Off-Campus Study
The world itself is an amazing and engaging classroom, and CSW students have the opportunity to break away from campus to explore nature, language, history, and culture first hand in the places where it all happens.The flexibility within our Mod Plan allows for students to travel for a mod to document flora and fauna in the rain forests of Panama, while learning Spanish language and culture, or travel to Hurricane Island in Penobscot Bay, Maine to study marine life with the Hurricane Island Foundation. Every other year, students also travel to Paris to study French language and culture, and Taiwan to study Mandarin.
Our Mod System offers the flexibility to spend five weeks living, traveling, and learning abroad!
Our Mod System offers the flexibility to spend five weeks living, traveling, and learning abroad!
Marine Biology on Hurricane Island
Students in the 'Marine Biology' class at CSW live and work off-campus on Hurricane Island, off the coast of Maine, where they are involved in a variety of new and ongoing projects. They observe the structure of intertidal communities, study lobster biology and the historic management of the fishery, study organisms that recruit on docks and in the intertidal of Penobscot Bay, and consider the role of invasive species and climate change in affecting biodiversity, among other projects.
READ THE MARINE BIO BLOG
READ THE MARINE BIO BLOG
Taiwan
In the "Off-Campus to Taiwan" course students travel to Taiwan to strengthen their Mandarin Chinese speaking, writing, and comprehension through an immersive program. They will also learn about the history, geography, culture, life, arts, and people of Taiwan. Students will attend classes and stay in homestays while in Taiwan and keep personal journals, contribute to a group blog, and complete a research project.
READ THE TAIWAN BLOG
READ THE TAIWAN BLOG
France
In this course, students travel to France for a program of total immersion in French language, history, and culture. During their stay in France, students live with host families carefully selected in order to accommodate them. While traveling, students keep a journal and fulfill other requirements adapted to their language and/or art background. Upon their return, students prepare mandatory projects, including a research paper on their on-site findings, to earn full credit.
READ THE FRANCE BLOG
READ THE FRANCE BLOG
Science and Language in the Neotropics of Latin America
Offered every other year, this trip is a cooperative effort between the language and science departments. Students travel to the neotropics of Latin America for a program of immersion in tropical ecosystems and in Spanish language and culture. In the science component, students travel to various tropical ecosystems and conduct field experiments and projects. The language program consists of homestays with local families, organized field trips and everyday conversational Spanish. Students maintain both science and Spanish journals as they travel.
READ THE PANAMA BLOG
READ THE PANAMA BLOG
CSW—a gender-inclusive day and boarding school for grades 9-12—is a national leader in progressive education. We live out our values of inquiry-based learning, student agency, and embracing diverse perspectives in every aspect of our student experience. Young people come to CSW to learn how to learn and then put what they learn into action—essential skills they carry into their futures as doers, makers, innovators, leaders, and exceptional humans who do meaningful work in the world.