Strategic Plan 20 2 1 – 2 0 2 6
Vermont Academy is a small New England college preparatory school where learning by doing, learning in nature, and learning in a supportive and safe environment successfully prepares students for a future of their own making. We are trailblazers of the future.
Dear Vermont Academy community, Vermont Academy’s moment is now. We are leaning into educational innovation and defining ourselves clearly as a school of the future. The Vermont Academy Way is all about student centeredness and offering students the opportunity to experience the joy of discovery. In this strategic plan, we lay out the pathways, the quests, the fundamentals of individualized learning – all inherent in the assertions of “Our Promise.” This strategic plan has been months in the making, starting with small groups of dedicated faculty and staff gathering to discuss what our school is and what it should continue to become. It was then honed by the Board of Trustees and select parents and alumni. We involved everyone. The passion that was expressed for our students and their education is distilled in these pages. This strategic plan places the school’s future on firm pillars. Whether you regard a pillar as something that reliably provides essential support, or as a prominent supporter of a community, or as something that serves as the foundation of the architecture, what we’ve built here will stabilize and sustain the Academy well past our upcoming 150-year anniversary. The rich history of our school with its outdoor programming, close personal faculty-student relationships, focus on skill building and organizational self-direction, and love of the land is captured in not only the strategic initiatives but also the spirit of place that is our Vermont identity and location. We have already started building the pillars you will read about in the following pages. Last fall we hired a director for the Center for Learning who guided students through testing that helped them identify where to best invest their energy toward the future. We will soon be announcing the hiring of a new Director of Outdoor Programs who will train faculty and staff to incorporate outdoor programming into academics and student life. Since we needed to stay on campus this year to keep our community safe, spaces like the sugar house and the arboretum became valuable extensions of our classroom. There is always a silver lining in the middle of a challenge, and we found that the pandemic pushed our students into the outdoors more than ever before – and they loved it! A core group of faculty and staff worked countless hours with me to create what I’m proud to present to you today. I want to give special thanks to Mr. Dan Burmester, the Head of our Theater Arts Department, who took on the role of Strategic Plan Coordinator. Our Director of the Center for Learning, Mr. Peter Ahlfeld, brought a deep understanding of private school administration and the importance of providing a challenging and rewarding education for ALL students. We were also joined by our Athletic Director and Director of College Counseling, Ms. Wendy Bordeau; our Director of Communications and Marketing, Mr. David Petrie; our Director of Enrollment Management, Mr. Warren Samuels; and our Academic Dean, Mrs. Lorna Schilling P ’03, ’05, ’11. Thank you, one and all. As you read through this plan, I am certain you will feel what we refer to as the “good bones,” the essence of Vermont Academy – the Vermont Academy you came to know and love. You will see that the direction we’ve charted will lead this school to a bright future. I hope you will join us on this journey, engage with our goal to be a school of the future, and visit our campus to see how Vermont Academy students see the future as exciting and uncharted territory! Warmly,
Dr. Jennifer L. Zaccara Head of School
Our Promise At Vermont Academy, learning by doing inspires the independent thinker. We believe that high school isn’t just a time to learn how to launch a business, create a masterpiece, and save the planet, but to actually do it. You belong here because you want to learn about the natural world by experiencing the majesty and mystique of the wilderness first-hand. You belong here not only because you want to learn the language that will power a robot but also to write your own code. You belong here because you don’t fit a mold and seek a kind, caring community where your greatness will come alive. You belong here because, like us, you believe knowledge can’t change the world if it’s left inside a book. Vermont Academy doesn’t just educate its students. We teach students to be the authors of their own education, for life.
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Vermont Academy Strategic Plan: 2021-2026
The Vermont Academy Way Vermont Academy teachers believe that the value of learning and knowledge cannot be fully realized if confined to the traditional classroom alone. We cultivate a learning culture where our students’ individuality and ingenuity, our land, and our community liberate learning and knowledge for use in life. Therefore, Vermont Academy teachers employ a design-thinking mindset to provide educational experiences where students: • apply knowledge and creativity in authentic contexts to create real-world
solutions. • explore knowledge inherent in our land to expand their understanding of our planet. • engage with our community as stewards of equity and understanding. • know they are valued, cared for, and given every opportunity to grow.
