  Midland values family style dinners 5 nights a week and builds a culture of meaningful connections. I visited the organic garden (fields and fields of food!!) 3x during my day and collected a large bag full of tomatoes (every variety), butternut squash, apples, and strawberries!  See pictures and videos here to see the amazing Tomato pasta I made for my family when we got home. Midland also received a Governor's award for Environmental and Economic Leadership, California's highest environmental honor.  

I swoon at their clearly college preparatory environment that values kids first, relationships and openness above all, and experiential academics that actually change the world.  You can find an article in edible, Santa Barbara and Wine Country, Issue 54 of 2023, page 18, touting the school's farm and garden source of learning.  In it states, "Students get direct feedback whether they are seeding trays for the greenhouse, pruning a tree or caring for animals.  They get tangible lessons in genetic variation and soil chemistry."  All the food grown, students harvest and bring to the kitchen, seeing the reality of farm to table and how important it is.  All the animals on the farm are well cared for and given a great life.  Eggs are from their own free range chicken farm which was the cleanest and biggest school organic chicken farm I've ever seen.  Cows are also raised on the farm and provide organic meat in the most sustainable ways I've seen yet.  No food is wasted, much is given to the community, and students learn a different view of the world. 

Indeed Midland School lives their education.  Truly there are schools in our world that are doing exactly what we've talked about being possible and hoped for despite doubts that it could really happen.  Managed risks and the demand for niche schools are perhaps our greatest step forward in education.  Well done new friends, I'm in love!