Vermont Academy Strategic Plan: 2021-2026
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Pillar #1 Prepare students for innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship by investing in the resources, facilities, and training needed for a signature applied science, math, and technology curriculum. Program • Develop programs in applied math, science, and technology, including computer coding, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and other skills. • Ensure access to STEM for ALL, especially marginalized and underrepresented peoples and students with varying learning styles. • Create an innovation and entrepreneurship curriculum to prepare students for a dynamic world of work and technology and give them experiences that might help them create their own jobs. • Empower students to employ research and technology to address contemporary local, national and global problems. People • Establish two leadership positions: A Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a department head of integrated applied math, science, and technology. • Strengthen teaching expertise through professional development in applied math, science and technology, including computer coding skills, data analytics, artificial intelligence. • Empower and equip teachers to guide group and independent research as well as applied knowledge and problem solving. Places • Design, fund and build a new math and science center on Library Way with flexible lab and classroom spaces for teaching and learning, including a maker space. • Build the school’s technological capacity to support growing program needs. • Locate the program leadership team in the Center for Learning.
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Vermont Academy Strategic Plan: 2021-2026
Pillar #2 Emphasize individualized learning by designing practices, opportunities, and spaces that enable students to find their passions and to become self-directed learners. Program • Expand students’ executive functioning and organizational skills to enable students to become authors of their own education. • Further develop the MAPS program (My Action Plan for Success) to enhance each student’s aspirational goals. • Invest in a strengths-finder test as a first step in individualized learning plans designed to enhance self-understanding and collaboration. • Build a new schedule that aligns with our educational methodologies. • Grow and highlight internships, apprenticeships, capstone and independent projects. • Explore possibilities of learning extensions and bridges to college experiences. People • Ground faculty professional development in current research and best practices in design thinking, project-based learning, and executive functioning. • Coordinate individualized learning practices and opportunities through the Center for Learning. Places • Facilitate integration of disciplines though the organization and design of our spaces. • Establish the Center for Learning as the hub of individualized learning programs.
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Pillar #3 Strengthen community life by investing in resources that provide safe and supported student social-emotional growth and moral character development. Program • Develop a “learning and living” culture, central to the heart of the school, that is based on our core beliefs and that is challenging, supportive, and faceto-face. • Implement Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, rooted in expanded knowledge and a lived authenticity and truth for students, faculty, parents, alumni, and the board. Connect this work with wellness, equity and justice, and an “education for life.” • Expand opportunities and practices that promote physical and mental wellness connected to our outdoor programming. • Develop signature social-emotional growth and moral character development experiences at each grade level, within residential life and in advisory. People • Create a team led by the Assistant Head of School for Student Life to develop an integrated social-emotional learning and wellness program. • Ground professional development for program leaders and residential faculty in current research and best practices in student wellness and growth. Places • Restore and enhance the school’s common spaces and dormitories to support programming and student wellness. • Restore Alumni Hall to a full dormitory with appealing common space for students. • Create a vibrant, modern fitness center in the gym, adding new equipment, to promote student health and well-being. • Evaluate the use of spaces in Williams Gym and Shepardson Center. • Optimize outdoor spaces for use as part of the social-emotional learning and wellness program. 7
Vermont Academy Strategic Plan: 2021-2026
Pillar #4 Embrace our Vermont home to cultivate students’ knowledge, love, and appreciation for the land through environmental education, winter sports, and outdoor programming. Program • Develop a place-based science and environmental studies curriculum and make full use of our campus as an extension of our classrooms and educational program. • Strengthen varsity winter sports through a player development approach that extends our knowledge of how students work and learn best. • Create a signature outdoor program that also includes summer opportunities. • Build a new schedule that promotes holistic learning through balancing academics, sport specialization, and exploration of outdoor activities. People • Hire a Director of Outdoor Programs who will train faculty and staff to incorporate outdoor programming into academics and student life. • Empower our environmental science educators to expand outdoor, placebased learning. • Invest in our coaches and leadership for varsity winter sports. Places • Restore and utilize our on-campus outdoor learning spaces including the arboretum, Bolles Pond, the sugarhouse and the observatory. • Improve physical facilities and equipment for winter sports. • Expand opportunities to support our outdoor programming vision, including establishing a footprint on the Connecticut River for rowing, fly fishing, boating and place-based academics.
Vermont Academy Strategic Plan: 2021-2026
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10 Long Walk, PO Box 500 Saxtons River, VT 05154 802-869-6200 www.vermontacademy.org